Here Lurks the True Heart of the Black Raven: 2018

Friday, October 5, 2018

Complete Dave Arneson/Blackmoor List 2018

Reposted with Permission from The Ruins of Murkhill Forum
Copied from Xizallian's Place as is.

Compiled Complete List (of everything we can locate)

Pre-Announcement of Dave Arneson Game Day October 1, 2018 posted on 9/22/2018

Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 Coming Up!

(Eight Days a Week)(Google if you don't get the reference

Monday, October 1, 2018

Dave Arneson Game Day today October 1st, 2018

Happy Birthday Dave Arneson!

I am going to take a look at Adventures in Fantasy in part and note some of the ideas that he gave us to help us have fun with our games.

In Adventures in Fantasy in the volume titled Book of Creatures and Treasure is where we find Dragons.

Right away we find out a few things about Dragons. (I am putting a lot of this in quotes even when I have paraphrased it.

Average Hit Points:Variable
Movement: Ground:Variable
Movement: Flying:Variable
Alignment:Variable
Body Type: Scaled
Hit Dice:Variable

The Dragon is the most puisant, deadly and intelligent of all creatures.
Of all his attributes the individuality of the Dragon must be stressed the most.
Each Dragon is individual in its appearance, interests and personality and these factors must be simulated to adequately do justice to the species called Dragon.
He the spends several pages showing you how to create Dragons.
All Dragons breath fire and can only use it every fourth turn.
The difference between sorcererous magic and Dragon Magic is that Dragon magic is due to the innate supernatural powers of the Dragon.
A sorcerer is but an instrument of a greater force; the Dragon is a force in and of Himself.

Quite a bit of space is spent on Dragons.

The write-ups of monsters are IMO considerably different from D&D and well worth using.

Another long section is on Magic Swords.

The sword of all magical items is most intensely tied to the wielder. The sword is the symbol of the wielder's power, it shares his life and has a life of its own. Inherited swords are inherited only by the eldest son of the wielder.

Inherited swords will always perform dependably with their full attributes for the possessor.

Swords garnered other than through inheritance will react unpredictably and will usually be unusable more often than not.

Swords are much more versatile and have a wider range of powers than in D&D.

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day SEVEN

What is your favorite part of Blackmoor of The First Fantasy Campaign? For me it has to be the bad guys that Arneson came up with. Let's take a look.

First here is part of how Arneson introduces these bad guys

The intention of this secret list (which supercedes list No.4, which was burned before being sent out, to avoid panic) is to supply Judges operating in the Blackmoor area with guidelines for setting up these horrible characters. It will also save you all the trouble of saying you made them up yourselves, now you can blame me when the Level Fourteen Lord is killed and he is unhappy about it.

First up is the Egg of Coot

This all consuming personality lives off the egos of others to support his own ego. At one time (millenia ago) of humanoid characteristics, today, his exact physical description is unknown.

He then speculates if the Egg of Coot still has a physical appearance and if so what it might be and that it is probably too horrible for a mortal to behold. Notes that surrogates carry out orders and the communication is direct mental contact or through voice transmission. The throne room contains a

huge old world artifact said to be an ancient war machine.

It then has a list of things that help define the Egg of Coot and concludes by saying

I fear the rest of the Creed is a bit too strong for our gentile(sic) readers ...

Next is Ran of Ah Fooh. This bad guy is stated to be as much a self-centered egotist as the Egg of Coot whose mania takes up a logical approach to all things and then treats those beliefs as a series of unalterable facts.
He is known to be of human appearance, is 7 foot 3 inches tall, Warrior skills of 10th level and does not suffer from fatigue. His magic is 10th level, but never uses less than a Level III spell because Level I and II spells are beneath him.

Among other things he is known for Dragon Breeding. He has a vast breeding area in the environs of Mount Rockey. Also mentioned are an Android (Zombie?)Army and Robots by the carload. As with the Egg of Coot there is a lot more to the description.

Then we have Gin of Salik who is one of the greatest Wizards in the world with the most powerful spells and of striking physical appearance.

