The Comeback Inn

Big Mac asked me to make this last year. Took me a while to get around to it. What is known about Blackmoor's Solar system?

-Havard

Rafael Wrote:

Well, that is pretty much what happened to me, when I surfed over from The Piazza and saw this, geekgasm inducing mockup.

EDIT: Are you sure this isn't just a sly attempt to make me break my "not going to post much" rule and start reading more Blackmoor stuff? :lol:

*Ahem.*

IhateSpelljammeryeahthereIsaiditsuemeifyoudare.

*Ahem.*

ThisgifwouldalsohavedoneitbutIwantedtobecivilthereyougotme.

*A-Heeeeeeeeeeeeem.*

OK. I've calmed down a bit now.

Havard Wrote:What is known about Blackmoor's Solar system?

Hmm.

Lets start with the basics (rather than assuming things). I've only got the 3e Dave Arneson's Blackmoor paperback.

We know that Blackmoor is on a world. And we know it is in the north. But do we know any more about it (like how big it might be)?

We know there is a sun. (Baldin is the god of the sun.) But do we know anything else about the sun (like does it have sunspots or any other sort of periodic activity)?

We know there are stars. (There is a holiday called Star Fall and Hak is the "Father of the Stars".) But do we know anything else about the stars?

We know there are constellations. (Pacuun has a contellation that "moves in the heavens, Pacuun walks the mortal realm".) But do we have a list of other constellations? Is it one constellation per god?

We know that "variable stars" (my term) are possible, as Pacuun's constellation gains a "sword" once a year. But are these the only stars that do this?

We know there is a moon, as Thantos is also called the Dark Moon. But is there a light moon?

You also have the entire Starfall thing, in the Valley of the Ancients (with its association with the Clan of the Fallen Star) which implies that there may be similar things to "The One" in "wildspace".

We have a year length (from the calendar), but do we have a lunar month length?

I think someone mentioned a day length, but don't recal who said it (or where they said it).

That is enough questions. Here is a thing I've spotted that could be useful - Aeros is also called "Breath of the World" and has a holy symbol that is a "cluster of intricate lines, curled at oe end, begining at a common point and spreading outwards".

I think it would be really great if the world of Blackmoor had a large weather system that looked like the holy symbol of Aeros.

John Snider might have some notes on it, since Blackmoor was on one of the worlds in our Star Empires campaign back in 1973. I don't know if he saved any of that sort of information.

gsvenson Wrote:John Snider might have some notes on it, since Blackmoor was on one of the worlds in our Star Empires campaign back in 1973. I don't know if he saved any of that sort of information.

I've done a bit of Googling and can only find a mention of the Star Probe board game (from 1975) the Star Empires board game (from 1977) and a blog entry by Havard, quoting you, and saying that the RPG game didn't get published.

Given the timing (i.e. 1977 - the year Star Wars came out) I'm really suprised that TSR didn't want to jump on the space opera bandwagon and dump anything remotely science fiction onto a space happy public.

It would be really great if John Snider still has this stuff. And it would be even greater if he could pull out any TSR IP and get it to the market as something like a Print on Demand setting (assuming it isn't half unfinished).

Rafael Wrote:IhateSpelljammeryeahthereIsaiditsuemeifyoudare.

Erm. :?

ForsomeonewhosayshehatesSpelljammeryoudoaverygoodimpersonationofatinkergnome.

:wink:

Rafael Wrote:ThisgifwouldalsohavedoneitbutIwantedtobecivilthereyougotme

Hmm. Well, if you really really don't like Spelljammer. And don't want to just ignore this thread, and hope it goes away, I suppose I could invite The Great Svenny over to the Spelljammer forum at The Piazza and we could carry on in the [SJ] Blackmoorspace thread that Havard set up.

Either way, I would love to know the basic things like, if Blackmoor has one or more moons, if there are eclipses on Blackmoor (which require the moon and sun to be the correct sizes), if there are "northern lights" (which could imply something like solar wind), meteorite showers (which could tie in to things falling from the sky) any other strange things associated with space.

WotC started down the line of suggesting that abberations were from space (or to be more precice from other planets). This supposedly was put in to explain the weird biology.

I don't know how well this concept would fit in with Blackmoor. The only abberation in the Dave Arneson's Blackmoor paperback is a gigantic sea monster (the Naliseth). I suppose that this could be used as a springboard for a planet (or moon) where all the critters have the same sort of ichor as a Naliseth. It might even be made to fit in with the "Dark Moon" thing. So could be tied into a plot by Thanatos to wipe out the entire population of the moon with a plague. The Naliseth on the world could be ones spread there by space ships. (Mind you the Naliseth could also be natural sea monsters that were infected with a plague.)

So I take it we are not talking about the Blackmoor of Mystara's past here, right? Same goes for the Blackmoor of Greyhawk's past. Otherwise we would know a lot more about the sphere.

So exactly which Blackmoor are we talking about?