Blackmoor Week: Blackmoor Foundations (New Book)

Blackmoor Week is the week leading up to the anniversary of Dave Arneson's birthday on October 1st, which is designated Dave Arneson Game Day. Thanks to Havard at Havard's Blackmoor Blog, who is making a whole series of posts this week, for reminding me of this.

The Making of OD&D wasn't the only book of historical D&D documents to come out this year. The end of May also saw the release of Blackmoor Foundations, which is subtitled "The Early Fantasy RPG Works of David Arneson" (and can be purchased here). I recently ordered a copy, and while I'm only partway through, I thought I should highlight it in a post now for Blackmoor Week.

Here is an overview of Blackmoor Foundations:

---Paperback with glossy cover, 103 pages in length, and includes approximately 30 original documents including maps & letters, some of which are multiple typed pages in length including one ("Return to Black Moor") that is 15 (!) pages long.

---Nicely laid out with commentary by Griffith Morgan, the director of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary, on the lefthand pages in a very readable san-serif font, and with the images of the documents on the right. I like this format for presenting these types of documents; it makes makes reading the notes while looking at the document very easy.

---Also credited for consultation are the "Northern Marches Historical Society", which among others includes D.H. Boggs, who has been presenting Blackmoor research for years over at the Hidden at Shadows blog, and Michael Calleia, who has published a comprehensive list of Dave Arneson publications on the Chance & Circumstance blog.

---The publisher's product page here has a table of contents and even a complete flip-through of the book.

---There are two lengthy reports of delves into Blackmoor Dungeon, "The Dungeons of Black Moore Castle" (5 typed pages) and "Into the Dungeons of Black Moor Castle and Back" (6 typed pages). These look interesting but are very dense and I haven't read through them fully yet.

---For actual use in gameplay, it could serve as a supplement to Judge's Guild First Fantasy Campaign (1977), which was the original publication sharing Arneson's notes about Blackmoor, but which sadly remains out of print. For example, while the FFC has a map of Blackmoor town, the Blackmoor Foundations has a "Blackmoor Surrounding Landscape Map" that shows more of the immediate surrounding area, laid out in hexes.

---In all, I applaud the publisher & Arneson estate for making these historical documents directly available to the public.

Blackmoor Foundations can be ordered for $39.95 via the publisher's page (linked above) or via Amazon where it is currently on sale for $32.75:

Blackmoor Foundations

Art & Arcana on sale again - get the original Tomb of Horrors

 

Today I notice that the Art & Arcana Special Edition - which includes a reprint of the original version of Tomb of Horrors resembling an OD&D supplement - is back in stock and on sale and at an even lower listed price than before, $61.61 (albeit there's no extra coupon). That's lower than the pre-order price I paid when it came out ($63.50). Find it here:

Art & Arcana Special Edition

One thing I forgot to mention last time that is of interest to readers of this blog is that the book includes a drawing by Chris Holmes of a displacer beast from the 70s, drawn for the Basic rulebook manuscript (which appears courtesy of Billy Galaxy).

Update: I was asked about the content of the posters in this set. I took a look at my set and found:

• AD&D Player's Handbook cover (1978) by Dave Trampier (16 x 10")
• DM Screen cover (1979) by Dave Trampier (18 x 14")
• Keep on the Borderlands cover (1980) by Jim Roslof (8 x 10")
• AD&D Fiend Folio cover (1981) by Emmanuel (16 x 10")
• World of Greyhawk box cover (1983) by Jeff Easley (8 x 10")
• Swords of Deceit module cover (1986) by Keith Parkinson (8 x 10")
• AD&D 2E PHB interior (PCs with slain tiny dragon)(1989) by Larry Elmore (8 x10")
• Forge of Fury module cover (2000) by Todd Lockwood (16 x 10")
• "Promotional painting for D&D 30th Anniversary (2004) by Todd Lockwood (16 x 10")
• Storm King's Thunder interior painting (2016) by Chris Rahn (24 x 16")

Earlier post (from April):

The Special Edition of the D&D artbook Art & Arcana is currently selling for $69.99 on Amazon, plus when I look at the page I'm also seeing a coupon for $23.33, making the total only $46.66. If you can get it for this, it's a great deal for a set that has a list price of $125. 