Marfeldt the Barbarian with a brief description followed by A Short Biography.

Then the Duke of the Peaks a former ally of Ran of An Fooh.

He also details some of the good guys although this next one seems to be more of an anti-hero.

The Blue Rider a mighty Warrior who had a Sword of Blue Flame and rode a mighty Warhorse. His name was William of the Heath and his horse "Bill" and both were infamous. It is also said that he took up the challenge of being a good guy, although he retained his sleasy nature.

Mellow and the Hobbits. Mello being a lifelong sidekick of the Blue Rider.

The Great Svenny whom most have heard of who is a Paladin, the mightiest of Heroes.

The Bishop of the Church of the Facts of Life, the Doctrines of Whatever and the Interpreter of the Great Commentaries of Wishy-Washiness.

Chief of the Nomads, little is known but his military prowess is fearsome beyond belief.

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day SIX

It has to be quick today, as today is very busy, so I am going to provide a link to an interview with an original Blackmoor player Greg Svenson. This interview is from 2009 over on the blog Sham's Grog & Blog a fine blog by the way, you should read it.

Q & A with Greg Svenson

Part of the intro

With Dave Arneson's recent passing, our hobby lost one of the most important links to its earliest, formative days. Arneson & Gygax will be forever remembered as the coauthors and founders of Dungeons & Dragons, but there is so much more to Mr. Arneson that we were never truly allowed to learn while growing up in the 70s, 80s and beyond while playing the game that his Blackmoor campaign spawned. I've read with wonder the stories that Greg “Svenny” Svenson shared with readers at his website before it was taken down*. As a player in the original Blackmoor campaign, Greg is one of only a handful of gamers who were present to witness the fledgling game sessions which eventually gave rise to the entire table top role-playing genre (and beyond).

Here is a snippet of a long interview post

Sham: You were playing in Blackmoor before D&D was published, and again afterwards. What impact did the release of that version of the rules have upon Dave’s personal campaign?

Greg: As soon as a draft was available we started play testing with them, but I don’t think it really changed how the game went when Dave was the DM. That’s just my opinion. The big difference was that others (like me) were more easily able to DM. All of the sessions I DMed were part of the same Blackmoor campaign that Dave was running. Often I was helping players get to a higher level so they could survive with the other higher level players.

Sham: What was Dave’s early opinion of TSR’s 1974 D&D game? For that matter, what was the general opinion of you and the other players in Blackmoor when you finally saw the original D&D game?

Greg: Dave was excited about it, but I am not sure what he actually thought about it, I don’t remember him ever talking to me about it in that way. I thought it was one and the same thing with what we had already been doing for several years. So, I didn’t really see much of a difference.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day FIVE

I posted yesterday about my game on Saturday to honor Dave Arneson for Dave Arneson Game Day and one of my friends posted a comment that he is playing as well. I am planning to post a little about my game on Monday October 1st which is the official Dave Arneson Game Day, it will take me at least that long to go through my notes and do a brief writeup.

So I want to throw out a challenge to all of you to post about your game (if any) this weekend on the 1st (unless of course your game is on the first). Several of us are going to be doing a blog search to see how many posts we can find and we'll collect those over on the forum and then it will be easy to copy paste that to our blogs for a comprehensive link to those posts.

A point that I think needs to be made in reference to these celebrations is that we are not Pro-Arneson and Anti-Gygax. We believe that those who worship St Arneson and St Gygax are a pack of idiots. Neither man was a saint. But both men had a profound influence on our hobby. What we are is Pro-Proper Credit being given to each. The credit each deserves for what each did and not for what each did not do.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day FOUR

Even though Dave Arneson Game Day is on October 1st 2018, I'll be doing my gaming on Saturday September 29th, 2018.

Many people celebrate by gaming in Blackmoor, many even have Blackmoor as part of their own campaign and a similar thing happens with Greyhawk and Gygax. I don't do that myself, as I think that the spirit of the day is to do your own thing.

