The before Thonia world of Blackmoor

[aldarron]

I'm leaning toward not putting any province names. Rereading Robert the Balds adventures where Bob talks about his character carving out a Barony sw of Blackmoor got me to thinking that many of the Kingdoms and provinces of the north are probably not very stable places. I imagine those provinces to come and go as populations and settlements rise and fall or return to wild places. As such its prolly better to leave the Great Kingdom and the north a blank slate with only major settlements and some of the more stable kingdoms marked. That way anybody can flesh it out as they please for the time period they are aiming for.

Any ideas on where to place Mohacs or any other cities/settlements that ought to be on it?

[Havard]

I'm leaning toward not putting any province names. Rereading Robert the Balds adventures where Bob talks about his character carving out a Barony sw of Blackmoor got me to thinking that many of the Kingdoms and provinces of the north are probably not very stable places. I imagine those provinces to come and go as populations and settlements rise and fall or return to wild places. As such its prolly better to leave the Great Kingdom and the north a blank slate with only major settlements and some of the more stable kingdoms marked. That way anybody can flesh it out as they please for the time period they are aiming for.

Any ideas on where to place Mohacs or any other cities/settlements that ought to be on it?

I agree that provinces and baronies etc could be frequently changing. I see a province as a group of duchies by the way. Cities are usually formed near rivers or on the coast. Can't remember anything more specific. Each province probably has its own "Capital". IMC Geneva is one of the provinces rather than the name of the entire Kingdom.

Havard

[Rafael]

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohács

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbán_Province

As to the Iron Duke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wel ... Wellington


:wink:

[Rafael]

As I said to Havard somewhere else, I have figured out the pattern that Mr Arneson used to create his names.

[aldarron]

IMC Geneva is one of the provinces rather than the name of the entire Kingdom.

Havard

Yeah, I was thinking city at first, but saw some posts somewhere with Great Kingdom of Geneva and the FFC says king of ALL Geneva so it has to be more than a city and sounds like its meant to encompass several territories. Could be a barony though I guess, but since its Robert the firsts title I think it sounds like it refers to something bigger, like the continent or a large section of it. But I really think it was just a compliment that Arneson was paying to young RJK without having any geography in mind at all.

[Rafael]

I think one has to understand that the initial D&D sessions were played in the dungeon, background info was nice, but never required to be coherent.

So, yeah, they made up on the spot what seemed to fit the situation best.

[Rafael]

When I think of BM in its original version, I think of this map, and mostly, this map only:

[gsvenson]

When I think of BM in its original version, I think of this map, and mostly, this map only:

And I see all of the buildings, hills and trees set up on Dave's ping pong table with the river, lake and roads drawn on brown paper that covers the table top right when we came down the stairs to the basement to start the game. No need for a map, even on the first adventure.

[Rafael]

Of course. I mean it in the sense that trying to reconstruct every new idea you implement while gaming might maybe be too much to ask. From what I understand, the places that where effectively Mr Arneson's dungeons are:

- BM, of course

- The temple of the Id

- Glendower Dungeon

- Loch Gloomen

- The temple of the Frog

- The City of the Gods

---At least for first few years of the campaign. Correct me, if I am wrong, but weren't the rest of the places principally introduced as sources for the different characters' backgrounds?

[aldarron]

Who drew that map Rafe? I've never seen a Blackmoor town map on graph paper with numbers and letters on the side. Is it Dave's original?