Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor, anyone?
It is released, sort of. They had it at GenCon and you can order it through the dablackmoor.com site. However, they are having problems with the printer so it hasn't gotten out to gamestores yet. Richard Iorio of Zeitgeist talks about it in this thread:
http://www.dablackmoor.com/MMRPG/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=125&start=90
He responds a few more times later in the thread. Anyway, hope that helps.
AD
http://www.dablackmoor.com/MMRPG/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=125&start=90
He responds a few more times later in the thread. Anyway, hope that helps.
AD
Treebore
First Post
Extra note: I didn't look for typoes, those usually are not bad enough to bother me.
As for Castle Blackmoor, here is a quick and dirty "opinion" I gave on another board (Note: Do not take this "opinion" as being negative, it isn't.)
"One of you asked my opinion about the Blackmoor Castle book. Well, I did some reading through it. The biggest dissappointment to me was the size of each level. They are only about 22 to 25 encounter areas in the early levels getting down to 10 to 12 encounter areas in the lowest levels.
i can see the reason for this, though. Space. For them to do this Castle the way I would have liked it they probably would have had to triple the size of the book.
I would like to have seen this Castle given the same scope as is being done with Castles Zagyg, which will have tons of maps, etc...
Other than that I like the approach taken to how this castle was laid out. Each of the twenty levels corresponds to level of the characters. It may have been better to go by CR, but still, I think it is a smart game plan. They also have some randomization where monsters from the lower (higher level) will come up and surprise unwary players. So if the players get too comfortable with each level of the dungeon being "their level" these random monsters can definitely throw a wrench in their expectations.
So over all I think this is a good book/adventure module, but it isn't anything like I was expecting, but admittedly my expectations have been jaded by what I have read being done by Gygax and TLG on the Castle Zagyg (Castle Greyhawk) project, which is much more in depth than this treatment. For example they are doing 3 books, or maybe a huge boxed set, because there are so friggin many maps.
To be honest, if I wasn't at GenCon when I bought this, and basically in the mindset to blow money, I wouldn't have paid the $35.00 for this. I would have waited until I found it at the steepest discount I could find on the internet, then bought it.
I mean, this isn't really the "Castle Blackmoor" this is the "20 Dungeon Levels of Castle Blackmoor". Really not what I was hoping to see, but good for what was designed. So I was dissappointed in that this isn't what I was hoping, but for a 20 level Dungeon crawl it is pretty good."
There ends my opinion. I am also not a "Balckmoor fan", I just play in it and bought the books at GenCon, and as usual, opinions vary. So don't judge this book solely by my opinion, take the time to look at it yourself.
As for Castle Blackmoor, here is a quick and dirty "opinion" I gave on another board (Note: Do not take this "opinion" as being negative, it isn't.)
"One of you asked my opinion about the Blackmoor Castle book. Well, I did some reading through it. The biggest dissappointment to me was the size of each level. They are only about 22 to 25 encounter areas in the early levels getting down to 10 to 12 encounter areas in the lowest levels.
i can see the reason for this, though. Space. For them to do this Castle the way I would have liked it they probably would have had to triple the size of the book.
I would like to have seen this Castle given the same scope as is being done with Castles Zagyg, which will have tons of maps, etc...
Other than that I like the approach taken to how this castle was laid out. Each of the twenty levels corresponds to level of the characters. It may have been better to go by CR, but still, I think it is a smart game plan. They also have some randomization where monsters from the lower (higher level) will come up and surprise unwary players. So if the players get too comfortable with each level of the dungeon being "their level" these random monsters can definitely throw a wrench in their expectations.
So over all I think this is a good book/adventure module, but it isn't anything like I was expecting, but admittedly my expectations have been jaded by what I have read being done by Gygax and TLG on the Castle Zagyg (Castle Greyhawk) project, which is much more in depth than this treatment. For example they are doing 3 books, or maybe a huge boxed set, because there are so friggin many maps.
To be honest, if I wasn't at GenCon when I bought this, and basically in the mindset to blow money, I wouldn't have paid the $35.00 for this. I would have waited until I found it at the steepest discount I could find on the internet, then bought it.
I mean, this isn't really the "Castle Blackmoor" this is the "20 Dungeon Levels of Castle Blackmoor". Really not what I was hoping to see, but good for what was designed. So I was dissappointed in that this isn't what I was hoping, but for a 20 level Dungeon crawl it is pretty good."
There ends my opinion. I am also not a "Balckmoor fan", I just play in it and bought the books at GenCon, and as usual, opinions vary. So don't judge this book solely by my opinion, take the time to look at it yourself.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
A treatment like that would have been nice*, but I think ZG is just starting up as their own publisher, and probably can't do really elaborate things like that right away (or for that matter, send me the autographed copy of the setting I won in chat in here almost a year ago).
And plus, they have a lot of other classic stuff that needs updating as well. Temple of the Frog, City of the Gods, more regional sourcebooks, etc.
*Especially to help preserve role-playing history. It's a shame there's no historical preservation society or whatever making copies of all the original notes and maps and such for the first D&D games.
And plus, they have a lot of other classic stuff that needs updating as well. Temple of the Frog, City of the Gods, more regional sourcebooks, etc.
*Especially to help preserve role-playing history. It's a shame there's no historical preservation society or whatever making copies of all the original notes and maps and such for the first D&D games.
Thorindale
First Post
[rant]
I pick it up at GENCON. And I'm selling it at an auction this weekend. While it might not be "bad" for some, I wasn't impressed.
The first ten levels are a rehash of the dungeon levels from DA's First Fantasy Campaign (from Judges Guild). The maps are practically the same, including the numerous passageways that ran off the page edges (in the original book, there were additional "zoom-out" maps that showed where these meandering passages went off to). And for the deeper levels (11-20), you can tell that this was tacked-on to fill out the rest of the dungeon. The look and feel is more of today's style than that of the earlier levels.
