Quote:ArneCon 2024 Reports Are Coming In




As mentioned, ArneCon 2024, took place this weekend, from October 4-6. Managed by the creators of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary (Griff Morgan and Chris Graves), the convention honoring the legacy of D&D Co-Creator Dave Arneson was held at The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, in Minneapolis MN. Although I haven't seen any numbers of participants for this year's events, organisers stated early on that the plan was for this to be a small and cozy event. Morgan stated that the convention was a highly successful and my impression is that everyone had a great time.


It is also nice to see photos of Morgan hanging out with Vic Dorso of DaveCon. It seems that any rivalry that may have existed between the two conventions is now ancient history and Morgan stated that he plans to attend at DaveCon next year.



I know that some announced guests did end up not showing up and a few events may not have occurred according to the program, but it looks like they had more than enough games and activities to keep the attendees busy. Some of the games were live streamed and can be viewed here. Among the Blackmoor Bunch who were present were Dave Wesely, Ross Maker, Dave Megarry, Bill Hoyt and possibly others.



In particular, I have to say I found Rob Kuntz adventure particularly interesting, involving legendary Blackmoor characters like Marfeldt and the Wizard of the Woods as well as reference to places like the Duchy of the Peaks and the Realm of the Egg of Coot.



Did you attend the convention? I would love to hear from you!



-Havard

ArneCon Live Streamed Events:


Strategos-N Miniatures Battle "The Bridge @ San Dismas" - Ref'd by Ross Maker - Live from ArneCon 2

Quote:135 views Streamed live on Oct 6, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS
Carlos IV, King of Spain, has abdicated, and so has Ferdinand, his son. Napoleon's brother, Joseph, now wears the crown, but most in Spain do not consider him their king, especially the troop of "Fernandinos" who currently hold the town of San Dismas and its important bridge. Bonaparte's "Josefinos" want control of the bridge, and are prepared to fight their fellow Spaniards to get it. The house rules for miniatures combat of the Blackmoor Bunch. A variant of the 1880 professional war-game rules by Charles Totten. Hosted by Ross Maker: Close friend of Dave Arneson, game author, historical miniatures expert, & 1st person to play a dwarf character. Miniatures provided.

Quote:244 views  Streamed live on Oct 6, 2024  MINNEAPOLIS
The perfect way to begin your last day of gaming at ArneCon.
"Mochas and..." is becoming a tradition at ArneCon. Every year Griff Morgan picks something different to showcase over breakfast. Last year we played TFT: Melee. This year we'll try playing Original D&D Holmes Basic Set rules set in a classic dungeon.
Grab some coffee, or breakfast, and then sit back and enjoy a fun session of D&D.
The game is introductory level and has almost no rules to it, I'm not kidding, as the rule book is only 44 pages long!
I will be using the original Zenopus dungeon + some minor additions of my own. In the grand tradition of Original D&D expect a lot of character deaths - no worries though, as you'll get to make another immediately and rejoin the adventure party!
If you choose to join the adventure your goal is simple, make new friends and have fun.
Hosted by Griffith Morgan (Secrets of Blackmoor, The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg, and Blackmoor Foundations)

Quote:117 views Streamed live on Oct 5, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS
Dungeon! is an adventure board game designed by David R. Megarry and first released by TSR, Inc. in 1975. Come watch a session of the game with the creator. The game will be played on Dave Arneson's actual gaming table.

Quote:115 views Streamed live on Oct 5, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS
Ronin Wong, one of the original co-authors, referees a session of "Paradise Lost" - a Shadowrun 2E adventure published by FASA. A top team goes to Hawai’i to retrieve an extremely valuable prototype from the clutches of a ruthless megacorp and terrorist organziation.

Ronin started playing RPGs in 1980 when he found the Holmes Basic D&D set. Initially playing solo due to the lack of other gamers, he later became a DM for a group of AD&D players, despite having never seen a group play before. His unique DMing style, which involved fully portraying NPCs with voices and mannerisms, was initially surprising to the players but they ended up enjoying it. In the 90s, Ronin co-wrote the adventure "Paradise Lost" for Shadowrun 2nd edition with Nigel Findley and contributed to the Denver Boxed Set for Shadowrun. Instead of pursuing RPG writing full-time, Ronin pursued a career in music, film, and television, working as an actor, musician, composer, writer, and director. His acting career includes appearances in "Kung Fu," "Man in the High Castle," "Outer Limits," and "DC’s Legends of Tomorrow." He is best known for his role in season 4 of "The Sinner," now available on Netflix.

