Quote:Blackmoor - The Road to D&D
D&D Could Have Been SO MUCH DIFFERENT!

Before D&D, there was Blackmoor. But, there is more than one version of the Blackmoor game. The "final" version took years to come together. I played in an early (billed as the "first") version of Blackmoor that adhered much more closely to its wargames roots. Join me as I play in a recreation of the "Firs Campaign" run by one of the original participants, Bill Hoyt.

Quote:Blackmoor - Age of the Wolf goes to GenCon 2024!



Dave Arneson's Blackmoor - Age of the Wolf is to be presented at GenCon 2024 with gaming events and panel presentations. Age of the Wolf was the last Blackmoor project Dave Arneson was involved with before his passing and fans have been asking for it ever since. It was a surprise to most when I reported with much excitement back in March that the publisher Ink Bat announced that they were to bring back the project that was completed in 2008 but never released.
As summer approches, Ink Bat has made a new announcement:

Quote:Last of the Zah
Come and play in the first-ever adventure set in the new edition of Blackmoor, Age of the Wolf, and do it in style in one of the luxury boxes at Lucas Oil Stadium! In this scenario, you play a member of a bold company tasked with escorting an important young woman into the very heart of darkness. Should you fail, she fails, and if she fails, all hope for life in the North may be lost!

Every ticketed player in this event receives a limited edition print copy of Age of the Wolf absolutely free!
In addition, everyone who plays a session receives a free miniature, courtesy of Paizo Publishing. Length: 3.5 hours
Where: Event Suite at Lucas Oil Stadium
When: Every 4 hours until midnight, starting at 8am



Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf Panel
The last tabletop project of D&D co-creator Dave Arneson is finally released! Join Ink Bat’s team of creatives for a discussion of the new book, Age of the Wolf, the 50th anniversary of the great game, and all things Dave.
Length: 1 hour
Where: JW Marriott — Room 203
When: Thursday at 8pm

See you at GenCon

See original announcement.

Are you excited about this news? Are you going to GenCon?









-Havard

Quote:A friend sent me a link to this long sleeve t shirt sold on Amazon. The store says the clothes are officially lisenced from Wizards of the Coast.




Officially Licensed Dungeons & Dragons Apparel for Women - Men - Boys - Girls - Toddler; D&D 50th Anniversary T-Shirts; Hasbro T-Shirts; Wizards of the Coast; RPG; Role Playing Game; Fantasy; Adventure; Monsters; Magic; 20 Sided Dice; Blackmoor; Vintage;


This is interesting given the discussion of ownership of the Blackmoor name and logo.

I have to say I love the text on the shirt saying "It started with Blackmoor".




For some reason, I am unable to to click buy on this product. Does it mean the shirt is not available yet?

Check out the Amazon Link yourself!

https://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/20...-with.html

-Havard

Life is good at Blackmoor School

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/...or-e2i1297

Hell Games, an Italian language podcast tackles TSR's DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor.

Anyone here speak Italian who could tell us more about what this is about?

-Havard

I was contacted by Rdubs on Twitter about turn lengths and melee in Chainmail.

Since he was in a discussion on a service which does not archive well, I have suggested we move here so I can add some basic info for people to chew on and discuss. 

CM is most popular today because if it's connection to Blackmoor, Greyhawk, and D&D. I would not say it is the best medievals system out there from the time period as there are many. Yet, people really are interested in it. For myself I would likely choose to only do the massed combat, or simply use another system.

CM as published by G&K is three systems which are kludged together.

- Perrens massed combat, which I am pretty sure was derived from another set of rules. 
- The Man to man system
- The Fantasy system, which Jon Peterson showed is for the most part plagiarized from Leonard Patt's, Fantasy Game.

Each system reveals a different kind of resolution without being specific.

Perren's system, dubbed the LGTSA medieval rules, is actually best in its original from in the Domesday Book. The writing is clear anfd simple, and there aren't too many Gygaxian dangling provisional rules turning it into spaghetti code. Consider the rules are only eight pages long!

SCALE FOR FIGURES, DISTANCE, AND TIME

Right on the top of the first page the scale for minis is described as 40mmm elastiolin figures. The table scale is 1 inch = 10 yards. The time scale is 1 turn = 1 minute.

If you go to the published booklet for Chainmail it states the same scales while also mentioning the use of Airfix 25mm scale figures can also be used.

MELEE AND POST MELEE MORALE CHECKS

Melee combat is where things get interesting in terms of time. Each side rolls their attacks and inflicts casualties. Then both sides roll a die and multiply the number of remaining troops by the die roll. The player with the higher number wins the combat round and the opponent is forced to retreat. 

However, if there is less than a 10 point difference difference between the two side's totals the melee will continue next turn.

Chainmail expandso n the LGTSA rules and even calls the section 'post melee morale'.