The real hidden gem of the set is a reprint of the original OD&D tournament version of Tomb of Horrors, in a digest format resembling the LBBs. FWIW, the page says only 10 copies are left in stock.

Art & Arcana Special Edition

See also my earlier posts:

Locations for the Tomb of Horrors on the Great Kingdom Map

Delta's D&D Hotspot: Tomb of Ra-Hotep

Earlier Update (from April):

Amazon is no longer has the coupon available, but the book is still available new for $69.99 (follow the link above).

Upcoming New Tolkien Book: Collected Poems

 

FYI: Out on the 17th, just prior to Hobbit Day (Sep 22nd, Bilbo/Frodo's birthday), is The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, a hefty 3-volume (!) set collecting much, but not all (!), of Tolkien's poetry:

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien on Amazon

It has a list price of $125 and is currently available with a pre-order price of $103. According to the publisher Harper Collins, it contains "almost 200 works ... including more than 60 that have never before been seen". A full list of the poems is posted over at the Tolkien Gateway.

This collection has been edited and annotated by Christina Scull & Wayne Hammond, who have prepared so many other excellent Tolkien books that I already own, like Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham (50th anniversary edition), Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, and The Lord of the Rings Reader's Companion.

I've been fascinated by Tolkien's poetry, since the '80s when I discovered in my grandparent's house an old paperback of the Tolkien Reader, which included The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Tolkien's original compilation of verse, which was released in recent years in an expanded edition, also edited & annotated by Hammond & Scull.

I'm debating whether I will pick this up myself. I always find Scull & Hammond's notes to be fascinating, but my shelves are already groaning under the weight of other unfinished Tolkien books...

Earlier Tolkien Posts on this blog:

Smaug versus the Sutherland Dragon

"Until the Last Ship Sets Sail Into the West" (Christopher Tolkien RIP)

A Brief History of Tolkien RPGs by John Rateliff

1973 Preview of Mythical Earth Minifigs

Green Dragon Miniature (Mythical Earth Minifig)

Beren and Luthien (2017)

Gygaxian Orc Tribes (originally derived from Tolkien)

Tolkien's Wild Hobbits

Hobbits as the Rangers of Basic

And find a list of more older Tolkien posts here.

Playing at the World 2E: Price Drop

 

The first volume of the revised second edition has dropped to $23.33 on Amazon: 

Playing at the World, 2nd Edition, Volume 1: The Invention of D&D

This is down from a list price of $29.99 and an Amazon price of $27.85 in July just prior to release.

Read more about the book in my July post just prior to the release:

Reminder: The first volume of the revised Playing at the World is out in two days!

Holmes Basic metal sign from Ata-Boy

 

Image from the product page

The company Ata-Boy is offering a cool metal sign featuring the Holmes Basic Set cover art, by David Sutherland over on Amazon for $11.99, with their storefront stating that their products are officially licensed. Find it here:

Holmes Basic metal sign from Ata-Boy

The dimensions are 8.25 inches by 11.5 inches, and each corner has a small round hole to aid in hanging. The front faithfully reproduces the actually cover from a later printing of the Holmes Basic set, where the angled banner incldues the words "With Introductory Module", except that the TSR logo in the lower left corner has been replaced with a Wizards of the Coast logo. A bit of the art on each side is clipped off, but at the top there's a bit of extra art from the top side of the box. Compare the image above with a boxed set cover image from the Acaeum:

Holmes Basic set box cover, fourth print. Source: Acaeum

I ordered and received one myself and the quality is good for what it is; i.e., a thin metal sign with the artwork printed on it. The back side is unpainted golden metal (like a cookie tin) and there's a thin lip around the back side edge, so it's not completely flat. I haven't hung mine up yet, but here are photos of the front and back of it:

The Ata-Boy store also has some other items that may be of interest, including a similar metal sign with the AD&D Players Handbook cover artwork and refrigerator magnets with the Holmes Basic set cover and the Players Handbook cover.