A blog about sewing machine repairs,but mainly my hobbies which include old school role playing games, science fiction,films, horror, and general geekery. Sit down and stay a spell.
Yesterday was an extremely busy day but there was time enough to look deeper into 1975's Blackmoor supplement. While product designation TSR 2004 is usually known for temple of the Frog. Actually original Dungeons & Dragon Blackmoor actually has several other uses. Deep within Blackmoor according to the wiki entry is an entire section on underwater adventures;"The supplement introduced rules for underwater adventures, such as rules and guidelines for swimming, equipment weight restrictions when fighting underwater, and the effects of underwater combat on weapons and spells. Blackmoor also includes numerous new water-dwelling monsters and equipment useful for underwater adventures. A number of these underwater monsters and magic items were the creations of Steve Marsh" And while this does complement Blackmoor's Temple of the Frog it also comes in incredibly handy for those who want to run first edition Gamma World's GW1 Legion of Gold's underwater adventure section on the Legion itself.
Blackmoor also hits the high notes for Gamma World first edition by providing the rules framework for further underworld adventures. This is a fact that has not been lost upon me.
Speaking with my players yesterday there was talk about the fact that Temple of the Frog itself could be switched over to Gamma Terra & no one would be the wiser. The Froggies, the advanced technologies, and more are all reflective of the dangers present within the radioactive wasteslands of Gamma World. And what about an NPC assassin straight out of the bowels of Blackmoor that could well be a Red Death operative or agent. Stepthen The Rock could easily be slipped into Gamma Terra and few if anyone would be the wiser that the Temple of the Frog fits easily into the wastelands of Gamma World.
What has Dave Arneson meant to me as a dungeon master?! Where to begin? Everything begins at the beginning or with the toss of some dice to create a party of characters for players. Thoughts turn to Judges Guilds First Fantasy campaign by Dave Arneson. And I get this weird feeling reading through the book. This happens every time Judges Guilds First Fantasy Campaign's pages cycle through my hands for the billionth time. Why?! The impact of Dave Arneson & his players explorations through the lands of Blackmoor.
The mysteries of Castle Blackmoor & what seems like Mr. Arneson's spirit reaching across time to talk to me through the words of the First Fantasy campaign. There's no hero worship here but the simple act of one gamer talking to another about their campaigns on an elemental level. Dave Arneson seems to have that quality in direct contrast to Gygax. This isn't a condemnation of Mr. Gygax nor his legacy. Reading through The First Fantasy Campaign is like reading through Arneson's campaign notes. And its insightful. And the thing about a read through of The First Fantasy Campaign is that reads both like a war game & a campaign of 0 e edition of Dungeons & Dragons. And this is essentially because its the bed rock of what we call campaign settings for Dungeons & Dragons. Somehow to me everyday is Dave Arneson day. Just the fact that everytime I see Dave Arneson's name there's this thought in the back of my head that says Blackmoor. Why?! Today's date, " Today, April 17th 2021 marks the 50 year anniversary of the first official Blackmoor Game session" Did those folks who went to that game of "BRAUNSTEIN" in 1971 have any idea what kind of history they were making with Dave Arneson?! Now yes back then it was going to be fun evening & we as players & DM's are all the richer for their contribution to our hobby.
That's what old hands call the Great Dismal Swamp. For centuries, this tangled maze of sluggish watercourses, stagnant ponds, and festering marshes has defended Blackmoor's southwestern frontier. Large armies and smaller parties have disappeared altogether inside its vast, dripping, claustrophobic corridors.
Among those who have dropped from sigh in this arboral hell is young Rissa Aleford, one of Blackmoor's most important leaders. Carried off to the sinister City of the Fron, she is now being held by the eccentric Monks of the Swamp. By making the baroness captive, the deranged monks have serioulsy weakened Blackmoor at a time when enemies already threaten it from all sides.
Yet, even as the Froggies gloat, the king of Blackmoor dispatches a small band of bold adventures to the rescue. Deep into the Great Dismal Swamp they must go - far from sunlight and sanity - there to seek and save the swamp, there to find the Temple of the Frog."
Today was one of those days where I grabbed DA2 Temple of the Frog by Guy Richie & Dave Arneson right off the shelf today. Its been a very much a roller coaster of a day from ups of the repair business taking off to the lows of having the wind knocked outta of my sails today because of Covid. More on that another time, but let's get back to The Froggies cult for a moment. If there's one NPC who appears behind the scenes again & again its "Stephen the Rock".
