2024 will be the 50th anniversary of D&D. It officially began in year 1974, with TSR publishing the original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set of three booklets, by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
So far, it has been strictly internet speculation, but it seems plausible that WotC might publish an "anniversary edition" of all of the core D&D 5e content, to commemorate the event. Such an edition would include any updates. It can consolidate the significant updates in Xanathars and Tashas, such as custom lineage, tool proficiency check, the Cleric of a cosmic force instead of a deity, the optional Ranger features, and so on. It can reformat the content of the Players Handbook lineages. The anniversary edition would be a comprehensive publication of D&D 5e.
The new format going forward will separate alignment, ability score improvements, and "cultural" proficiencies and ribbons, from the traits of the lineages.
Inferably, republications of the Players Handbook content, if any, would reformat accordingly. I am confident the Players Handbook lineages would remain 100% compatible, so players can use the Players Handbook alongside a future republishing. But, any future republishing of the Players Handbook content might present the same information in a different way.
The Players Handbook already removed traditional alignments from the playable lineages. It even made the drow explicitly any alignment. So this is already a nonissue. Even with player choice, if one wants a traditional (hippie-esque) Chaotic Good high elf, one can create that character concept.
The future format will not include the ability score improvements, but organize them separately as part of generating ability scores. Even so, having a +2 and a +1 will exist, and if one wants a traditional +2 Dex and +1 Int high elf, one can do that.
I am less sure how a future reformating would treat the proficiencies, since the Players Handbook lineages vary with regard to the amount of cultural proficiencies. Several different solutions would work here.
If a special anniversary edition would republish Players Handbook content, the lineages would reformat.
With regard to the lineages, my impression is, the designers have an idea of where they want to go, but are still flexible about how to get there. Most importantly, they want the support of D&D customers, and in light of this also want to maintain as much backward compatibility as possible.
This is year 2021, and there is two or three years to work out the lineage system, to make sure as many players as possible − both novice and veteran − are as happy as possible.
No doubt, WotC is thinking about something special for the 50th anniversary.
The anniversary edition of core content would be something like a "compendium". It would consolidate all of the significant rules so far.
Also, the 50th year anniversary in year 2024 seems an opportune time to publish a 5e Greyhawk setting as a separate 5e setting that uses the 5e compendium rules. On the one hand, it might feel far away for grognards pining for Greyhawk. On the other hand, it could be comprehensive, collaborating with those of todays Gygax estate, or so on.
From what I understand, Gygax created the Castle Greyhawk early on, as a series of dungeon levels. It was part of the shared Great Kingdom regional setting that the Castles & Crusaders gaming society was using in common, including Blackmoor.
In his own homebrew campaign from about 1970 to 1985, Gygax focused on Greyhawk and its surroundings as part of the Great Kingdom. Here is a map from Castles & Crusaders, published about 1970, and apparently based on Gygaxs campaign notes. Castle Greyhawk along with the nearby City of Greyhawk are unmarked on this map, but exist on the south side of the lake of Nir Dyv.
Most TSR adventures (aka "dungeons"), novels, and Dragon magazine articles will mention Greyhawk, verbally and vaguely populating this regional map.
For his own campaigns, Gygax repurposed a reallife map of earth to refer to regions beyond, where Nir Dyv corresponds roughly the North American Great Lakes, and the City of Greyhawk equated to Chicago, his birthtown.
Eventually, Gygax created a fantasy world setting, called Oerth, for his homebrew Greyhawk campaign, effectively relocating Greyhawk. Here is the World of Greyhawk published in 1980.
Below is a closeup of the lake of Nir Dyv (aka Nyr Dyv). If you look carefully, you can see the modestly marked namesake, City of "Greyhawk", on the bank of the Selintan River, south of the Cairn Hills, on the south shores of Nir Dyv.
I am surprised how understated the City of Greyhawk itself appears. Castle Greyhawk is even unmarked, but locates nearby on the opposite side of the river.
The D&D historian DHBoggs, cuts up the original 1970 map and shows how it roughly corresponds to the later 1980 map. This is awesome!
Boggs compares the differences between the 1970 and 1980 maps for Gygaxs homebrew, as resembling a reallife medieval map, where the landmasses are vaguely familiar but highly distorted. The 1980 map is the actual Oerth, while the 1970 map is a medieval-esque distorted representation of it.
