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Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor The MMRPG sounds a bit like a computer game, but it was actually Blackmoor’s answer to games like Living Greyhawk, Living Jungle and Living Forgotten Realms.
A number of adventures (or episodes) were created for the campaign. After the campaign ended, these were made available on the official website for the campaign. Sadly that website (like so many other D&D websites) fell off the Internet. And so the episodes of the MMRPG were lost…
…until now.
Dustin Clingman from Zeitgeist Games has given Havard, from the Blackmoor Archives, permission to put them back online.
So far only the first five episodes have gone online, but more will follow.
For more information (and to find the download links) see Blackmoor MMRPG Season 1 Available on Havard’s Blackmoor Blog
I have kind of a theory about what’s going on with the Nentir Vale setting, particularly in regards to Greyhawk and Mystara. Some of this is based on conjecture and theory, not actual knowledge of events, as I began my D&D fandom during the 2e days.
My understanding of the early days of D&D is that it diverged into two paths. Greyhawk would become the world of the AD&D modules, and Mystara would become the world of the basic D&D modules. I suspect that the modules each added onto the known worlds, but that there wasn’t a cohesive world from the beginning.
So why create a new setting, then, when we have 3 settings (Greyhawk, Mystara, and Forgotten Realms) that are fully capable of being the basic D&D world?
I think WotC wanted a fresh start. Consider that WotC wants an easy entry point to D&D, not a setting with 30 years of continuity. I think they wanted a clean slate, so they could work in things like the dragonborn and tieflings without any repercussions from existing fans. Imagine saying that dragonborn were always in Greyhawk!
Ah, but WotC wanted to also include some iconic modules in the new world. This was their chance to integrate them in a way that made more cohesive sense. After all, why go from one setting to another to allow your players to travel between classic dungeons when you could have them all in one setting?
Consider as well that Nentir Vale/Nerath is the world of Dungeons & Dragons. It’s the implied setting, much as Golarion is the implied setting for Pathfnder. Shouldn’t all of the iconic adventure sites of D&D be in the world of Dungeons & Dragons?
I could be totally off-base, but I think it’s a theory worth considering.
Wizards of the Coast posts another in their series of History Check articles, focusing on the wizard who would betray the Circle of Eight. Check out Rary the Traitor!
The Eastern Realms return this month in Dragon and Dungeon. Articles thus far…
One of the big criticisms I hear about bringing Greyhawk back as a setting is that it’s a “generic fantasy setting” and would compete with some of the same real estate as the Forgotten Realms.
It occurs to me, though, that maybe the approach is wrong. Maybe, rather than bringing back the whole setting, we should focus on the City of Greyhawk itself.
I was thinking that maybe a sourcebook a la Neverwinter would be the way to go. And while it can still be a part of the greater Greyhawk setting, it could also be a standalone city that could be put into any setting (think Ptolus). There is some precedent with how Nerath is cannibalizing some of Greyhawk’s greatest dungeons.
What do you think?
Recently, I was telling you how D&D Nexus was on Facebook.
Now I’m asking Facebook users the following question: What D&D campaign settings are you interested in?
This isn’t a competition to see “what setting is best”. I really just want to get a rough idea of how many people might want to be interested in fan projects for each setting.
If you want to help me out, please surf over to Facebook and answer my question:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=question&id=214296231933230
And if you want to know the answers yourself, you can use the “Follow” option to ensure that you get updates.
Talislanta is a campaign world (with its own rules) created by Stephan Michael Sechi. The first edition of Talislanta was published way back in 1987.
Since then there have been four more editions of Talislanta, along with a version for the d20 System. The last 5th Edition product was published in 2007.
These are all commercial products, originally sold in printed format. And Stephan Michael Sechi (known to Tal fans as SMS) has authorised the official Talislanta website (Talislanta.com) to make them all available as free to download PDFs.
The Talislanta Library page has download links for them all.
Like D&D Nexus, Bits and Mortar is a fairly new project that is still growing in size.
The members of Bits and Mortar are RPG publishers. These publishers have gathered together to try to find a way to support the local RPG stores (bricks and mortar stores) who stock their products.
The “Bits” in “Bits and Mortar” comes from the fact that the support comes in a digital form. The deal is this. Buy a physical copy of a book and they give you the PDF version of the same book for free.
The store has to sign up to the Bits and Mortar scheme for you to get a free PDF, and you can only get free PDFs of products made by one of the publishers that support the Bits of Mortar scheme, but if you are thinking of buying a RPG product, it is worth checking to see if you can get a bonus PDF thrown in.
Publishers supporting the Bits and Mortar scheme are:
Bits and Mortar are still looking for other publishers to join the scheme, so if you are a publisher and would like to take part, see their How Do I Join? page.
Retailers can also find out how to join the scheme on the same page.
One of the primary aims of D&D Nexus is to connect various D&D based projects to D&D fans who might like them.
Facebook is one way that some D&D fans chose to communicate with other fans and share information about the things they are interested in. If you like D&D Nexus and you also like Facebook, you don’t have to choose between the two because D&D Nexus is on Facebook too.
So come to the D&D Nexus page at Facebook, “Like” us and then you can follow our updates and interact with other D&D fans on Facebook.