More specuations on the lisence

[Havard]

Maybe research into the Ravenloft licence can tell you why these elements were not included.

It is possible, but I wonder how much it would be relevant as I believe the Blackmoor lisence was quite unique due to the past history of Dave Arnson and his claim to the D&D trademark.

OTOH, you may be right. There is a Duchy of Tenh in Greyhawk and a Thonia in Mystara, though I would be surprised if WotC knew about the Mystara one.

Then again, it is possible that WotC deliberately wanted to limit Arneson's options with the lisence he had obtained.

I've got to say that I think that the politics behind Blackmoor really seem to have held the setting back. If things had been different, the First Fantasy Campaign and something like the ZGG line, would have been published as OD&D or perhaps AD&D products by TSR and the 3e product line would have been an evolution of earlier work, rather than the first chance to get some of the stuff out there.

Certainly. The problem is that Dave contributed to the DA modules, he had no chance of knowing that there would be an OGL which would have allowed him to publish Blackmoor for D&D independently of the company which owned D&D.

If there was an OD&D Blackmoor, folllowed by a 1e Blackmoor, 2e Blackmoor, 3e Blackmoor and 4e Blackmoor, it would be really interesting to see how the world fitted in with those different rules.

There was an OD&D Blackmoor and a BECMI Blackmoor, both which are easily usable with AD&D. Also, there was a 3e and 4E Blackmoor.

I really do not like all these legal twists and turns because, while they make commercial publishing posible, they really do seem to hold back a number of "inactive" D&D settings.

Very true.

I'll be interested to see what your thoughts on Ravenloft crossover elements are.

You mean as a principle, or specifically about Ravenloft?

Havard