For me, I would love a special "anniversy setting" be Greyhawk. I especially want it to reflect − as authentically as possible − Gygaxs own homebrew campaign from years 1970 to 1985. Even if the setting includes all of the Greyhawk traditions without Gygax, after 1985, including 3e Living Greyhawk, I still want the opening sections to be Gygax only. A later section can add separately later versions of Greyhawk that TSR and WotC evolved beyond him.
I hope to see the setting translating the earliest formative Greyhawk content − innovated by Gygax himself − translated as closely as possible to todays 5e gaming engine.
The separate campaigns are going on simultaneously. Arneson has his Blackmoor campaign. Gygax has his Greyhawk campaign. If you look at the 1970 map, Blackmoor is on the southwest coast of the Great Bay, near the river mouth, and Greyhawk is on the south coast of Nir Dyv, also near the river mouth.
Above in the 1970 map, Blackmoor is near the rivermouth in the southwest corner of the Great Bay.
Below, in 1977, the First Fantasy Campaign publishes the official map for Blackmoor. This is effectively a closeup of the corner of the Great Bay that was sketched above, but now adds more detail, more water ways. There is effectively a new peninsula above the river mouth on the Great Bay. The "Elven Forest" is located in the center of this peninsula. The City of "Blackmoor" itself can be seen west of the forest, in small letters, on the western corner of this peninsula, on an other river mouth nearby.
The campaigns of Arneson and Gygax − and especially the worlds around them − will evolve differently. Despite the divergence, Gygax still preserves the location of Blackmoor relating to the 1970 map in his 1980 map.
If you look uppermost at the farthest north of the World of Greyhawk, you can see the name Blackmoor between the Land of Black Ice and the Icy Sea. The 1980 Icy Sea corresponds roughly to the 1970 Great Bay.
Here is a closeup of the 1980 World of Greyhawk map, featuring the wider Blackmoor region.
In the southwest coast of the Icy Sea (aka Great Bay), you can see the World of Greyhawk preserve the peninsula that Arneson added to the original map. On this peninsula are "Ruins". Decades later, these ruins are identified as the Ruins of Blackmoor (2005, Dungeon magazine 126). However, separate from these Ruins, the City of Blackmoor itself is a coastal city on the corner of the peninsula, and corresponds more precisely to the adjacent hex that is at 10 oclock from the hex with the Ruins in them. Also, the hex at 2 oclock from the Ruins corresponds to the Elven Forest of the Arneson campaign.
Gygax intended for his players in the Greyhawk campaign to be able to play in the Blackmoor campaign, if they trek the great journey by land or by sea, from the City of Greyhawk to the City of Blackmoor.
For an anniversary edition of the original D&D settings, it is possible to present both the homebrew setting of Arneson in Blackmoor and the homebrew setting of Gygax in Greyhawk.
Have you watched the Blackmoor movie? It was on Amazon. Lots of info on how D&D evolved from war games. A second part about the relationship between Gygax and Arneson is apparently in the works.
I watched the documentary. It is fascinating to watch the origins of the CONCEPT of D&D, something that never really existed before. It is really the origin of all RPGs. It evolves from wargames but becomes more narrative.
I generally view Arneson as the DM whose style prefers to adjudicate more by narrative context, and Gygax as the DM whose style prefers to adjudicate more by the mechanical rules. Together they conceived something wonderful.
Both Arneson and Gygax are credited for the original D&D box set in 1974.
Moreover, both Arneson and Gygax created the core rules of AD&D 1e. Without going into the legal disputes, Gygax published the work that both of them were collaborating on: producing the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Monster Manual.
After the core books, Gygax created the rest on his own, such as the Fiend Folio and Unearthed Arcana, and the many adventures, where the genius of Gygax shines. The drow are an amazing archetype that Gygax pioneered.
I hope the 50th anniversary celebrates both Arneson and Gygax.
Have you watched the Blackmoor movie? It was on Amazon. Lots of info on how D&D evolved from war games. A second part about the relationship between Gygax and Arneson is apparently in the works.
I have been desperately trying to watch Secrets of Blackmoor in the UK but have failed.
