Wizards Cabal

[Havard]

Just posted a reply on your blog. Discuss here if you like?

Thanks for commenting Dan! Let's see...

Actually, I'm inclined to believe Arneson had an order of magnitude more influence over the d20 stuff than the TSR material. I'm quite convinced Ritchie et al. could and did do anything they liked with whatever notes and info Arneson gave them, and created a good deal of that material on thier own. The TSR line is a fair source for character info but is highly suspect in my eyes for almost anything else.

As mentioned elsewhere I suspect your scepticism towards the DA modules is exaggerated, but that doesnt really affect the topic at hand.

As such, anytime the d20 line contradicts the TSR line, I'd consider d20 to be the corrected version. FFC trumps it all of course....

I think the problem with this model is that it is too simple if you are trying to figure out what is Arneson's material. In some cases, the D20 line may have attempted to fix things Arneson didnt like in the DA modules (although DA4 is the only one he has expressed some disatisfaction with), but in many other cases the D20 additions are obvious results of ZGG attempting to accomodate new options in the D20 system.

OTOH, my objective is not to find out what whats true Arneson, but what I think will work well for a game

But not to digress too far off topic, I see the cabal in my Age of Id SWA campaign as being smaller, less powerful, and with a less colorful history, but otherwise mostly as presented in the Wizards Cabal book. They don't hunt down "sorcerors" (that strangely schizophrenic 3e concept makes no sense in Dragons at Dawn), but they are very actively interested in understanding and guarding the unusually strong magics associated with Blackmoor, and are thus closely allied with the elves. That they might have detractors and defectors - the Eldritch Underground (led by Pissaic perhaps?)- makes perfect sense.

Interesting ideas, but they don't work too well with the established timeline without some modification. The Wizards Cabal is only a couple of centuries old, while the incident with the Temple of Id happened 500 years ago. Pissaic ruled Blackmoor a century after that again.

As to some Wizards who might be involved with these organizations, a few of these may appear on my blog in the coming days

-Havard