So my version of Stephen The Rock has been tweaked quite a bit especially after becoming a pawn for the godTsathoggua. Why?! Because it amused the Great Old One & Stephen The Rock was another in a long line of pawns across the planes of existence. The Great Old One's favor allowed Stephen to gaze along the lines of pararell & alternative worlds for other versions of the FTS. Beagle that mirror his own vessel's demise. Stephen wanted that sweet,sweet, Beagle technology that has allowed him to build up his cult of Froggies across the planes. This is sort of in keeping with "Patterns of Force" (1968), an episode of the original Star Trek (1966-1969). It also feeds the growing paranoia & mental delusions of Captain Bork Riesling
This time Saint Stephen was in league with Dark Albion's French demonic frog rulers except this time it was a part of the Lion & Dragon Rpg
So how does DA2 'The Temple of The Frog' apply to Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg. Well there are two distinct possibilities. One is the fact that 'The Temple of the Frog' & its attendent city are domains unto themselves seeded with USS Beagle technology & personel;"Stephen together with Brand Kirk, Dygar Mendel, Lynn Raupp, Willis Strom and the cyborg Norn fled into the nearby swamps. There, Rocklin reorganized the Order of the Frog, a local cult where he now became known as Saint Stephen. Using Beagle technology, they created a race called Frog Men using DNA from the local swamp fauna." This also applies to the ancient past of Greyhawk as well;"Although the main focus of this website is the connection between Mystara and Blackmoor, I have decided to include other possibilities for Blackmoor aswell. Blackmoor was created by Dave Arneson, but was in the early days transplanted into Gygax’s Greyhawk milieu. The Duchy of Ten(h) and the Great Kingdom were all products of the Castle & Crusade Society, in turn a creation of Gary Gygax. In the early days, it was unclear where Greyhawk ended and Blackmoor began. However, in their later incarnations, the Greyhawk and Blackmoor settings grew apart. As David Ross wrote in his Blackmoor Gazetteer:
"As for the Blackmoor within Greyhawk, no-one has ever insisted that we reconcile the two. Greyhawk’s Blackmoor may be a source of creative material but should by no means be considered part of Blackmoor Canon."
This means that the central figure of Greyhawk's Blackmoor has some very dangerous & unexpected meet points. Greyhawk's Archbarony of Blackmoor has some very interesting things to say about this very unexpected Greyhawk & Blackmoor connetions. This also means that Greyhawk is open as a domain for ACK's. Its here where the party can exploit the far reaching implications of the Galactic Fediation with regards to how & why their appearance mirrors the degratation of such Federation officers. We see this with the increased power of the White Star Galaxy rpg within my own mini campaign. But was this comes with the power of the federation when they warn about the Blackmoor system.
The bottom line is that the Froggies are a force & faction unto themselves. Their very nature demands this! Power craves power for itself!
The legends speak of another world of the past, a world where adventure was just around the corner. That world was a long time ago! Things have changed much, the legends & myths foretold by our ancestors came to pass. Now things are very dangerous for there are monsters that come from the Shadowdeep and worse now! Welcome to Mystara Reborn!
Work & real life got in the way but that's another blog post. Let's kick this into epic mythological high gear, And dive right into the Ragnarok spoken of on Mystara! The bell has rang & the darkness has plunged from the City of the Gods!
Let's say that events at the end of Wrath of the Immortals went very wrong & something broke with the spell of preservation in the Hallow World. Ragnorok happened! Numerous pieces of ancient City of the Gods technology have been uncovered by the upheavals of land & oceans boil across Mystara. The Elves & Dwarven Immortals walk the land as numerous human champions return to the world from beyond. Humanoid & Giant races hidden in communities have emerged as Drow tribes & champions rise from within as the sun turns the color of sack cloth. The way has been paved by numerous demonic cults and factions over the centuries. There is betrayal from within the Immortals court & double crosses.
Engines of destruction are seized & these are used across the face of Mystara & entire populations are laided low. There are swaths of wastelands created as the destruction happens on an unprecedented level. This cracks the local space time continuum & the demon lords such as Orcus & Juiblex run ramrod over parts of Mystara. Orcus leads the faceless hordes of undead across the world. Demogorgon raises wild in the hills as his cults take village after village.
Just when all seems lost and world of Mystara is going down that final spin into the Abyss 'The Spell of Preservation' cracks and breaks! From numerous tunnels and byways out pours the ancient heroes & peoples to take back what's there's! The Grand Battle Is Joined! Everything changes! Nothing is ever going to be the same again. The weather patterns have changed, the land itself is weird and very dangerous! Monsters & ancient prehistoric beasts that have not been seen in centuries except in lost corners of Mystara now stalk the land! Here's where the Issue Nine of the freeThreshold magazine comes into play!
Now given the numerous weird technological relics & odd artifacts that have been whispered about in legend a forbidden tribe of Elves is needed. They alone now the forbidden ways & means of these secret & dangerous things. Their blood is also needed to help revive the Elven race which is almost extinct because of the blood shed and warfare. The name of Blacklore is curse and a forbidden word in numerous households but they alone know the secrets of these legendary artifacts of myth and forbidden legend. The nasal filter - Male elf, by David Nash
But this is a world of men, cave men, and humanoid races not seen in centuries! Welcome to a world reborn welcome to a world of magic, super science, sorcery, & pulp adventure! Welcome to Mystara Reborn!
Blackmoor the name conjures up images of everything from the First Fantasy Campaign to some of the corner stones of Dungeons & Dragons as we know it. I'm not going to get bogged down in gushing about Dave Arneson co creator of Dungeons & Dragons. But I quietly keep my hand churning in the Blackmoor fandom. When Havard's Blackmoor blog & the Comeback Inn announced a new free Blackmoor supplement well I had to get in on the action CBI-2 The Thonian Rand Source book "The Comeback Inn is proud to announce the second in the series of Thonian Empire Province Sourcebooks. Written by Havard and friends, this sourcebook details the northwestern border province of the Thonian Empire. "
According to Havard himself, "I tried to include the most important things for running a campaign in that area as well as making the Province feel unique or at least different from other Provinces" The introduction goes deeper into this point; "What follows is the second booklet detailing the provinces of the Thonian Empire, a realm in the world
of Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor. This is my take on the Province known as the Thonian Rand While much
of it is based on published information from the DA modules and the FFC as well as some ZGG material,
the final interpretation is my own. I make no claim for it being any official interpretation. Thanks to
Rafael, LoZompatore, Aldarron, James Mishler, Agathokles, RobJN, Cthulhdrew, Greg Svenson and
many unnamed members of the Mystara Community and the people of the Comeback Inn Forum for
research and ideas that was used in this PDF. This booklet details the Thonian Rand in the year 1030,
the time of the ZGG Blackmoor product line, 5 years after the DA modules"
This timing distinction makes the placement of this sourcebook incredibly important for its use as an adventure jump off point. Here the player's PC's are going to be in the thick of this twenty two page book. This book has annotations about past products such as
DA3 City of the Gods. In fact scattered through out the book are references to other Blackmoor & Dave Arneson writings.
