24 minute Braunstein Movie Segment "Story" Draft

I watched the 24 minute Braunstein Movie Segment "Story" Draft last night on Christmas Day as promised and it was awesome. 
 
This was promised on Christmas Day and it was delivered on Christmas Day! All you had to do was check your email for the link and VIP code.

One quick takeaway for me (my opinion), story as used by Arneson and Wesely is what happens during the game, which is way different than the modern usage of story which means a pre-written plot that is forced on the players, i.e. a railroad. Under the original meaning of story, roleplaying games are stories, but under the modern meaning roleplaying games are the opposite of stories.

Dec 23 2018 "Battle In The Skies" Booklet Stretch Goal

Quoting

"Second stretch goal announced! "Battle In The Skies" Booklet at $60,000. Click here to see the update."

 

SECRETS of BLACKMOOR: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons

Volume 1 -The Evolution of Fantasy Role Playing Games (RPG's)

Only about 10 hours left to get in on this, do not be left out, get your pledge in now!

An Interview with Griff of Secrets of Blackmoor

Quoting

For those who have not seen the links, via our FACEBOOK and TWITTER, Griff did an interview with Shane Plays.
They talk about gaming, the movie, and many other things. 

"The Emergence of Blackmoor" poster Stretch Goal

SECRETS of BLACKMOOR: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons Volume 1 -The Evolution of Fantasy Role Playing Games (RPG's

Quote below!

At $45,000 in pledges we'll include the Emergence of Blackmoor Poster to anyone who pledges at the $25 level or higher.
This  double-sided full-color 11" x 17" poster will be the first published collection of artifacts that relate to Arneson’s first two years of running the Blackmoor Campaign (’71 and ’72). In fact, all of this material predates the publishing of D&D.
It gathers together the Blackmoor World & Town Maps on one side, and on the other a Campaign Overview, Corner of the Table announcements, Blackmoor Gazette and Rumor-monger play reports that Arneson published between 1971 and 1972. You can hang it on your wall or use the maps to run your own Blackmoor-style games. It will also include Dave Arneson's personal history of RPG's titled: 25 Years Ago.

The poster includes:
1. Dave Arneson's Campaign Overview that describes his planned game setting that "[...] is partially fiction..." (March 1971)
2. The original Blackmoor Campaign Map that was handed out to all of his players. (March 1971)
3. The original Blackmoor Town Map (1971)
4. Excerpt from Corner of the Table Volume 3 #4 - Arneson's first notice of a Fantasy Braunstien game: "It will feature mythical creatures and a Poker game under the Troll's Bridge..." (April 1971)
5. Excerpts from Corner of the Table  Volume 3 #5 - "The start of the Black Moors battle reports…" and "On Saturday may 22, 1071 a Brown Stien-type game set in the middle ages…) (May 1971)
6. The Spanish Royals Character Matrix - The first example of Character Attributes created by Arneson. This document was passed to Dan Nicholson at the same meeting on May 22, 1971.
7. The Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger, issues 1 and 2 from Corner of the Table  Volume 4 #3 - "Gertie Has Kiddies" and "Castle Burned While Heros Away." (May 1972)
8. The Lock Gloomen Battle Report from Corner of the Table Volume 4 #6 - "Blackmoor (The place where strong men cry 'cause there's a Balrog after them..)" (November 1972)
9. Dave Arneson's personal account of the creation of RPG's titled: 25 years Ago. (C. 2001)

The poster will include text that explains the importance and dates of the documents. 

"The GaryCon Draft" 35 min of the Secrets of Blackmoor

"The GaryCon Draft" 35 min of the Secrets of Blackmoor. This is the kind of material that this Kickstarter is funding the finish work for to make it professional technical quality so it is easy and fun to listen to and to watch.

Do not miss out, get your pledge in for the Kickstarter now! 
Secrets of Blackmoor - The True History of Dungeons & Dragons

Good News Folks! Rumor (fairly reliable) is Fight On! #15 is back in production

Rumor has it that the awesome fan magazine Fight On! is back in production and that the long awaited Issue #15 is actively being worked on again. Even better there is now talk of an Issue #16 to come later on which is even better news. Also the Fight On! website might just be revived as well. All of which is excellent news for the old school gaming community.

