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May 18, 2013, 7:38pm

Original D&D Discussion :: Gaming with Dave and Gary and Rob :: Dave Arneson's Blackmoor :: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger

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Topic: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger (Read 539 times)

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Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Thread Started on Aug 3, 2012, 4:12pm »

I thought folks on this forum might be interested to read a bit about the Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormongor, the campaign newsletter of Blackmoor circa 1971-1972. I put up a pretty lengthy analysis of the first issue (with a scan) here:

http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/20....ormonger-1.html

Basically, it contained short blurbs about recent events in the campaign, though not much insight into the system concepts that Arneson was experimenting with at the time. It is fun to read about the various mishaps of the famous characters as Arneson saw them at the time.

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Cameron DuBeers
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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #1 on Aug 3, 2012, 4:21pm »

An interesting glimpse into the halcyon days of our hobby. Thank you and ... exalt!

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #2 on Aug 3, 2012, 10:57pm »

I've mentioned I'm good friends with John McEwan the creator of Starguard before. Some of his comments on how it was in the old days of the early 70's, as well as his stories are just as interesting. John had his business in Salt Lake, and was a member of the Wasatch Wargamers group who gathered at a community building to play wargames in the early 70's. He had at least two articles published regarding wargaming and miniatures in both Wargamer's Digest and Different Worlds.

One thing that strikes me is that how small and seperated these groups of wargamers were and how they had similar ideas about campaigns and newsletters and such. I'm sure some of the British wargames authors had a lot to do with that.

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #3 on Aug 4, 2012, 6:02am »

Aug 3, 2012, 10:57pm, thorswulf wrote:

One thing that strikes me is that how small and seperated these groups of wargamers were and how they had similar ideas about campaigns and newsletters and such.

I suspect a lot of it was the whole pre-internet thing. When I first started playing OD&D in '75 we had a small group of wargamers who had been playing wargames and miniatures games for a couple years prior to that. My friend was really "into" this stuff since his father was a history professor. In those days, Avalon Hill was "king" of the strategy game market, although we were starting to take notice of SPI as well. We had zero contact with other wargamers other than through his subscription to THE GENERAL. Most games had to be ordered by mail.

When we started playing OD&D, he got a subscription to THE STRATEGIC REVIEW. Again, this was basically the only contact we had with any other OD&D players. It wasn't until we took a trip to GenCon (in '79, I think) that we ever saw face-to-face other folks outside our gaming group who played. Now, thinking about the fact that there was little contact from group to group, it makes sense that the few magazines and newsletters were like gold.

I guess my point is that I remember the days when there was no internet and sharing ideas was next to impossible except through very specific channels. And since most of us at the time got started through a similar background (mostly Avalon Hill wargaming and THE GENERAL) it's not too surprising that many of the same ideas would occur to seperate groups.

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #4 on Aug 4, 2012, 8:59am »

Aug 3, 2012, 10:57pm, thorswulf wrote:

I've mentioned I'm good friends with John McEwan the creator of Starguard before.

Interesting. I don't know much about Starguard, but J. Eric Holmes mentioned in it Dragon magazine #52 when discussing a D&D character of his:

"My own most successful player character was a Dreenoi, an insectoid creature borrowed from McEwan’s Starguard. He reached fourth level (as high as any of my personal characters ever got), made an unfortunate decision, and was turned into a pool of green slime."

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #5 on Aug 4, 2012, 5:12pm »

Aug 4, 2012, 8:59am, Zenopus wrote:

"My own most successful player character was a Dreenoi, an insectoid creature borrowed from McEwan’s Starguard. He reached fourth level (as high as any of my personal characters ever got), made an unfortunate decision, and was turned into a pool of green slime."

Gotta love the Drenoi!

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #6 on Aug 29, 2012, 8:37pm »

For a slightly later battle report detailing events at Loch Gloomen late in 1972, check out the excerpt I posted here:

http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/20....ch-gloomen.html

I spend some time in this post showing the different ways that the concept of experience levels was treated in that Blackmoor era. Spellcasters had level, but heroes didn't - an interesting inheritance from Chainmail. But mostly it shows what different personalities were up to at the time in the wargame dimension of Blackmoor.

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #7 on Aug 29, 2012, 9:21pm »

I'm not sure how I missed this thread when it got started.

Aug 4, 2012, 6:02am, Finarvyn wrote:

I guess my point is that I remember the days when there was no internet and sharing ideas was next to impossible except through very specific channels. And since most of us at the time got started through a similar background (mostly Avalon Hill wargaming and THE GENERAL) it's not too surprising that many of the same ideas would occur to seperate groups.

I think the ease of communication the internet provides is very interesting here. You had to be really dedicated in those days to find out what was going on around the hobby, subscribing to one publication or another, or know someone who did. We passed around copies of the General or the Dragon or S&T, but compared to today's communication this was a trickle of usually monthly updates. This also depends on the popularity and narrowness of one's niche interests but in those days each publication covered a broad range of interests while today there are many narrowly targeted channels of communication.

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Re: Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger
« Reply #8 on Aug 29, 2012, 9:23pm »

Yeah ... getting a Dragon magazine in the mailbox was a big event. A convention was a thrill beyond words! Come to think of it, cons still are a TBW!

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