"The Thonian Empire is a tyrannical realm ruled
by an evil and corrupt Emperor and his
lieutenants in an oppressive system.", and this book dives right into the hows & whys of it with notes right off the bat for PC's coming from the empire itself. The layout is easy on the eyes & the font works very well for the book. Each province is given over to detail but not overly so that one sometimes find in other Dungeons & Dragons products. There's a coherency that one finds throughout the source book according to Havard this was a labor of love; "I actually started working on this book back in 2014, but only recently got back to it. One reason it took me so long is that I am writing one book for each of the 10 Provinces and trying to make them feel coherent" We see this throughout the twenty two pages details from Blackmoor permeate the book such as the new updated version of the Tarnsmen ala Gor who have been decoupled from their Gorian past. Now their Hawkriders even though the term Tarnsmen is still used;
"Believed related to the Peshwa, Hawkriders is
a culture of humans living in the various
mountain ranges of the North. Sometimes
known as Tarnsmen, this people are best
known for those among their numbers who
ride gigantic Warhawks. Although the term
Hawkrider is used to refer to the group as a
whole, only a few of each clan have the gift
allowing them to ride these creatures. " I'm glad to see their inclusion in this book & their legacy carried on & throughout we get more details & ideas. We really get into the factions of the Thonian empire & there's lots of good stuff to get into. Then we dive into the geography, regions, politics, etc. of the Thonian Empire & make no mistake this is a dangerous region. This book can be used for PC's but the Thonian Empire sourcebook in many ways reminds me of the Greyhawk box set & folio. Areas that have interesting factions, ideas, & really dangerous NPC's. The section on Rogues, Rascals and Regents of The Rand has some fantastic NPC's & let's take this gnome mover & shaker for example; "Artigan of Foglesby Neutral Good 11th level Gnome Inventor, Str
13, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 11, Cha 15
This Gnome is a colleague of astronomer Galen
of Lato. Artigan was working closely with Galen
when Artigan built a mechanical sparrow for
his daughter around 40 years ago. This resulted
in a number of mechanical animals being
created in Evedhar. Every noble in Thonia
wanted one so Gnomes began working hard to
supply those in demand of such a toy. (This
character is briefly mentioned in Clock &
Steam, by Zeitgeist Games)"
All of Artigan's stats tie deeply back into the regions & other locations described within the CBI-2 The Thonian Rand Source book This is something that we see again & again with each & everything covered. This is the mark of a good & solidly useful product in my mind. So how can the CBI-2 The Thonian Rand source book be used? Well that's where things get really interesting. The sourcebook can be used to update existing adventures such as
DA4 The Duchy of Ten by David J. Ritchie to a more updated campaign.. Or CBI-2 The Thonian Rand Source book could be used to fill in many of the Blackmoor puzzle pieces that have over the years slipped through the cracks. But in point of fact the book could be used to start a brand new campaign set within the Rand setting itself. The cartography is well done & Blackmoor's evil empire never looked better. Do I think you should download the CBI-2 The Thonian Rand Source book? In a word absolutely!
'The PCs journey 4,000 years into the past to the land of Blackmoor! The party of adventurers are sent to the City of the Gods by the leaders of Blackmoor to acquire divine magic, either by bargaining or by stealing it! "
D3 has always been a bit of mixed bag for me as a dungeon master. More of a source book then an adventure after having played through the adventure as a player & having multiple PC's dying rather than making it through the adventure back in '88. If the Egg was powerful enough to bring down a star ship as powerful as the Beagle. Then it comes as no surprise that it could easily be operating in different eras & even alternative prime material planes or dimensions! City of the Gods is more interesting by what's not stated in the adventure then what is. The fact that time travel or is it simply gating into an alternative world ala Rick & Morty. Well for me its actually the PC's gating into an alternative world time line. St.Steven of the Froggies has been doing something similar for centuries at the behest of his own lord & master the Great Old One's Tsathoggua. Whose aggressive worshipers spread his horror across time & space. I've written about the continuing horrors of the influence of St.Stephen himself on the blog not more then a week ago.
The Froggies & the Egg of Coot have had an on again off again war of chess across space & time. Blackmoor & Greyhawk are merely part of the fronts of this war.
What does all of this have to do with the Thirty Year War or Dark Albion? Well the fact is that the Great Toad God seems to love to collect worlds & has a very viciously ironic sense of alien humor. He's been using the various forces of humanity notably the Catholics & Prodostants to destabilize Europe from within. The Great Old One & his Froggies cults have been doing this through human toad hybrids for centuries ala Clark Ashton Smith's Mother of Toads.
