[NEWS] Mark Rein-Hagen to revive Blackmoor?

[finarvyn]

Not that building onto someone else's stuff is a bad thing, but it can be a very different thing. There are days when I wish that SW had stopped with only one movie. I might have been a lot happier.

World without Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi? hock:

Ah, you lost me there man

Off topic, clearly, but to me Star Wars has many layers, starting with the most fundamental and slowly expanding from there.

(1) The original movie. Period.

(2) The original movie plus extras pre-ESB. This includes the Daley novels on Han Solo and Foster's "Splinter of the Mind's Eye."

(3) The original trilogy. ANH, ESB, RotJ.

And so on. The thing for me is that I lived for years where "Star Wars" was only a single movie, and those were some of my big gaming years as well. While I enjoy and appreciate the whole trilogy, sometimes I wish it had stopped with the original.

[RobJN]

How 'bout that Christmas Special??

[finarvyn]

How 'bout that Christmas Special??

I'm sure I saw it back in the day, but really don't recall much about it at all. I know that it exists on youtube somewhere and I keep intending to go watch it again (even though I hear such bad things about it) but my Windows-XP computer at home is soooo slooooow when I try to watch videos online.

[Neko Princex]

And so on. The thing for me is that I lived for years where "Star Wars" was only a single movie, and those were some of my big gaming years as well. While I enjoy and appreciate the whole trilogy, sometimes I wish it had stopped with the original.

Well you can thank the production company for that. The original vision George Lucas had was to make the first trilogy saga into one epic movie.

[Havard]

I think this goes back to the classic movie discussion. Do sequels and remakes ruin the original? While I understand where you are coming from, I think this is simply not true.

We will always have the originals. Even if the sequels and remakes suck, they could still inspire new generations to investigate the originals.

The same goes for Blackmoor in my opinion. The Da modules were my gateway to discovering the FFC and Arneson's earlier material. I would like for new generations to have the same opportunity.

-Havard

[Mythlym]

I was thrilled to hear about this!

Confused and disappointed at peoples reaction to it.

I would love to see Blackmoor published and on the tables once again.

While I also hold some slight reservations about another's take on Daves work, I also realize that without it and without even more building on that work, the setting eventually will be dead.

One day each of us will follow Dave to that big game table in the sky and unless we carry his work on and show new players the joy of Blackmoor, then one day Blackmoor Dungeon's doors will close to never open again. The Egg will stand unchallenged and the temple of the frog will be transplanted to the forgotten realms or some other setting.

The best way to do that is to keep Blackmoor in print and even expand on the original.

Blackmoor needs to be more than Daves Blackmoor to stay alive and grow, IMHO Dave didn't make Blackmoor to be complete and finished and like a bible that sits unaltered. He made it so we would love it just like he did and have fun with it and turn it into things he never dreamed of.

I once used Blackmoor as the setting for my Gamma World game (the last edition) and it was a blast. I wish someone had the talent to have released Gamma Blackmoor as a hardback setting! That would have rocked!

I'm just rambling now so I will cut out by saying, I love Blackmoor because it speaks to me in ways other settings do not. It's personal in strange ways. Kinda like the stories of King Arthur verse Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings while a great story is epic and huge and not very personal while King Arthur is often about a boy or man we can all identify with just trying to do the right thing in a world where doing the right thing often leads to a bad end.

[Rafael]

Now, to be fair, the reaction, even if fairly harsh so far, is understandable, given MRH's prior conduct. Not adequate, not nice, but, in the end, understandable. MRH will have to win back his fans, and in a big way.

I think we all can agree that we all would like to see a dignified version of Blackmoor back in print; but that's the particular trick that is so difficult to pull off. Regardless of actual legal ranifications, that is.

It's slowly dawning on me that Robert Conley's "Blackmarsh" might have been the best thing we might get, with regards to Blackmoor simulacra. I'd rather see that one expanded a bit, to be honest, than have a couple of people with no prior relation to the brand have a go at it. With C. A. Suleiman and Jeff Quinn, of course, it would a different matter, but as things are, their participation has not been confirmed.

[Mythlym]

I just spent several hours reading through what happened with the kickstarters ect... I wish I could say it took me by surprise but frankly gamers are no better than anyone else.

I have no respect or sympathy for most of those who were screaming at the man. They behaved like spoiled children from a B Movie! Good Grief! I realize they were not the majority of people but they certainly posted the most and screamed the loudest. Saying things they had no right to say.

Now yes it seems the backers had every right to be annoyed and expect better service than they got but to be honest if the man had heart issues and flacked on the whole deal and his backers never received jack, they still didn't have the moral high ground after all the crap I just read.

If I thought gamers were any different of a group than any other group of humans I would be ashamed for being one.

All that said however, it does give one pause when talk of another kickstarter is mentioned. If for no other reason than, why would the man want to go through that again? Any project unless trivial for that company is going to be MEGA late as one thing after another hits the fan. Wanting to do that again? Now that is good reason to hit the pause button.

[Rafael]

Not sure if a matter so small really warrants "hours" of research :wink: , but, yeah, all this reads like a pitiful trainwreck.

Now, don't get fooled by all the internet-drama, MRH lamentably has a history of failures at this point, and appears to be mostly reviled for his own bad personal conduct. And yet he chooses another project that banks on a content creator's supposed reliability, and requires an elevated degree of communication. Difficult to wrap one's head around that, to tell the truth, but RPG writers are also not always the best businessmen.

[Havard]

Not sure if a matter so small really warrants "hours" of research :wink: , but, yeah, all this reads like a pitiful trainwreck.

Now, don't get fooled by all the internet-drama, MRH lamentably has a history of failures at this point, and appears to be mostly reviled for his own bad personal conduct. And yet he chooses another project that banks on a content creator's supposed reliability, and requires an elevated degree of communication. Difficult to wrap one's head around that, to tell the truth, but RPG writers are also not always the best businessmen.

From what I understand there is no history of failures.

Mark Rein-Hagen created two kickstarters. Both of these were delivered upon. "Democracy: The Boardgame" took 2 years before it was delivered. That is a long time, but not unheard of when it comes to Kickstarters.

Some of the communication to the backers was indeed unfortunate, there is no way around that.

But a history of failures? I don't see it.

-Havard