09-06-2015, 11:56 AM
I was asked to introduce myself here. I was active on Dragonsfoot and some old Grognard boards under a few variants of this name over a decade ago. Havard was already a legend back then! I have been playing D&D and AD&D on and off since 1982 and I have been Dungeon Mastering my own World of Bardsville setting since 1984. I own hard copies of every D&D/AD&D product published by TSR prior to 1989 except Wilderness Geomorphs, Orange B3, ST1, and the set of PC sheets with the rare cover. I have never played any newer edition beyond a few sessions of 2E in the early 1990s
I recently decided to again position the islands where my campaign takes place in the context of a classic campaign world. Which one? Mystara has not aged well in my opinion. Too many of the Gazetteers are overly humorous and even as a child I could not swallow the 15+ ham-fisted allegorical world cultures living side-by-side in a land the size of Kentucky. Forgotten Realms is far too overpowered and magic heavy for my tastes. Greyhawk, even in its folio form, is too overdeveloped. I love Greyhawk, but I don't need Gods and ethnic histories fully plotted out for me. If I stuck my Isles on Oerth I would be playing Greyhawk, not my own campaign. I have also borrowed (directly lifted) liberally from all of these settings over the years, which would cause conflicts.
That left me with Blackmoor. I had never seriously looked at Blackmoor, even though I have the DA modules and the FFC. I looked into it late last month and I was VERY IMPRESSED with what I saw. It was perfect for my purposes and fit in well with existing facts of my campaign, which included mention of: 1. A Great Northern Continent 2. A decadent Empire with a break off kingdom in the North 3. A jihadist ethnicity attacking civilization 4. A "pantheon" of largely monotheistic Gods. I saw I could drop my Isles well to the east of Thonia. I am currently reading through FFC and the DA modules and tweaking my home campaign documents to integrate them with Blackmoor around the year 1024. I intend to run the DA series with native Blackmoor PCs this fall/winter.
I took a look at the D20 and the 4e Blackmoor supplements and they do not seem to me to be canon in the same way FFC/DA are. Has this been discussed? I look forward to discussing Blackmoor with you all.
I recently decided to again position the islands where my campaign takes place in the context of a classic campaign world. Which one? Mystara has not aged well in my opinion. Too many of the Gazetteers are overly humorous and even as a child I could not swallow the 15+ ham-fisted allegorical world cultures living side-by-side in a land the size of Kentucky. Forgotten Realms is far too overpowered and magic heavy for my tastes. Greyhawk, even in its folio form, is too overdeveloped. I love Greyhawk, but I don't need Gods and ethnic histories fully plotted out for me. If I stuck my Isles on Oerth I would be playing Greyhawk, not my own campaign. I have also borrowed (directly lifted) liberally from all of these settings over the years, which would cause conflicts.
That left me with Blackmoor. I had never seriously looked at Blackmoor, even though I have the DA modules and the FFC. I looked into it late last month and I was VERY IMPRESSED with what I saw. It was perfect for my purposes and fit in well with existing facts of my campaign, which included mention of: 1. A Great Northern Continent 2. A decadent Empire with a break off kingdom in the North 3. A jihadist ethnicity attacking civilization 4. A "pantheon" of largely monotheistic Gods. I saw I could drop my Isles well to the east of Thonia. I am currently reading through FFC and the DA modules and tweaking my home campaign documents to integrate them with Blackmoor around the year 1024. I intend to run the DA series with native Blackmoor PCs this fall/winter.
I took a look at the D20 and the 4e Blackmoor supplements and they do not seem to me to be canon in the same way FFC/DA are. Has this been discussed? I look forward to discussing Blackmoor with you all.