BLACKMOOR […] is the oldest and longest running DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game, and readers should find such material quite helpful in assuring the longevity of their own campaigns.
Gary Gygax, Foreward to Dungeons & Dragons, Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975)
Dave Arneson . . . Is there really such a creature? Yes, Gentle Readers, there is, and shudder when the name is spoken. Although he is a man of many talents who has authored many historic rules sets and games (which TSR will be publishing periodically), Dave is also the innovator of the “dungeon adventure” concept, creator of ghastly monsters, and inscrutable dungeonmaster par excellence. He devises complex combat systems, inexplicable dungeon and wilderness areas, and traps of the most subtle fiendishness.
The partnership that gave us Dungeons & Dragons was not to last. Within a year or so, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson would part ways.
Arneson was always better at DMing and sheer creativity than outputting finished works, and that was never going to fly at the burgeoning TSR. Rancor ensued after the split, but that’s a topic for another day.
In 1977, with the help of Richard Snider, Arneson released his aptly-named First Fantasy Campaign through Judges Guild. This was first time his legendary Blackmoor setting saw print in a big way. D&D Supplement II: Blackmoor had contained little source material, instead serving as expansion rules to the original three little brown books of Original D&D. Although… the adventure within – Temple of the Frog – was certainly a taste of Arneson’s setting.
I have an FFC book going to the shelves, and that’s the subject of our profile today.
The First Fantasy Campaign
1977 … Dave Arneson & Richard Snider … 96 pages + 2 maps … Judges Guild 37
There are no legal FFC PDFs available for sale, alas, though it’s not hard to find bootleg copies for download.
Title Page and Credits
Yes, my copy for sale right now was signed by Dave Arneson to Scott Bizar of Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU).
Arneson’s partnership with Richard Snider would continue in Adventures in Fantasy.
Table of Contents
Forward and Introduction
By the end of the Fourth year of continuous play BLACKMOOR covered hundreds of square miles, had a dozen castles, and three separate referees as my own involvement decreased due to other commitments. But by then it was more than able to run itself as a Fantasy campaign and keep more than a hundred people and a dozen referees as busy then as they are today. Whether there will ever the co-ordination of all the area Dungeons in the future as they were way back in “the the Good Old Days” is unlikely, but already there are 20-30 people meeting every 4th Saturday to do BLACKMOOR and other Fantasy in related areas, so who can tell… After all the keynote is that “Anything is Possible” just that some things are more likely than others.
20 to 30 players?! Ye gods, that sounds both frightening and amazing to me.
Domain Play
Original D&D players were accustomed to administering a territory alongside their dungeon crumping. Domain play would soon get relegated to high-level campaigns, and then mostly disappear from typical D&D games.
FFC immediately jumps into domain play with a dozen pages of guidance.
Campaign Map Notes
Some interesting details to be found here.
Early D&D players made use of the map from Avalon Hill’s Outdoor Survival game, and Arneson’s table was no exception.
Also note Arneson grousing about new players disinterested in the overland and large-scale play, in favor of dungeoneering:
After that point the game has rarely seen the old bunch back together for long enough to do anything. The new guys are only interested in the old Dungeon of Blackmoor itself.
Here is noted that the map was redrawn a bit to connect with Judges Guild’s City State campaign. Going forward, this would be a theme, with Blackmoor being grafted onto other campaign worlds.
Blackmoor would linger on in the World of Greyhawk, but it was largely ignored.
Blackmoor later joined D&D’s Known World “Mystara” in a brief renaissance in the DA series of modules.
Blackmoor found its way into 3rd and 4th editions of Dungeons & Dragons. These are available on DriveThruRPG PDF.
Infamous Characters, Blackmoor, the Castle, and its Dungeon
Printing Notes
The Acaeum has a page detailing the printings of FFC. Part of the identification criteria is the number of items in the Judges Guild “Booty List” in the back – their other products catalog. Mine is a 1st print.
2nd & 3rd printings (l – r). They are visually similar on the outside. The best way to distinguish them is the product list in the back. See link above.
Maps
The First Fantasy Campaign comes with 2 large maps of the region. In Judges Guild style, there is a detailed referee map (“Judges Cartography”), and a player map to be filled in during the PC’s explorations.
The “Player’s Cartography” has several adventuring sites noted, but not precisely. Duchy of Ten and Egg of Coot are tantalizing. The Temple of the Frog is not even vaguely placed.
Further Research
Secrets of Blackmoor has a lot of old maps, campaign notes, and context about the original game. Worth a visit!
OSR Grimoire also has some interesting Blackmoor map comparisons.
See Also:
is this still available for purchase?
Hello. No, it sold quickly. Best place to find out is at the sales site (https://www.waynesbooks.net/) and do a search for the title. best, -W