"PIERRE AWOKE in the ashy dawn, when the tall black tapers had dwindled down and had melted limply in their sockets. Sick and confused, he sought vainly to remember where he was or what he had done. Then, turning a little, he saw beside him on the couch a thing that was like some impossible monster of ill dreams; a toadlike form, large as a fat woman. Its limbs were somehow like a woman's arms and legs. Its pale, warty body pressed and bulged against him, and he felt the rounded softness of something that resembled a breast. Nausea rose within him as memory of that delirious night returned; Most foully he had been beguiled by the witch, and had succumbed to her evil enchantments. It seemed that an incubus smothered him, weighing upon all his limbs and body. He shut his eyes, that he might no longer behold the loathsome thing that was Mere Antoinette in her true semblance. Slowly, with prodigious effort, he drew himself away from the crushing nightmare shape. It did not stir or appear to waken; and he slid quickly from the couch. Again, compelled by a noisome fascination, he peered at the thing on the couch — and saw only the gross form of Mere Antoinette. Perhaps his impression of a great toad beside him had been but an illusion, a half-dream that lingered after slumber. He lost something of his nightmarish horror; but his gorge still rose in a sick disgust, remembering the lewdness to which he had yielded. Fearing that the witch might awaken at any moment and seek to detain him, he stole noiselessly from the hut. It was broad daylight, but a cold, hueless mist lay everywhere, shrouding the reedy marshes, and hanging like a ghostly curtain on the path he must follow to Les Hiboux. Moving and seething always, the mist seemed to reach toward him with intercepting fingers as he started homeward. He shivered at its touch, he bowed his head and drew his cloak closer around him."
The Arthurian deserts of Zothique are end result of the slow & abiding corruption of the toad god's influence this can be seen in Dark Albion's swamps of Paris & in the slow slide of many of the Arthurian wastelands. The moral degeneration that we seen in the more decadent parts of Albion is similar to the same sort of decay that we see in the dungeons of Blackmoor indicating the presence of the Froggies.
Ultimately it would be Galahad who leads Europe out of turmoil & from the hands of chaos itself. This is a similar path to King Uther and his line. "Sir Galahad, described as "the most noblest [sic] knight in the world".[3] Moreover, King Pelles claims that Galahad will lead a "foreign country...out of danger" and "achieve...the Holy Grail".[4] The source of King Pelles' knowledge is undisclosed." The knowledge comes directly from the visions of the Holy Grail itself an artifact beyond time & space. This is exactly the same sort of power seen in the gating of the PC's back four thousand years in D3 City of the Gods.
"How at the Castle of Corbin a maiden bare in the Sangreal and foretold the achievements of Galahad" by Arthur Rackham (1917)
Across time & space the struggle against chaos & its depravities continues! More to come!
"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has recently been plagued by a rash of unusually weird and terrible monsters of an unknown sort. This western area, particularly the mountain fastness which separates the Grand Duchy from the Dry Steppes, has long been renowned for the generation of the most fearsome beasts, and it has been shunned accordingly -- save a handful of hardy souls with exceptional abilities. Within the last few months, however, a walled town not far distant from the area, and four small fortresses as well, have been destroyed by mysterious attacks! "
""Barrier Peaks" is about a spaceship crashing into the world of Greyhawk. Gygax was very clear is saying that the ship was not the Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha: "The size and the technology in this vehicle should make such speculation quite misplaced, in fact. The downed space ship is far too small, and its science quite different from that of the famed starship Warden." The connection between "Barrier Peaks" and Metamorphosis Alpha is thus more of a thematic one." My best guess is that its a science vessel that accompanied the Warden mission & got caught in its hyperspace or planar wake. "The Grand Duchy of Geoff is perfectly suited to Greyhawk & connects itself to any number of planes. The world of the Flanaess is very much in keeping with Gary Gygax's vision of Greyhawk according to Wiki;
"In response to this, Gygax changed his mind and decided he would publish his private campaign world, but with some important changes. Rather than using his own map, which was simply the real-world Earth overwritten with his cities, towns and regions, he decided to create a new world called Oerth. Gygax joked, "Say it as Oi-th as if you were from Brooklyn, and that's the way I pronounce it. That annoys all who take a fantasy world far too seriously."[85] Once he had sketched out the entire planet,[86][87] Gygax decided to concentrate his first efforts on one small corner of the world. One hemisphere of Oerth was dominated by a massive continent called Oerik. Gygax asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle; the answer was 34" x 22" (86 cm x 56 cm). He found that, using the scale he desired, he could only fit the northeast corner of the continent of Oerik on two of the sheets.[88][89] He therefore concentrated on providing details for less than a quarter of the landmass of Oerth, concentrating on the eastern part of the continent of Oerik that would be illustrated by his map"
Its not hard to imagine that the warp that carried the 'Warden' ship into the world of Greyhawk might continue to have very dangerous & lasting effects on the local space time continuum. But what if instead of just dumping monsters off into the local mountains & wilderness its trying to contact another A.I. in another close by prime material plane. What if just before crashing into Greyhawk the ship's computer tried to contact another of its kinda across the planes. What if the Reaper A.I. from Legion of Gold was actually part of a deeper & much more sinister entity?!
What if this same entity's creations have been running riot for centuries through Greyhawk, Mystara, & even Gamma Terra?! Think I'm full of manure?! The Reaper A.I. does a hell of a job converting any mutants & pure strain humans it comes across into golden armored cyber soldiers from the wasteland. You know who else has this same style of M.O.?
