Blackmoor - Age of the Wolf goes to GenCon 2024!

 

Dave Arneson's Blackmoor - Age of the Wolf is to be presented at GenCon 2024 with gaming events and panel presentations. Age of the Wolf was the last Blackmoor project Dave Arneson was involved with before his passing and fans have been asking for it ever since. It was a surprise to most when I reported with much excitement back in March that the publisher Ink Bat announced that they were to bring back the project that was completed in 2008 but never released. 

As summer approches, Ink Bat has made a new announcement:

Last of the Zah 

Come and play in the first-ever adventure set in the new edition of Blackmoor, Age of the Wolf, and do it in style in one of the luxury boxes at Lucas Oil Stadium! In this scenario, you play a member of a bold company tasked with escorting an important young woman into the very heart of darkness. Should you fail, she fails, and if she fails, all hope for life in the North may be lost! 

 Every ticketed player in this event receives a limited edition print copy of Age of the Wolf absolutely free! 

In addition, everyone who plays a session receives a free miniature, courtesy of Paizo Publishing. Length: 3.5 hours 

Where: Event Suite at Lucas Oil Stadium 

When: Every 4 hours until midnight, starting at 8am 

 

 Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf Panel 

 The last tabletop project of D&D co-creator Dave Arneson is finally released! Join Ink Bat’s team of creatives for a discussion of the new book, Age of the Wolf, the 50th anniversary of the great game, and all things Dave.
Length: 1 hour 

 Where: JW Marriott — Room 203 

 When: Thursday at 8pm

See you at GenCon

See original announcement.

Are you excited about this news? Are you going to GenCon? 

Read more at the Comeback Inn!

-Havard

Blackmoor MMRPG Inventor Class!

Things have been a bit busy for me these past six months, but its all good kinds of busy. Still, it has left many of my Blackmoor projects on hold. Thankfully good people like Zeromaru X, Tim Baker, Yaztromo, RobJN and others have been pestering me at The Piazza and the Comeback Inn to put up more Blackmoor MMRPG material. Feedback like this is what makes what we are doing at this blog and at the Comeback Inn meaningful, so I definitely wanted to share something this week.

While you will have to wait a few more days before the next MMRPG adventure episode will be released, I hope you like what I just uploaded. This Inventor Class originally appeared in Clock & Steam, but was updated for the Blackmoor 4E MMRPG and the Age of the Wolf Setting.

If you like this booklet, make sure you download the older 3E and 4E MMRPG material too. The adventures are easy to adapt to any edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder etc.

If you want me to keep providing these things, please send me a word here on this blog or at the forums!

Download the PDF here.

-Havard

Blackmoor 4E MMRPG is Here! (Blackmoor Week Day 6)

Like I mentioned yesterday, we have obtained the files and adventures that were created for the D&D 4E version of the Blackmoor MMRPG. Now, we are making those available as free downloads at The Comeback Inn. We are starting with the first adventure, labelled Episode 4001: Brightest Day, Blackest Night.

"In 1299, a new age is dawning, diplomacy happens and you are part of it. Or at least delivering it for those in leadership positions of the great city states that are part of it. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems, with danger and treachery lurking everywhere, even In Brightest day, In Blackest Night… A Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor adventure for heroic level characters."

That's right. These adventures are set in the fabled Age of the Wolf, centuries after the previous iterations of Blackmoor. This is really exciting since so little is known about what was planned for this era of Blackmoor's history.

Download the Adventure for free here

Not a fan of D&D 4th Edition? It isn't really that difficult to convert these adventures to other editions. Also, you should make sure to get all four seasons of the 3E adventures from the MMRPG, all availalable for free at the Comeback Inn.

Also in Blackmoor Week Day 6

Are you all caught up with the Blackmoor news from earlier this week? Did you get the D&D 5E adventure? What are your favorite things about Blackmoor Week so far?





-Havard

What might have been?

This fake cover is made by Knightfall, who recently posted about it on the Piazza. Its a shame that Mystara was never followed up by WotC neither for 3E or 4E, but looking at what happened to the Realms, maybe we are better off? I expect most of the readers of this blog have little interest in these later editions, but I think it is cool that Blackmoor was published for OD&D, BECMI, 3E and 4E. Only a few settings have seen such coverage.





-Havard

More lost Age of the Wolf art!

Last month, I shared a painting that artist Lee Smith was comissioned to do for the now abandoned Age of the Wolf line for Blackmoor. Here's more!

