Which BM Resources did you first start out with?

[Havard]

Which Blackmoor Resources was what you started out with when you first got into Blackmoor?

[AKsuel]

The DA series initially, though I possessed the Blackmoor supplement, it is very bare bones. Eventually I bought the 3.5 campaign version, I used it mainly to flesh out anything left out of the DA series.

[Havard]

I started out with Mystara and the DA series as well. Eventually got my hands on the 70s stuff in between the D20 releases.

Havard

[garolek]

The first substantial references to Blackmoor that I owned were contained in the Hollow World boxed set, and I was aware of it on the World of Greyhawk maps.

Years later I found The First Fantasy Campaign in a used bookstore and grabbed it after a short leafing-through. Years after that, I snagged the white box OD&D through eBay, and the generous soul who sold it surprised me by including all of the supplements in the box (complete with crayon and pencil coloured drawings :lol: ).

It wasn't until even later that I managed to get the DA series.

I don't have anything newer than those, but I have been dithering back and forth about buying some of CMP's pdfs (I don't have a local game store any more )... I thought perhaps I would try 4e and use Blackmoor as a setting, but I kept using my house rules and own setting for games.

I've never run an official Blackmoor game, but I have used a heavily modified version of The Temple of the Frog and I have used the Ruined Temple of the ID Monster to test ( and laugh with :twisted: ) my players.

How much of the most recent Blackmoor books is just setting information, and how much rules crunch?

Alfred

[AKsuel]

I have never been able to find a decent copy of First Fantasy Campaign. Either too expensive or too jacked up. Maybe someday.....

[Havard]

The first substantial references to Blackmoor that I owned were contained in the Hollow World boxed set, and I was aware of it on the World of Greyhawk maps.

IMO the Mystara line did a great job in raising awareness about Blackmoor. If you have seen some of the continental maps Ive done for Blackmoor (in the Thonia thread for instance), I am still using a modified version of the HW boxed set Pre-Cataclysmic map as a basis.

Years later I found The First Fantasy Campaign in a used bookstore and grabbed it after a short leafing-through. Years after that, I snagged the white box OD&D through eBay, and the generous soul who sold it surprised me by including all of the supplements in the box (complete with crayon and pencil coloured drawings :lol: ).

Now there's a box I would have loved to own.

I've never run an official Blackmoor game, but I have used a heavily modified version of The Temple of the Frog and I have used the Ruined Temple of the ID Monster to test ( and laugh with :twisted: ) my players.

You have actually used the Temple of Id scenario as presented in the FFC? hock: :lol:

How much of the most recent Blackmoor books is just setting information, and how much rules crunch?

Depends on the book. The Player's Guide, Clock & Steam and the Wizard's Cabal are probably the most rules heavy. I think the Campaign Guide (3E) or the First Campaign (4E) are worth getting for the good overview of the setting, even though much of it comes from the DA series.

Havard

[Havard]

I have never been able to find a decent copy of First Fantasy Campaign. Either too expensive or too jacked up. Maybe someday.....

It's really a wonderful supplement. Then again, it requires a bit of effort to dive into it.

Havard

[aldarron]

I bought the DA series TotF the second it showed up in waldenbooks in the '80s, entirely becuase I was really intrigued by this elusive Dave Arneson character whom I knew had co created the game with Gygax but had seen nor heard nothing of since. (no google then!) I remember being profoundly dissapointed with all the travel back in time, destruction of Blackmoor stuff. Having never really heard of Blackmoor and not being into the Mystara setting, I thought the whole story made no sense. When I ran the module with my players I left out time travel and just set the Temple in a swamp on my campaign map. Was a lot of fun.

[RobJN]

I, too, started off the the elusive "Kingdom that existed before the Great Rain of Fire" references in the later Mystara material. Most of my exposure came from having heard of the DA series, and what little there was in the Hollow World and Wrath of the Immortals boxed sets.

It was only when I got all growed up that I had the money to pony up for a copy of DA1 off E-bay (quasi birthday present one year from the missus).

In working my way though Thorn's Chronicle, I'm basing huge chunks of the history off of what I gleaned from DA 1.

[Havard]

This thread deserves a bump with all the new arrivals

-Havard