"Blackmoor: The First Campaign", CMP, 2009.

[Havard]

Probably not enough of a hook for a 3e fan, although 3e does have tieflings.

Perhaps. But if you add up the things I have listed in this thread, I could easily see how many 3e fans might prefer picking up this book instead of tracking down every single older supplement.

So what you seem to be saying is that the 4e book takes the expansion of the 3e-adjusted world, but then applies the single book style of The First Fantasy Campaign book. Is that right?

No. The FFC has nothing to do with this. The only reason why only one book was published for 4E was because the lisence expired before they got around to publishing more.

The 4E book is similar to the 3E sourcebook, but the contents differ somewhat. Partially this is because of differences in rules, but I also think that because the 4E book was published so many years later, this has given the authors more time to think about where they want to take Blackmoor. Better editing also makes the book easier to read.


FFC vs 4E guide styles:

This is one of the reasons I like the 3e campaign settings. The older stuff is more of a sandbox...which gives a GM a lot more ability to customise, but also takes up a lot more development time.

Yeah. I think reading the 1970s gaming material is fascinating and evocative, but I also like the 3E style sourcebooks for their completeness.

OK, so I'm "sold" on the idea that this weapon is best described (or made up ) in the 4e book. And I'm "sold" on the concept that I could buy the 4e book and use the crunch from the 3e book (instead of buying the entire 3e product line).

The thing I'm not necessarily sold on is that "many 3e fans" might prefer picking up this book. I think I'll need to check through the table of contents and try to work out exactly how many extra things I would be getting.

Well, it depends on what you already own and what you are interested in really.

But for a 4e fan, it's a no-brainer decision. They "need" this book.

Definately.

Havard