2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary - Day One Hundred and Fifty-One

Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!

If you have questions or concerns about today's topic, first see the last third of yesterdays post 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary - Day One Hundred and Fifty and in fact if you have not read it, you may want to before you continue. It is OK, I will wait while you go read it.

OK, everybody back? On we go, this part of The First Fantasy Campaign is called:

Gypsy Sayings and Chance Cards

Arneson writes:

To allow for Crystal Ball Gazing and the like, a set of Chance Cards was set up. Each month, one was drawn from the deck and it's affect was worked into the game. As Judge, I drew the cards one game year iin advance to allow for a logical progression of events.

As with most of the Blackmoor rules, it grew from a local need (Gypsy Sayings was first used in the 2nd year of the game) to Legends, most of which were self-explanatory, and the rest made up as I went along (and now, unfortunately, forgotten), and finally the Chance Cards. 

It was the Chance Cards that allowed the Great Peasant Revolt and the Duchy of Ten Raid I mentioned earlier. These cards were only used after the 3rd year and generally only in the Outdoor Survival section of the campaign.

Perhaps you have heard of a living campaign? These things are part of a living campaign. In a living campaign things happen all the time, regardless of whether or not the players are present or involved. Although the players may choose to become involved, the event flow on regardless.

Gypsy Sayings

Unlike many other forms of advance warnings about upcoming events, the infamous Gypsy Sayings merely state what might happen, and allow the players a chance to get out of the steamroller's way. Gypsy Sayings are also obscure, generally, and subject to numerous interpretations about their meaning. One man's cake is another man's poison....

Note: Used sparingly and changed regularly. Make your own list of sayings, it is fun and it lets you have the fun of writing cryptic stuff and having the players try to figure it out. (Meanwhle that is what you are doing, trying to figure it out.)

Next up are Legends, I will give you just a few of these from a longer list:

And then the Chance Cards, I will show you a few of those from a very long list:

Tomorrow we will look at:

The Original Blackmoor Magic System