Elf Lair Publishing - Spellcraft & Swordplay

I just wanted to give a shout out to Elf Lair Publishing by Jason Vey. He also has two blogs The Whole Wide World and The Wasted Lands. He is the author of Spellcraft & Swordplay which is available here. Go check it all out, great stuff!

The Wasted Lands feature this awesome pic in the header.

Blackmoor Resources

***Blackmoor Resources***
There are a few Ultimate Blackmoor Resources on the Internet and they are
1.  The Blackmoor Archives - The Ultimate Blackmoor Fansite 
2. The Comeback Inn - The Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Discussion Forum
3. Havard's Blackmoor Blog - Dungeons & Dragons - Dave Arneson - Gaming History

There are a lot of links on the blog to sites with Dave Arneson and Blackmoor information. And of course The Ruins of Murkhill forum is a supporter of Blackmoor and Dave Arneson.

I encourage everyone to join The Comeback Inn and, of course, The Ruins.  

Havard made a recent blog post about the difficulty of building  a Blackmoor Community. 5 Reasons Why Building a Blackmoor Community is Hard

Please go read his post for full details. The gist is about why The Comeback Inn is not more active and what he thinks those reasons are. The below are partially quotes and partially my comments.

1. Blackmoor is a small niche. 

2. People like to read not post. Also comments about people taking his original content and putting it into published material for profit. I agree and while I have no problem with people making stuff for profit, I agree with Havard that it is wrong to take his content and use it to make a profit and not give credit or support the community. ***He notes that he usually gives permission, if they ask and give him credit.*** ( I BTW don't sell anything and never have.) 

3. People want to setup their own communities instead of joining. I am (last time I checked) a member at The Comeback Inn and while I have not posted much there I strongly support it and encourage all of you to join.

As an aside I setup up a MeWe group (Blackmoor - the Original First Fantasy Campaign) a week or two before Havard setup up his MeWe group(Dave Arneson's Blackmoor), I assumed he was not coming there since I saw no announcements or indications that he was going to. I have a standing offer on the table for Havard and another Admin from his forum to be Admins for the group I set up which is nearing 500 members. I am certain he could run it better than I could. I wanted to get it going and grow the group and we have done that. 

4. Blackmoor fandoom is fragmented. He says,
 "We have Old School Blackmoor Fans, Mystara Blackmoor Fans, Greyhawk Blackmoor Fans, D20 Blackmoor fans and many others. My dream was always to get these different groups to get together and talk about our common love."

I strongly agree with this and I hope that all of you do too! I support all the different types of Blackmoor, as does Havard and I too would like to see his dream come true. 

So go to The Comeback Inn and let Harvard know you are on board with all Blackmoor Fans being unified.

5. The shadow of controversy. Go read the blog post, I agree with him.

A link to a bonus blog post Do You Blackmoor? 

SECRETS of BLACKMOOR: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons

The Secrets of Blackmoor: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons now has a Kickstarter for Volume 1 -The Evolution of Fantasy Role Playing by The Fellowship of the Thing.

Griff known as Secrets of Blackmoor on various forums and on the Secrets of Blackmoor Website had this to say in a forum post. 

Most funding pitches have to do primarily with "Give Me All your Money," yet our approach is different. We are very aware that a lot of gamers may be on fixed incomes and can't really do much as far as direct support like that. Our goal is to get our fans sharing our Kick Starter link and talking to other gamer, thus raising awareness of this film project.

We're really far along with the film. We need extra hands and eyes on the project to make it come to completion sooner.

Tell your friends about this project, maybe show them the trailer on your phone at game night. It is the human touch that will help this project along. individual fans talking to their gamer friends.

All we ask is that you pass it forward. 

We're really underdogs and outsiders in the world of gaming. We aren't connected to the big game companies and big names in gaming. And the movie is really about people who are outsiders. We're pretty humble about what we can accomplish via this film, and we know that we need help from all of you. 