Saint Stephen of The Rock from DA2 The Temple of The Frog adventure but I don't think its him that had a hand in the destruction of the 'Warden'. No I'd go back to another Mystara, Blackmoor, & Greyhawk villain of the worst stripe. I'm speaking of the ever powerful Egg of Coot . The Egg has all of the hallmarks of being the Reaper A.I.'s dad & then some. He's got a city state base on Greyhawk filled with A.I.'s & the means to planarly gate each & everyone of his creations across the dimensional bridges. And he's got the malevolent intelligence to do so!
So not only would The Egg of Coot crash 'the Warden''s science vessel into Greyhawk he'd be more then happy to open gateways between dimensions because of the chaos of a downed space craft to get his forces onto a brand new world or two. The PC's are busy dealing with the wreck of the craft & its monstrous invasive species to notice some uninvited guests slipping into the campaign world. This wonderful cover from the science fiction magazine Utopia illustrates the problem facing PC's.
While the PC's are facing down the monsters in comes the cyber horrors of the Egg of Coot to deal death to the world. By the time the PC's figure out what's happening then its too late! Or is it actually?! If the powers of Greyhawk's Blackmoor are still under the effects of the Egg then the PC's are going to need the help of Baron Jemmas, Warder of Horn, & The Grand Duchy of Geoff but the Egg could extend his might over into a world of technological superiority.. This isn't going to save the characters at all. They are going to be trying to stave off the combined forces the army of the Egg of Coot & his cybernetic horrors.
Even in a modern setting the forces of the Egg are very formidable & very dangerous. This isn't a villain to be taken lightly. He's capable of using many of the futuristic & alternative Earth technologies that the player's PC's wouldn't be familiar with.
All of time & space is open to the Egg of Coot because he or it is a higher dimensional being. The monster is locked within its prison of biomechanical flesh but its capable of dealing with various world settings with alarming ease.
Even with the higher technoligcal levels of the world of Amazing Adventures! rpg this monster entity is going to test the mettle of anyone it comes across. Acting through A.I. agents, super powered horrors, & even cybernetic horrors. The Egg of Coot is absolutely evil incarnate.
That's what the flying egg has. New magic unlike any
ever encountered in Blackmoor. New magic of a type that could give the
fledgling kingdom an important edge in the wars that are brewing on its
borders.
There are only a few minor problems. Like the fact
that the magician who piloted the metal egg to one of Blackmoor's sworn
enemies, the monks of evil and eccentric Order of the Frog, are also
interested in the magic represented by the egg. And, most important, the
fact that the egg came from the distant and dangerous City of the Gods.
Set amist the blistered salt flats of the Valley or the
Ancients, the City of the Gods is a strange and deadly metal metropolis
whose powerful guardians do not welcome intruders. Yet it is to this
place of deadly menace that Blackmoor's leaders now send a daring
expedition? to bargain for aid in the coming wars? or to steal the magic
of the gods."
DA3 City of The Gods has been available as a pdf from Wizards of The Coast going all the way back to 2016. 'DA3: "City of the Gods" (1987), by Dave Arneson & David J. Ritchie,
is the third of the four Blackmoor adventure. It was published in March
1987.' , this one the best science fantasy resources available to bridge gap Greyhawk & Blackmoor together. While dodging snow flakes & snow shoves last night I did a bit of research into the origins of TSR version of Blackmoor. I came across the following on the Canonfire forum by poster rasgon; "I was collecting quotes about the history of
ancient Blackmoor, to see if I could piece together its history. From
the following, it seems that it was a Flan land that became claimed by
the Baklunish Empire to the south. Taking Baklunish magic and technology
to previously undreamt-of heights, the nobles there founded the City of
the Gods and declared independence, becoming an ally of the rival Suel
Imperium in order to help maintain its sovereignty. Eventually the
constructs of the city were brought down by a plague of chaos introduced
by the slaadi, then swallowed by the encroaching Land of Black Ice
(cause unknown) at about the time of the Twin Cataclysms. The expansion
of the Land of Black Ice was ultimately stopped by native Flan sorcerers
using the power of the oerthmagic native to the region, but by that
time the City of the Gods culture was ruined and forgotten.
The Egg of Coot also uses construct servants, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was a connection.
'After they dug down to the shape, they found it to be a strange
construct from an ancient realm that predated the Black Ice. They freed
the creature's head and were amazed to see that it still lived. The
creature is known as a nimblewright, and it told tales of the wealth of
southern lands, of magical constructs, and of the secrets of its ancient
empire.' - Dungeon #115, page 32.
'Long ago, a small fiefdom in the northlands reached the heights of
civilization--its craftsmanship and knowledge of artifice were
unmatched. Constructs served the lords and ladies of the land,
performing menial labor and freeing the city's aristocracy to devote
more time to art, philosophy, and war. The heart of these lands was
called the City of the Gods, and it was unlike any city before or since.
Some say the City's automatons were struck down by a plague... Over the
ages, the advancing ice drove out what few denizens remained...' -
Dungeon #126, page 43.
'Mathghamhna was somewhere in the Baklunish Empire (for example, the
northwesternmost spur of the Yatmil [sic] Mountains or the "City of the
Gods" in Blackmoor).' - College of Wizardry, page 9.
'The secret of creating brass men is said to have been given to humans
by the efreet, who hoped that in time the brass men could take control
of the humans and help the efreet rule the human lands from their City
of Brass.' - Dungeon #126, page 60.