So this weekend, I and my friends will be gaming in my campaign world that I call The Blue Fire Diamond Campaign. I called it that because anything other than low level magic requires a focus gem and the highest potency magic is made with a Blue Fire Diamond as the focus gem. These are rare and hard to find and hard to obtain and hard to make it back to civilization with one.

We have a long running campaign with an average of eight players on game nights. Counting myself, we have three players from the early days of the campaign still around and playing. A mixed group of men and women, black and white, college and non-college. The only requirements are be a decent human being and have an imagination.

The campaign features unique creatures, magic, magic items and other stuff. Maybe as time goes by I will share some of those items here on the blog.

So what are you going to do to celebrate Dave Arneson Game Day? Are you doing something on the 1st of October or, like us, are you doing something this weekend?

Please share with us what you are up to, we'd love to hear how you are celebrating.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day THREE

Who is Dave Arneson and what is Blackmoor? While I'll have more to say about Supplement II at a later date, in the introduction to Blackmoor Supplement II Gary Gygax has this to say

Dave Arneson . . . Is there really such a creature? Yes, Gentle Readers, there is, and shudder when the name is spoken. Although he is a man of many talents who has authored many historic rules sets and games (which TSR will be publishing periodically), Dave is also the innovator of the “dungeon adventure” concept, creator of ghastly monsters, and inscrutable dungeonmaster par excellence. He devises complex combat systems, inexplicable dungeon and wilderness areas, and traps of the most subtle fiendishness. Herein you will get a taste of these, but he never reveals all. This writer always looks forward with great anticipation to an adventure in the “BLACKMOOR” campaign, for despite the fact that I co-authored the original work with Dave, and have spent hundreds of hours creating and playing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, it is always a fresh challenge to enter his “world.” I can not recommend him more highly than simply saying that I would rather play in his campaign than any other — that other dungeonmasters who emulate Dave Arneson will indeed improve their games. While eagerly anticipating yet more material from dread “Blackmoor Castle,” the following pages should satisfy your immediate craving for new ideas. Those of you totally committed to the fantasy adventure game may expect additional supplements from time to time, and isn’t that dark shape crouched over the desk of blackened oak, laughing fiendishly as glowing runes flow from his quill, remarkably similar to Arneson’s?

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day TWO

Celebrating BlackmoorWeek and the creator of Blackmoor, Dave Arneson who was born on October 1, 1947. Dave Arneson is the creator of Blackmoor and the creator and co-author of Dungeons & Dragons the game that has brought tons of fun to millions of RPG fans. If you play an RPG, any RPG, then you owe a debt of gratitude to Dave Arneson the creator of role-playing games.

So if you play an rpg, any rpg, then play a game this week in his honor. Some people play in their version of Blackmoor, some play an adventure module they have handy and some play in their own home brew game. I'm sure Dave Arneson would approve of all of these because above all he just wanted people to have fun and play games.

Blackmoor, the original most fun to be place.

Monday, September 24, 2018

Blackmoor Week Day ONE

This week September 24th through the 30th is Blackmoor Week and it culminates on October 1st which is Dave Arneson Game Day. Many of us will be gaming over the weekend to celebrate. Join us in remembering Dave Arneson the creator of table top role-playing, the world of Blackmoor and Dungeons & Dragons.

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Support the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary

This is a great project that they have been working on for five years. I appreciate that there was no Kickstarter way back. They have plugged away getting all of the interviews on film and organizing it and now they just need the funds to have the professionals help them turn the footage into a professional product for release. Please help support the final stage of this product.

If you have not seen posts in other places, Secrets of Blackmoor the documentary is trying to raise funds to offset expenses on the final stages of the film. Having seen that a lot of people over worked and under delivered on kick Starter we are trying a different approach. We are offering T-shirts for sale. These are original limited edition T-shirts by Bob Bledsaw of judges guild. Bob was kind enough to donate his art to the project.
So it isn't like you pay your money and... You didn't even get the T-shirt. *groan*
You can get a T-shirt here: www.secretsofblackmoor.com(navigate to the Shop and you are there!)

