Some OSR Commentary On The Legacy of 50 years of Dave Arneson's First Blackmoor Game Session

 
Today was one of those days were we were very busy at the shop & didn't have a huge amount of time to get a secondary blog post up. And then family stuff came up. In the evening tonight we got together to game. But all day at the back of my mind has been the legacy of  50 years of  Dave Arneson's first  Blackmoor game session.  Based on me  quickly zipping around Havard Blackmoor's blog today . 

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. 

More Late Night OSR & Arnesonian Commentary On Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign

There's always been more to the hobby of table top gaming then, "clear the room, take the loot, & move on." Especially original Dungeons & Dragons which has remained consistent in its approach via the three little brown books in their wood grained box. I've used those books to run everything from Barsoomian adventures to full mythological campaigns involving deities from Mount Olympus to the Halls of Valhalla.
But Judge's Guild has always been my back up going back to when I started in this hobby. I wrote about Judge's Guild product code thirty seven last night The First Fantasy Campaign. The First Fantasy Campaign isn't a carefully organized piece of gaming, instead its an alternative collection of rules from Dave Arneson's home game setting organically grown from the actual play sessions. These are the look behind the curtain of Oz's wizard in this case its Dave Arneson's notes & partial session materials. Arnesonian books at the table as I came up the ranks were Blackmoor & The FFC.



This is in addition to B/X Dungeons & Dragons along side the Monster Manual finally the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide. Hargrave's Arduin Grimoire sat right in that pile of reference material. There were a few others but will get to those coming up. So what's in the First Fantasy Campaign? Well the Acaecum has a good break down explanation of the book's contents;"  Herein are many new guidelines on lair generation, character interests and vocations (hunting, farming, fishing, trapping, etc.), the resources and manpower of the various feudal holdings and nomadic hordes of this landmark in war gaming, and much more.  Carefully mapped are the twelve levels of Blackmoor Dungeon beneath the five levels of Blackmoor Castle, the village of Blackmoor, the home of Mello the Halfling, and the tower of Svenson's Freehold."

What the First Fantasy Campaign actually is an artifact of the play sessions of David Arneson & his player's PC's. What the were facing down, the content of the world setting of Blackmoor & your possible player's PC's within it. Here's some rules & guidelines for having at it kids now go play. That's really what Arneson's brilliance was getting the players involved organically.  This really a good dungeon master needs to start moving in on a setting & making it their players own. The player's PC's are the most important people in the campaign.


There is a lot of Dave Arneson's personality &  humor scattered throughout the FFC from the holy water fire hoses to the glorious puns of some of the names. This doesn't be grudge the fact that there are many monsters who will kill your party deader then a door nail. Bear in mind that I'm not taking one iota of brilliance away from Gary Gygax at all. The approaches to the hobby of Dungeons & Dragons are day & night as I said. Here the dungeon master is given all of the fiddly bits to make Blackmoor their own. These literally are the guidelines to bring the setting to life. Its like looking through & thumbing through the carefully kept note books of an older uncle who happens to be your dungeon master.The FFC is the antithesis of the carefully laid out rules packed retroclone or old school rule book. Its for a dungeon master who doesn't want a pre generated adventure & instead wants the play to come about once again organically from the players. The First Fantasy campaign works best with an old school system especially something like original Dungeons & Dragons. Understand that my love for Greyhawk noes no bounds but Blackmoor has a very special place within my heart mostly because of what it represents to me. This isn't nostalgia but the fact that I came into the OSR searching for that same feeling that had getting hacked to bits all of those years ago in the rooms of Blackmoor Dungeon. Thanks David Arnson for getting me partially started on this path of gaming all of those years ago! 

Late Night OSR Commentary On Dave Arneson & His Creations

When I think of Dave Arneson I'm always picturing in my head the young Mr.Arneson. The guy who was creating Blackmoor from the ground up all those years ago. Gary Gygax wrote & codified the rules of what would become original Dungeons & Dragons. His work on Dungeons & Dragons & its supplements became the foundation for the center piece of the table top hobby as we know it.
Dave Arneson created the theme of the campaign setting as over arching world from the ground up. Blackmoor isn't to be taken lightly & I've come to respect the campaign world setting over the years. There are a variety of reasons for this but one important one springs to mind.



Both Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson's approaches to gaming were day & night in many senses of the word. Yet there was  common ground in the both the war game hobby & the design of what would become the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. At two thirty in the morning I'm trying to hammer out in my head what Dave Arneson, Blackmoor, & The First Fantasy campaign Judge's Guild product code thirty seven mean to me. I'm seven years old & the First Fantasy campaign is being explained to me by the older brother of a friend of mine. Impressions don't cut it. There are rules for baronies, things for characters to do, & the entire Blackmoor dungeon. That's where my first player character was killed.


Blackmoor is laser etched into my tiny little brain back in Nineteen Seventy Seven & original Dungeons & Dragons has me hooked when I was killed by my first encounter(murder) with a skeleton. By the way that was in Blackmoor dungeon & it slaughtered me. Fifteen minutes later I had another first level player character ready to go. A magic user named 'Clavus The Creator' who lasted a bit longer because I got a bit smarter. That's what Blackmoor did for me as a setting. It got me to play smarter & then think things through as a player. I wouldn't be allowed to be a dungeon master until much later on. I never have forgotten that skeleton nor the nastiness of that first go around in the dungeons of Blackmoor.


By age eight years old I was taking on the role of dungeon master & had my own copy of Blackmoor, plus The Judge's Guild First Fantasy Campaign. Later on I subject other players to the tortures of the dungeons of Blackmoor.So I have a bit of a different take on Dave Arneson to a certain degree, is he actually smiling at all those poor bastards who had fun being killed by his various creations?!