Blackmoor in the OD&D boards

[Finarvyn]

Hello. At the request of two of Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor players, I have created a Blackmoor section for these boards.

Blackmoor was the first ever module as a part of one of the original brown book supplements.

Blackmoor was also one of the first ever campaigns for OD&D, and has long been one of my favorites.

[Finarvyn]

Well, I know that Blackmoor was always one of my favorite campaigns -- I loved the mix of magic and tech, and my copy of the First Fantasy Campaign book is almost worn out because I refer to it when I need inspiration as to how to run an OD&D game.

Hopefully others share the love as well! :-)

[Falconer]

Several of us have noted before that First Fantasy Campaign is quite possibly the single best resource for campaign ideas of anything that has been published for D&D, EVAR!

[casey777]

Good to see this section. I only know of Blackmoor, never having any of the early materials. I don't think anything's come of plans to release them online either as PDFs for sale or for free (aside from Supp. II: Blackmoor).

I look forward to more.

[Wothbora]

falconer said:

Several of us have noted before that First Fantasy Campaign is quite possibly the single best resource for campaign ideas of anything that has been published for D&D, EVAR!

How can I get a copy of FFC? I've looked high and low for PDF's at all of the Online Vendors, but have not found one yet. I try to keep an eye out on eBay, but this title typically goes for over $100!

Everything I have ever read about FFC makes it sound like it is one of the best products of all time... I'm so envious and yet I have never seen a physical copy!

Does anyone have any pointers as to where I can buy a copy for a reasonable price?

Thanks in advance...

Wothbora

[coffee]

Depends on what you consider a reasonable price. I got mine on ebay for 50 (including shipping), but you might not want to pay that much. (Of course, I had to stalk it for months before I got it...)

[Falconer]

I got two copies on eBay for reasonable prices back before it was very well-known. One was the ’80 version and the other was the ’77 version. Unfortunately, my ’77 version got stolen along with the rest of my most-used D&D collection. It’s too bad, because I prefer the ’77 version, and now I don’t know if I will ever be able to bring myself to spend the $100+ for a ’77 version when I do have the ’80. Ah well.

[doc]

I got an almost perfect original copy of FFC on Ebay for $30 just a few months ago. If you hunt around long enough, you can find what you're looking for without spending a large amount of money. It's worth the wait.

Doc

[Finarvyn]

Keep in mind that FFC is basically a booklet of typed campaign notes. It's not a slick, polished, finished product.

Having said all of that, it is still one of the most amazing books ever because of the fact that it looks like the kind of notes that all of us throw together for their campaigns, only it's for Dave's pre-1974 campaign (which is what makes it so special).

Other than finding a cashe of Gary's unpolished notes, this book might be as close to a "holy grail" of gaming as any of us are likely to ever find. It's worth the money just for the historical perspective....

[bigjackbrass]

Nice to see Blackmoor getting its own section. Well deserved, I'd say.

Alas, my own copy of First Fantasy Campaign was sold about fifteen years ago when I moved from the USA... and I certainly didn't get $100 for it back then! It's a charming and very useful book, but some of the prices reached on eBay have been practically obscene. A legal PDF of the product would be very welcome.

[robertthebald]

I gave away my copy of FFC long ago, but David very kindly supplied me with a new copy. In reading it I can see why reactions to the material is so mixed. It makes sense to me because I was there, and can fill in the blanks and relate one thing to another in my mind. To someone who was not there it is indeed confusing. You have to keep in mind that whatever David's master plan was for Blackmoor, it very much evolved, with the players doing their own thing in many different areas. Going back to the past and trying to organize what happened into a cohesive work would be a monumental job for anyone. This strikes me more as a journal of Blackmoor than an actual game. Its usefulness would be more as a guide and in the ideas it could give you in playing D&D now. After all, Blackmoor was an entire world where you could do virtually anything. Take what you like out of FFC and ignore the rest.

Bob Meyer

[Finarvyn]

robertthebald said:

Take what you like out of FFC and ignore the rest.

Ack! I'm keeping it all and ignoring nothing, my precious! (gollum, gollum!)

Seriously, as long as a person keeps in mind what FFC is supposed to be ... essentially a pile of campaign notes ... it's a great product. Somewhere I have some old notes of my campaigns from the 1970s and 1980's and they look a lot like what's found in FFC, except that FFC is the original as opposed to my own stuff.

Of course, I own the entire collection of Tolkien's History of Middle-earth, which is essentially a collection of rejected manuscripts. I love this kind of stuff!

[Falconer]

Tolkien only ever submitted a very small percentage of his writings for publication. He was very critical of his own work. Out of the 12 volumes of HoMe, he only ever submitted “The Lay of Leithian” from III and “Quenta Silmarillion” from V (they were rejected). Regards.

[darneson]

OK. The white paneling and shag carpeting are due to my folks. They refinished the basement with those items. You ever try to find a dice in long shag!

Arneson

[Finarvyn]

That's encouraging. It would be nice to see the original version back in print somehow so that a newer generation of gamers can see what an old school campaign is really like. :-)

[darneson]

We're working on it.

Dave Arneson
"Dark Lord of Gaming"