In the mundane world, there once was a Blackmoor before there was a Thonia. Arneson apparently borrowed the name in the mid 80's from Mystara, perhaps to tie things in to that world. In any case that created a "new" history of Blackmoor as a fringe borderland north of the great empire and civilization of Thonia.

My question is what do we know of the lands south of Blackmoor before Thonia was added? My sense is that the original idea was one more of small kingdoms or city states or some such, somehow tied to the judges guild wilderland map or to the C&C societies maps etc. Any ideas?

1971 - Dave Arneson begins his Blackmoor campaign.

1972 - "Facts about Black Moor" published in the C&C Society Newsletter, the Domesday Book # 13.

1974 - D&D first receives wide release.

1975 - Greyhawk and Blackmoor Supplements published, with very little campaign material, although Blackmoor Supplement has first published version of the Temple of the Frog, a famous scenario set in Blackmoor.

1976 - Judges Guild begins publishing products for its City State/Wilderlands campaign

1977 - Judges Guild publishes the First Fantasy Campaign by D. Arneson, which ties Blackmoor into the Wilderlands campaign.

1980 - Greyhawk Folio published, which contains a reference to Blackmoor in the northwest and the City of the Gods. This is not D.A.'s Blackmoor, but rather a tribute to it.

1981 - The Known World is introduced in the Cook edited Expert box set and X1 Isle of Dread.

1986 - Garbage Pits of Despair, an adventure set in Blackmoor written by Dave Arneson is published in Different Worlds magazine #42-43

1986-1987 - DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor is published, which ties Blackmoor into the distant past of the Known World (Later Mystara). DA2 Temple of the Frog, DA3 City of the Gods, and DA4 Duchy of Ten follow.

1990 - Hollow World box set details much history and takes some elements from Blackmoor - specifically the technology obsessed Blackmoor Elves. Many other Known World/Mystara/Hollow World products feature ancient Blackmoorian artifacts and elements of its history. In some ways the cataclysm that destroyed Blackmoor is the defining moment in the world's history.

2002 - Zeitgeist Games founded by Dave Arneson and Dustin Clingman

2003 - Zeitgeist Games and Goodman Games joint venture to publish 3e Blackmoor under WotC begins (
http://www.enworld.org/forum/publishers ... games.html ). First product published in 2004.

2006 - Zeitgeist Games takes over publication of 3e Blackmoor themselves. ( http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/8490.html ).

2008-2009: ZGG/Code Monkey Press joint venture.

2009 - Dave Arneson passes away. Blackmoor the First Campaign (4E) published. Age of the Wolf campaign announced, but never published.

2010 - Blackmoor lisence ends.

Havard

(Based on work by Rogueattourney)

So, this is the day of our grand opening!

Take a mug (if you can), sit down (if you dare), and tell your tale!

Who is here yet? Say hello!

Havard

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my special pleasure to announce the grand opening of "The Comeback Inn", the new home of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor on the internet!
As some of you might already know, Blackmoor was one of the last "Golden Age" D&D settings that was officially supported by WotC,
through license holders Zeitgeist Games and Code Monkey Publishing.

When WotC didn't renew the license last autumn, our little group, tentatively called "The Regency Council",
decided it was time to step up and do something to save our favorite setting from falling into oblivion.

The result is our little message board, which we now humbly present to the public:

http://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums/index.php



What are we?!

"The Comeback Inn", called so in reference to the first D&D in-game tavern of all time, is already the biggest database
for Blackmoor lore on the internet, and also home to the "Company of the Maiden"
and the latest installment of their long-running PbP campaign "The Promised Land".

We have prepared a small line of fan publications that we will present to the public in the next few months,
starting with a rules-free 30-page companion to the "Company of the Maiden's" take on Blackmoor.

Also, expect all kind of supplementing articles on gaming in Blackmoor for all editions,
investigative articles on the history of the setting, interviews with some of the icons of D&D's earliest days,
reviews on old and current gaming items of interest, and many more things that will help you to run a campaign
in Blackmoor, in a time were it is increasingly harder to get one's hands on out-of-print books.


What is that "Blackmoor" thingy we are talking about?!

Ugh... I know there might be some among you who don't know what I am talking about...

So, let's check Wikipedia's article on Blackmoor:

Quote:Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting generally associated with the game Dungeons & Dragons. It originally evolved in the early 1970s as the personal setting of Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, first as a setting for Arneson's miniature wargames, then as an early testing ground for what would become D&D. Blackmoor is the longest continuously played fantasy role-playing campaign in existence.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my special pleasure to announce the grand opening of "The Comeback Inn", the new home of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor on the internet!
As some of you might already know, Blackmoor was one of the last "Golden Age" D&D settings that was officially supported by WotC,
through license holders Zeitgeist Games and Code Monkey Publishing.