As for editing, well..... AFAICT, the encounter areas for Level 1 did not match the numbered areas on the map. (If this happened on the first level, imagine what could be on the other levels...). Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.
It was this clash of styles (old/new) that rubbed me the wrong way. I buy adventures for ideas that I can mine ideas from. Unfortunately, I couldn't from this. I rather work from the original material than deal with this.
[/rant]
I pick it up at GENCON. And I'm selling it at an auction this weekend. While it might not be "bad" for some, I wasn't impressed.
The first ten levels are a rehash of the dungeon levels from DA's First Fantasy Campaign (from Judges Guild). The maps are practically the same, including the numerous passageways that ran off the page edges (in the original book, there were additional "zoom-out" maps that showed where these meandering passages went off to). And for the deeper levels (11-20), you can tell that this was tacked-on to fill out the rest of the dungeon. The look and feel is more of today's style than that of the earlier levels.
As for editing, well..... AFAICT, the encounter areas for Level 1 did not match the numbered areas on the map. (If this happened on the first level, imagine what could be on the other levels...). Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.
It was this clash of styles (old/new) that rubbed me the wrong way. I buy adventures for ideas that I can mine ideas from. Unfortunately, I couldn't from this. I rather work from the original material than deal with this.
[/rant]
Having seen it, it is just as I expected (except for a few disappointing errors in maps and such): 20 levels of what lies beneath Castle Blackmoor.
Now, I had thought that "Castle Blackmoor" itself (what lies above those 20 levels) could make an interesting book/supplement, but there's really no need for it.
*Horrors* What is he saying? Isn't he a Blackmoor fan??
Yes, I am, but the castle is home to the much loved King Uther and there is *no* reason for PCs to go stomping around inside the king's house. There's plenty of other areas I'd love to see developed first (The Dungeons of Glendower, Coot's Nest, City Of The Gods, etc.). I'm sure that when DA5, The City Of Blackmoor, materializes, it will have some additional information on the castle, but how much do we really need to know about the part of the friendly king's home where there *aren't* monsters running around rampantly?
Keep in mind that this adventure (or at least the top 10 levels of it) was the origin of Dungeons & Dragons. Changing it very much would be akin to blasphemy. There is nothing closer to "first edition feel" than the very first dungeon crawl. There would have been no need to detail the insides of the king's abode in those early days. Now, there's gaming supplements for every shop/store/market/home/etc., but back in those days, there were dungeons.
With monsters.
And that was pretty much it.
And, boy, was it cool.
I think the vast majority of "old school D&D" fans will really like it, as well as the type of GM who likes long campaign-spanning dungeons like Rappan Athuk, World's Largest Dungeon, Fast Forward's DungeonWorld, etc. I would also hazard a guess that those who liked the level of detail that went into the Wilderlands box set will really like it as well. If you tend NOT to play dungeon crawls (and I have been in campaigns where they are rare, believe it or not), it might not be for your gaming group, but it may still make for interesting reading if you have some interest in early D&D history or just want to find some interesting ideas for encounters from the creator of the game itself. I definately don't regret getting it.
My $0.02, anyway.
-Scott Moore
*Sheridan
Now, I had thought that "Castle Blackmoor" itself (what lies above those 20 levels) could make an interesting book/supplement, but there's really no need for it.
*Horrors* What is he saying? Isn't he a Blackmoor fan??
Yes, I am, but the castle is home to the much loved King Uther and there is *no* reason for PCs to go stomping around inside the king's house. There's plenty of other areas I'd love to see developed first (The Dungeons of Glendower, Coot's Nest, City Of The Gods, etc.). I'm sure that when DA5, The City Of Blackmoor, materializes, it will have some additional information on the castle, but how much do we really need to know about the part of the friendly king's home where there *aren't* monsters running around rampantly?
Keep in mind that this adventure (or at least the top 10 levels of it) was the origin of Dungeons & Dragons. Changing it very much would be akin to blasphemy. There is nothing closer to "first edition feel" than the very first dungeon crawl. There would have been no need to detail the insides of the king's abode in those early days. Now, there's gaming supplements for every shop/store/market/home/etc., but back in those days, there were dungeons.
With monsters.
And that was pretty much it.
And, boy, was it cool.
I think the vast majority of "old school D&D" fans will really like it, as well as the type of GM who likes long campaign-spanning dungeons like Rappan Athuk, World's Largest Dungeon, Fast Forward's DungeonWorld, etc. I would also hazard a guess that those who liked the level of detail that went into the Wilderlands box set will really like it as well. If you tend NOT to play dungeon crawls (and I have been in campaigns where they are rare, believe it or not), it might not be for your gaming group, but it may still make for interesting reading if you have some interest in early D&D history or just want to find some interesting ideas for encounters from the creator of the game itself. I definately don't regret getting it.
My $0.02, anyway.
-Scott Moore
*Sheridan
havard
Adventurer
*bump*
Just rereading this book now. While it certainly has its flaws, as pointed out above, Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor has a lot of curiously interesting details scattered around in the book.
For instance, the "timeline" in the beginning of the book, indictating the different ages through which the Dungeons were constructed convey some fascinating imagery, yet frustratingly few details are provided.
I think I will need to take a closer look at this book.
Havard
Just rereading this book now. While it certainly has its flaws, as pointed out above, Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor has a lot of curiously interesting details scattered around in the book.
For instance, the "timeline" in the beginning of the book, indictating the different ages through which the Dungeons were constructed convey some fascinating imagery, yet frustratingly few details are provided.
I think I will need to take a closer look at this book.
Havard
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