Blackmoor at GenCon 2019

[Havard]

Its always nice to see the original fantasy RPG setting see some presence at the world's largest RPG convention! Origial Blackmoor Player and D&D designer Mike Carr was there running his Fight In the Skies game. The biggest Blackmoor related story to have come out of Gen Con 2019 is related to a certain documentary.

As reported by Secrets of Blackmoor, a screening of the Documentary by the same name was shown at Gen Con 2019, in Indianapolis this weekend. As the producers of the film were unable to attend, the event was organized by Gen Con Film Festival Organizer Chuck Budreau. It was recently announced to backers of the Kickstarter that the version distributed at vimeo would not be the final version of the documentary, but that these backers would recieve a revised version. It is unclear which version was screened at GenCon.

Did you attend GenCon 2019? Did you go to the screening of Secrets of Blackmoor? What were the highlights of your GenCon 2019 experience?

https://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/2 ... wn-at.html

-Havard

[aldarron]

Super cool. where did you get the pics Havard?

[Havard]

Super cool. where did you get the pics Havard?

They were snatched from the SoB Facebook page. I meant to link to that. Will fix it

-Havard

[RobJN]

The Plot Points Podcast host -- who has been working on a book about the '97 buyout of TSR by WotC -- did a "history of D&D in five minutes" part to his "Why TSR failed" lecture, in which me mentions Arneson and his interpretation that the Blackmoor that Dave ran for Gary is the first game of D&D.

https://plotpoints.libsyn.com/why-tsr-f ... 019-ep-153

I thought to myself "But Havard isn't at GenCon, is he?" when I heard the shouted "AMEN!" at the lecturer's insistence that Arneson is due more mention. :lol:

[Havard]

The Plot Points Podcast host -- who has been working on a book about the '97 buyout of TSR by WotC -- did a "history of D&D in five minutes" part to his "Why TSR failed" lecture, in which me mentions Arneson and his interpretation that the Blackmoor that Dave ran for Gary is the first game of D&D.

https://plotpoints.libsyn.com/why-tsr-f ... 019-ep-153

I thought to myself "But Havard isn't at GenCon, is he?" when I heard the shouted "AMEN!" at the lecturer's insistence that Arneson is due more mention. :lol:

That is an amazing podcast! I listened to the entire episode. I'm not sure I agree with every minutea of his version of what Dave did, but the podcaster gets credit for his adamant standing on Dave not getting enough credit. The rest of the podcast was also really good and this is where we get to what the guy specializes in. While I knew a good deal of this, there are many details and anecdotes that I was less familiar with and his whole composition/analysis of what went down is incredibly interesting.

-Havard

[finarvyn]

Arneson and his interpretation that the Blackmoor that Dave ran for Gary is the first game of D&D.

This is a particularly interesting thought.

So, I guess the reasoning is something like this: Arneson (and Wesely and others) were playing some games, but they weren't actually "D&D" at the time. Then, the birth of "D&D" happens when Dave demos a game for Gary because at that moment the collaboration between the two begins, with Dave supplying the concept and Gary supplying the structure. That moment in time would be counted as the instant when D&D was created.

Hmmm.

[aldarron]

...his interpretation that the Blackmoor that Dave ran for Gary is the first game of D&D....

This seems like a particularly strange interpretation, but I'll have to give a listen to the podcast to see what is meant. (sounds interesting anyway)

The idea is strange because it would seem to propose either that Gygax = D&D or Arneson somehow invented a new game on the car ride to Lake Geneva.

What Gygax played was a Blackmoor game - two actually if you count Megarry's Dungeon as part of that.

[Havard]

...his interpretation that the Blackmoor that Dave ran for Gary is the first game of D&D....

This seems like a particularly strange interpretation, but I'll have to give a listen to the podcast to see what is meant. (sounds interesting anyway)

The idea is strange because it would seem to propose either that Gygax = D&D or Arneson somehow invented a new game on the car ride to Lake Geneva.

What Gygax played was a Blackmoor game - two actually if you count Megarry's Dungeon as part of that.

I like the podcast episode, but I think the guy's real strength are the things dealing with the fall of TSR. His take on the origins of D&D were more anecdotal and probbaly mentioned because it was a nice nod to GenCon 50 years ago since that's where this seminar was given.

I agree that Gygax played a Blackmoor Game. And it wasn't the first, since these had already been going on for a while.

-Havard

[Greg]

...his interpretation that the Blackmoor that Dave ran for Gary is the first game of D&D....

I'm a bit late to the discussion, but I think this is a misguided interpretation. None of what I have to say will be new to anyone here, but I still think it's worth saying.

Strictly speaking, "D&D" didn't officially exist until it was published, but the reality is that the first-ever Blackmoor session that Dave Arneson ran is D&D. It's the game that evolved into and became D&D. If you're going to suggest that the Blackmoor game that Dave ran for Gary was the first game of D&D, why wouldn't you follow that logic back to the first Blackmoor session? Dave was running the same core game that he ran in the first Blackmoor session, although it had evolved and expanded since then.

D&D is still based largely on Dave's fundamental rules and concepts, many of which were adapted from or inspired by other game systems. As I've said before, Gary's key contribution was in gettting inspired, encouraging the collaboration, and doing much of the work to codify the rules, build out the system, turn it into a publishable game, and launch the business side of D&D.

But Dave effectively created the fantasy role playing game and created D&D. Without his contributions, the sessions he ran, and the rules he developed, there is no D&D as we know it. Yes, the Blackmoor game that Dave ran for Gary can be said to be the beginning of their collaboration, which led to the official condification and publication of D&D as a game. But the true origin of D&D traces back to that first Blackmoor session. That was effectively the first game of D&D, and every time anyone sits down to play the game today, regardless of the version, you're playing the same core game that Dave ran during that first session.

[Secrets of Blackmoor]

I listened a bit to that "history" and so much was wrong I just sighed and hit the stop button.

If that much is wrong, how much else is wrong?