Inventor:

The artist's comment:

"A Character class illustration for a project that was cancelled. This guy is an inventor, able to piece together artefacts or powerful weapons from various components. I like to think of him as a 'fantasy MacGyver'"

The inventor class first appeared in Blackmoor Clock & Steam and it has long been known that it would be converted to 4E in the Age of the Wolf sourcebook. This further suggests that the rise of technology was going to be a prominent theme in this Blackmoor subsetting.


Tiefling Relic Hunter:

The artist's comment:

A character illustration for a cancelled project, this is a Tiefling Relic Hunter. He is employed to track down arcane artefacts.

Not all fans will be happy to see  Tieflings in Blackmoor. The Blackmoor: First Campaign Sourcebook (4E) introduced this 4E core race. The race description in that book did hint that this race would become more important in the future, so having them appear in AoW is no big surprise.


Gravesworn:

The artist's comment:

Illustration from a cancelled project, this is a type of undead that are animated not by the will of power-hungry necromancers, nor by the tragedy of their death, but by a force called arcane pollution -- their souls killed by wanton use of arcane magic, and then returned to animation by the same forces. 

This last one is perhaps the most interesting painting. The concept of arcane pollution and the idea that this can create undead is pretty fascinating. This is perhaps the explanation for the legion of undead following the Herald of Thanatos?

I like all of these paintings. They are very well done, and its hard to pick a favorite. I would like to thank Lee for sharing them with us!










-Havard

Age of the Wolf Art Revealed!

The Age of the Wolf product line for Dave Arneson's Blackmoor was cancelled. Artist Lee Smith was comissioned to do some of the illustrations for the project. Above is one of the pieces he made. The cap for the illustration reads:

The Herald of Thanatos is a massive mechanical construct that roams the lands, in its wake the dead rise from their graves and follow the machine as a legion of undead warriors.

 It's really interesting to see this wonderful illustrastion. It gives us alot of room to speculate to what the Age of the Wolf was really about. Based on this illustration alone, I'm getting associations with the Iron Kingdoms, perhaps with a hint of post apocalypse? The challenge with such a setting would probably be how to preserve the Arnesonian touch to the setting. I hope to reveal more news on this topic in the coming months!






-Havard

Print copies at Paizo

In yesterday's entry I mentioned that RPGNow has pdfs of Blackmoor: The First Campaign (4E) for $22,10. At Paizo however, you can get print copies for only $36,00. Print copies of this book have been difficult to obtain, in particular in Europe.









-Havard

Well, they're still here...

Well, they are still here! In the beginning of December I suggested there might only be one month left to buy Blackmoor products. I guess I was wrong! Code Monkey Publishing (CMP) did say the lisence would end early 2010 which is a fairly vague phrase.

Having hear no word on the matter from either ZGG or CMP this year, I figured checking the online stores would be a good way of finding out if anything is happening to the situation.

 RPGNow/Drivethru have the best offers for pdfs that I have seen so far. If you have some money left after Christmas, I guess you still have a chance to complete your collection.

Edit: Paizo offers print copies of the Blackmoor: First Campaign (4E) sourcebook.






-Havard

END OF AN ERA?

For a while now, fans have been worried about the lack of news on upcoming Blackmoor products. This was just posted on the Blackmoor Gmail list:

Blackmoor licensing is looking like it's going to end as Wizards of
the Coast does not appear inclined to renew the license come the
beginning of the year.

There was also developmental issues with Age of Wolf. Contractual violations by all on the project save 2 artists. It boils down to people forgetting they're working for someone on contract, not themselves or their vision.

Between these 2 items Age of the Wolf as it was initially envisioned is not going to see the light of day I am sorry to say.

HOWEVER...

We knew eventually Wizards would not renew the license, we were obviously hoping for another year or two, but it is, what it is. So we have had a contingency plan in place for the last 2 years.

It's been mentioned of the 'New Lands' we were going to add to Blackmoor for some time now, a number of hints of that were made clearer to those fortunate enough to be able to play in the 4e MMRPG campaign...

Well Wizards doesn't own everything Blackmoor from the 3.5 era... notably the classes, the Docrae race and a number of other things that made Blackmoor new and interesting. Those belong to Zeitgeist and Dustin Clingman... who has been nice enough to offer continued usage of those items NOT Wizards.

So, the new campaign setting will be in the New Lands and have a number of Blackmoor flavorings in it. Such as the classes and the Docrae Race and even Skelfer Ard!

More on this over the coming days, weeks, and months.



With the above issues on Blackmoor and for the holidays, all Blackmoor PDF's in our store and on RPGNow are marked at 25% off!