Thanks, Griff

At the Kickstarter link about they also say this (in part)

We are done editing the movie, but it needs a little more work before it can be released.  All of our time is now consumed by what can best be described as adding a fine finish to an already wonderful movie.  We're really down to adding the last touches -- things like color and sound refinements.  

We feel strongly that Secrets of Blackmoor is the seminal documentary on the history of Dungeons & Dragons. Yet we need you to support us in this last stage of post production.
Please take a minute to look over our videos, and gifts (located in the side bar).  There's even a special reward level to be delivered this Christmas day. 

Get out your dice and roll for initiative, become part of our Secret Team by pledging your support! 

The Kickstarter is to do the finish work on the movie as he notes the editing is done and they need to fund the finish work and bring it to market. Please join in making this a reality.

As a bonus take a look at this post Do you Blackmoor? 

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy MeWe Group

With the announcement of Google+ closing and the communities going away,  I checked out MeWe. There are some more interesting groups that I thought I would let you know about. Matthew Seibel started a new group for The Wilderlands of High Fantasy. MeWe looks pretty promising and I encourage you to come join the group and check it out, https://mewe.com/join/thewilderlandsofhighfantasy so go check it out and give it a try. He says 

I saw that there was no Wilderlands of High Fantasy MeWe group established yet so I figured that I'd do the honors of creating one for the fans of the setting here. We are starting out here with 12 members.

Content should be coming soon and hopefully the group will really take off. The group is an open group with no hoops for membership.

Update: Up to 20 members.

TROLLHALLA - where the Old School never went away. MeWe Group

With the announcement of Google+ closing and the communities going away,  I checked out MeWe. There are some more interesting groups that I thought I would let you know about. Grandpa Cox started a new group for the Forgotten Realms. MeWe looks pretty promising and I encourage you to come join the group and check it out, https://mewe.com/join/trollhalla-wheretheoldschoolneverwentaway so go check it out and give it a try. He says 

If you haven't discovered our current statement of intent, mainly because MeWe sorta hides it behind a teeny circled letter i, we'll run it here every so often. And here it is.

This will be turned over to either Ken St Andre or one of the other Original Fellowship who brought us the 2nd rpg: Tunnels & Trolls. Didn't want Khenn's trademark hall to go to anyone else. At least during the times in which I'll be hosting this, though hardly on a 24-hour basis, we'll expect courtesy and respect one to another. This includes (i. e. - don't do) bad language, libel, and suppositions of what someone else might have been thinking. Old Tzhett is a cranky grandpa many times over, and doesn't permit abusive folks to come over to poop on the furniture. 

Content should be coming soon and hopefully the group will really take off. They are now up to 76 members.

Update: Up to 111 members.

The Original Forgotten Realms MeWe Group

With the announcement of Google+ closing and the communities going away,  I checked out MeWe. There are some more interesting groups that I thought I would let you know about. Matthew Seibel started a new group for the Forgotten Realms. MeWe looks pretty promising and I encourage you to come join the group and check it out, https://mewe.com/join/theorigionalforgottenrealms so go check it out and give it a try. He says

I am about to begin work on compiling setting material into a simple document culled from my FR Gray Box PDF into a format easier to print out and read. I'll also be mining Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms for various pre-production nuggets that might influence my version of the setting.

I'll likely go through the pre-release issues of Dragon for gems I might use as well. The only resource beyond these I'll likely use is the Kara-Tur box set I own.

Content should be coming soon and hopefully the group will really take off. We are starting off here with 13 members. The group is an open group with no hoops for membership.

Update: Up to 18 members. 

