DA5 - The City of Blackmoor

[saberware]

My name is Eric, David James Ritchie is my half brother. David passed a while back and I am in possession of his private game collection. I just came across dot matrix printouts of DA5 - City of Blackmoor along with a hand drawn maps, hand written notes, etc. all dating from the late 1980's. (Looks to be 1987 to be exact). Does this excite anybody?

[RobJN]

My name is Eric, David James Ritchie is my half brother. David passed a while back and I am in possession of his private game collection. I just came across dot matrix printouts of DA5 - City of Blackmoor along with a hand drawn maps, hand written notes, etc. all dating from the late 1980's. (Looks to be 1987 to be exact). Does this excite anybody?

Welcome to the Comeback Inn, Eric!

I will probably be able to hear Havard's "squee!" of joy from across the Atlantic, once he reads this bit of news. :lol:

As to myself? Well, to paraphrase Jayne, from Firefly

"I'll be in my bunk."

[saberware]

Thank you for the welcome Rob. I consider myself a geek and I have watched Firefly, but I had to look up the reference. Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode...

Eric

[Yaztromo]

Fantastic news!!! 8)
You have to find a suitable way to share this stuff!!!

[Havard]

My name is Eric, David James Ritchie is my half brother. David passed a while back and I am in possession of his private game collection. I just came across dot matrix printouts of DA5 - City of Blackmoor along with a hand drawn maps, hand written notes, etc. all dating from the late 1980's. (Looks to be 1987 to be exact). Does this excite anybody?

Hello Eric!

Welcome to The Comeback Inn!

Sounds like you have come across one of the lost treasures of Blackmoor! I think everyone here would be incredibly interested in learning more about this document in your posession.

If you have the time, I would also love to ask you some questions about your brother. I was very sorry that I did not have a chance to get an interview with him back in the day.

Hope you can tell us more about all of this.

-Havard

[saberware]

David J Ritchie was my half-brother. Throughout his career he would send me games, books and magazines. David got me into reading, he would send me boxes of Sci-Fi books and such. I miss him dearly. When he passed I went to his house in CT and packed his stuff up along with my Sister-In-Law Debbie (She has since also passed). I did not get his computer and all of that work, but I did get his collection of games and such from over the years. I was going through a D&D box and noticed materials for a D&D game. I just assumed it was for one of the DA1-DA4 games he worked on. Upon closer inspection these materials were for DA-5 - The City of Blackmoor. It took me a bit, but I realized this is a module that was never published. I stumbled upon this forum and here we are.

I have scanned everything (except for color map, it is large, I have a picture of that.) I am not sure of the best way for this to get out.

Thoughts?
Eric

[Yaztromo]

I have no suggestions for you, I'm just happy that DA5 isn't lost and, one way or another, it will become available in the next future! 8)

[Havard]

I just wanted to share with you guys that I had a really nice conversation with Eric yesterday. I now have access to Eric's material and I will do my best to honor Eric's wishes of bringing this material to the community in a way that respects the legacy of David Ritchie. Eric was also able to share other stories and details with me, which put in the right context will hopefull be very valuable to all of you.

I should note that the manuscript is not a complete adventure. Most notably the main "story" of the adventure is only available as incompleted notes. However, there is tons of background material and other really cool details that you will love. I am currently processing it, but thinking about what way to best share it with everyone.

-Havard

[Yaztromo]

That's fantastic!
Take your time and do it properly: we have been waiting for decades and we can wait some more time. 8)

[Greg]

This is amazing news! Thank you, Eric, for being willing to share this with the Blackmoor fan community and the wider world. If Håvard is able to make these materials available digitally as hi-res scans in PDF format, that would be fantastic. But maybe some connecting commentary or explanation will be necessary to bring it all together in a published form. I certainly welcome any effort to make the adventure, maps, and other materials available, and if you need any assistance with editing, please let me know.