***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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
