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
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.
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.
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