'...oddities such as "memory gears," "animating spirit-gems," "everwound springs..."' - Dungeon #126, page 45.
'Clockwork eunuchs balance the skills of clockwork artisans, clerics,
and genie-binding sorcerers. They depend on carefully set everwound
springs, memory gears, and magical rune-powered animating gemstones that
pulse with elemental power.' - Dragon #334, page 39.
"
That's right the Egg of Coot has been very busy across the planes, while its been trapped in its higher dimensional prison. The Egg has been expanding its black ice clad kingdom across time & space especially in Greyhawk's Blackmoor Barony & the world of Blackmoor itself. Don't think that this hasn't been noticed at the City of the Gods but the question is which one?! There are a multitude of these locations scattered across space time from the Wilderlands of High Fantasy to Greyhawk herself as well as Mystara.
The Egg is responsible for far more then it seems; "'In the earliest days of the conflict between the
Suel and Baklunish empires, Suloise magi sought to turn the legendary
Baklunish affection for the elements against them. To do this, they
created four artifacts of surpassing power and infused these symbols of
elemental magic with a portion of the spirits of powerful elemental
princes.. After detecting the flaws in the elemental items, the Suel
dispatched them to foreign lands as gifts of the emperor's gratitude...
The Unquenchable Scepter
traveled north, to what would become Blackmoor (and rested in that
land's fabled castle for centuries).' - Dragon #294, page 94.
'Through a series of improbable accidents, the green slaad and its sword
(a source of raw chaos) entered the orderly waters of the Gearspring Well... the Well
could no longer create clockwork creatures; instead it infected all the
clockwork creatures near it with gear madness.' - Dungeon #126, page
58.
'Legend says that the numerous mounds and standing stones throughout the
archbarony were created by the Northern Adepts of Old Blackmoor
(presumedly a cabal of Ur-Flan sorcerers) to constrain the encroaching
Black Ice.' - Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, page 34.
"The Archbarony of Blackmoor in Gary Gygax World of Greyhawk setting may have been a homage for Dave Arneson but fact it might be more of an idealized reflection of what the Egg of Coot intents for other universes. Dave Arneson's Blackmoor, Mystara's Blackmoor, & Greyhawk's Archbarony of Blackmoor may be higher mathematic reflections of different interdimensional locations in space time which exist or co exist across a number of well established published product settings including Mystara. "The Mystaran cataclysm could have caused a split
in spacetime and sent some Blackmoorian people (and also the Egg of
Coot) to Oerth"
According to the thread called Blackmoor,does it belong to Greyhawk or Mystara?? poster GVDammerung ;"Blackmoor comes in a number of flavors. It ties in to Greyhawk, Mystara, the Wilderlands and its own, seperate "reality."
While no two versions are identical, it is obvious that each version is
related to the others. To use a Greyhawk example, Oerth appears in
published Greyhawk but in an altered form in the Sagard novels by EGG as
Yarth. If each Blackmoor had a slightly different name (Blackmeor,
Blakmoor etc.) the Oerth/Yarth parallel would be nearly exact.
Blackmoor is to Greyhawk as Yarth is to Oerth or near enough.
While the differences between the Blackmoors are stronger than the
similarities, the similarities are strong enough to suggest some sort of
connection. The nature of the connection is then left to each DM. Can
you get any mileage out of playing up the common elements?
At the least, I think it fair and safe to say that each Blackmoor
appears to have influenced the other Blackmoors within the game (just as
each Blackmoor influenced the others in real life). But, again, the
nature and extent of the influence, is left up to each DM.
On this note, it may be useful to recall that, while we speak of
"Blackmoor" what we are really talking about are a series of peoples,
places, items and events, any one of which may have parallels beyond a
single published setting. So, for example, there is a Duchy of Tenh
incorporated into more than one Blackmoor setting. So, one need not
port over to Greyhawk or any other setting it touchs, all that we
summarize when we say "Blackmoor." We can take the whole (whichever
version) or choose from among the pieces parts.
Why would one do this? Well, the Arch Barony of Blackmoor is by
geography and the history of the Flanaess something of a remote
backwater. It fills up some space on the map and provides some
civilization near the Land of Black Ice. If that's all one wants,
that's okay. If, however, one wants to bring some unique and
interesting features to this area, tapping Blackmoor's varied
incarnations is easy and natural to do.
As Rasgon sagely noted, Fred Weining in the LGG, and the late lamented
print Dragon, strengthened the ties between Greyhawk and the various
Blackmoors. And he did it very well. Others, like Wolfgang Bauer, have
added more.
There is no right, correct or canon definition of the relationship
between Greyhawk and the Blackmoors beyond being able to say there is
some sort of connection. In the best Greyhawk fashion, there are
suggestions or possibilities that each DM can choose to develop for
themselves or not.
Personally, I like Blackmoor for all its possibilities.
I am running a converged campaign there right now, where Blackmoor is an
Atlantis-like lost civilization destroyed in the same cataclysm that
saw the birth of the Land of Black Ice. Think LoBI and ancient
Blackmoor as their eras Baklunish and Suel empires. Blackmoor largely
sank beneath the waves of Blackmoor Bay and ice covered its rival.
Reactivating the Stornawane road as a dirwane (sp?) road (dating from
the early period of Ferrond) allows easier access to the area from
civilization - ie Furyondy, which IMC is recolonizing the lands of the
Horned Society and Iuz after Iuz' defeat and apparent banishment in the
Second Northern Crusade.
