Was Arneson's "Isle of the Wolf" 1970s adventure published?

[havard]

In an interview back in 1979, Dave mentions plans for publishing such an adventure through JG. More details here.

Does anyone know if it was ever published?

-Havard

[grodog]

Never heard of it, Havard. Can you tell us more (the Blackmoor Mystara forums are down for me atm)?

[havard]

Sept 23, 2013 22:29:38 GMT -6 grodog said:

Never heard of it, Havard. Can you tell us more (the Blackmoor Mystara forums are down for me atm)?

Hi Allan!
The forums should be back up now. I found this information in Space Gamer #21. Dave mentions in passing various projects he is currently working on (1979) and one such item is called Isle of the Wolf and is to be published by Judges Guild.

It is very much possible that the adventure was never finalized of course, but then I did find something called Island Book I from Judges Guild from 1978. Was there an Island Book II? I was wondering if Arneson's submission might have been rolled into a larger book with multiple contributors?


-Havard

[Deleted]

Checked this a few years back, because there I had read that Mr Arneson had contributed to one of those JG compilations.
- But found nothing. The map of WL that mentions BM is from the Island Book I, but in the book itself, there is no description:

The Island books are just random maps, and blueprints for people to fill them in with random tables. So, no hidden adventure there, lamentably.

[Deleted]

Checked the Acaeum lists again: There never was an Island Book II, but a second printing of IB I with a different cover.
Probably that copy was expanded, too, but I am not an expert.

Also, more importantly, I checked the JG Journals, and, even there, no contribution from Arneson. As in, if he didn't get it published
as a single module, this would have been his only other way of publishing something via JG that fell under the radar.

[Deleted]

Checked the Dungeoneer indexes, too. To no avail, sadly.

[aldarron]

I think, and this is only my impression, the "isle of the wolf" though unpublished, is part of that font of story material that Dave would relate to the writers working on the DAB line. I have suspected that Isle of the Wolf may have formed the basis of the wolf wood. <shrug>

[havard]

Faineant: Thanks for looking into it.

Sept 25, 2013 19:39:38 GMT -6 aldarron said:

I think, and this is only my impression, the "isle of the wolf" though unpublished, is part of that font of story material that Dave would relate to the writers working on the DAB line. I have suspected that Isle of the Wolf may have formed the basis of the wolf wood. <shrug>

That is not a bad theory. If it is true, it proves that Dave had more of an influence over the ZGG Blackmoor line than some would suggest.

I could see the Wolf Wood description working well for an island with that title. Makes me wonder what came first. Did Dave originally create the Wolf Wood that way and then try to turn it into an island adventure, before reverting it to its original Blackmoor form?

-Havard

[aldarron]

Sept 26, 2013 14:27:16 GMT -6 havard said:

Faineant: Thanks for looking into it.

Sept 25, 2013 19:39:38 GMT -6 aldarron said:

I think, and this is only my impression, the "isle of the wolf" though unpublished, is part of that font of story material that Dave would relate to the writers working on the DAB line. I have suspected that Isle of the Wolf may have formed the basis of the wolf wood. <shrug>

That is not a bad theory. If it is true, it proves that Dave had more of an influence over the ZGG Blackmoor line than some would suggest.

I could see the Wolf Wood description working well for an island with that title. Makes me wonder what came first. Did Dave originally create the Wolf Wood that way and then try to turn it into an island adventure, before reverting it to its original Blackmoor form?

-Havard

Again, just guessing, but I thought the isle may have been set in the firefrost channel or that same general area but since the channel isn't that big on existing maps, the "island" may have been moved to the riverbank.

And, yeah I think Dave had a huge influence on the main setting books, not so much on the adventures or things like the Hak book.

[Deleted]

*Yawns.* Had the dubious opportunity of checking most available sources via the flu timeout - curiously, the interview is really the only mention of this adventure, as it seems.
In JG publications, there is no other mention of that name.

Now, could this maybe have ended with Flying Buffalo? They own - legally - many Arnesonian properties via their acquisition of Adventures Unlimited,
and Arneson wrote for them after his first retirement from the industry. Now, not saying that "Isle of the Wolf" turned into "Case of the Pacific Clipper",
but if JG dropped it, and he had it ready, perhaps it ended in one of their books. I have no physical copy of it, but isn't Arneson THANKED in "The Isle of Darksmoke"?

It would fit with the narrative that Mello and the Blue Rider killed a lich on an island north of Blackmoor.

[grodog]

Sept 28, 2013 2:59:17 GMT -6 @rafael said:

I have no physical copy of it, but isn't Arneson THANKED in "The Isle of Darksmoke"?

It would fit with the narrative that Mello and the Blue Rider killed a lich on an island north of Blackmoor.

Darksmoke was written by Larry DiTillio, and I didn't see any special thanks to DA or even DA listed in the credits as a playtester. The back pages of Darksmoke contain an ad for a Darksmoke II but I don't think it ever came out??

[Deleted]

I don't know about a Darksmoke II, but I am not too firm about Flying Buffalo, and I think the list of their products on their website is in fact incomplete.
So, the possibility might still exist that it simply dropped under the radar somewhere. Didn't FB have its on mag as well? Or some sort of a regular newsletter?

I have been thinking, though - is there a complete index of Ares Magazine? I have been into P&P lately, and that renewed my interest in the topic. Given the Arneson/Snider connection,
I would be surprised if Mr Arneson had not contributed there in some capacity as well. (Perhaps not interesting for IotW, but more of a general observation.)

[havard]

I would be surprised if there are books or articles that Arneson contributed to that we are dont know about. Still, I fint the discovery of such planned products to be quite interesting, since it tells us alot about his plans. In the interview, the Island of the Wolf is just one of multiple products he says he is working on. Some were published, while others were not.

I assume that "is working on" could refer to many different stages of development, although he does list specific publishers for each product.

-Havard

[Deleted]

Could the Gygax lawsuit have prevented Arneson from publishing those?

[havard]

I doubt it, although it obviously required time to be spent on it for both parties which they otherwise could have spent on designing games.

-Havard

[Deleted]

FWIW, I am doing an "Age of Theodore" writeup for, well, at least a location of the same name, somewhere near BM's north pole.

So, if you have any ideas on this that I could apply, let me know.