Knights & Knaves Alehouse

For D&D archaeologists, Tonisborg is like the lost city of Atlantis. Hints and whispers of this very early Blackmoor spin off have excited the imagination of researchers for decades.

Of course, it was inevitable that the game that became Dungeons & Dragons would spread beyond the confines of Blackmoor and Greyhawk. It didn't take long for some of those among the pool of original players, to begin developing their own dungeon lairs, following the examples of their mentor, either Arneson or Gygax. Rob Kuntz's Castle El Raja Key is perhaps the best known example, but there is also Tonisborg, from one of the central Twin Cities players; a megadungeon which held the promise of shedding light on early Blackmoor gaming. Tonisborg was the brainchild of Greg Svenson, who started playing with Arneson and co. when he was still in High School in 1969, and is best known to D&D fans as the creator of the iconic "Great Svenny" character.

"I built a city, called Tonisborg, complete with a dungeon and a network of catacombs, during 1973 and ran many adventures there and all around the Blackmoor area in 1973 and 1974 using the play test rules for the original three little books and then the published books. Tonisborg was located approximately where Vestfold is on the current Blackmoor area maps, for anyone who is interested.

I loaned my materials to one of the other guys in 1980 so he could run an adventure for a new gaming group and never saw them again. He just said he lost them. Oh well..."

Ragnorakk wrote:I am probably not running in the right circles though.

Ragnorakk wrote:This is the first that I have heard of it. I am probably not running in the right circles though.

bobjester wrote:ODD Proboards, this thread, 2008 gsvenson mentions Tonisborg:
http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/683

More development at Havard's Blackmoor/Comeback Inn, in 2012, as the "lost" city (or castle) of Tonisborg is incorporated into the Vestfold:
http://blackmoor.mystara.net/forums/vie ... =22&t=4145

JCBoney wrote:

bobjester wrote:ODD Proboards, this thread, 2008 gsvenson mentions Tonisborg:
http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/683

More development at Havard's Blackmoor/Comeback Inn, in 2012, as the "lost" city (or castle) of Tonisborg is incorporated into the Vestfold:
http://blackmoor.mystara.net/forums/vie ... =22&t=4145

Thanks. The more I thought about it, the more the story about how it was lost sounded vaguely familiar, but I can't trust my memory these days.

T. Foster wrote:This is a pretty cool rediscovery, which I have zero doubt is going to be blown completely out of proportion and treated as a new sacred text by those inclined to such behavior. It would be nice if they just posted the 9 sheets for everybody to see, but given the people involved it's much, much more likely that this will be dragged out and milked for much more than it's actual worth - that the privileged inner circle of initiates will jealously guard its secrets while sharing scraps and hints with the faithful.

Melan wrote:Really interested where this leads. For all the stories of Ye Olde Megadungeons, authentic specimens are still largely mythical.