Blackmoor Week Retrospective: 4E Blackmoor

[Havard]

Now it is time to look at the D&D 4th Edition line for Blackmoor. Here's a list of the planned releases:

By Zeitgeist Games/ Code Monkey Publishing for 4E

• Blackmoor: First Campaign (D&D 4E)
• Blackmoor: First Campaign Power Cards (Never published)
• Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf - Player's Guide (Never published)
• Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf - GM's Guide (Never published)
• Blackmoor: Age of the Wolf - Ruins of Blackmoor (Never published)

4E's Blackmoor Softcover book replicates much of the material from the 3E sourcebook, though it cleaned up some mistakes from that version and is better organized. It is adapted to the 4th Edition rules meaning Tieflings and Dragonborn were included and Gnomes were dropped. It was originally believed that Gnomes would not be core races in 4th Edition, but they did of course appear in the second Player's Handbook. The list of deities was also drastically shortened which is interesting.

The book is set in the same time period as the 3E line. A separate era setting called Age of the Wolf was planned for this product line, but was never published as WotC discontinued the lisence.

-Havard

[Sturm]

In which period Age of the Wolf was meant to be set?

[Havard]

In which period Age of the Wolf was meant to be set?

Age of the Wolf was supposed to be set 269 years after the 3E line.

I compiled some details about it in this thread here at The Piazza:

Updating this a bit. This is what I know about the Age of the Wolf setting that was planned for Blackmoor 4E, but which was abandoned when the Blackmoor lisence ended.

• Earlier names for the setting were Time Jump and Sign of the Cross, but the final title was to be Age of the Wolf
• CA Suleiman and Ari Marmell were to be major contributors to this line.
• Age of the Wolf was the second of three time period subsettings planned. The last was to be a complete Sci Fi setting.
• It describes Blackmoor 269 (in 1299) years after the First Campaign setting
• The following products were announced for the setting: "Age of the Wolf - Player's Guide", "Age of the Wolf - GM's Guide" and "Age of the Wolf - Ruins of Blackmoor".
• It was to be the default era for the 4E MMRPG (aka 'Living Blackmoor') and much of the upcoming 4E line. At least two modules/episodes for this line were completed, but not published.
• The 3E MMRPG was said to supposedly lead up to the Age of the Wolf.
• New Classes were the Inventor (adaptation from Clock & Steam IIRC) and Relic Hunter (PrC?)
• The City of Blackmoor was a ruined city in this setting.
• The other settlements of the region such as Vestfold, Maus and Jackport had become more or less independent City States.
• In this age, "the North" would be less influenced by off-map areas like Thonia.
• The setting incorporated many elements from Blackmoor Clock & Steam, such as the Inventor Class (Techno-Mage) and gigantic mechanical golems, similar to those of the Iron Kingdoms.
• Tieflings and Dragonborn were to be fully incorporated into the setting. A new city, Rodhin was to be a Dragonborn City located near the Valley of the Ancients. Other 4E races may also have been incorporated over the years had the project been allowed to run its course.
• New creatures/organizations for the setting would include Herald of Thanatos (Construct), Gravesworn (Undead), Deathpriest, Brood Mother, Bombardiers of Rodhin (Dragonborn)
• Speculation: This era will see fully fledged Tieflings as opposed to the almost human looking Tieflings from the First Campaign.
• Trivia: According to the Mystara timeline, this it is around this time that Rheddrian Benekander destroys the City of the Gods in order to prevent the destruction of all of Blackmoor. (See Wrath of the Immortals for details).
• Sample art for Age of the Wolf can be found here: http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/se ... the%20Wolf

Looking back at it now, I have mixed feelings about the Age of the Wolf. I always felt like the discoveries in the Valley of the Ancients would lead to a rise in Blackmoor's culture and position in the world, while the Age of the Wolf feels too much like a setback, very similar to how Wrath of the Immortals (Mystara), Dragons of Summer Flame (Dragonlance), The Spellplague (Forgotten Realms) etc tore down things we loved about these settings, it seems like the Age of the Wolf was trying to do the same to Blackmoor. I guess these types of settings can offer more adventuring opportunities, but I also find the focus on such eras to be a bit depressing.

-Havard

[Zeromaru X]

Can stuff from Mystara can be raided to complement/expand on this timeframe of history? I like to implement this on my Blackmoor campaign.

Seeing the art, the Herald of Thanatos looks like the Cadaver Collector from the Nentir Vale book. Just bigger, thought...

[Sturm]

Looking back at it now, I have mixed feelings about the Age of the Wolf. I always felt like the discoveries in the Valley of the Ancients would lead to a rise in Blackmoor's culture and position in the world, while the Age of the Wolf feels too much like a setback, very similar to how Wrath of the Immortals (Mystara), Dragons of Summer Flame (Dragonlance), The Spellplague (Forgotten Realms) etc tore down things we loved about these settings, it seems like the Age of the Wolf was trying to do the same to Blackmoor. I guess these types of settings can offer more adventuring opportunities, but I also find the focus on such eras to be a bit depressing.
-Havard

Indeed it seems they wanted to do some dark steampunk setting.. However I think it could work in Mystara's history if we treat it as a temporary setback in the rise of Blackmoor.
James Mishler's history (http://pandius.com/ageblack.html) is a bit different for the period:
By 3900 BC the Empire of Thonia had crumbled [..]. Blackmoor quickly moved in to fill the power vacuum.
By 3800 BC, the year that the new magical science, Technomancy, was added to the curriculum at the University of Blackmoor, Blackmoor had entered the early Renaissance.
The Technomantic development of reliable and readily available Black Powder Weaponry in 3750 BC changed the nature of warfare. Using their new technologies, Blackmoor finally put an end to the menace of the Afridhi Empire in 3680 BC.
The extermination of the Goblin Races (the Beastmen of Skothar), came to be a reality in 3650 BC.
The Blackmoorians enforced the "Pax Technologica" on the Thonian Principalities in 3620 BC (The Treaty of Dragonia), and recreated the ancient Thonian Empire in a revitalised form.
Naval technology proceeded apace, and Blackmoor began exploring the world at large. By 3600 BC Blackmoorian explorers had mapped most of Brun and Davania.

If Age of the Wolf was meant for the Mystaran year 3700 BC the above timeline should be changed a bit, maybe the Blackmoorians suffered a crushing defeat after 3750 BC, but some decades later were able to strike back, finally defeating Afridhi and Beastmen..