Yet, the concepts are the same. You fight with dice and apply casualties, and then you check to see who stands and who flees.

MAN TO MAN RULES

Here you see a change in how combat works with such things as figures with longer weapons getting multiple attacks in one round, and figures in sieges being allowed to climb a ladder, conduct combat, and then advance to the top of the wall.

The language changes from 'combat turn', which I take to mean a single melee phase each turn for manned combat, to a 'melee round' of back and forth attacks during one turn. Yet, on a quick scan of these rules I did not see a specific limit to the number of combat rounds per turn. thus, it isn't quite like OD&D yet.

just to conclude:


While Gygax was enamored with Chainmail and applied it heavily in his edits of D&D, Arneson was likely not using CM that much. Yes, he used it, but it did not serve him well for doing an RPG. Of course, Gygax seems to concur since he then puts Arneson's RPG combat system into D&D.

Be careful when making assumptions in regard to these old rules. I see people use the concept of 10 turns to 10 one minute combat rounds which are then divided into an even more granular 6 second combat resolution round, because 10 by 10 by 10 makes sense, right?

No No No - Do not assume these things. Just observe what is being done in what system. Despite the overlaps as far as influence, these are all distinct. This is especially true when trying to untangle OD&D. So many sources went into OD&D that it is nearly impossible to make clear paths of influence. If anything, once you claim veracity on and single item you are heading down an avenue of faslehood.


All of this has likely been discussed in such forums as ODD74, which I can't seem to access anymore, and probably in archived discussions here.

Maybe someone who has more knowledge about these systems can post some links to this discussion.

Ciao, Griff

https://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/20...mmers.html

Map of this new RPG looks sort of familiar...?

-Havard

I posted about this on my blog

https://smolderingdung.itch.io/bill-hoyt...d-campaign

Free download!

Bill Hoyt was a member of the Blackmoor Bunch so this is a real gem!

What do I spot? Frogs? Federation?

Gotta read more!

-Havard

Blackmoor Age of the Wolf to be Published by Studio Ink Bat
Looks like 2024 and the 50th Anniversary of D&D will have a lot of great things in store for fans of the creations of Dave Arneson. Loyal followers of this blog will be familiar with the Age of the Wolf which was supposed to be released just before Dave Arneson passed away. Now it seems like the original designers of that book have joined up with Studio Ink Bat to make sure the fans finally get to see what this was all about.

Quote:INK BAT TO PUBLISH D&D CO-CREATOR DAVE ARNESON’S FINAL RPG PROJECT
STUDIO TO RELEASE THE LONG-AWAITED NEW EDITION OF BLACKMOOR, THE FIRST FANTASY CAMPAIGN SETTING
WASHINGTON, DC (03/12/24): Studio Ink Bat announced today that it will release the final tabletop roleplaying game sourcebook directly overseen by the late Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and the creator of Blackmoor, the fantasy setting in which the game was first incubated. Entitled Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf, the book is a fiction of ideas, taking the classic setting’s timeline and sending it centuries into the future.

The announcement was made by Denise Robinson, Art Director for Studio Ink Bat. “I had the chance to meet Dave Arneson,” said Robinson. “And as so many others did, I liked him immediately. When the opportunity arose to help release the last RPG project created by Dave’s own team, I knew we had to jump. The content is fantastic, too. If you aren’t a Blackmoor fan, yet, Age of the Wolf is sure to make a believer out of you.”

“After a fifteen-year wait, I could not be happier to see this project finally come to fruition,” added C.A. Suleiman, developer of Dave Arneson’s tabletop projects at the time of his passing in 2009. “With the 50th anniversary of D&D; the 20th anniversary of the launch of an independent Blackmoor line overseen by Dave, himself; and the 15th anniversary of the legend’s passing, the timing could scarcely be any more appropriate than it is right now.”

Back in 2009, the project was nearly complete and ready to be sent to the printer when Dave Arneson passed away suddenly. After that tragic turn of events, it didn’t seem right to release the book as planned originally, and so the project went into indefinite hibernation. “With the big anniversary year upon us,” Robinson concluded, “We feel the time is right to finally get this book into the hands of fans.”

Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf is scheduled for release this August, 2024. As a supplemental edition for the setting, the book will be released system-neutral, allowing players of any edition or expression of the world’s greatest roleplaying game to make immediate use of it.

About Studio Ink Bat
Ink Bat is a content development studio dedicated to the art of making excellent games. Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf is Ink Bat’s first major release, but will surely not be its last. Ink Bat can be found online at http://ink-bat.com

About Dave Arneson
Dave Arneson is the late co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. He is regarded the creator of the roleplaying game and innovator of the ‘dungeon adventure’ concept in tabletop gaming. Blackmoor is his original fantasy setting and the environment in which he and Gary Gygax incubated their legendary game. He passed away in 2009, but his profound legacy endures.