''Adventures in Blackmoor'' is a 64-pageDA1: Adventures in Blackmoor
at rpg.net. ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

, designed to be compatible with the ''

Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set The ''Expert Set'' is an expansion boxed set for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. It was first published in 1981 as an expansion to the '' Basic Set''. Having been told that Greyhawk was reserved for ''Advanced Dungeons & ...

.''

Plot summary

''Adventures in Blackmoor'' is a scenario set in the land of Blackmoor, 3000 years before other ''D&D'' scenarios by TSR. The

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s are transported from their "modern" time to the time of Blackmoor and must rescue King Uther from The Prison Out of Time. The adventure takes place in three parts inside an inn. The first part of the adventure takes place in a dungeon setting. Clues found in the inn lead to the second part of the adventure. The inn shifts between dimensions for the second part of the adventure, which concerns itself with certain changes taking place inside the inn as it shifts. In the third and final part of the adventure, the inn shifts to another dungeon. The final 20 pages of the adventure give a description of

Blackmoor Blackmore is a village in Essex, England. Blackmore or Blackmoor may also refer to: * Blackmore (name), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Blackmoor, Hampshire, a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England ...

, and detail 38 prominent

NPCs A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

from the setting. The module includes campaign setting material on Blackmoor and the Thonian Empire.

Publication history

DA1 ''Adventures in Blackmoor'' was written by Dave L. Arneson and

David J. Ritchie David James Ritchie (October 6, 1950 - September 6, 2009) was a game designer and author. Early life and education David Ritchie was a native of Canton, Ohio. He was a graduate of Lehman High School in Canton and attended Grove City College in Pen ...

, and published by TSR in 1986 as a 64-page booklet with a color map and outer folder. The module uses Arneson's original

campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and ca ...

, updated for the ''D&D Expert Rules''. It features cover art by

Jeff Easley Jeff Easley (born 1954) is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art. Early life Easley was born in Nicholasville, Kentucky in 1954. He spent time drawing as ...

and interior artwork by Jim Holloway. It is designed for character levels 10–14, and features some locations and characters from Dave Arneson's original ''Blackmoor'' campaign.Dave Arneson Series
at acaeum.com. This module consists of a 64-page booklet and an A2 color map inside a wraparound card cover. Also included are seven pages of background for the DM, which give the history of the area in which the adventure is set, as well as three more pages introducing the

s to the world of Blackmoor.

Reception

Graeme Davis reviewed ''Adventures in Blackmoor'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' #86, calling the adventure "a device to get the

Player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s into the world of Blackmoor from wherever they happen to be at the time". Davis felt that having the adventure take place in three versions of the same inn "cuts down on the map requirement but can lead to a static feel in play". He noted that while the adventure's introduction links it to X1 ''

Isle of Dread ''The Isle of Dread'' is an Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons), adventure for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. The adventure, module code ''X1'', was originally published in 1981. Written by David Cook (game designer), David "Zeb" Cook a ...

'', the device could be used in any game world. He felt that ending the adventure in an old-fashioned "zoo-dungeon" was disappointing, "reminding us of Blackmoor's origins", but that the clues leading to the second part of the adventure were intriguing. Davis felt that the background provided on Blackmoor was interesting information, but was too little for Dungeon Masters to base further adventures on the setting. He found that the adventure only has one core idea that doesn't get explored much. He was also disappointed that Blackmoor wasn't explored much "despite the colour map which comes as part of the package". Davis does note that players familiar with TSR and Judges' Guild products of the late 1970s would get a feeling of nostalgia from this adventure, and that the "zoo-dungeon" is "well written and set out, with a reasonable plot, and should provide an interesting and enjoyable session's play", despite how such adventures had become old fashioned by the time this module was published. He concluded the review by stating that the module "makes a reasonably good introduction to Blackmoor, but a lot will rest on ''DA2'' and the rest of the series; as a campaign starter ''DA1'' has a lot going for it, but it will stand or fall on what comes next".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures In Blackmoor Dungeons & Dragons modules Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1986

Plot summary

Publication history

Reception

See also

References