The Ruins of Murkhill MeWe Group (created early October 2018)

With the announcement of Google+ closing and the communities going away,  I checked out MeWe. I saw that an Admin over at The Ruins of Murkhill forum had setup a MeWe group for the forum. MeWe looks pretty promising and I encourage you to come join the group and check it out, https://mewe.com/join/the_ruins_of_murkhill_-_odd_and_rpgs and there are 46 members right now if you want to come there and give it a try. It looks promising and they have a feedback option where you can give improvement ideas (1st option), ideas for a new feature, a problem report, general feedback and a compliment. I have made suggestions and since I selected the option for an email reply, I have gotten a reply, 1st to tell me that they got the feedback and then a reply from a team member telling me they submitted my idea to the tech team.  That is very encouraging, so we will see. 

Content should be coming soon and hopefully the group will continue to grow. If you are a OD&D and old school rpg fan, please come join us. The group is an open group with no hoops for membership.

Original Dungeons & Dragons the Old-School way. We are here to discuss old school table top role-playing games with a focus on OD&D; however, we also discuss Classic D&D and other TSR games, Arduin, Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha, Retro Games; Clones, Retro Clones, Emulations and Old School inspired games, Classic Traveller and other Science Fiction games. We include Adventures in Fantasy, Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls and many old school games. You want to talk about how you are running 5E or other newer games in an old school style we want to hear about it. We cover Sword & Sorcery, Sword & Planet, Sword & Sandal, Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Heroic Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Arcanepunk, Steampunk, Cyberpunk, Dieselpunk, Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic, Alternate History, Alternate World and more.

Update: up to 58 Members.
Update: Up to 85 Members
Update: Up to 99 Members.
Update: Up to 161 Members.
Update: Up to 176 Members.
Update: Up to 241 Members.
Update: Up to 548 Members.
Update:Up to 853 Members - come join us!

The Arduin Grimoire MeWe Group (created early October 2018)

With the announcement of Google+ closing and the communities going away,  I checked out MeWe. I also set up a MeWe group for The Arduin Grimoire here to give it a try, mewe.com/join/the_arduin_grimoire and there are 11 members right now if you want to come there and give it a try. It looks promising and they have a feedback option where you can give improvement ideas (1st option), ideas for a new feature, a problem report, general feedback and a compliment. I have made suggestions and since I selected the option for an email reply, I have gotten a reply, 1st to tell me that they got the feedback and then a reply from a team member telling me they submitted my idea to the tech team.  That is very encouraging, so we will see. 

I made a post over at the Google+ Arduin Grimoire Group back on October 12, 2018 a few days after I created the group. In the last two weeks membership at the MeWe group has grown to 24 members from the 11 noted above. Content should be coming soon and hopefully the group will continue to grow. If you are a Arduin and Dave Hargrave fan, please come join us. The group is an open group with no hoops for membership.

A place to hang out and discuss the Arduinian Multiverse, and Arduin where the many worlds of the Multiverse connect. All from the fertile imagination of Dave Hargrave.

Update: We jumped to 27 members overnight!
Update: Up to 42 members.
Update: Up to 76 members.
Update: Up to 82 members.
Update: Up to 96 members.
Update: Up to 144 members.
Update: Up to 158 members.
Update: Up to 191 members.
Update: Up to 381 members.
Update: Up to 274 members - come join us!

The Blackmoor Original First Fantasy Campaign MeWe Group (created early October 2018)

With the announcement of Google+ closing and the communities going away,  I checked out MeWe. I also set up a MeWe group for Blackmoor here to give it a try, mewe.com/join/blackmoor and there are 11 members right now if you want to come there and give it a try. It looks promising and they have a feedback option where you can give improvement ideas (1st option), ideas for a new feature, a problem report, general feedback and a compliment. I have made suggestions and since I selected the option for an email reply, I have gotten a reply, 1st to tell me that they got the feedback and then a reply from a team member telling me they submitted my idea to the tech team.  That is very encouraging, so we will see. 

I made that post over at the Google+ Blackmoor Group back on October 12, 2018 a few days after I created the group. Even though the post on Google+ was somehow deleted, in the last two weeks membership at the MeWe group has grown to 31 members from the 11 noted above. Content should be coming soon and hopefully the group will continue to grow. If you are a Blackmoor and Dave Arneson fan, please come join us. The group is an open group with no hoops for membership. 

