The Temple of the Frog:
Like "The Tomb of Horrors" run by Gary Gygax at Origins I, earlier in 1975, "The Temple of the Frog" was designed to challenge high-level characters. It was conceived in the Twin Cities while Arneson and Gygax were play-testing the original D&D rules.
According to one of Arneson's original players, "the temple emerged sometime in spring of 1973 with a basic version. It was refined a bit by 1975 (January?) and as I recall it was further refined somewhere around 1976-77" as quoted by Daniel Boggs, here.
The Temple of the Frog is therefore contemporaneous with the original 13-level Greyhawk Castle, and City of Greyhawk. It was by no means a Chainmail scenario, but rather a powerful stronghold to be infiltrated, as in the later G series by Gygax.
A frogman lies in wait, ready to pounce upon an unsuspecting adventurer, in the catacombs beneath the Temple of the Frog. Illustration by David Sutherland.
The adventure was revised as DA2 Temple of the Frog (1986) by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie, which I ran back in the summer of 1989 for my gaming group, representing one of the high points of our 9-year BECMI campaign.
Underwater Adventures:
Mythology is replete with tales of sunken cities, ships laden with loot and the like. Every warm blooded adventurer dreams of finding Mu, Lemuria, Atlantis or some such similar treasure-trove. But no such undertaking is done lightly; the perils of the deep are varied and deadly.
Blackmoor supplement, 1975
The section on underwater adventures in the Blackmoor supplement appears to have been contributed by Steve Marsh, together with aquatic monsters and magic items, as discussed in the Blackmoor Supplement origination project thread on Dragonsfoot.
The section covers the effects of water on movement, combat, and spells; tridents (damage 2d6); terrain (sea grass, seaweed, or sand, etc.); and encounter matrices (for both underwater and sailing encounters) using the aquatic monsters previously introduced.
Published adventures which delve underwater include U3 The Final Enemy (1983) by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull for AD&D 1e, and X6 Quagmire! (1984) by Merle Rasmussen as well as X7 The War Rafts of Kron (1984) by Bruce Nesmith for BECMI.
Specialists: Sages
A sage poring over his tome. Illustration by Darlene, from the AD&D 1e DMs Guide (1979).
The Sage was originally conceived by Arneson as a PC class, although reworked by Tim Kask as a NPC class, as recounted by Daniel Boggs on his blog "Hidden in Shadows" in "The Sage: Rescuing a lost Blackmoor character class" in May, 2018.
Sages will typically specialize in one or more of three basic categories, depending upon their individual ability: Living Things, the Supernatural/Metaphysical, and the Physical Universe. Each category is further divisible into subcategories.
Sages also have the ability to cast powerful curses on the verge of death in retribution (examples are given), which cannot be removed by the usual remove curse spell. Rather, a quest assigned by a cleric might be the only way to absolve oneself.
Disease:
Sickness and disease have killed far more people than war, and heretofore this fact has been glossed over. Knowing no allegiance or alignment, disease can strike down the highest level characters, as well as non-player characters.
Dave Arneson, Blackmoor supplement, 1975
An optional set of game mechanics for various diseases, including Grippe, Bubonic Plague, Dysentery, Cholera, Malaria, Small Pox, Tuberculosis, Typhus, Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever, Advanced Leprosy, Crud, and Spotted Fever.
Some interesting uses include substituting one of the above specific diseases for the 3rd level clerical spell Cause Disease. Effects of disease on strength and constitution are likewise given. Arneson provided a more in-depth version in Pegasus #1 (1981).
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