Lore and Information on Blackmoor D20 Map Locations?

[Havard]

Yes that's the list, and thanks for pointing out the reference to the cataclysm. By "cannon" then these would have to be later. My theory though has been that this list might have been made by Arneson prior to the creation of the time travel narrative. 

It is possible, but would be hard to say.

We do, in fact. We have papers from David Ritchie and statements from Arneson, and even a few from Bruce Heard - all corroborating the same process.

Arneson had prepared materials for "Blackmoor Chrinicles" that included adventure outlines, magic items, character write-ups, and maps, including the interior map of the ComeBack Inn, the town of Blackmoor, and of course the FFC maps. (We don't know how extensive or developed the adventure outlines were, but probably fairly complete for at least the first 3.)

This packet was turned over to TSR, and that was the last that Arneson had to do with the project. TSR turned the materials over to David Ritchie who was tasked with creating Blackmoor as a TSR product placed into Mystara. To this end, Ritchie created new characters, a new storyline, many new locations, and in general fleshed out the setting as he thought best per the instructions he was working under. He also wrote all the published adventures using the Arneson material as his touchstone for three of the four.

I was aware of most of this, but did not know that you had statements from David Ritchie. That is very interesting.

In short, Arneson submitted material and TSR drew from it as they saw fit, without any further input from Mr. Arneson. Arneson and Ritchie had no correspondence on the project, and Arneson had no idea so much would be altered and re-cast.  This is particularly evident in Arneson's letter to Bob Meyer, where he crows about finally getting Blackmoor published and provides Bob with the character write up Arneson wrote for Robert the Bald. Arneson clearly thought it would be published as is. Unfortunately this brings up the related fact that for reasons unclear to me, changes were made to Arneson's material that were, let's say, less than kind. Arneson's Robert the Bald was presented as a noble wizard, whereas the published version presents a peevish jerk for some reason. Similarly, the Arn Yonson character is hard to see as anything but a clownish dig at Arneson. Maybe these things were done for the sake of more variety or something, but the point isn't to dig at TSR or Ritchie at all, but rather to illustrate that Arneson was hands off on all these changes and had no idea how far they had gone.

Interesting. I had never heard of this particular complaint from Arneson. I don't see Robert the Bold as a peevish jerk as written in DA1. The main focus is that he is mostly neutral, but he is said to have a "sardonic wit" and that both of those things have made him less popular in Blackmoor. I think this was probably done to avoid having powerful NPCs overshadow the PCs, but I never read him as unsympathetic. But if Dave interpreted things that way, that is how he saw it.

Arn Yonson's description does seem to be based on Dave Arneson beyond just the name, but I am also not so sure if he is intended to be all that cartoony? Perhaps the comment about him being stingy about his money could be a dig at him? TSR was not above such things for sure, but Ritchie was a freelancer. Would he even have cared about this?

I could see Jim Holloway adding some jokes in this direction with his illustrations however.

I'm not sure about "final approval". I think it was fiat accompli by the time Arneson saw the DA series adventures. I would also agree that there is surely a lot of Arneson's material and influence peppered into them, but its really hard to untwist that multi-layered knot. The time travel business had nothing to do with any negotiations. According to Ritchie, he invented the idea as a way of fitting the setting into Mystara, which is where his bosses decided to put Blackmoor. It is doubful to me Arneson knew anything about it until he had the finished product in his hands. Let me be clear though that none of my thoughts here should have anything to do with what anyone's personal "epitome of the setting" may be. Ultimately its all about what flavour you like best, not who wrote it. I guess if I were to pick, Garbage Pits of Despair would be my epitome, but its bones are sadly thin.

I am sure Time Travel was a good way to create some distance between the Blackmoor material and the rest of the setting. I know Bruce Heard had a rough timeline that he provided game designers with. It is worth mentioning that Mystara was not called Mystara at the time. It was known mostly as the "D&D Game World" (and some other similar labels), at it was not fully developed yet. I believe Bruce Heard was not even product manager when DA1 was initiated. But my point is that there are many ways Blackmoor could have been integrated into the D&D Game World setting. Mystara evolved gradually and although Blackmoor is a much older setting, Blackmoor did become an integral part of Mystara and is referenced in so many later products.

Ultimately Dave did give his stamp of approval on DA1-3. I also find it fascinating how closely the d20 Blackmoor line follows the setting as detailed in the DA modules. If Dave had wanted to make major changes, he could have done so as he and his partner launched Zeitgeist Games. The only change I have seen reported publicly was about DA4, but most of the background details in DA4 were already in DA1.

-Havard