A friend sent me a link to this long sleeve t shirt sold on Amazon. The store says the clothes are officially lisenced from Wizards of the Coast. Officially Licensed Dungeons & Dragons Apparel for Women - Men - Boys - Girls - Toddler; D&D 50th Anniversary T-Shirts; Hasbro T-Shirts; Wizards of the Coast; RPG; Role Playing Game; Fantasy; Adventure; Monsters; Magic; 20 Sided Dice; Blackmoor; Vintage; This is interesting given the discussion of ownership of the Blackmoor name and logo.  I have to say I love the text on the shirt saying "It started with Blackmoor".  ..read more

  Bill Hoyt is one of the surviving members of the Blackmoor Bunch, the group that played in Dave's Blackmoor campaign and parttook in other gaming activities in the St. Pauk/Twin Cities area of Minnesota in the 60s and 70s. Bill is someone who has shared a lot of information with me to help with my research for this blog.  I am pleased to learn that Bill Hoyt now, with the help of Rob Ritchie, has compiled the notes from his own D&D campaign and has made them available in a Free PDF! I have not yet had time to go through the document in detail, but we have lots of old school m ..read more

Yesterday we were excited to report that the legendary sourcebook Blackmoor Age of the Wolf will be released by Ink Bat Studio this August. The Age of the Wolf sourcebook was a project started during the 3E and 4E eras when Dave Arneson's company Zeitgeist Games and later their partners Code Monkey Press wanted to develop a new subsetting for Blackmoor. The manuscript along with a lot of illustrations were completed when Dave passed away and WotC announced that the Blackmoor lisence had been rewoked. This marked the end of Zeitgeist Games venturing into RPG publishing.  What happened to ..read more

  Jon Peterson's Playing at the World was the first book to attempt to cover the history of our hobby from the earliest miniature games to the creation of D&D in a comprehensive and scholarly manner. Jon has announced that he will be releasing a new edition of this book and Erol Otus is going to make the cover for the book. "It is an honor to do the cover for the great author and scholar Jon Peterson’s “Playing at the World: 2E”! I am hoping the artwork calls to mind monochromatic publications from the earlier days like “The Strategic Review” and Fanzines:" Otus said. Source.&n ..read more

Looks like 2024 and the 50th Anniversary of D&D will have a lot of great things in store for fans of the creations of Dave Arneson. Loyal followers of this blog will be familiar with the Age of the Wolf which was supposed to be released just before Dave Arneson passed away. Now it seems like the original designers of that book have joined up with Studio Ink Bat to make sure the fans finally get to see what this was all about.  INK BAT TO PUBLISH D&D CO-CREATOR DAVE ARNESON’S FINAL RPG PROJECT STUDIO TO RELEASE THE LONG-AWAITED NEW EDITION OF BLACKMOOR, THE FIRST FANTASY CAMPAIGN ..read more

  Rob Kuntz returns to exploring the history of D&D in the year of the game's 50th Anniversary.  I just got an email with the following: The 4th Category: a ground-breaking study which identifies D&D™'s true origins... The 4th Category is Rob Kuntz's major update on Dave Arneson's True Genius, as well as a preview to his upcoming opus, A New Ethos in Game Design. Available NOW from Three Line Studio Store.  Rob of course was there from the beginning of the game's history so it will be interesting to hear more of his thoughts on those events. Rob Kuntz was extreme ..read more

Two legends from the TSR era are coming to Italy this year as is being reported on  the dmmagazine blog: David "Zeb" Cook will be a guest of honor at the Play Festival del Gioco in Modena, to be held in May, 17 to 19 in 2024. Frank Mentzer will be a host during Napoli ComiCon. This convention tales place in Naples from April 25 to 28 and is said to be one of Italy biggest pop culture events. Yet to be confirmed are rumours that Frank Mentzer will also attend to the Lucca convention, also in Italy. This convention takes place sometime in the fall. Are you going to any Italian gam ..read more

  The Secrets of Blackmoor group just annonced the dates for this year's ArneCon. The convention will take place on October 4-6. Here is the full announcement: "October 4-6, 2024 are the dates to lock out. Arnecon-2 is coming and you do not want to miss out on the fun of RPGs, War Games, Board Games, Computer Games, and a lot more! Buy a Ticket before March 1st! We have a 20% off early bird special on tickets. You can see last years events in the posted images. Check back for info on Special Guests - not yet announced." 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of D&D and it looks like fa ..read more

  I was saddened to learn of the passing of Jennell Jaquays. She was a pioneer in our gaming industry, both in game design and as an artist and was devoted to the hobby until the very end.  In addition to being a fan of her work, I was lucky enough to be one of many friends of hers on Facebook and we interracted a few times. She even helped with some information for a few articles on this very blog.  May she rest in peace.  -Havard ..read more

  Happy Gary Gygax Day! This is a good reminder that without both D&D Co-creators, D&D would never have become the success that it is today. While this blog focuses on Dave Arneson and Blackmoor, I have always been clear about being a fan of both creators and the work they did for our wonderful hobby. Dave Arneson Game Day is October 1st, but today we celebrate Gary.  What are you doing in gaming today?  -Havard ..read more