If that is not enough, if you get a shirt before Sept. 2, we will also give you a FREE access code to see a 35 minute draft of the film.
You can see a sample from the movie draft here:

You can also check out our blog where we post about all kinds of game related things:www.secretsofblackmoor.com/blog/quick-and-dirty-disposable-dungeons-part-1-the-map

Friday, July 27, 2018

Celebrating Gary Gygax Day

Today is Friday July 27th, 2018 the anniversary of Gary Gygax's birthday and he would be 80 were he still with us.

Grab some friends and go play a game, any game and hoist a beverage and toast his memory as someone who loved to play games. All that other stuff you could be thinking about, put it out of your mind and go have some fun with your friends. I have the feeling that is what Gary would be doing if he was still with us.

That's what I am going to do, how about you?

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Links to Dave Hargrave Day Posts and Even More Bonus Links

Riffing off of this blog post Links to Dave Hargrave Day Posts and a Bonus Link I decided to do my own deep diving into the Internet Archive and I came up with these links to share.

Last Stand by Paul P Mosher at the link click on Glimmers in the Night to get to this link

Whisper Crypt by Paul Mosher at the link click on the image besides Nexus Points then click on Vaults of Bone to get to this link

Fordham's Freehold by Ethan Karp at the link click on Glimmers in the Night to get to this link

The Tired Old Revenant by Bejamin Baugh at the link click on Glimmers in the Night to get to this link

Hope this whets your appetite for more things Arduin and Dave Hargrave.

Edit 12 27 2022: The old links have stopped working at the Internet Archive and I updated the links, but you have to navigate as now noted to read the articles.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Paul Mosher friend of Dave Hargrave has Passed On

Paul Mosher was a close friend of Dave Hargrave and he has now passed on into forever.

Have a mug of rummy tum ale all in Paul's honor as we celebrate his life and mourn his passing.

Here are Aprel’s words (Paul’s wife):

On Sunday April 15, 2018:

“I wanted to let you all know, that this morning with no fuss Paul quietly slipped from this world into ARDUIN forever. He had not been sick, and it was a real shock…Please let anyone else you think of know.”

On April 25, 2018:

“They have finally signed off on Paul's death certificate and he was cremated last night. I will be picking up his ashes Thur. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will be meeting with the Vet guy and will be getting the arrangements made for the memorial. “

Time to Celebrate Dave Hargrave Day May 25th

The Dream Weaver - that is a name to inspire you and it was Dave Hargrave who inspired the name. Now on May 25th his birthday, let's take a moment and remember what he created when he created Arduin and first brought it into the public eye.