It's not available to stream here and I've had no luck via a US VPN either. I contacted them via Twitter and they told me its been pulled from streaming so to email them and buy a DVD but those emails have gone unanswered.
If anyone can help me, please let me know. Would snap up a secondhand DVD in a heartbeat!
Have you watched the Blackmoor movie? It was on Amazon. Lots of info on how D&D evolved from war games. A second part about the relationship between Gygax and Arneson is apparently in the works.
I have been desperately trying to watch Secrets of Blackmoor in the UK but have failed.
It's not available to stream here and I've had no luck via a US VPN either. I contacted them via Twitter and they told me its been pulled from streaming so to email them and buy a DVD but those emails have gone unanswered.
If anyone can help me, please let me know. Would snap up a secondhand DVD in a heartbeat!
I saw the documentary, Secrets of Blackmoor, a couple of years ago. I am unsure how I would go about seeing today. If you find access, post here for others.
Regarding the 1980 World of Greyhawk map, by Gygax. Its folio book says this about Blackmoor:
" BLACKMOOR His Luminous Preponderancy, the Archbaron of Blackmoor(Fighter of unknown level) Capital: Dantredun Population: 20,000 to 30,000 +/- Demi-humans [ ≈ elves, dwarves, etcetera]: Unlikely Humanoids [ ≈ orcs, goblins, etcetera]: Considerable numbers Resources: ivory, copper, gems (II)
This little known territory exists between the fierce nomads to the south and the terrible Land of Black Ice to the north, protected by the cold marshes and the dangerous Icy Sea, as well as the vast stretches of the Bumeal Forest. It is reported that hot springs and vulcanlsm keep the area habitable, and that monsters teem in its wildernesses of brush and marsh. The original capital, Blackmoor, and its castle were sacked and ruined some years ago, but extensive labyrinths are supposed to exist under these ruins. There is also purported to be a strange "City of the Gods" somewhere within the Archbarony. Inhabitants of the area employ slings, bows (short), and spears. Cavalry Is uncommon, except in the force of the ruler.
"
Gygax preserves Blackmoor, and describes it vaguely and tersely. His world setting makes it mainly uncharted land to the north that is less familiar to the City of Greyhawk to the south. Generally, his campaign neglects the area, but supplies space for players who want to play the Blackmoor campaign of Arneson.
Note, the Mystara setting of Basic D&D preserves Blackmoor according to the way Arneson drew this region.
It is possible to plug as a regional setting, the City of Blackmoor, the river mouth and peninsula where it locates, and surrounding region, in and around the peninsula that Gygax reserves for it.
It is possible to reconcile the conflicting information between the campaigns of Arneson and Gygax respectively.
According to Gygax, the "original capital" of the wider Blackmoor region is now in "ruins". After the destruction, the capital relocates to elsewhere at Dantredun. Its current government is an archbarony that rules from there over the wider Blackmoor territory.
To reconcile the two versions of Blackmoor, Arnesons "City of Blackmoor" isnt Gygaxs "original capital", that is also called Blackmoor. One can explain that enemies destroyed the original Blackmoor, which used to be the capital of the wider region, which derives its name from this capital. The survivors rebuilt a new Blackmoor nearby, on the coast, on the rivermouth. This new Blackmoor is no longer the capital of the wider Blackmoor area.
In any case, I find the peninsula fascinating. There are the ancient ruins inland, as marked by Gygax, the coastal Blackmoor of the Arneson campaign (and Mystara campaign) nearby, and the existence of the Elven Forest amid the peninsula. There is also the town of Maul at the outermost tip of the peninsula. Meanwhile the Arneson campaign mentions other nearby towns, such as Egg of Coot, that are in lands surrounding the peninsula. All of this makes a great starting point for a D&D 5e campaign today.
Gygax says the area is mostly humans alongside the more monstrous lineages, such as orcs, goblins, and others. Thus the Elven Forest of Arneson is unusual. There appears virtually no dwarves, gnomes, or halflings.
Plug in the local Blackmoor setting into the World of Greyhawk.
Have you watched the Blackmoor movie? It was on Amazon. Lots of info on how D&D evolved from war games. A second part about the relationship between Gygax and Arneson is apparently in the works.
