Lore and Information on Blackmoor D20 Map Locations?

[aldarron]

Not necessarily.  There is no particular reason to think the wine bottle or the king list in the desk drawer is from a post-Uther  age. Actually there are several reasons to think otherwise.

I had to go back to the source to check the details, but as I seemed to recall the information about the rulers goes back to DA1 p 20. This section lists all the rulers who reigned the Empire of Thonia during the last centuring before the Great Rain of Fire. Ning I is specifically mentioned as a ruler who reigned for 16 years and the timeframe matches Zompatore's timeline. The Wine bottle mentioned elsewhere could be a reference to the same ruler, but it could also be dedicated to a different person with the same name.

-Havard

Yes that's the list, and thanks for pointing out the reference to the cataclysm. By "cannon" then these would have to be later. My theory though has been that this list might have been made by Arneson prior to the creation of the time travel narrative. 

First, the general description of the layout and contents of the Comeback Inn go back to Arneson. Yes TSR totally re-wrote it to fit the time travel narrative that allowed them to shoe-horn the setting into ancient Mystara, but the Inn was fleshed out to some extent by Arneson prior to turning over materials to TSR. So it's conceivable that Arneson came up with the name - maybe.

We don't know exactly how the writing process between Ritchie and Arneson worked do we? 
-Havard

We do, in fact. We have papers from David Ritchie and statements from Arneson, and even a few from Bruce Heard - all corroborating the same process.

Arneson had prepared materials for "Blackmoor Chrinicles" that included adventure outlines, magic items, character write-ups, and maps, including the interior map of the ComeBack Inn, the town of Blackmoor, and of course the FFC maps. (We don't know how extensive or developed the adventure outlines were, but probably fairly complete for at least the first 3.)

This packet was turned over to TSR, and that was the last that Arneson had to do with the project. TSR turned the materials over to David Ritchie who was tasked with creating Blackmoor as a TSR product placed into Mystara. To this end, Ritchie created new characters, a new storyline, many new locations, and in general fleshed out the setting as he thought best per the instructions he was working under. He also wrote all the published adventures using the Arneson material as his touchstone for three of the four.

In short, Arneson submitted material and TSR drew from it as they saw fit, without any further input from Mr. Arneson. Arneson and Ritchie had no correspondence on the project, and Arneson had no idea so much would be altered and re-cast.  This is particularly evident in Arneson's letter to Bob Meyer, where he crows about finally getting Blackmoor published and provides Bob with the character write up Arneson wrote for Robert the Bald. Arneson clearly thought it would be published as is. Unfortunately this brings up the related fact that for reasons unclear to me, changes were made to Arneson's material that were, let's say, less than kind. Arneson's Robert the Bald was presented as a noble wizard, whereas the published version presents a peevish jerk for some reason. Similarly, the Arn Yonson character is hard to see as anything but a clownish dig at Arneson. Maybe these things were done for the sake of more variety or something, but the point isn't to dig at TSR or Ritchie at all, but rather to illustrate that Arneson was hands off on all these changes and had no idea how far they had gone.

In any case, Arneson did give final approval of DA1-3 so IMO it all counts as his work.
I also think the overall framework of the DA modules, having them placed in the past etc could have been part of the legal negotiations between Arneson and TSR. The DA modules explicitly state "Dave Arneson was the co-creator of D&D"  which is something Arneson likely asked for.
Ultimately, this is why I rate the DA modules as the epitome of Blackmoor material.
-Havard

I'm not sure about "final approval". I think it was fiat accompli by the time Arneson saw the DA series adventures. I would also agree that there is surely a lot of Arneson's material and influence peppered into them, but its really hard to untwist that multi-layered knot. The time travel business had nothing to do with any negotiations. According to Ritchie, he invented the idea as a way of fitting the setting into Mystara, which is where his bosses decided to put Blackmoor. It is doubful to me Arneson knew anything about it until he had the finished product in his hands. Let me be clear though that none of my thoughts here should have anything to do with what anyone's personal "epitome of the setting" may be. Ultimately its all about what flavour you like best, not who wrote it. I guess if I were to pick, Garbage Pits of Despair would be my epitome, but its bones are sadly thin.