03-26-2011, 10:29 AM
I dunno if you guys have long since scrutinized this, but I'm seeing puzzling things about the descriptions of the "great rain of fire" and the interior of the comeback inn as described in DA1.
Maybe, some of what I'm seeing is descrepencies between Dave's original ideas and later developments at TSR? I would guess that most of the layout and interior description of the inn comes from Daves notes. It seems likely he would have written that up.
Here's the thing; we are told flately that the cataclysm happened 1000 years after Uther becomes king, and house Andahar is ended in it.
Thus, the inn should reflect the year 2014, more or less, right?
Yet, when we read the room descriptions, everything points to a time period in, or not too long after, Uther's rule. Certainly there is nothing to indicate 1000 years of history had passed. No tributes to later emperors or heroes, new names, non Uther era coins etc.
There is also a few references to the cataclysm resulting from Uthers patronage of techno gadgetry. Seems odd that something happening 1000 years in the future is blamed on Uther.
In the last paragraph of page 2, "one thousand years before the catyclism" Blackmoor is very strangely referred to as Thonia's "least and newest province", hinting that either the author was unaware of Blackmoor's long history or that the cataclism was around the time of Uther. The next couple sentences seem to support the thousand years after Uther date by refering to a "petty baron" who seems to be Uther, but maybe thay could have been added later to "correct" the cataclism date? Its that "newest and least province" that seems confusing here. Is Ritchie pading and reworking something Arneson wrote to change his timeline?
Particularly curious in light of the previous paragraph on page 2. It says "For a thousand years, first as a half forgotton province, then as an independant kingdom, then as a keystone of a faltering empire..."
Again here Blackmoor is either a very new province, or Ritchie/TSR is confusing Arneson's start date for the thousand year history of Blackmoor. Arneson gives "a thousand years" for Blackmoor and ritchie thinks its a thousand years from the time of the first fantasy campaign and Uther, rather than a thousand years before Uther. I'm beginning to think that's exactly what happened.
Also note the "Faltering Empire" bit. Apparently Uther or an heir conquers and subjugates Thonia.
One thing that makes this question of the dating of the rain of fire interesting is that on page 20 we are given a list of the 9 last Thonian emperors, going back 100 years. The list is very curios because it is extremely detailed, giving the name of the Emporer and length of the reign. There's no good reason for Ritchie to have made up such a list. Except for the last emperor, the details have no bearing whatever on this module or any of the later stuff. Could this be Arnesons list? A list meant to be contemporary with Uther's time and not 1000 years later?
Maybe, some of what I'm seeing is descrepencies between Dave's original ideas and later developments at TSR? I would guess that most of the layout and interior description of the inn comes from Daves notes. It seems likely he would have written that up.
Here's the thing; we are told flately that the cataclysm happened 1000 years after Uther becomes king, and house Andahar is ended in it.
Thus, the inn should reflect the year 2014, more or less, right?
Yet, when we read the room descriptions, everything points to a time period in, or not too long after, Uther's rule. Certainly there is nothing to indicate 1000 years of history had passed. No tributes to later emperors or heroes, new names, non Uther era coins etc.
There is also a few references to the cataclysm resulting from Uthers patronage of techno gadgetry. Seems odd that something happening 1000 years in the future is blamed on Uther.
In the last paragraph of page 2, "one thousand years before the catyclism" Blackmoor is very strangely referred to as Thonia's "least and newest province", hinting that either the author was unaware of Blackmoor's long history or that the cataclism was around the time of Uther. The next couple sentences seem to support the thousand years after Uther date by refering to a "petty baron" who seems to be Uther, but maybe thay could have been added later to "correct" the cataclism date? Its that "newest and least province" that seems confusing here. Is Ritchie pading and reworking something Arneson wrote to change his timeline?
Particularly curious in light of the previous paragraph on page 2. It says "For a thousand years, first as a half forgotton province, then as an independant kingdom, then as a keystone of a faltering empire..."
Again here Blackmoor is either a very new province, or Ritchie/TSR is confusing Arneson's start date for the thousand year history of Blackmoor. Arneson gives "a thousand years" for Blackmoor and ritchie thinks its a thousand years from the time of the first fantasy campaign and Uther, rather than a thousand years before Uther. I'm beginning to think that's exactly what happened.
Also note the "Faltering Empire" bit. Apparently Uther or an heir conquers and subjugates Thonia.
One thing that makes this question of the dating of the rain of fire interesting is that on page 20 we are given a list of the 9 last Thonian emperors, going back 100 years. The list is very curios because it is extremely detailed, giving the name of the Emporer and length of the reign. There's no good reason for Ritchie to have made up such a list. Except for the last emperor, the details have no bearing whatever on this module or any of the later stuff. Could this be Arnesons list? A list meant to be contemporary with Uther's time and not 1000 years later?