I have been desperately trying to watch Secrets of Blackmoor in the UK but have failed.
It's not available to stream here and I've had no luck via a US VPN either. I contacted them via Twitter and they told me its been pulled from streaming so to email them and buy a DVD but those emails have gone unanswered.
If anyone can help me, please let me know. Would snap up a secondhand DVD in a heartbeat!
If anyone is struggling like me to find the documentary in the UK, I just got an email from them that says...
2024 will be the 50th anniversary of D&D. It officially began in year 1974, with TSR publishing the original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set of three booklets, by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
So far, it has been strictly internet speculation, but it seems plausible that WotC might publish an "anniversary edition" of all of the core D&D 5e content, to commemorate the event. Such an edition would include any updates. It can consolidate the significant updates in Xanathars and Tashas, such as custom lineage, tool proficiency check, the Cleric of a cosmic force instead of a deity, the optional Ranger features, and so on. It can reformat the content of the Players Handbook lineages. The anniversary edition would be a comprehensive publication of D&D 5e.
The new format going forward will separate alignment, ability score improvements, and "cultural" proficiencies and ribbons, from the traits of the lineages.
Inferably, republications of the Players Handbook content, if any, would reformat accordingly. I am confident the Players Handbook lineages would remain 100% compatible, so players can use the Players Handbook alongside a future republishing. But, any future republishing of the Players Handbook content might present the same information in a different way.
The Players Handbook already removed traditional alignments from the playable lineages. It even made the drow explicitly any alignment. So this is already a nonissue. Even with player choice, if one wants a traditional (hippie-esque) Chaotic Good high elf, one can create that character concept.
The future format will not include the ability score improvements, but organize them separately as part of generating ability scores. Even so, having a +2 and a +1 will exist, and if one wants a traditional +2 Dex and +1 Int high elf, one can do that.
I am less sure how a future reformating would treat the proficiencies, since the Players Handbook lineages vary with regard to the amount of cultural proficiencies. Several different solutions would work here.
If a special anniversary edition would republish Players Handbook content, the lineages would reformat.
With regard to the lineages, my impression is, the designers have an idea of where they want to go, but are still flexible about how to get there. Most importantly, they want the support of D&D customers, and in light of this also want to maintain as much backward compatibility as possible.
This is year 2021, and there is two or three years to work out the lineage system, to make sure as many players as possible − both novice and veteran − are as happy as possible.
No doubt, WotC is thinking about something special for the 50th anniversary.
he / him
The anniversary edition of core content would be something like a "compendium". It would consolidate all of the significant rules so far.
Also, the 50th year anniversary in year 2024 seems an opportune time to publish a 5e Greyhawk setting as a separate 5e setting that uses the 5e compendium rules. On the one hand, it might feel far away for grognards pining for Greyhawk. On the other hand, it could be comprehensive, collaborating with those of todays Gygax estate, or so on.
From what I understand, Gygax created the Castle Greyhawk early on, as a series of dungeon levels. It was part of the shared Great Kingdom regional setting that the Castles & Crusaders gaming society was using in common, including Blackmoor.
In his own homebrew campaign from about 1970 to 1985, Gygax focused on Greyhawk and its surroundings as part of the Great Kingdom. Here is a map from Castles & Crusaders, published about 1970, and apparently based on Gygaxs campaign notes. Castle Greyhawk along with the nearby City of Greyhawk are unmarked on this map, but exist on the south side of the lake of Nir Dyv.
Most TSR adventures (aka "dungeons"), novels, and Dragon magazine articles will mention Greyhawk, verbally and vaguely populating this regional map.
For his own campaigns, Gygax repurposed a reallife map of earth to refer to regions beyond, where Nir Dyv corresponds roughly the North American Great Lakes, and the City of Greyhawk equated to Chicago, his birthtown.
Eventually, Gygax created a fantasy world setting, called Oerth, for his homebrew Greyhawk campaign, effectively relocating Greyhawk. Here is the World of Greyhawk published in 1980.
Below is a closeup of the lake of Nir Dyv (aka Nyr Dyv). If you look carefully, you can see the modestly marked namesake, City of "Greyhawk", on the bank of the Selintan River, south of the Cairn Hills, on the south shores of Nir Dyv.
