+- The Comeback Inn (https://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums)
+-- Forum: The Garnet Room - Blackmoor General Forum (https://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=34)
+--- Forum: General Blackmoor Discussions (https://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+---- Forum: Product Reviews (https://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+---- Thread: "DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor" TSR 1986 (/showthread.php?tid=1424)
Pages:
1
2
"DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor" TSR 1986 - Havard - 02-19-2013
![[Image: 8490724316_abe767ff07_m.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8107/8490724316_abe767ff07_m.jpg)
DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor,
by Dave L. Arneson and David J Ritchie
Quote:"Blackmoor is beset!"
On every side the storm clouds gather. To south and east, the Great Empire of Thonia plots to end Blackmoor's independence and reclaim its lost province. To the west, the implacable Afridhi are on the move. To the north, the evil Egg of Coot prepares to cross the thundering sea and once again bring fire and sword into the heart of the small kingdom. Beyond the realm of the Egg, the hated Skandaharian Raiders are building longships and preparing to fall upon Blackmoor's unprotected coast while its tiny army turns to meet these other threats.
Into this time of black despair, there steps a band of adventurers who cluth strange swords and wear most curious armor - and who claim that Blackmoor sank beneath the ice 3,000 years ago!
DA1 has a page at the Blackmoor Archives
Buy PDF at DrivethruRPG
-Havard
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - Havard - 02-19-2013
5 out of 5 Smashed Skulls.
This must be one of the most contents packed adventures TSR ever published. The adventure itself has a decent plot, allows PCs to be brought from the Known World (of Mystara) via Time Travel, and introduces the PCs to an entire new setting, Blackmoor.
While the main plot of the adventure can be solved in a few sessions, the 64 page booklet is filled with details on the lands of Blackmoor, with tons of adventure seeds, allowing for countless of hours of gaming. The most overlooked section of the book is the NPC section, introducing a number of NPCs that do not really feature in the adventure itself, but whose descriptions reveal much more about the world of Blackmoor. Much of this is based on Dave Arneson's own campaign.
This module is the first of the DA line. These modules were co-written by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie. This first module provides a really good overview of the setting in general. As with all of the DA series, the modules assume that Blackmoor exists in Mystara's past and that time travel, is necessary to reach the lands of Blackmoor. However, there is nothing preventing a DM from ignoring that section of the module and run it with PCs that are native to Blackmoor or from Greyhawk or another setting.
David Ritchie did alot of board game design. He also did DragonQuest (The RPG from the early 1980s, not the 1992 Dragon Quest Board Game. Ritchie never returned to Blackmoor in the d20 era. He passed away in 2009 so his health may have had something to do with that. More details about David Ritchie, including a complete list of his RPG design credits, can be found here.
Like the rest of these modules, DA1 is connected to Mystara and assumes that the PCs will travel back in time from Mystara to Blackmoor.
Remember that Mystara was not called Mystara at the time, it was only called the D&D Game World. I guess the idea was that all adventure modules for the Classic D&D line (Non-Advanved) was supposed to be placed in the same universe. With the organic development of Mystara, I don't even know if the term retcon applies. But the idea of placing it into the setting's past is an interesting one. It is also something that Bruce Heard really followed up on, including references to Blackmoor in almost every subsequent product.
I sometimes get asked about the title Advetures in Blackmoor-
I think it is more of a typical TSR title. You have Greyhawk Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures and Adventures in Blackmoor. The adventures were originally intended to be called the Blackmoor Chronicles actually. I dont know why they changed that.
The DA modules are in a way an attempt to do a combination of a story based adventure and a more open Sandbox style one. While each module contains a fairly streamlined adventure, there is tons of additional information about what to do in this or that area, NPCs that could show up, but don't have to etc. So you could actually ignore the main story adventure and still have many hours of gameplay.
It should also be noted that these modules are for fairly high level play. DA1 is for levels 10-14, which means it takes advantage of many of the special adventure concepts from the Companion Set. This is a pretty good fit for Blackmoor since Dave Arneson's campaign would often involve controlling armies and baronies (Dominons) etc.
The module can be adapted to lower level play though, especially if you ignore the main storyline and simply use the module to explore the lands of Blackmoor. Beware of some really powerful monsters and NPCs though!
These adventures are set 30 years after First Fantasy Campaign. The FFC is a great companion book to DA1. I think DA1 is a great introduction to the setting of Blackmoor however.
