The First Fantasy Campaign: Loch Gloomen

At the end of the 3rd year, the guys at Blackmoor were exiled for losing Blackmoor to the Baddies (they really messed it up bad).  So under heavy escort, they all ended up in Lake Gloomey with the goods they could carry and were dumped there.

Dave Arneson, The First Fantasy Campaign

The Loch Gloomen phase of the campaign represented an area for the characters to explore, following the dungeon-delving expeditions beneath Blackmoor Castle.  These games took place in mid-1972, by which time sessions were being held at St. Thomas College.

The perils of Loch Gloomen, illustration by Mark Nelson, from DA2 "Temple of the Frog" (1986)

Arneson includes a description of these menacing borderlands:

The most interesting aspect was exploring the surrounding swamps which lent a new aspect to Judging and map making for the following considerations:

1) There was a prevailing Cloud cover and magnetic disturbance precluded compasses, sun spotting and star gazing.

2) While traveling through the featureless swamp, there was a 20% chance of going off the desired track, right or left, without knowing it.

3) The only notable changes in the swamp was the appearance of islands and/or clear water routes.  But if you were unsure how you got there...  River routes were fun, what with stray Galleys and Merchant Ships ready to swarm over you.  Plus the Picts who inhabited the few islands in the area.*

Dave Arneson, The First Fantasy Campaign

*The mention of Picts is interesting, and hearkens back to the mention of barbarian Picts to the west and southwest of the Northern Marches map.

Loch Gloomen constitutes a prototypical sandbox, with old mansions, burned-out farms, ruined castles, monster-infested caves, and haunted villages.  Daniel Boggs reviews how these locations were stocked in Stocking Blackmoor Adventures in 1972.*

*see also The Arnesonian Sandbox and The First Hexcrawl

Under "General Characteristics" there is a list of machines (Teleportation Machine, Flying Machine, Fighting Machine, and Water Machine) without further details.  Justin Alexander discusses these in a blog post, Reactions to OD&D: Arneson's Machines.

Events in Loch Gloomen soon focused upon the defence of the town, covered in Jon Peterson's post "Blackmoor, in the Era of Loch Gloomen".  (For the remainder of the summary, see this excerpt, shared by the Secrets of Blackmoor crew on their Facebook page, March 6, 2017).

*Greg Svenson reminisces about the fall of the Great Svenny and his subsequent resurrection by Mike Carr's character, the Bishop Carr in this thread on The Comeback Inn discussion boards.

The mention of Wesely, Scott Belfry, and Pete Gaylord taking their characters "to the town held by the Monks of the Swamp" predates the series of adventures involving Stephen Rocheford and The Temple of the Frog.