I am surprised how understated the City of Greyhawk itself appears. Castle Greyhawk is even unmarked, but locates nearby on the opposite side of the river.
The D&D historian DHBoggs, cuts up the original 1970 map and shows how it roughly corresponds to the later 1980 map. This is awesome!
Boggs compares the differences between the 1970 and 1980 maps for Gygaxs homebrew, as resembling a reallife medieval map, where the landmasses are vaguely familiar but highly distorted. The 1980 map is the actual Oerth, while the 1970 map is a medieval-esque distorted representation of it.
For me, I would love a special "anniversy setting" be Greyhawk. I especially want it to reflect − as authentically as possible − Gygaxs own homebrew campaign from years 1970 to 1985. Even if the setting includes all of the Greyhawk traditions without Gygax, after 1985, including 3e Living Greyhawk, I still want the opening sections to be Gygax only. A later section can add separately later versions of Greyhawk that TSR and WotC evolved beyond him.
I hope to see the setting translating the earliest formative Greyhawk content − innovated by Gygax himself − translated as closely as possible to todays 5e gaming engine.
he / him
The separate campaigns are going on simultaneously. Arneson has his Blackmoor campaign. Gygax has his Greyhawk campaign. If you look at the 1970 map, Blackmoor is on the southwest coast of the Great Bay, near the river mouth, and Greyhawk is on the south coast of Nir Dyv, also near the river mouth.
Above in the 1970 map, Blackmoor is near the rivermouth in the southwest corner of the Great Bay.
Below, in 1977, the First Fantasy Campaign publishes the official map for Blackmoor. This is effectively a closeup of the corner of the Great Bay that was sketched above, but now adds more detail, more water ways. There is effectively a new peninsula above the river mouth on the Great Bay. The "Elven Forest" is located in the center of this peninsula. The City of "Blackmoor" itself can be seen west of the forest, in small letters, on the western corner of this peninsula, on an other river mouth nearby.
The campaigns of Arneson and Gygax − and especially the worlds around them − will evolve differently. Despite the divergence, Gygax still preserves the location of Blackmoor relating to the 1970 map in his 1980 map.
If you look uppermost at the farthest north of the World of Greyhawk, you can see the name Blackmoor between the Land of Black Ice and the Icy Sea. The 1980 Icy Sea corresponds roughly to the 1970 Great Bay.
Here is a closeup of the 1980 World of Greyhawk map, featuring the wider Blackmoor region.
In the southwest coast of the Icy Sea (aka Great Bay), you can see the World of Greyhawk preserve the peninsula that Arneson added to the original map. On this peninsula are "Ruins". Decades later, these ruins are identified as the Ruins of Blackmoor (2005, Dungeon magazine 126). However, separate from these Ruins, the City of Blackmoor itself is a coastal city on the corner of the peninsula, and corresponds more precisely to the adjacent hex that is at 10 oclock from the hex with the Ruins in them. Also, the hex at 2 oclock from the Ruins corresponds to the Elven Forest of the Arneson campaign.
Gygax intended for his players in the Greyhawk campaign to be able to play in the Blackmoor campaign, if they trek the great journey by land or by sea, from the City of Greyhawk to the City of Blackmoor.
For an anniversary edition of the original D&D settings, it is possible to present both the homebrew setting of Arneson in Blackmoor and the homebrew setting of Gygax in Greyhawk.
he / him
Have you watched the Blackmoor movie? It was on Amazon. Lots of info on how D&D evolved from war games. A second part about the relationship between Gygax and Arneson is apparently in the works.
Secrets of Blackmoor
I watched the documentary. It is fascinating to watch the origins of the CONCEPT of D&D, something that never really existed before. It is really the origin of all RPGs. It evolves from wargames but becomes more narrative.
I generally view Arneson as the DM whose style prefers to adjudicate more by narrative context, and Gygax as the DM whose style prefers to adjudicate more by the mechanical rules. Together they conceived something wonderful.
Both Arneson and Gygax are credited for the original D&D box set in 1974.
Moreover, both Arneson and Gygax created the core rules of AD&D 1e. Without going into the legal disputes, Gygax published the work that both of them were collaborating on: producing the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Monster Manual.
