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Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Celebrating Day Five of Blackmoor Week - 51st Anniversary of Blackmoor

Today September 28th is the fifth day of Blackmoor Week 2021.



One of the things that Dave Arneson and Blackmoor contributed to OD&D was the Magic Swords and the process to determine what powers a sword might have. Arneson viewed Magic Swords as creatures.

Magic Swords & Matrix

Dave Arneson said:

Prior to setting up Blackmoor, I spent considerable effort in setting up an entire family of Magical Swords. The Swords, indeed comprise most of the early  magical artifacts. A small table was prepared and the Swords' characteristics set up on cards.

Later on a new Table was formulated and used for generating Swords in other Castles. In The First Fantasy Campaign book,  there is a Magic Swords Personality Matrix 

Values run from "A" to "R" and eleven colors.

Following that is another Matrix and it says The Magic Swords of Mythology are varied creatures that can give great power to their owners, who are sometimes helpless without them. Only Swords have these powerful variations and capabilities. 

Other tables follow this, the entire swords section covers several pages. Much is similar to what ended up in OD&D, but quite a bit is different and it is worth using to spice up your Magic Swords.


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