A place to hang out and discuss Dave Arneson's Blackmoor the Original First Fantasy Campaign. Blackmoor is the campaign, the setting and the rules created by Dave Arneson and the beginning of the original D&D.

Update: we jumped to 38 members overnight!
Update: up to 45 members.
Update: up to 76 members.
Update: up to 82 members.
Update: up to 94 members.
Update: up to 145 members. 
Update: up to 153 members. 
Update: up to 176 members.
Update: up to 413 members.
Update: up to 594 members - come join us!

Blackmoor Week/Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 Complete List

Reposted with Permission from The Ruins of Murkhill Forum copied from Xizallian's Place.

Compiled Complete List (of everything we can locate)

Pre-Announcement of Dave Arneson Game Day October 1, 2018 posted on 9/22/2018

Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 Coming Up!

(Eight Days a Week)(Google if you don't get the reference   )

Blackmoor Week is September 24th through October 1st (yeah we know that is eight days) and October 1st is Dave Arneson Game Day. Several people who have blogs are posting in celebration of the Week and of The Day.

Day One Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 24, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day One)
Blackmoor Week Day One and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day ONE
Blackmoor Week Day One
Blackmoor Week Day ILet's Celebrate Blackmoor Week 2018

Day Two Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 25, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day Two)
Blackmoor Week Day Two and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day TWO
Blackmoor Week Day Two
Blackmoor Week Day II

Day Three Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 26, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day Three)
Blackmoor Week Day Three and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day THREE
Blackmoor Week Day Three
Blackmoor Week Day III

Day Four Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 27, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day Four)
Blackmoor Week Day Four and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day FOURBlackmoor Week Day FourBlackmoor Week Day IV
The Mystery of Dave Arneson's Engine

Day Five Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 28, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day Five)
Blackmoor Week Day Five and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day FIVE
Blackmoor Week Day Five
Blackmoor Week Day V

Day Six Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 29, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day Six)
Blackmoor Week Day Six and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day SIX
Blackmoor Week Day Six
Blackmoor Week Day VI
When Dave Arneson Changed the World (Murkhill's tinyurl.com/DaveArnesonWeek )

Day Seven Blackmoor Week Blog Posts for September 30, 2018

Celebrating Blackmoor Week (Day Seven)
Blackmoor Week Day Seven and Dave Arneson Game Day
Blackmoor Week Day SEVEN
Blackmoor Week Day Seven
Blackmoor Week Day VII
Celebrating Blackmoor Week 2018

“Who in the World is Dave Arneson?” A Dave Arneson Homage, Part 1 of 2 by James Maliszewski posted at Goodman Games

Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 Blog Posts for October 1, 2018

Dave Arneson Game Day celebrated today on his birthday October 1st 2018
Dave Arneson Game Day (October 1st 2018)
Dave Arneson Game Day today October 1st, 2018
October First 2018 "Dave Arneson Game Day"!
At Last It Is Here - Dave Arneson Game Day!
Happy Birthday Dave Arneson

Learning from Dave Arneson’s Published Works A Dave Arneson Homage, Part 2 of 2 by James Maliszewski

Happy Dave Arneson Day! by Bruce Heard
Spooky Blackmoor: The Horseman of the North
David Fant, Baron of Blackmoor (Interview)
"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?" -- DAVE ARNESON'S LEGACY (Today is Dave Arneson's birthday, also known as Dave Arneson Game Day.)

Other Posts on Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 October 1, 2018

Other posts by havard 

Dave Arneson Game Day 2018!
Happy birthday Dave Arneson! (2018)
GS3 Castle Newgate Gazeteer by Greg Svenson (DA Day Release) (For Members only)
Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 - Coming soon!
Blackmoor Living World (DA Day 2018 Release)
Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 - Official Discussion! 
Maliszewski on Dave Arneson Dave Arneson Game Day 2018
Living Blackmoor (DA Day 2018 Release)
Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 - Preparation Thread
GS3 Castle Newgate Gazeteer by Greg Svenson (DA Day Release)

A partial list of Dave Arneson Game Day Posts. 

Dave Arneson Game Day 2018 Highlights!