After the core books, Gygax created the rest on his own, such as the Fiend Folio and Unearthed Arcana, and the many adventures, where the genius of Gygax shines. The drow are an amazing archetype that Gygax pioneered.
I hope the 50th anniversary celebrates both Arneson and Gygax.
he / him
blah blah blah. more likely it would be called 6e
I have been desperately trying to watch Secrets of Blackmoor in the UK but have failed.
It's not available to stream here and I've had no luck via a US VPN either. I contacted them via Twitter and they told me its been pulled from streaming so to email them and buy a DVD but those emails have gone unanswered.
If anyone can help me, please let me know. Would snap up a secondhand DVD in a heartbeat!
I saw the documentary, Secrets of Blackmoor, a couple of years ago. I am unsure how I would go about seeing today. If you find access, post here for others.
he / him
Regarding the 1980 World of Greyhawk map, by Gygax. Its folio book says this about Blackmoor:
"
BLACKMOOR
His Luminous Preponderancy, the Archbaron of Blackmoor (Fighter of unknown level)
Capital: Dantredun
Population: 20,000 to 30,000 +/-
Demi-humans [ ≈ elves, dwarves, etcetera]: Unlikely
Humanoids [ ≈ orcs, goblins, etcetera]: Considerable numbers
Resources: ivory, copper, gems (II)
This little known territory exists between the fierce nomads to the south and the terrible Land of Black Ice to the north, protected by the cold marshes and the dangerous Icy Sea, as well as the vast stretches of the Bumeal Forest. It is reported that hot springs and vulcanlsm keep the area habitable, and that monsters teem in its wildernesses of brush and marsh. The original capital, Blackmoor, and its castle were sacked and ruined some years ago, but extensive labyrinths are supposed to exist under these ruins. There is also purported to be a strange "City of the Gods" somewhere within the Archbarony. Inhabitants of the area employ slings, bows (short), and spears. Cavalry Is uncommon, except in the force of the ruler.
"
Gygax preserves Blackmoor, and describes it vaguely and tersely. His world setting makes it mainly uncharted land to the north that is less familiar to the City of Greyhawk to the south. Generally, his campaign neglects the area, but supplies space for players who want to play the Blackmoor campaign of Arneson.
Note, the Mystara setting of Basic D&D preserves Blackmoor according to the way Arneson drew this region.
It is possible to plug as a regional setting, the City of Blackmoor, the river mouth and peninsula where it locates, and surrounding region, in and around the peninsula that Gygax reserves for it.
It is possible to reconcile the conflicting information between the campaigns of Arneson and Gygax respectively.
According to Gygax, the "original capital" of the wider Blackmoor region is now in "ruins". After the destruction, the capital relocates to elsewhere at Dantredun. Its current government is an archbarony that rules from there over the wider Blackmoor territory.
To reconcile the two versions of Blackmoor, Arnesons "City of Blackmoor" isnt Gygaxs "original capital", that is also called Blackmoor. One can explain that enemies destroyed the original Blackmoor, which used to be the capital of the wider region, which derives its name from this capital. The survivors rebuilt a new Blackmoor nearby, on the coast, on the rivermouth. This new Blackmoor is no longer the capital of the wider Blackmoor area.
In any case, I find the peninsula fascinating. There are the ancient ruins inland, as marked by Gygax, the coastal Blackmoor of the Arneson campaign (and Mystara campaign) nearby, and the existence of the Elven Forest amid the peninsula. There is also the town of Maul at the outermost tip of the peninsula. Meanwhile the Arneson campaign mentions other nearby towns, such as Egg of Coot, that are in lands surrounding the peninsula. All of this makes a great starting point for a D&D 5e campaign today.
Gygax says the area is mostly humans alongside the more monstrous lineages, such as orcs, goblins, and others. Thus the Elven Forest of Arneson is unusual. There appears virtually no dwarves, gnomes, or halflings.
Plug in the local Blackmoor setting into the World of Greyhawk.
he / him
If anyone is struggling like me to find the documentary in the UK, I just got an email from them that says...
"The film is once again available on Vimeo at https://movie.secretsofblackmoor.com and DVD's can be purchased on our website at https://store.secretsofblackmoor.com "