DA1 now has a page at the Blackmoor Archives
-Havard
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - Havard - 02-20-2013
Do you have a copy of DA1?
Let us hope that it soon gets back in PDF form. Although a DA1-4 (or 5!) print collection in hard cover would be pretty sweet too! 8)
-Havard
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - RobJN - 02-20-2013
I was lucky enough to get a copy for a good price on eBay several years ago. I still can't believe the sheer amount of information packed into the module.
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - Havard - 02-23-2013
RobJN Wrote:I was lucky enough to get a copy for a good price on eBay several years ago. I still can't believe the sheer amount of information packed into the module.
So its not just me then!
I have no idea whether this is due to David Ritchie's style of writing or whether it is because Arneson supplied him with so many pages of notes for things to work in based on his own campaign. Probably a mix of both. In any case, it means that you can run so many adventures based on that single module it is amazing
-Havard
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - RobJN - 02-23-2013
Yes. Adventures, plural.
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - Bugscuttle - 02-24-2013
I want, lust after, desire and NEED to own this. I'm just a wee bit broke. I'd still (always) rather have the real thing as opposed to a download. I guess this makes me an old coot. I imagine that PDFs will be the norm before too long.
*sigh*
It's always so much FUN to page thru a new/old book!
Re: DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor TSR 1986 - Havard - 02-26-2013
Bugscuttle Wrote:I want, lust after, desire and NEED to own this. I'm just a wee bit broke. I'd still (always) rather have the real thing as opposed to a download. I guess this makes me an old coot. I imagine that PDFs will be the norm before too long.
*sigh*
It's always so much FUN to page thru a new/old book!
Heh,
I know exactly what you are talking about.
PDFs are great as opposed to not having the books available at all, but I much prefer to own physical copies. Of course, having electronic format books is more friendly to my shelf space...
-Havard
Re: "DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor" TSR 1986 - Havard - 04-21-2016
Now available in PDF format!
-Havard
Re: "DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor" TSR 1986 - Havard - 10-09-2016
This module is the first of the DA line. These modules were co-written by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie. This first module provides a really good overview of the setting in general. As with all of the DA series, the modules assume that Blackmoor exists in Mystara's past and that time travel, is necessary to reach the lands of Blackmoor. However, there is nothing preventing a DM from ignoring that section of the module and run it with PCs that are native to Blackmoor or from Greyhawk or another setting.
David Ritchie did alot of board game design. He also did DragonQuest (The RPG from the early 1980s, not the 1992 Dragon Quest Board Game. Ritchie never returned to Blackmoor in the d20 era. He passed away in 2009 so his health may have had something to do with that. More details about David Ritchie, including a complete list of his RPG design credits, can be found here.
Like the rest of these modules, DA1 is connected to Mystara and assumes that the PCs will travel back in time from Mystara to Blackmoor.
Remember that Mystara was not called Mystara at the time, it was only called the D&D Game World. I guess the idea was that all adventure modules for the Classic D&D line (Non-Advanved) was supposed to be placed in the same universe. With the organic development of Mystara, I don't even know if the term retcon applies. But the idea of placing it into the setting's past is an interesting one. It is also something that Bruce Heard really followed up on, including references to Blackmoor in almost every subsequent product.
I sometimes get asked about the title Advetures in Blackmoor-
I think it is more of a typical TSR title. You have Greyhawk Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures and Adventures in Blackmoor. The adventures were originally intended to be called the Blackmoor Chronicles actually. I dont know why they changed that.
The DA modules are in a way an attempt to do a combination of a story based adventure and a more open Sandbox style one. While each module contains a fairly streamlined adventure, there is tons of additional information about what to do in this or that area, NPCs that could show up, but don't have to etc. So you could actually ignore the main story adventure and still have many hours of gameplay.
It should also be noted that these modules are for fairly high level play. DA1 is for levels 10-14, which means it takes advantage of many of the special adventure concepts from the Companion Set. This is a pretty good fit for Blackmoor since Dave Arneson's campaign would often involve controlling armies and baronies (Dominons) etc.
The module can be adapted to lower level play though, especially if you ignore the main storyline and simply use the module to explore the lands of Blackmoor. Beware of some really powerful monsters and NPCs though!
These adventures are set 30 years after First Fantasy Campaign. The FFC is a great companion book to DA1. I think DA1 is a great introduction to the setting of Blackmoor however.
DA1 now has a page at the Blackmoor Archives
-Havard