Post by aldarron on Aug 27, 2010 18:04:27 GMT -6
I’ve been having some fun trying to match the stories told about adventuring in Blackmoor dungeon back in the day with the maps. What I’ve discovered is that the keys given in both the FFC and ZG suggest some clues but are in no way a direct match the room discriptions. I think old Dave liked to change things up a lot. That’s part of what makes it so interesting though, we get clues to parts of the dungeon that aren’t well described elsewhere (like the basement) and we get some alternative ideas for what to put in particular rooms.
I’ve tried to match the rooms to the stories as best I could using the architectural and direction details given in the tales and using Tavis Allison’s excellent stairwell key. Please feel free to disagree or suggest alternatives.
So far I have looked at (G.S.) Greg Svenson’s “first adventure” and(B.P.) Bill Paley’s Gen Con report from 1975 in Alarums and Excursions. If anybody knows of any other old descriptions of rooms or adventures in Blackmoor Dungeon, please point them out to me so I could try to add it in.
Level one
Basement)
We started by marching down a huge staircase from the main hall into the castle's basement, a huge irregularly shaped room with seven pillars supporting the ceiling and a large number of doors leading into the dungeon. - G.S.
We picked a door leading northwest, later dubbed the "Northwest Passage". We were carrying torches for light. G.S.
We then entered a large odd-shaped room which I heard was once the throne room of the castle, but had since changed shape. Many doors out of this chamber were found, leading to… closets (with outhouse-style arrangements) and some leading to five-foot corridors. B.P. (Editors note – there are two “closets” on the basement map).
We finally chose one such corridor...We walked along it a bit until it widened to ten feet (apparently a major disaster collapsed the room and the area was repaired to different specifications). – At this point (having no graph paper), Tindell became lost. He vaguely recalls walking down a long corridor and then turning back when the ceiling started becoming quite wet. B.P
9 “e” )The group also burst into a room of goblins who fought tenaciously . B.P
9)We pursued and killed a couple more and then found a door held closed by an ogre's body. We shoved our way in and continued exploration . B.P
Secret passage from nine to Orchian Way?) Finally we came to an open stairway with circular stairs down which we heard music playing. B.P
Staircase B12 Tavis’ Notation) We meandered about for a while until we found a staircase going down. G.S.
Level Two
Room 1) After wandering more corridors we entered a room where we were attacked by giant spiders; We found some copper coins and broken weapons in the room along with a bunch of bones, including human bones. G.S.
Stair C23) we came to a room with the fallen statue of Poseidon with trident in his hand. From the room there was a staircase going down. G.S.
Level three
2) At the bottom of the stairs we entered a triangular room with a smoking pot in the center of it. It shot balls of fire at us. G.S.
We found a magic sword on the ground. I am not sure which room we were in when we found it. Probably, either where the statue was or where the smoking pot was. G.S.
Level four
4) Here we found a fountain with a small statue of a devil in it. There was also an ominous red glow here. G.S.
Level 5
Cavern entrance) - Dave Megarry once entered the dungeon thru a tombstone or grave into the cavern system and then the dungeon, that entrance was on the 5th level. G.S.
Level 9
I had pretty much memorized the upper levels at this point and was able to lead us quickly and safely down to the nineth level. As we wandered we stumbled across a staircase that led to a secret door which came out behind the throne of the king of the Orcs of the Blackhand, King Frederick the First. (possibly room 12 on level 10?) …we… did not take the… the secret passage into the orcs throne room from the 9th level. Instead, we (went back up the stair and) did further exploration on the 9th level and hit another route that took us down to where the dragon was. (on level 11) G.S.
Orc level 10
Room 12) Secret room behind the throne room of the orcs.
Room 21) (general area) This brought a horde of orcs on us from in front. While we battled (and Sweeney worked his way forward) ten of the fifty ran off. Soon after, thirty hit us in the rear as well. B.P.
Room 22) – (heroes instead of rocs) On exploring this level, we entered a room, finding some 12 "heroes" in plate with crossbows. We found they were not chaotic and not friendly, so we left. some of the "heroes" were playing craps. B.P.
Room 25) - (2400 wealth) A bit farther on, we found a room full of gold. Apparently the treasure room was the Heroes. B.P.
Level 11
Stair?) We found a stairs to an eleventh level (to my knowledge this area was never published) and we went down. At the time, we had not idea that the dungeon would have a way to go deeper then the orcs lair. (level 10) The walls here were rougher and there was a dim red light through out the corridors. Soon we found ourselves on a ledge over looking a huge cavern with a lake of lava at the bottom. In the center was an island covered with treasure. On top of the mound of treasure was a dragon (I think that it was golden, but the colors meant less at that time). G.S.
ZGG area 16-10) William jumped and managed to land on the island. The rest of us stayed on the ledge and watched. Mello took some chalk and wrote "Kilroy was here" along with the famous sketch of the head peering over a wall on the wall of the ledge. The dragon posed a puzzle for William. I don't recall the details, but he solved it and was rewarded with a blue suit of magic armor and mechanical horse. I have always thought of the armor as a dark metalic blue, but the description was just blue. The armor was more like powered battledress then a suit of plate armor, for Sic-Fi fans. William doned the armor and somehow was back with us on the ledge. William and Mello then tried to figure out what the buttons on the left arm of the armor did. It was quite funny for those that were watching and quite frustrating for William as it led to the stories of him charging into battle screaming "No! No! Stop!" later. This is how William of the Heath became known as the Blue Rider. G.S.