The Arduin Trilogy is the first three books of the Arduin Grimoire reorganized and presented in a single volume pdf. It is not available in hard copy. I would love to get one if it were. Take a look at the table of contents with all of the material organized into categories and with clean typesetting and all very readable with all the benefits of the pdf format. The original three books were done on a typewriter with all the limitations that entails. Pick up the original Arduin Grimoire for flavor and then pick up this item to use.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedications 1 – 2
Dedication 2
Dedication 2
Special Dedication 2
Forwards 3 – 5
Forward 4
Forward 4
Opening Comments 4 – 5
Special Message To Fans Of Arduin 5
David Hargrave’s Words Of Wisdom 6 – 35
How To Play The Game 7 – 8
Point System 9
Notes On Player Character Types 10
Individualization Of New Player Characters 10
Notes On Character 10
New Character Hit Point System 11
Comments On The New Hit Point System 12
Notes On Natural Character AC 12
Notes On Character Functions, Capabilities, And Characteristics 13
Notes On Languages 13
Experience Level Chart 14 – 17
Notes On Treasure 18
Notes On Potions And The Like 18
Guild Fees 18
DM’s Versus Angry Players 19
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly 19
Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons 20 – 21
Notes On Alignment And Playability 22
Hargrave’s Detect Ability Chart 23
Random Trap Matrix 24
Notes On The Random Event Charts And Campaign World 25
Rope Breakage Chart 25
Resurrection And Other Notes 26
Notes On Travel 27 – 28
Movement Of Men And Monsters 29
Hargrave’s Magikal Equipment Saving Throw Matrix 30 – 31
Space Creatures And Other Aliens In Fantasy Role Playing Games 31
Energy Weapons In Fantasy Games 32
Miscellaneous Notes On Combat 33
Special Note On Combat 33
Special Note On Melee Movement 33
Real Medicine And Fantasy Gaming 34 – 35
Various Rules Changes 35
Rule Questions 35
Physical Character Appearance 36 – 48
Character Height Determination Chart 37 – 38
Character Weight Determination Chart 39
Optional Character Appearance Chart 40 – 41
Body Type Determination Table 42
Female Attributes Chart 42
True Strength Function Chart 43 – 45
Giant Strength Equivalency Chart 46
True Charisma And Its Meaning In Game Play 47
Special Physical Additional Bonuses 48
Player Character Resources 49 – 62
Character And Alignment Chart 50
Special Ability Charts 51 – 57
Character Aging 58
Character Social Status 58
Character Wealth Table 59
Character Legacy Chart 60
Owned Equipment Chart 61 – 62
New Player Character Races 63 – 66
Deodanths 64
Phraints 64 – 65
Saurigs 66
New Classes 67 – 100
Alchemist Class 68
Assassin Class 69 – 70
Barbarian Class 71
Bard Class 72
Courtesan Class 73 – 74
Druid Class 75
Forrester Class 76
Martial Artist Class 77 – 79
Medicine Man Class 80
Normals Class 81
Outlaw Class 82
Psychic Class 83
Rune Singer Class 84 – 85
Rune Weaver Class 86
Sage Class 87
Saint Class 88 – 89
Slaver Class 90 – 91
Star Powered Mage Class 92 – 93
Techno Class 94 – 95
Trader (Merchant) Class 96
True Paladin Class 97 – 98
Witch Hunter Class 99 – 100
Character Limitations 101 – 108
Character Limitation Chart 102 – 103
Condensed Character Limitation Chart 104 – 107
Condensed Character Limitation Chart 108
Character Saving Rolls 109 – 115
Character Saving Roll Chart By Race 110 – 111
Character Saving Roll Chart By Class 112 – 113
Character Type Saving Throw List 114
