Blackmoor Week Day 1 September 24th, 2020

 Today is the first day of Blackmoor Week 2020 which runs from Sept. 24-30 followed immediately by Dave Arneson Game Day on October 1st. This is a time to remember Blackmoor and Dave Arneson and celebrate both. 

Dave Arneson is the man to which the entire hobby called Role Playing Games should pay homage for his out-sized contributions to the game genre. Born October 1st, 1947,  he died an untimely death when he passed away April 7th, 2009 at only 61 years old. He was the creator of Blackmoor which was inspired by many things including his experiences with David Wesely's "Braunstein" games which Arneson took over after Wesely departure for military service.

Following the departure of David Wesely to service in the Army Reserves in October 1970, Arneson and his fellow players in the Twin Cities began to imagine alternate settings for "Braunstein" games. Arneson developed a Braunstein in which his players played fantasy versions of themselves in the medieval Barony of Blackmoor, a land inhabited in part by fantastic monsters. As the game quickly grew and characters developed, Arneson devised scenarios where they would quest for magic and gold, escort caravans, lead armies for or against the forces of evil, and delve into the dungeons beneath Castle Blackmoor.

As noted in the Wikipedia Article; however, sadly this article contains a lot of false information which has been repeatedly debunked.

Join me this week as we look back over the last 50 years of Blackmoor, Dave Arneson's creation.