When WotC didn't renew the license last autumn, our little group, tentatively called "The Regency Council",
decided it was time to step up and do something to save our favorite setting from falling into oblivion.

The result is our little message board, which we now humbly present to the public:

http://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums/index.php



What are we?!

"The Comeback Inn", called so in reference to the first D&D in-game tavern of all time, is already the biggest database
for Blackmoor lore on the internet, and also home to the "Company of the Maiden"
and the latest installment of their long-running PbP campaign "The Promised Land".

We have prepared a small line of fan publications that we will present to the public in the next few months,
starting with a rules-free 30-page companion to the "Company of the Maiden's" take on Blackmoor.

Also, expect all kind of supplementing articles on gaming in Blackmoor for all editions,
investigative articles on the history of the setting, interviews with some of the icons of D&D's earliest days,
reviews on old and current gaming items of interest, and many more things that will help you to run a campaign
in Blackmoor, in a time were it is increasingly harder to get one's hands on out-of-print books.


What is that "Blackmoor" thingy we are talking about?!

Ugh... I know there might be some among you who don't know what I am talking about...

So, let's check Wikipedia's article on Blackmoor:

Quote:Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting generally associated with the game Dungeons & Dragons. It originally evolved in the early 1970s as the personal setting of Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, first as a setting for Arneson's miniature wargames, then as an early testing ground for what would become D&D. Blackmoor is the longest continuously played fantasy role-playing campaign in existence.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my special pleasure to announce the grand opening of "The Comeback Inn", the new home of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor on the internet!
As some of you might already know, Blackmoor was one of the last "Golden Age" D&D settings that was officially supported by WotC,
through license holders Zeitgeist Games and Code Monkey Publishing.

When WotC didn't renew the license last autumn, our little group, tentatively called "The Regency Council",
decided it was time to step up and do something to save our favorite setting from falling into oblivion.

The result is our little message board, which we now humbly present to the public:

index.php



What are we?!

"The Comeback Inn", called so in reference to the first D&D in-game tavern of all time, is already the biggest database
for Blackmoor lore on the internet, and also home to the "Company of the Maiden"
and the latest installment of their long-running PbP campaign "The Promised Land".

We have prepared a small line of fan publications that we will present to the public in the next few months,
starting with a rules-free 30-page companion to the "Company of the Maiden's" take on Blackmoor.

Also, expect all kind of supplementing articles on gaming in Blackmoor for all editions,
investigative articles on the history of the setting, interviews with some of the icons of D&D's earliest days,
reviews on old and current gaming items of interest, and many more things that will help you to run a campaign
in Blackmoor, in a time were it is increasingly harder to get one's hands on out-of-print books.


What is that "Blackmoor" thingy we are talking about?!

Ugh... I know there might be some among you who don't know what I am talking about...

So, let's check Wikipedia's article on Blackmoor:

Quote:Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting generally associated with the game Dungeons & Dragons. It originally evolved in the early 1970s as the personal setting of Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, first as a setting for Arneson's miniature wargames, then as an early testing ground for what would become D&D. Blackmoor is the longest continuously played fantasy role-playing campaign in existence.

Dear visitors,

Please enjoy this collection of historical Blackmoor threads.

- Please don't open any new post on this board, though.

We intentionally leave the old threadsopen to encourage further discussion on them, but any new threads really belong to, well,
the fora with the new stuff.

Your trigger-happy banmaster,

Rafe

Hi all,

So, the idea is to put together a timeline that makes the setting more coherent and accesible to people that do not know or aren't able to access the old materials.

To give the timeline a frame, I have placed Blackmoor in the Wilderlands' universe, basing my assumptions on material published by Judges Guild.

You are invited to add your own suggestions to the threads displaying my own (first) version of the respective eras.

- However, you might notice that I keep the timeline so far focused on the frame from the creation of the world until approx. two hundred years BEFORE Blackmoor traditional campaign time.

This is because I am, more than anything else, a dungeon master on these boards here, and many of the events in BM's immediate past touch the events in my campaign.

So, let's leave that out until the game is more advanced... :wink:

However, any details you send me via PM or email, I will gladly include in the second draft of our BM timeline, due some time this summer...

So, I am trying to build a coherent timeline of all the events leading up to the events of "The Promised Land".

Everyone, please help me to improve this third part, dealing with the earliest recordings of our world of Blackmoor.