03-16-2011, 04:16 PM
Havard Wrote:Aldarron, I think that your estimation of the DA modules is unreasonably harsh. The references to Mystara are limited to the introductiory sections of each module. Consider that even Greyhawk fans use the DA modules to detail Greyhawk's Blackmoor
Heh, it is harsh with respect to DA4 in particular, but only in terms of it being "original" Blackmorian. Nothing wrong with it, or the others as adventures per se. Ritchie was a pretty good writer - no complaints there. And don't misunderstand me regarding Mystara. I think it is pretty cool how Mystara grew organically from the world of D&D. My old campaign was based out of Specularum. My issue with DA4 is two fold. First the image of the Duchy of Ten is radically different from the admittedly limited info present in the FFC, and second Arneson himself was less than happy with it and by his own admission, had virtually no input in it. If the DA series is the starting point, then it hardly matters who wrote what, but in trying to flesh out an FFC based Blackmoor with later material, well, I don't recognize Ritchie as having the same authority as Arneson, or any of the players, so I don't put any more or any less stock in his ideas than any other fan created material.
Quote:David Ross/Zimriel is IMO one of the Blackmoor scholars I respect the most and even though he concluded that Blackmoor should be its own world, he worked on a combination of the DA modules and the FFC as well as some correspondence with Arneson himself. I think it is pretty useful to compare the DA modules to the D20 line to find out what was added by Dustin Clingman, Jeff Quinn and the others at ZGG.
Just my 2 copper pieces.
Absolutely. Ross work is really thorough and I hope he will join in the discussions here some day. Of course I worked off his timeline by double checking all his sources and comparing dates to TWC. That's why I'm quite sure he got those dates for Ra-All wrong. Even if he was working off a "present" of 1025 per the DA series "50 years ago" is 975 not 985 and there's no reason to think the "present" in the FFC is anything except 1000-1005. There's also no clear reason why the 2nd coot invasion forces other events from the real year 1973 into a new game year (998). There's no evidence for that in the FFC and he gives no other source.