Quote:193 views Streamed live on Oct 5, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS
Robert Kuntz referees a session of “Into the Wild Blue Yonder”, an adventure written by him specially for ArneCon 2, using AD&D 1E rules. This is his first appearance in the US in about 10 years!

Kuntz is the last designer standing from the Golden Age of D&D’s inception. Co-author of the Greyhawk supplement (1975) & Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976), and Dragon Magazine columnist. Friends with both Gygax and Arneson, he participated in the Blackmoor demo game wherein Arneson revealed to Gygax and the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) that he had created a new category of games: the RPG paper and pencil adventure game.

wallup.net by Havard Blackmoor, on Flickr

Here's my latest blog entry, summarizing many of the things that are being done in honor of the D&D Co-Creator:

Quote:Blackmoor Week is over. Dave Arneson Game Day is today! On October 1st, we celebrate the love for our hobby on the birthday of the D&D Co-Creator.
So many things related to Blackmoor and Dave Arneson have been happening these past days and the activity is still going on!
I really like that we are seeing fans of the early editions and fans of the most recent editions of D&D all joining in to celebrate together. Gaming should bring people together, not divide us. We have too much of that going on in the world.
Let's look at some highlights so far:
Over at The Piazza, Coronides is making conversions for Blackmoor to D&D 5E and has just added the Noble Class.
Zenopus posted his overview of the Blackmoor Foundations Book at his blog.
Did you make sure to get the free PDF of the Dragonborn of Blackmoor Sourcebook by Jon Gómes that I posted about the other day?
The Gnomish Embassy has posted two NPCs, the latest seems to be linked to the Dragonborn sourcebook
Let us add to this list as the day continues!

In Episode 20 (Sorcerer's Tomb) we encounter Alertern, first apprentice to Skelfer Ard. Is he mentioned anywhere else in canon or in fanon, or is this a one-off reference to him?

What are you doing for Blackmoor week?

Each year, Compose Dream Games RPG Markeplace runs a 20% off sitewide sale. This year it is on our original Canadian site as well as our new (since May) UK website.

Also new this year, we making PDFs 25% or more off. That's gonna keep me pretty busy.  .  .

CAD [/url][url=https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/]https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/ (ships to the world)

GBP https://composedreamgames.co.uk/ (ships to UK and EU)


Since that's not enough, this weekend I am at Northeast Tabletop in Newcastle, UK and Wednesday I will be setting up for Essen Spiel.


... Maybe I'll be able to fit in a little development time for Fabrication: A Game that Makes Games. I'm trying to capture a little Arnesonian magic with it.

In Corner of the Table (3 (5), 1971), Dave Arneson describes the world of Blackmoor as such:

Quote:... and the start of the "Black Moors" battle reports as a series dealing with the perils of living in Medevil Europe.(Or at leas t as much as is possible when a wargamer cum fantasy nut creates a parallel world that includes perils from a dozen Fantasy plots plus a few of his own).

Blackmoor Week Day 1

-Havard

For those of us who did not participate in the MMRPG series, I think there is a lot of curiosity about it, so I thought I'd start a thread by asking a couple questions for anyone who might know the answers:

What were the last episodes to be officially released and actually played at conventions or as part of adventure paths etc.?  Its my understanding that the latter episodes were written but neve released or if they were released it was only on the website for a short time.  I *think* that the unreleased episodes were the ones above #68 but please correct me if I'm wrong.

How were "official" MMRPG games organized by Zeitgeist?  Was it only at conventions or were there regular Zeitgeist games at maybe a game store or something?  Were there "official" regional DM's or organizers?

When were the first and last games played?

So I'm currently working on that lore video as you all know and I'm going to be drawing brand new art for each area in black and white for it. 

I'm gonna be drawing a view from the peaks of Booh. 


The blue dot being the view. However I'll probably draw two view points. One looking Northwest towards the egg of coot while the one to the North east towards Blackmoor. I'll also be drawing original art for The Temple of Id (although from looking at it. It looks like the Temple ins't in the mountains but along the river and after talking to Svenny he says he pictures it as Stone Hinge almost which with this placement makes more sense)

While playing Skyrim recently I saw this swampy flooded area that reminded me of what i had in mind for the realm of the egg


what do you all think?

Planning topic.

October 1st is less than a Month away. The day lands on a Tuesday this year.

Game Arneson Game Day 2024 On Facebook


-Havard