Saving Roll Chart For All Stoning Of The Glance Or Gaze Variety 115
Class Errata And Resources 116 – 122
Special Errata Notice 117
Clerical Spells, Healing, Regenerating, And Such Like 117 – 118
Black Clerics 118
Special Note On Thieves And Thievery 118 – 121
Reworking The Clerical Curing And Healing System 122
Techno Magik 122
The Multiverse 123 – 128
The Multiverse 124
Guilds And Societies Of The Arduinian Cycle 125
Rank And Royalty Chart 126
Principle Wild Tribes Of The Arduinian Nexus 127 – 128
Money and Valuables 129 – 139
Value Chart For Coinage 130 – 131
Precious Gems, Semiprecious Gems, And Other Valuables 132 – 138
Price Examples For The Arduinian Universe 139
Wergild 139
Multiversal Trading Company 140 – 152
Multiversal Trading Company Price List 141 – 143
Loan Rates And Other Information 144
Price List For Goods 145 – 146
Price List For Specialty Magik Items 147 – 148
Magik Item Price List 149 – 150
Magik Weaponry Value Chart 151 – 152
Weapons 153 – 165
General Notes On Weapons 154
Weapon Classification Tables 154
Weapon Attack Chart 155
Weapon Damage Table 156 – 157
Missile Weapon Attack Chart 158
Missile Damage Table 159 – 160
General Gunnery Charts 161 – 162
Non-Weapon Attack Matrix (Claws And Things) 163
Weapon’s Breakage Chart 164 – 165
Fighting Tools 166 – 175
Combat 167 – 168
Main Combat Table 169
Brawl Chart 170 – 171
Melee Chart 172
Miscellaneous Notes 173
Combat Rules 174
Notes On Fighting Men And The Use Of Weapons 175
Escape And Evasion 176 – 181
Escape Tables 177 – 180
Overland Escape And Evasion Chase Chart 181
Criticals And Fumbles 182 – 187
Hargrave’s Fumble Table 183
Hargrave’s Critical Hit Table 184 – 185
Critical Hit Table For Non-Weapon Wounds 186 – 187
Undead 188 – 190
Notes On Undead 189
Clerical Turn Away Chart 190
Monster Data 191 – 205
Notes On Monsters 192
Dinosaur Chart 193 – 194
Sea Creature List 195 – 196
Werecreatures Combat Chart 197 – 198
Overland (Water) Monster Encounter Chart 199 – 201
Monsters 202
Dragon Determination Chart 202
True Elementals 203 – 204
Experience Chart For Monster Slaying 205
New Monsters 206 – 258
New Monsters 207 – 216
New Monsters 217 – 228
New Monsters 229 – 258
Magik 259 – 269
Magik In Arduin 260 – 262
Prismatic Walls And Their Usages 262 – 264
Rune Weaver Magik’s Wondrous Webs of Power 265 – 266
Notes On Magik 267 – 269
Spells 269
Mana And The Cost Of Spell Power 269
New And Unusual Spells 270 – 307
New And Unusual Spells 271 – 276
New And Unusual Spells 277 – 285
New Spells 286 – 307
New Magikal Treasures 308 – 327
New Magikal Treasures 309 – 312
New Treasures 313 – 319
New Magikal Items 320 – 327
Golems 328 – 330
New Golem Types 329
Golem Construction 330
Heaven And Hell 331 – 367
Principal Religious Sects In Arduin And The World 332 – 334
Angels 335
Demon Lore 336 – 337
The 21 Planes Of Hell 338 – 340
Lesser Demons 341 – 344
New Lesser Demons 345 – 348
Greater Demons 349
Hargrave’s Demon Lore Greater (Named) Demons Of The Arduinian Cycle 350 – 366
Hell Spirals 367
Game Master Resources 368 – 382
Dungeon Master’s Solo Determination Charts And Notations 369 – 373
Random Encounter Chart 374
Encounter Reaction Roll Chart 375
Random Life Style Changes 375
Reincarnation Charts 376
Character Resurrection Chart 377 – 378
Most Malignant And Malefic Miseries Known 379 – 380
Notes On Fantastic Beings 381 – 382
Dungeons 383 – 392
Dungeons 384
Key To Dungeon “Sign Posts” 385 – 387
Dungeon Monster Encounter Chart 388 – 390
Random Fog And Mist Generation Chart For Dungeon Rooms 391 – 392

