New Blog

[Julian Grimm]

Just so everyone knows, I started up a blog that is kind-of a sequel to my old Grimmhaus blog. You can find it here.

[Havard]

Excellent! I will sign up once I get home.

I like the focus as presented in the first post. Thanks for sharing!

-Havard

[Havard]

Hello again,
I just read a couple of your latest blog entries. I found a couple of things interesting:

While that is all fine and dandy there is still one issue, Blackmoor. I have recently been looking at what was the first D&D world and thinking about running a game there as well. Since I don't feel ready to run a 'full on' Blackmoor game I think the Blackmoor on Oerth will suffice. If I want to fully run Blackmoor later I can always link Oerth's Blackmoor to the 'true' Blackmoor. I find this the best way to go for now.

Sounds like a good approach! With Oerth's Blackmoor you will have alot of freedom since I guess it hasnt been given that much detail? Oerth's Blackmoor is definately something I am interested in hearing about. During what era of Greyhawk's history would be the best to run such a campaign?

That doesn't mean that I won't use some Blackmoor tropes. I have already decided that the Egg of Coot will play a role in my campaign alongside some of the other known Greyhawk baddies. I see no reason why Castle Blackmoor cannot coexist with Castle Greyhawk in my campaign and may end up using them both.

Cool. 8)

The one thing that seems to stand out is that the Duchy of Tehn is so far away (and to the East rather than to the west). Iuz may be a good replacement for the Afridhi I guess and the Wolf Nomads and such would replace the Peshwah?

-Havard

[Julian Grimm]

Hello again,
I just read a couple of your latest blog entries. I found a couple of things interesting:

While that is all fine and dandy there is still one issue, Blackmoor. I have recently been looking at what was the first D&D world and thinking about running a game there as well. Since I don't feel ready to run a 'full on' Blackmoor game I think the Blackmoor on Oerth will suffice. If I want to fully run Blackmoor later I can always link Oerth's Blackmoor to the 'true' Blackmoor. I find this the best way to go for now.

Sounds like a good approach! With Oerth's Blackmoor you will have alot of freedom since I guess it hasnt been given that much detail? Oerth's Blackmoor is definately something I am interested in hearing about. During what era of Greyhawk's history would be the best to run such a campaign?

That doesn't mean that I won't use some Blackmoor tropes. I have already decided that the Egg of Coot will play a role in my campaign alongside some of the other known Greyhawk baddies. I see no reason why Castle Blackmoor cannot coexist with Castle Greyhawk in my campaign and may end up using them both.

Cool. 8)

The one thing that seems to stand out is that the Duchy of Tehn is so far away (and to the East rather than to the west). Iuz may be a good replacement for the Afridhi I guess and the Wolf Nomads and such would replace the Peshwah?

-Havard

First off, thanks for reading!

I decided to make my world inspired by both Blackmoor and Greyhawk. I feel that gives me more flexability on the creative side than just using the worlds themselves. That doesn't mean that there will not be a Blackmoor in my world, It will just be my version of Blackmoor.

As for mapping I am looking at making a version of the legendary North America map for the world. This makes it big enough to fit in many ideas including what I feel are the core concepts of the worlds. I will be placing Greyhawk at Chicago and Dyvers at Milwaukee as was done in the past. As for Blackmoor I still don't know where I want it. I have looked at placing it around Hudson Bay or around lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba.

I am still doing research at this point and have only sketches of ideas. I have been referring to old threads on the 'proto-world' that later became the worlds we now know. I wish someone had the old C&C Society map available but since it is very possible that it no longer exists I can only work from the descriptions we have.

[Havard]

First off, thanks for reading!

No problem! Write more about Blackmoor and I will keep reading it too!

I decided to make my world inspired by both Blackmoor and Greyhawk. I feel that gives me more flexability on the creative side than just using the worlds themselves. That doesn't mean that there will not be a Blackmoor in my world, It will just be my version of Blackmoor.

This is a very good idea. The worst thing you can do is to let published material become a constraint. This is probably why some old school gamers are so opposed to published detailed settings. Personally I like them because it means I have something to pick and choose from instead of having to make up everything from scratch. YMMV. The key with published stuff though is to make it your own, which from the sound of it is exactly what you are doing. The fact that you do use the setting though means we have a common point of reference, which makes discussions more interest

As for mapping I am looking at making a version of the legendary North America map for the world. This makes it big enough to fit in many ideas including what I feel are the core concepts of the worlds. I will be placing Greyhawk at Chicago and Dyvers at Milwaukee as was done in the past. As for Blackmoor I still don't know where I want it. I have looked at placing it around Hudson Bay or around lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba.

I am still doing research at this point and have only sketches of ideas. I have been referring to old threads on the 'proto-world' that later became the worlds we now know. I wish someone had the old C&C Society map available but since it is very possible that it no longer exists I can only work from the descriptions we have.

If you are thinking in terms of the C&C map, I suspect Blackmoor was located on the southern shore of Lake Superior. If you keep the coastlines identical to the US, that would make it difficult to involve the Skandaharians in any realistic way however.

Looking forward to hearing more about your game!

-Havard

[Julian Grimm]

I have a test map finished. What I did was take a map of the Great Lakes Basin and altered it. What came out was an inner sea that I really like. Blackmoor could fit very well on the north-west corner of the shore line. I am going to play with this map a bit more to see what comes of it.

[Havard]

Looks good Julian!

Are you making the northern point of the Inner Sea a connection to the Ocean? If so that might make sense in the case of having Skandaharians raid the shores of both Blackmoor and the Great Kingdom/Greyhawk.


IMC I also have an equivalent of Greyhawk to the far south. I refer to it simply as the Free City, a nod to Erik Mona's Free City as presented in the Pre-Pathfinder Paizo Adventure Paths.

-Havard