World of Greyhawk Gazetteer Revised on DMsGuild is Amazing and Free!

This excellent sourcebook was recently released on the DMsGuild from Cannibaal Press. The PDF can be bought for 0 USD or more if you like the book. Also, we just learned that the DMsGuild has promised that they will allow for a Print on Demand version of this book just based on the quality of the product. It is a very professionally presented book that gives a great overview of the setting. 

I came across news of this sourcebook in a discussion over at The Piazza. From what I understand, this book is aimed at new fans who want to learn about Greyhawk, though it is definitely also a very useful reference for older fans. I personally love that both Arn and Blackmoor are used to reference the region so that people who have learned about Arn from the DMG will be able to find their way to the works of Dave Arneson. 

It is also great seeing so many people across the fandom having helped contribute to the book. I am not a hard core Greyhawk fan, but it is always wonderful to see the amazing maps of Anna Meyer along with many familiar names on the list of contributors for art, writing and other aspects. Seeing my good friend David "Big Mac" Shepheard (From The Piazza!) having written a Spelljammer related section for Greyspace was also very nice. 

This is not a sponsored review. The PDF is free from the DM's Guild. My blog has always been and will remain a non-commercial, non profit fan undertaking. I do appreciate feedback and comments though. Have you downloaded this sourcebook yet? If not, I recommend you check it out. And let me know what you think! :)

Click Here to Download the World of Greyhawk Gazetteer Revised

More discussion of this article at The Comeback Inn,

-Havard

Will WotC Rename Blackmoor in Mystara Too?

 

It was quite a surprise to fans that Mystara would be brought back to print by Wizards of the Coast in 2024. 

Of course, saying that WotC would bring it back is a bit of an overstatement as the upcoming book Dungeons & Dragons: Worlds & Realms - Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerun and Beyond is a licensed product from Ten Speed Press and more a coffee table book than an actual game supplement. Still, seeing an entire chapter  of this book being dedicated to Mystara when several popular D&D settings are not included (notably Dark Sun, Birthright and more). 

With the recent discussions of Blackmoor being renamed Arn in the 2024 DMG has lead to much speculation. Yesterday I explored the name Arn as it is not new to the world of D&D. As the DMG is not yet available, we don't know if the change was made due to setting specific ideas, rights issues or a number of other reasons. 

However, given this change for Greyhawk it will be interesting to see if Blackmoor will be renamed in the descriptions of Mystara as well. Mystara's connection to Blackmoor began before Mystara had even gotten its own name. Mystara is of course the world of the old BX and  BECMI D&D Games (Some call then Basic D&D, a term I feel is misleading) and back then it was just called the D&D Game World as opposed to AD&D which had many settings tied to it. 

As TSR had found themselves in the situation of having to publish two parallell game lines called D&D and AD&D, due to agreements with Dave Arneson. Since Arneson's rights were tied to the D&D line, it made sense that Blackmoor would end up there, even though the name Blackmoor was still kept on the Greyhawk map. The advantage of placing Blackmoor in Mystara's past was that players of the D&D game could use the same characters and simply visit Blackmoor through Time Travel. some people say Blackmoor was put into Mystara's past, but another way of looking at it is that Mystara would end up being a possible distant future for Blackmoor. For Mystara, this had the advantage of adding a layer of mysteries buried in the settings past that made it so much more interesting and almost every Mystara product referenced Blackmoor after this. The products that laid the groundwork for this connection were the DA modules, starting with DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor. 

So, will Blackmoor be renamed in the presentation of Mystara? It is very difficult to say at this point. As mentioned we have no idea why they changed the name for Greyhawk and those reasons could easily have no impact on how WotC presents Mystara. On the other hand, if they do make the change that will support the uncomfirmed theory that WotC are distancing themselves from Blackmoor. If they call Mystara's Blackmoor Arn, that would be the craziest scenario of them all. Of course, it would be perfectly possible to present Mystara and not mention Blackmoor at all. 

Whatever happens we will known more when this book comes out. 

Dungeons & Dragons: Worlds & Realms - Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerun and Beyond is to be published on October 29th 2024. The book will be 368 pages and the current price tag is 50$

-Havard

The Realm of Arn and its History in D&D

This week, we learned that WotC are changing the name of Blackmoor in the Greyhawk setting to Arn. But beyond the obvious reference to the last name of the D&D Co-creator, why does the name Arn sound so familiar?

The name Arn has actually been used on a number of occasions. In the adventure DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor (p46), we meet Arn Yonson, a 10th level Fighter who is an obvious stand in for Dave Arneson. Arn Yonson's name does suggest a Skandaharian origin, but the description only says that he wears an outlandish helmet with large horns that some people of Blackmoor find a bit funny. 

In OD&D Supplement 3: Eldritch Wizardry (by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume), we find the artifact known as the Invulnerable Coat of Arn, a chainmail +5 with a number of magical resistances and powers linked to it. The same book also has a Ring of Gax so both D&D Co-creators got their names referenced in this book. It is unclear where the Coat of Arn got its name, but it is said to be a relic of a bygone age. 

The oldest known reference to Arn that I was able to dig up on short notice however, is an illustration from the D&D draft document known as Beyond This Point Be Dragons or the Dalluhn document. The document contains an illustration showing a sign leading to "Lord of Arn". Now, I am not sure if there was ever a conclusion to who actually wrote that document, there have been suggestions that this illustration was drawn by Dave Arneson. Likely the signpost was just a joke, but Lord of Arn does suggest that this is the name of a realm. Perhaps the realm whose ruler once wore a magical chainmail?

Have you found other references to Arn in any D&D products or Arneson material? Please let me know about it. 

Could any of these factoids help explain why Arn has now become the name of a realm in Greyhawk? Could this support Greyhawk Grognard's theory that the new WotC Greyhawk is set at an earlier point in the timeline?  Or was it just a big coincidence?

Discuss this article at The Comeback Inn

-Havard