Take a look through that list of contents, you should already have a dozen or a hundred ideas percolating just looking that it. Reading it is an experience you don't want to miss. The wealth of ideas is mindboggling and is in my mind the ultimate OD&D supplement.

Oh and my favorite parts are the spells and the "Magikal" Treasures. I will write about them another day before long.

Happy Birthday to Dave Hargrave and thank you for being an idea cornucopia in an idea stingy world.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Coming Soon! Dave "The Dream Weaver" Hargrave Day May 25th

May 25th is the Birthday of Dave Hargrave also known as The Dream Weaver. Dave Hargrave is the creator of Arduin and it one of the all time great's of the early RPG world. Please join with us on May 25th to post in honor of Dave Hargrave and to celebrate his life and Arduin his creation.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

The First FRPG (OD&D) and World Building - Original Edition RPG Appreciation Day(OERAD)

Original Edition RPG Appreciation Day - May 5th, 2018. Celebrating OD&D and all its derivatives.

I don't know about all of you, but as an old school OD&D referee one of my greatest pleasures in life is World Building. Some fear that blank white paper and writer's block, but when it comes to World Building, not me.

Now don't get me wrong I can struggle with inspiration on other things just like anyone else, just not with World Building. With World Building just give me some paper, a pen and let me be, I'm good.

I think I have read everything that ERB published in book form and those books are a rich deposit with many deep fans of ore than can be mined and mined and mined for ideas and inspiration. The worlds of Tarzan that stretch all the way to Pellucidar, the worlds of John Carter from Barsoom to Jasoom. The Amtor of Carson Napier.

I have always loved the world of Amtor, especially the forests of massively giant trees.

There there are the stories of REH and the worlds of Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, El Borak, Dark Agnes de Chastillon, Solomon Kane, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey and Breckinridge Elkins.

The Middle Earth of JRRT and dozens nay hundreds of other worlds by other author's that must go unmentioned.

Then of course are the real world atlases and geography books, maps galore, Google Earth and the NASA images of the planets and moons.

But that is all just ideas and inspiration. It is when you put pen/pencil to paper that things really start. Now I am not an artist and kudos to those that are, but those pitiful little marks I make on paper are enough to evoke the images they represent and along with the brief written descriptions they allow me to present the world to the players during the game.

When you reach the swamp it is overcast and muggy, the air is still and the stench of rotting vegetation is overpowering. You think you see vestiges of a path, but it is obvious you will have to do a lot of wading. There are grassy hummocks here and there among the trees and the downed rotting logs. Big leafy pads cover pools of unknown depth and occasional bubbles break the water now and then. The biting insects buzz around you in clouds and from within the swamp emanate all manner of sounds from large insects to "other" creatures. One loud booming sound seems to be of something large, how large and how aggressive? Do you want to continue into the swamp?

I can picture every rock and every rill, every blade of grass, every grain of sand and every leafy branch. All the fauan and flora the world has to offer. Rivers, oceans, streams, creeks, ice caps, deserts, mountains, plains, broad valleys, rolling hills, grasslands, forests, savannahs, swamps, marshes, wooded hills, broken wastelands and more.

Monsters of all types; humanoids of greater and lesser intelligence, appetites with legs, every manner of undead, tiny insects by the billions, giant insects, giant snakes, venomous creatures of every stripe, giants, mage created monstrosities, odd hybirds, dragons and much more.

Cannibals, head hunters, bandits, pirates, armies, and bureacrats. Merchants, farmers, sliversmith, armorers and every kind of person. The honest and good, the corrupt, the evil and the insane.

The vilest of real world religions and cults, to mythology, to invented pantheons and invented religions and cults (though it is tough to try to top the real thing), they all go into the storehouses to be brought forth and used at need.

There is so much evil in the real world, so many vile perverse cultures, beliefs and practices that there is no need to make things up. But make it up we must, even if we are only filing off the serial numbers and changing names to protect the guilty, less your time would be consumed by the fake outrage from the Guild of the Perpetually Offended and from the Guild of Defend the Indefensible at All Costs.

I also write of the many races/species of men and demi-humans who together fight the good fight to preserve and defend civilization against all comers. I also write of the many races/species of the monstrous who along with traitorous treacherous human/demi-human scum war against civilization, who seek to destroy and erase humanity/demi-humanity from the face of the world.

The heroes are the black, brown, olive, red, swarthy, white and yellow races/species of man, based on the seven species and the sub-species
that are found in the real world along with all the mixed of the same. The Villians are the many species of monsters and the traitors who are black, brown, green, olive, purple, red, swarthy, white and yellow, the furred, the leather-skinned and the armored and all manner of odd variations.

Ancient kingdoms, ancient ruins, young kingdoms, city states, tribes, clans, farmland, merchant caravans, trading ships, warships, pirates ships and trade routes.

All of these and more go into creating a living breathing world with a history, a present and a future with or without the PC's. The breath, depth and detail will vary from ref to ref depending on the available time, but World Building is something every old school Referee can, should and does do.

In an old school world there are no railroads in the sense of adventure paths that the PC's are forced to follow. Now in some variations, steampunk OD&D anyone, there may be real physical railroads and players are not forced to use them.

