12-09-2020, 12:52 PM
Havard Wrote:Aldarron Wrote:I'm 99% certain the Iron Duke is not mentioned at all in the d20 books. I don't recall ever seeing him mentioned. That may be because he was apparently not a Blackmoor character, but something TSR came up with.
There is a mention of the Iron Duke in p 174 of the D20 Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Sourcebook.
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This is the first time I hear that The Iron Duke might not have been created by Dave Arneson. I have seen no references to this character in the FFC or other tales from the First Fantasy Campaign, but still he is a central character in the era of Blackmoor's history after Uther's Revolt. He appeared in DA1 which was approved by Dave back in the 80s. Do you have other evidence to back this up?
-Havard
Nice Havard,
No time to really dig through DA1 at the moment, but my recollection is that the Iron Duke was created to serve as the mastermind behind the whole kidnap Uther plot which sets up the time travel business for the adventure.
I think none of that came from Arneson. Certainly the time travel aspect did not, not did details of "Thonia", and I doubt he had a plot where Uther was captured due to machinations from the Great Kingdom/Thonia.
It's possible, but I suspect the Iron Duke was inserted by TSR to provide a plot device for the time travel adventure.
The other thing is that I haven't heard anyone hint at an Iron Duke character. That doesn't at all mean there wasn't, but I have no reason to suspect there was such a person in any of Arneson's games. Most of the "real" characters get some kind of nod or treatment somewhere.