IMO, Blackmoor is an underdeveloped but high potential place to play."
One of the one constants that seems to be across the various Blackmoor settings is the dangers of the Black Ice which claims the ruins of the City of the Gods & surrounds parts of Greyhawk. Could this stuff be concentrated debris from entropy & chaos coming into the reality of the normal space time?! I think so, Canonfire poster Dr_Asworth brings up this lovely little gem from the Mystara Wraith of the Immortals set; "On page 25 of Codex of the Immortals from the
Wrath of the Immortals box set there is an interesting reference. It
talks about the immortal Khoronus who, as a mortal, discovered a time
travel device, and saw what was to become of his beloved Blackmoor. His
reponse was to set up a colony based on Blackmoor's culture on a "world
which was far, far away in the Prime Plane." You could easily make the
case that is far away world is Oerth. It also gives a bit of an out when
trying to place the events of the DA adventures in Oerth's timeline,
since any event from those books could have happened in "old" Blackmoor,
but their cultural impacts felt in "new" Blackmoor." The dangers that the Egg of Coot & its forces represent is far greater the sum then the parts & this is one of the huge secrets between the Gods of Greyhawk & the Immortals of Mystara. The problem is the rivalry between the gods & the immortals because there is a significantly different approach to the mortals on both sides. This creates friction between the two camps from time to time.
The events of Wraith of the Immortals put the fear of God into a great deal of the fear of the gods into a great many planar entities. Especially given the destiny of Khoronus. Khoronus has a solid Greyhawk connection & its tied into both the religious destiny of this immortal & his worship on Greyhawk. Poster rasgon goes deeply into it; "One issue with the Khoronus
connection is that Khoronus was supposed to have become an Immortal -
the "gods" of the Mystara setting - while on the other world he'd
colonized. The question becomes why the modern people of Oerth don't
worship Khoronus as they do in Mystara.
But maybe they do. In Mystara, Khoronus is the patron of time. Perhaps
Khoronus became known as Cyndor, mythic guardian of the timestreams. Oerth Journal
#5 places an abbey of Cyndor in Blackmoor, calling it a highly
respected pilgrimage site. This Broomsage Abbey appeared on the map of
Blackmoor in Dungeon #126.
The story in Wrath of the Immortals
has the mortal Khoronus traveling to three different future time
periods (as part of what is known as the Path of the Dynast) to defend
his colony against great threats to its existence. If Khoronus' colony
was the City of the Gods in Oerth's Blackmoor, what three threats did
the colony face?
My guesses are:
1. The Baklunish-Suloise Wars. Khoronus helps his descendants avoid
being annihilated during the strife between the two great empires, and
avoid being destroyed by the Invoked Devastation.
2. The Black Ice. Perhaps the most critical of the three threats,
Khoronus has to figure out a way to maintain the dynasty he founded even
as the City of the Gods that he created is overwhelmed by the
encroaching ice. I'm not certain if he can be reasonably said to have
succeeded in this, considering how much was lost, but if descendants of
Khoronus continued to rule the area even after they're driven to the
south, then he can be said to have succeeded.
3. Aerdy conquest. During this stage of the Path of the Dynast, Khoronus
has to ensure that his descendants continue to rule the region even
after the Great Kingdom conquers his land. Presumedly they intermarry
with the Aerdi, and Khoronus ensures that his half-Oeridian descendants
rule Blackmoor in the way he prefers, and that the land remains
recognizably Blackmoorian.
Blackmoor continues to face other trials afterward (the collapse of
Aerdy power, the conquest of the Egg of Coot), but through it all, his
descendants still rule. And in any case, Khoronus's quest is complete."
Yeah its complete alright,the very act of these quests is one of the set ups for the Egg to continue to spread across the planes Prime. The Egg of Coot is the second most dangerous foe in Dungeons & Dragons. The real title goes to the head of the Froggies, Saint Stephen the Rock. Each & every time that a machine nest appears across the planes he & his cultists are gazing into the deep to find it. The City of the Gods is of prime interest because each one on each world is different. Some are ruined, some have been ransacked, some are still in full operation. The constant for the city is there is power there & he as well as the Egg are driven for it, the fight for it, & they are locked in an eternal struggle across the ages. But why?! We'll tackle that coming up!
'The Grand Duchy of Geoff has recently been plagued by a rash of
unusually weird and terrible monsters of an unknown sort. This western
area, particularly the mountain fastness which separates the Grand Duchy
from the Dry Steppes, has long been renowned for the generation of the
most fearsome beasts, and it has been shunned accordingly -- save a
handful of hardy souls with exceptional abilities. Within the last few
months, however, a walled town not far distant from the area, and four
small fortresses as well, have been destroyed by mysterious attacks! '
What happens if the Warden completely destabilized the planes as it passed through on its way to the Grand Duchy of Geoff? I was reading S3 Expedition To the Barrier Peaks & the article Using Blackmoor In Your Mystara campaign by Havard. A really evil thought occurred to me, what if the Egg of Cott was responsible for bringing down the Warden on Greyhawk? Is the Warden interdimensionally stable?! I think it isn't & all that wondrous technology is actually Blackmoor technology that the Egg has been importing onto various planar settings because its trapped & no matter how powerful it gets or what the Egg does. The monster can't leave its various portions of its prisons & so its power is scattered across the multiverse. Its been searching for technologies close to some of Blackmoor's across time & space. There already is a connection between Blackmoor & Greyhawk's S3 Expedition to The Barrier Peaks. From the Wizards of the Coast Expedition entry on Drivethrurpg; 'A Level of Machines. When Gary Gygax sat down to
write "Barrier Peaks" he sought help and inspiration from another
source: Greyhawk co-GM Rob Kuntz and his "Machine Level". Kuntz
originally created the Machine Level for his own Castle El Raja Key, to
challenge Gary Gygax's characters. He later moved it to Castle Greyhawk
when he became a co-GM of Gygax's campaign. This allowed players like
James Ward to explore the legendary level; Ward wrote about the
experience in Dragon #17 (August 1978) when he spoke of the
conveyer belts, cellophane machines, die press, slot machines and levers
found in the original level.