This sale is effective now through the end of the license (early next year).

W. Robert Reed III
Mynex

Too early for me to comment beyond what is said here. Just thought I should share this with you right away.





-Havard

DEMONS OF BLACKMOOR II: TIEFLINGS

One of the most controversial elements in the 4E First Campaign Sourcebook for Blackmoor was the inclusion of Dragonborn, Eladrin and Tieflings. These races have never previously been mentioned in any Blackmoor product and were certainly never used in Dave’s campaigns.

Tieflings were created by David “Zeb” Cook and given their name by Wolfgang Baur and first appeared in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix in 1994. In the 4th edition they became one of the core PC races and were redefined as a separate race “whose human
ancestors made a bargain with devils to increase their power.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiefling)

In the First Campaign (4E) Sourcebook it is stated that the first record of Tieflings dates back a century or so, but that they have become more numerous over the last 30 years. While it isn’t specifically stated, connecting the appearance of Tieflings to the mage wars seems likely.
While Tieflings have never been mentioned in older Blackmoor products, demons certainly belong in the setting. The great presence of demons in Blackmoor’s history does perhaps not make human demon alliances of various sorts unlikely?







-Havard

AGE OF THE WOLF?

In yesterdays entry I mentioned the new line that CMP has planned for Blackmoor 4E is called Age of the Wolf, but what do we know about it really, and is this something Blackmoor fans should be interested in?

A large portion of the old school fans of Blackmoor are concerned about how much of the new products have anything to do with Arneson's setting. Age of the Wolf Player's Guide author, Ari Marmell revealed the following:

In fact, Dave was co-owner of Zeitgeist Games at the time the 3E books were published. Nothing appeared in those books without his personal approval.

Due to illness, he was a little less hands-on for the 4E conversion and Age of the Wolf materials. But before his passing (may he rest in peace), he did approve detailed outlines/summaries of both, as well as request a few changes here and there on a few details. I can pretty well assure everyone that while Dave may not have written much of 3E and 4E Blackmoor, it's absolutely still what he wanted for the line and the setting.

The future of the Blackmoor setting has always been a topic of dicussions among the fans. With so much tension to the setting presented in the FCC and the DA series and the early introductions of technology into the fantasy setting, it is only natural to think about how the future of the setting would develop.

The following priducts have been announced for the Age of the Wolf Line:
Age of the Wolf - Player's Guide
Age of the Wolf - GM's Guide
Age of the Wolf - Ruins of Blackmoor

What is Age of the Wolf all about?
We do know the following:
* It describes Blackmoor 269 (in 1299) years after the First Campaign setting
* This will be the default era for the 4E MMRPG (aka 'Living Blackmoor') and much of the upcoming 4E line
* The Player's Guide will include a new class, the Inventor (adaptation from Clock & Steam)
* Speculation: This era will see fully fledged Tieflings as opposed to the almost human looking Tieflings from the First Campaign. Most likely Dragonborn, Eladrin and other 4E races may also play a bigger part, though this remains to be seen.

The Player's Guide was originally set to be released in August, but has been delayed untill mid October. Barring further delays, this means it should be out soon. I assume the other books in the series will follow.

I see this as a big test for CMP. Will they be able to keep producing Blackmoor products, and will these products be something the fans are interested in? We will know in the coming months. I am keeping my fingers crossed! :)





Havard

Waiting for the Age of the Wolf

I was really excited when the Blackmoor 4E Sourcebook came out this summer. 4E is not my favorite edition of D&D and there wasn't that much new contents in the book (although I do recommend buying it!), but much more than that, it came with the promise that there would be a new era of Blackmoor products. I had feared that the end of 3E would mean the end of Blackmoor as well. Especially with lisences like Ravenloft, Dragonlance and the Paizo mags not being renewed by WotC. Fortunately this was not the case. Code Monkey Publishing announced that they would not only release this sourcebook, but a whole new setting for Blackmoor called Age of the Wolf. I was particularly excited because this term had previously been introduced for the Blackmoor setting in Rafael's legendary Blackmoor Pbem - the Grim Winter. But this is the gaming industry and problems have been known to arise. Currently the sourcebook is on hold. I haven't given up hope though! From what I understand the book has been written and there are only things involving the printers (in China?) which is causing delays. I am hoping we will see the Player's Guide available this fall, with the other products in the line either in december or january. In the mean time, you can download the Blackmoor 4E Character Creation Rules now available at blackmoor.mystara.us. These also give a sneak preview of some of the things that will be found in the Age of the Wolf Player's Guide.




Havard