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+--- Thread: Blackmoor Alphabet? (/showthread.php?tid=3215)
Blackmoor Alphabet? - CawmeKrazee - 08-20-2024
Just out of curiosity cause other DnD settings have it.
Does Blackmoor have it's own alphabet unique to the setting or do the different races have their own unique alphabets?
RE: Blackmoor Alphabet? - aldarron - 08-21-2024
The only thing that springs to mind like that is that Tad Kilgore had a sort of symbol system for the ancient Eladrin in his online game. He described a couple of the symbols but I don't know if he had something in hard copy. You might try asking him.
RE: Blackmoor Alphabet? - Yaztromo - 12-31-2024
Under the cultural point of view (including language, calendars and similar) Blackmoor is very strictly linked to Thonia, so I'd expect that the Human Blackmoorians of Thonian (or Great Thonian) descent (that are probably the majority in Blackmoor) will use the Thonian alphabet.
Similarly, Blackmoorian Elves will use the local Elvish alphabet, Dwarves will use Dwarven runes, Skandaharians will use Skandaharian alphabet, etc.
I do similarly expect that the people in the Duchy of Ten and in the Duchy of the Peaks (arguably mostly of Thonian descent as well) will use the same Thonian alphabet.
RE: Blackmoor Alphabet? - aldarron - 01-01-2025
(12-31-2024, 12:23 PM)Yaztromo Wrote: Under the cultural point of view (including language, calendars and similar) Blackmoor is very strictly linked to Thonia, ...
Well, one version of Blackmoor is linked to Thonia.
Original Blackmoor was linked to the Great Kingdom (Greyhawk) and Wilderlands Blackmoor was briefly linked to the City State of the Invincible Overlord.
Thonia was one of the many places invented by TSR (prolly David Ritchie as he took credit for filling out them map) in the mid-1980's, so if you play that version, then yes, Blackmoor is linked to Thonia.
Ironically enough, while both CSIO and the Great Kingdom have a lot of ink spilled on them, there's precious little published info on whatever-the-heck the empire of Thonia is supposed to be, so probably not much of help for fleshing out Blackmoor.
RE: Blackmoor Alphabet? - Havard - 01-05-2025
(01-01-2025, 01:44 PM)aldarron Wrote:(12-31-2024, 12:23 PM)Yaztromo Wrote: Under the cultural point of view (including language, calendars and similar) Blackmoor is very strictly linked to Thonia, ...
Well, one version of Blackmoor is linked to Thonia.
Original Blackmoor was linked to the Great Kingdom (Greyhawk) and Wilderlands Blackmoor was briefly linked to the City State of the Invincible Overlord.
Thonia was one of the many places invented by TSR (prolly David Ritchie as he took credit for filling out them map) in the mid-1980's, so if you play that version, then yes, Blackmoor is linked to Thonia.
Ironically enough, while both CSIO and the Great Kingdom have a lot of ink spilled on them, there's precious little published info on whatever-the-heck the empire of Thonia is supposed to be, so probably not much of help for fleshing out Blackmoor.
According to Frank Mentzer, Thonia was cointed by Fracois Froideval who created the world map for the D&D Game World (later Mystara) to be published in the Master Set Rules.
You can sort out quite a bit about Thonia from various information scattered across the DA modules. Thonia fills the same role that the Great Kingdom did in the Castles & Crusades setting. However, since DA-series and later era Blackmoor takes place 30-40 years after the original campaign, the political situation is very different. With Uther, Blackmoor became an independent kingdom. Meanwhile Thonia went from being a mostly benign ally into becoming a corrupt and suppressive Empire. A very interesting setup if you are focusing your campaign on Blackmoor, being the last beacon of civilisation. Personally I like having a specific name to the Empire rather than the more generic Great Kingdom label. The name was also used extensively in the d20 Dave Arneson's Blackmoor setting so it carried on beyond the DA series. In all iterations of Blackmoor, Blackmoor is clearly culturally strongly linked to their neighbor to the south.
-Havard
RE: Blackmoor Alphabet? - Yaztromo - 01-05-2025
(01-01-2025, 01:44 PM)aldarron Wrote: Thonia was one of the many places invented by TSR (prolly David Ritchie as he took credit for filling out them map) in the mid-1980's, so if you play that version, then yes, Blackmoor is linked to Thonia.
You are right: indeed I do play that version of Blackmoor and sometimes I tend to forget there are other versions as well...