All of this just touches the surface of World Building. This is not even getting started, this is just the barest shallowest taste of what World Building is.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Scrolls of Lankhmar - A Fritz Leiber Wiki & RPG Guide to Nehwon

Just posting about a really cool site that has been around for awhile, but I am not sure that many people know about it.

The site is the Scrolls of Lankhmar - A Fritz Leiber Wiki & RPG Guide to Nehwon and it is curated by Srith of the Scrolls aka Charles Fewlass, Creator of the Scrolls of Lankhmar who has a Google+ page titled Fritz Leiber and a Facebook page The Scrolls of Lankhmar.

Fritz Leiber was born in 1910 and died in 1992. He was considered one of the best genre authors of all time and a pioneer in the field. He was very well respected and admired by his peers, and authors such as Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman have all remarked on how much authors today owe to him. Among many awards bestowed upon him include Grand Master of Science Fiction, Grand Master of Fantasy, and one of the first Bram Stoker Awards for Lifetime Achievement in horror. He excelled and broke new ground in all three genres–a rarity among authors.

So if you are a fan of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and of Fritz Leiber's other works, go check this site out.

Original Edition Roleplaying Appreciation Day is Saturday May 5th!

Original Edition Roleplaying Appreciation Day is Saturday May 5th! It was announced on March 27th, 2018 here over at the Gamers & Grognards blog. Yesterday on April 6th, 2018 they posted the Submission Guidelines for Original Edition Roleplaying Appreciation Day here.

The most recent post goes into detail concerning what will be accepted and it is IMO quite broad and is expected (by me) to be a really cool thing and I am going to block out time to do a lot of reading and following links that day. As well I am planning on participating.

They also go into what will not be accepted, that is to say, what is outside the scope of this event.

They close with how to go about being part of the festivities. Please go check it out and let's have wide participation.

Monday, April 2, 2018

The RPG Forums I Frequent

The RPG forums that I frequent in the order that I joined them are these

Dragonsfoot Forums

RPGNet Forums

Knights & Knaves Alehouse Forums

The Piazza Forums

Grognard's Tavern Forums

The Original D&D Discussion Forum

The Ruins of Murkhill Forums

I have belonged to all of them except for the last one for a long time. I joined the last one last month in March. I have posted a bit, but not a lot at all of them and I doubt that you will be able to discern who I am on each as I have a different username on each of them, which is not for any reason other than that I have heretofore always tried to keep a low profile with a quiet low key persona.

I have on the last one found a different atmosphere (no slight to any other forum), so I have abandoned the low profile on that one forum and started posting and it also inspired me to start this blog. That is not to say that I am not active on the other forums. I do as much reading as I can and I still post now and then on all of them except the Grognard's Tavern which is very quiet these days. Even on the non-old school RPGNet I find plenty for this old school DM to chew on and each to use in my own campaign.

I am primarily an OD&D DM and sometime player, but I am also very fond of the Rules Cyclopedia. I also enjoy several of the "clones" although that is not a full description of all of them. I have copies of the core books of all the pre-3E versions and I have never looked at the anything 3E or later.

I plan on posting semi-regularly with a review now and then, my opinion and things that I think are fun. Now and then I might, post something that someone else could use in their campaign if it strikes there fancy. Right now I am trying to figure out what I can and can't do using blogger.

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Links to Other Rob Kuntz Interviews

Select Online Interviews:

The Kyngdoms Interview by Eric Noah
Isola Illyon Interview by Luca Scelza
Radio Improntadigitale Radio interview and Lucca Games interview, both at Lucca Comics & Games 2015
Hill Cantons Interview by Chris Kutalik
Grognard Games Video interview by Martin Brown
Secrets of Blackmoor Feature documentary: Rob Kuntz appeared in the documentary, was interviewed and also wrote a special preface.
Multiverse, a Blog from TSR®, Inc.Interview by Timothy Connolly
La Gazette du Donjon Interview by Antoine Poncin. English interview available here.