Into the First Fantasy Campaign Part 2

Continued from Part 1

After a cool little illo of a wizard blasting the hell of out of a fortress we start to learn about

Blackmoor's More Infamous Characters

Who makes this fearsome rogue's gallery?

The Egg of Coot, Ran of Ah Fooh, Gin of Salik, Marfeldt the Barbarian, the Duke of the Peaks, The Blue Rider, Mello and the Hobbits, of course the Great Svenny, and finally the Bishop. A Chief of the Nomad is mentioned but little is said other than he is fearsome beyond belief. He also known as THE Nomad.

There are some interesting tidbits in this section Of most interest to me are hints of the magic system Dave used. Which was apparently not Vancian.

From the Egg of Coot

Has a huge Laboratory that turns out spells, for selling, which are (of course) perfection itself (30% chance of failure per level of spell).

From the Ran of Ah Fooh

He also has a Spell Workshop that turns out one Level I spell a week, one Level II spell a month with one Level III spell as Year. These are portable but not reusable with only a 15% failure rate.

Sound like the early spell system was more akin to using scrolls then memorization.

For those of you without Chainmail there were originally 16 spells.

Complexity I
Darkness
Wizard Light

Complexity II
Detection
Levitate
Phantasmal Forces

Complexity III
Concealment
Haste
Protection from Evil (acted a force field against evil)
Slowness

Complexity IV
Confusion
Hallucinatory Terrain
Polymorph

Complexity V
Conjuration of an Elemental
Cloudkill

Complexity VI
Anti-Magic Shell
Moving Terrain

Plus every Wizard could throw a Fireball or Lightning Bolt every round.

Next we start to read about Blackmoor itself. We learn it has about 1,000 peasants, 100 Soldiers and Nobles, 4 Wizards, 1 Dragon, several Trolls, 100 Elves, and assorted Ents, Orcs, Dwarves, Werewolves, etc. We learn about Blackmoor Castle, The Pits, The Ruins, Wolf's Head Pass, and The Comeback Inn. An interesting comment is made about the Super Berry Woods where the Berrium Maximus lives in the next section about the Town of Blackmoor map.

Also there two illustrations; one of the Comeback Inn, and the other of the Main Gate to Blackmoor Castle. The town maps is one of the better early maps I seen. The most unusual feature is that the town plan is drawn 45 degrees to the grid.

Next we start reading about Blackmoor Castle, the Haunted Rooms, the Catacombs, the Tower, and then a more detailed list of the Haunted Rooms. The map shows the castle from the basement to the 5th floor. Again much of it drawn 45 degrees to the grid. This unusual mapping technique persists throughout many of the map shown in FFC.

Tommorrow Part 3.