Besides contributing machinery to "Barrier Peaks", Kuntz also provided content for the garden level of the spaceship. Origins (III): A City of the Gods. There may have been
one other inspiration for "Barrier Peaks". In 1976, Rob Kuntz and Gary
Gygax explored Blackmoor's "City of the Gods" when Dave Arneson ran a
session for them at TSR's Dungeon Hobby Shop. Gygax's Mordenkainen and
Kuntz's Robilar rather famously wreaked havoc on the City, got in way
over the heads, and barely escaped with their lives. As it happens, that City of the Gods was actually a crashed spaceship!'
So there's a Ward, Gygax, Kuntz, & Arneson cross connection but it marks both Expedition & Blackmoor technologies as highly dubious at best.
Blackmoor technologies are very dangerous & deadly. An artifact of Blackmoor caused the events of the Wraith of the Immortals box set but some of the other relics are just as deadly. 'The same goes for the lands of the Shadow Elves which is
tied to the very same legacy that Glantri is. Many different items
and remnants from Blackmoor keep showing up in modern day Mystara.
Historically, the discovery of some unstable artifacts lead to the
minor cataclysms of BC 1700 when elves tried to activate the devices.'
In yesterday's blog entry I mentioned Caladar's Vortex & its effects but what if the space craft wreckage of the Warden passed through it on its way to Greyhawk? What if that was only one part of the debris trail that was passing across the planes?! Could there be more debris heading towards Oerth & what are the refications for Blackmoor, Mystara, & Greyhawk? There could be far more happening behind the scenes here? I think that there is the thread How many spaceships visited Oerth? from the Canonfire forums goes into some pretty solid details on exactly this. This stuff is about as far from canon as one can get but its great campaign fodder. But why would the Egg of Coot be doing this?! Why not?! Well I think that the Egg is frustrated in its higher dimensional prison & very, very, pissed off. The Egg of Coot is trapped in higher five dimensional prison & has been for eons. Its highly influential as its power rages across time & space as both artifact & minor god. But its limited in that it can corrupt, create, & even take over but its still trapped in its prison. So it continues to search the various prime material planes hoping to stumble across the one that will free it. Rasgon from the 'How Many Space Ships visited Oerth thread provides the fodder for the Egg & the technologies; "Aeolius chronicles references to time travel on Oerth in this thread; relevant here is the metal ship with neither mast nor oars found in the Jungle of Lost Ships described in the Glossography. This might be another crashed spaceship.
There are also the "sheens" introduced in Dragon #258 and Dragon #270, which were explicitly tied to Greyhawk:
"At least two points of origin for machine life cysts are currently
known, the Barrier Peaks and the Rael cysts. Many more are suspected to
exist, but they are as yet undiscovered." - Dragon #258, page 30. I
assume the Rael cyst is a reference to Tale of the Comet.
The S3 ship, which was a modular section of a larger ship afflicted by a
plague, ended up in Oerth's universe after falling through a black
hole. What this hole in the fabric of time and space looks like on
Oerth's side is unknown, but it can't be another black hole, or the ship
would have been drawn immediately back into the gravity well. A very
strong candidate is the Sisters, a mysterious "constellation" of nine
starlike objects in Greyspace (described in the sourcebook of that name)
that functions as a gateway to other times and places. Perhaps the
Sisters, and the offending black hole, are also the source of the other
technological incursions. Possibly the other crashes are other sections
of the S3 exploration-colonization vessel.
Fred Weining's article on the Archbarony of Blackmoor in the Oerth Journal
#5 suggested that the Egg of Coot was actually the same Egg of Coot
from the Mystara/Blackmoor setting, who had fled Mystara to Oerth after
the Rain of Fire that destroyed the Blackmoor civilization. Similarities
between Mystara's Blackmoor and Oerth's Blackmoor (for example, a City
of the Gods in both) are blamed on the Egg of Coot, who has been
secretly influencing events for thousands of years in order to make his
new home more like his old one."
They are the same Egg because each of the Eggs of Coot upon each world is only a portion of the original seen as a bit of planar cross section. Each & every time an artifact, relic, robot, ray gun or treasure finds its way into some poor adventurer or pawn shop owner's hands the evil spreads just a little. A cult might start in some hidden alley or backroom location perhaps just enough to summon a sheen cyst down into the world. And why would the Egg bring the Warden to Greyhawk? Because if it can't have technologies then it can have sheer chaos & mayhem instead that way everyone is unhappy. But the Egg of Coot's influence isn't the only one causing mayhem. Next time we dive deep into the under currents of even more evil!
