In starting my campaign, I reserved a small area out of the center of the Great Kingdom map of the IFW's Castle & Crusade Society (a now extinct Medievals group).
Dave Arneson, The First Fantasy Campaign (1977)
JG 37 "The First Fantasy Campaign" includes a hand-drawn map of Blackmoor and environs, as well as two large fold-out poster maps (one for the players, and one for the referee). The two sets of maps differ in many ways, and their relationship to one another has been unclear.
Daniel Boggs covers the topic in his recent blog post Was Original Blackmoor a Greyhawk Campaign? in which he explains how Arneson likely adapted his map of The Northern Marches in order to create a map of Blackmoor that would fit on the map of The Great Kingdom.
Hand-drawn map of Blackmoor and environs, used by Arneson for his original Blackmoor campaign (1971-75).
Arneson goes on to describe using the Outdoor Survival map for the region to the south of Blackmoor, probably starting in the third year of the campaign "after the bad scene at Lake Gloomy", as discussed in my earlier post Into the Great Outdoors.
Taking another look, I'm struck by the similarity between the two groups of mountains in the southern part of Arneson's hand-drawn map of Blackmoor (which includes the Dragon Hills) and the northern part of the Outdoor Survival board:
The hand-drawn map of Blackmoor in The First Fantasy Campaign in relation to the Outdoor Survival map. Note the similarities between the two groups of mountains in the southern part of Blackmoor and the northern part of the Outdoor Survival map.
If the southern part of the hand-drawn map represents the northern part of the Outdoor Survival map, the unlabeled settlements might represent some of the players' new fiefs. Greg Svenson's "Newgate" might be the one further east, with the road leading to the south, for example.
Svenson recalls the Valley of the Ancients was originally located southwest of Blackmoor, where the desert is depicted on the hand-drawn map. Arneson states the City of the Gods was "located in the Desert south of Monson's old place", possibly the settlement further west.
Terrain Key To Campaign Map:
Somewhat confusingly, the terrain key beneath the hand-drawn map of Blackmoor is not for the hand-drawn map, but depicts the symbols used in the large, fold-out poster maps. Here is the key, reproduced beneath the fold-out poster map:
The terrain key is similar to the one provided in JG 48 "Wilderlands of High Fantasy":
Tomorrow, we will turn our attention to the redrawn poster maps, and their place in Judges Guild's Wilderlands.
Neat alignment but a bit of a hard sell. The biggest hurdle is the river. It's in the wrong place entirely for the alignment to work and since the river doesn't appear on the Northern Marches map, there is no reason for it to have been drawn so out of place. I think you may be looking at a chance alignment of a couple features but not a real attempt to redraw a portion of the OS board onto Blackmoor. You also have to wonder why only add a tiny portion (about 1/5th or maybe 1/4) of the OS map when Arneson could have tacked on the whole thing. You could speculate that the rest is now missing but that's a lot of guessing. Anyway, interesting post as always!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dan - you're usually right about these things, and always very gracious with your feedback!
DeleteRegarding the rivers, my thought was that Arneson could have simply "mashed" the two maps together, or even just filled in some blank spaces at the bottom of the hand-drawn map with a couple of features from the Outdoor Survival board (particularly if the Dragon Hills truly originated there).
What are your thoughts regarding the road(s) and the two settlements in the bottom part of the hand-drawn map. Any good candidates, other than some of the players' new fiefs? Interested to hear your perspective, as always!
Yeah, I do like the idea that the farthest west may represent Monson's place, but there's also the possibility that they are places associated with the Nomads. Like what we see marked on later maps as High Tenlish, Sul Peshwan, or Dragonnia. I think we will need to turn up some new information to ever really know.
ReplyDelete