Note: Probably this was the original bottom of Blackmoor Dungeon. Dave may have intended teleportation to other areas from here though, such as the city of father dragon.
I’ve tried to match the rooms to the stories as best I could using the architectural and direction details given in the tales and using Tavis Allison’s excellent stairwell key. Please feel free to disagree or suggest alternatives.
So far I have looked at (G.S.) Greg Svenson’s “first adventure” and(B.P.) Bill Paley’s Gen Con report from 1975 in Alarums and Excursions. If anybody knows of any other old descriptions of rooms or adventures in Blackmoor Dungeon, please point them out to me so I could try to add it in.
Level one
Basement)
We started by marching down a huge staircase from the main hall into the castle's basement, a huge irregularly shaped room with seven pillars supporting the ceiling and a large number of doors leading into the dungeon. - G.S.
We picked a door leading northwest, later dubbed the "Northwest Passage". We were carrying torches for light. G.S.
We then entered a large odd-shaped room which I heard was once the throne room of the castle, but had since changed shape. Many doors out of this chamber were found, leading to… closets (with outhouse-style arrangements) and some leading to five-foot corridors. B.P. (Editors note – there are two “closets” on the basement map).
We finally chose one such corridor...We walked along it a bit until it widened to ten feet (apparently a major disaster collapsed the room and the area was repaired to different specifications). – At this point (having no graph paper), Tindell became lost. He vaguely recalls walking down a long corridor and then turning back when the ceiling started becoming quite wet. B.P
9 “e” )The group also burst into a room of goblins who fought tenaciously . B.P
9)We pursued and killed a couple more and then found a door held closed by an ogre's body. We shoved our way in and continued exploration . B.P
Secret passage from nine to Orchian Way?) Finally we came to an open stairway with circular stairs down which we heard music playing. B.P
Staircase B12 Tavis’ Notation) We meandered about for a while until we found a staircase going down. G.S.
Level Two
Room 1) After wandering more corridors we entered a room where we were attacked by giant spiders; We found some copper coins and broken weapons in the room along with a bunch of bones, including human bones. G.S.
Stair C23) we came to a room with the fallen statue of Poseidon with trident in his hand. From the room there was a staircase going down. G.S.
Level three
2) At the bottom of the stairs we entered a triangular room with a smoking pot in the center of it. It shot balls of fire at us. G.S.
We found a magic sword on the ground. I am not sure which room we were in when we found it. Probably, either where the statue was or where the smoking pot was. G.S.
Level four
4) Here we found a fountain with a small statue of a devil in it. There was also an ominous red glow here. G.S.
Level 5
Cavern entrance) - Dave Megarry once entered the dungeon thru a tombstone or grave into the cavern system and then the dungeon, that entrance was on the 5th level. G.S.
Level 9
I had pretty much memorized the upper levels at this point and was able to lead us quickly and safely down to the nineth level. As we wandered we stumbled across a staircase that led to a secret door which came out behind the throne of the king of the Orcs of the Blackhand, King Frederick the First. (possibly room 12 on level 10?) …we… did not take the… the secret passage into the orcs throne room from the 9th level. Instead, we (went back up the stair and) did further exploration on the 9th level and hit another route that took us down to where the dragon was. (on level 11) G.S.
Orc level 10
Room 12) Secret room behind the throne room of the orcs.
Room 21) (general area) This brought a horde of orcs on us from in front. While we battled (and Sweeney worked his way forward) ten of the fifty ran off. Soon after, thirty hit us in the rear as well. B.P.
Room 22) – (heroes instead of rocs) On exploring this level, we entered a room, finding some 12 "heroes" in plate with crossbows. We found they were not chaotic and not friendly, so we left. some of the "heroes" were playing craps. B.P.
Room 25) - (2400 wealth) A bit farther on, we found a room full of gold. Apparently the treasure room was the Heroes. B.P.
Level 11
Stair?) We found a stairs to an eleventh level (to my knowledge this area was never published) and we went down. At the time, we had not idea that the dungeon would have a way to go deeper then the orcs lair. (level 10) The walls here were rougher and there was a dim red light through out the corridors. Soon we found ourselves on a ledge over looking a huge cavern with a lake of lava at the bottom. In the center was an island covered with treasure. On top of the mound of treasure was a dragon (I think that it was golden, but the colors meant less at that time). G.S.
ZGG area 16-10) William jumped and managed to land on the island. The rest of us stayed on the ledge and watched. Mello took some chalk and wrote "Kilroy was here" along with the famous sketch of the head peering over a wall on the wall of the ledge. The dragon posed a puzzle for William. I don't recall the details, but he solved it and was rewarded with a blue suit of magic armor and mechanical horse. I have always thought of the armor as a dark metalic blue, but the description was just blue. The armor was more like powered battledress then a suit of plate armor, for Sic-Fi fans. William doned the armor and somehow was back with us on the ledge. William and Mello then tried to figure out what the buttons on the left arm of the armor did. It was quite funny for those that were watching and quite frustrating for William as it led to the stories of him charging into battle screaming "No! No! Stop!" later. This is how William of the Heath became known as the Blue Rider. G.S.
Note: Probably this was the original bottom of Blackmoor Dungeon. Dave may have intended teleportation to other areas from here though, such as the city of father dragon.
