hi guys. i decided on a new campaign for the players. we're going to be set in greyhawk before the time the castle ruins were first delved. it wont be a travel thru time sort of thing. it will be set there and then, before greyhawk became a prosperous city. we will be among the first in, and will be associating with tenser, mordenkainen, robilar, etc. from first level on. sometimes we will be competitors, sometimes exploring together as adventuring companions.
i am even thinking of having gord, gellor, chert, and curley greenleaf make appearances.
total nostalgia campaign.
anyone ever do this? setting is 3rd edition, but any advice or experiences of any system is appreciated and can be helpful.
also does anyone know where stats, etc for those guys can be found at lower levels? i seem to remember seeing them somewhere but like 20 yrs ago.
i'd like to keep it as close to gygax's original as possible. does anyone know if the new harcover ruins of cstle greyhawk book's overview of the general structure of the castle's dungeons is true to gygax? how about the old module wgr1 greyhawk ruins? is that accurate?
hi guys. i decided on a new campaign for the players. we're going to be set in greyhawk before the time the castle ruins were first delved.
Sounds awesome. I always wanted to do something like this.
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we will be among the first in, and will be associating with tenser, mordenkainen, robilar, etc. from first level on. sometimes we will be competitors, sometimes exploring together as adventuring companions.
i am even thinking of having gord, gellor, chert, and curley greenleaf make appearances.
Hm. According to Rob Kuntz on the Dragonsfoot forums, the timeline of Gygax's original campaign went something like this (although I think the dates were added by someone else to fit with the "official" timeline; the original campaign didn't have dates):
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*Campaign Starts
*Adventures into GH Castle by Teric, Robilar, Murlynd, and Tenser, and Elise Gygax's cleric (whose name has been forgotten)
*The Wight Adventure--all a dream--by Tenser and Robilar
*Other adventures--Otto Captured by Tenser
561 CY * Mordenkainen and Bigby lay the foundation of the Citadel of Eight.
*The Orc Level of Greyhawk Battles: Quij Slays a Troll and is raised in level
*Otto joins Robilar out of distate for his captor
*The 1st level is sealed and fortified by the same three
"Building of the "three" 3 Keeps
*The Solo Adventures of Robilar
*Robilar in the Troll Dens
*Robilar and Gargoyle against the black Dragon and Purple worm, level 6 of GH.
*Robilar goes to "China"
*Teric and Tenser follow Robilar to China
*Trip back homeward-- City of Brass with flying carpets, the Rocs and the Gems
*Three different routes: Tenser heads home, Teric looks for forces of voodoo in the southern isles and
Robilar advantures into modern day Hepmonaland where he is captured and his +1 bow left behind wwhen he escapes.
*Solo Adventures by Teric into Castle
*Heavy outdoor Aventures begin
*Tenser Acquires Red Dragons
*Teric Acquire a black dragon
*Robilar acquires 3 green dragons, looses efreeti doing so
City has grown 4 fold with wealth flowing out of castle
*The White Dragon and the Wizard of the Tower Adventure by Robilar
569 CY *Battle of Emridy Meadows, Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure
570 CY *Loosing of the "Nine" by Robilar in GH castle
*Strange Way and Odd Alley adventures by Robilar, finds a ring of spell turning.
*Finding of the MU's crown by Tenser
*Robilar turns evil, killing some of his retainers, but one escapes to tell the tale
571 CY *Robilar completes Tomb of Horrors
572 CY *Erac's Cousin turns to evil after being tormented into swearing a pact with Baalzebul.
579 CY *Sacking of the Temple of Elemental Evil by Robilar
*Robilar's Castle Sacked, goes into hiding.
*Adventure to the City of the Gods, Robilar and Mordenkainen
I'm guessing the Gord books are set primarily in the 570s to the 580s, since they seem to include the Greyhawk Wars (in somewhat different form), so Gord probably would have been a small child during the 560s; the PCs might encounter him begging and thieving in Old City.
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also does anyone know where stats, etc for those guys can be found at lower levels? i seem to remember seeing them somewhere but like 20 yrs ago.
The Rogues' Gallery and Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure.
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i'd like to keep it as close to gygax's original as possible. does anyone know if the new harcover ruins of cstle greyhawk book's overview of the general structure of the castle's dungeons is true to gygax? how about the old module wgr1 greyhawk ruins? is that accurate?
No, they're not. Ruins of Castle Greyhawk was intended to be more compatible with WGR1, which wasn't written by anyone who participated in the original campaign (though the authors had some of the early players around at TSR to talk to - Jim Ward, Skip Williams - it's still really different from the original). "Original" is a relative term, of course, since Gygax revised the castle many times for different adventuring parties. I'm sure someone will be around shortly to tell you about Castle Zagig and Rob Kuntz's manuscripts, so I'll leave that to them.
See this thread for someone's best guess as to the original Castle Greyhawk's composition.
hi guys. i decided on a new campaign for the players. we're going to be set in greyhawk before the time the castle ruins were first delved. it wont be a travel thru time sort of thing. it will be set there and then, before greyhawk became a prosperous city. we will be among the first in, and will be associating with tenser, mordenkainen, robilar, etc. from first level on. sometimes we will be competitors, sometimes exploring together as adventuring companions.
i am even thinking of having gord, gellor, chert, and curley greenleaf make appearances.
total nostalgia campaign.
anyone ever do this? setting is 3rd edition, but any advice or experiences of any system is appreciated and can be helpful.
I've never done that but I have done something similar. I ran an evil campaign where the PCs worked dilligently under the patronage of Grazzt to bring about the Rise of the Pomarj and Turosh Mak. They were competing against the agents of Iuz, Lesser Boneheart and eventually the Greater Boneheart, to recover lost artifacts, recruit allies, and amasse armies. The way I made it a competition is fairly simple: Set Timelines, Create Rivals and Create Goals.
I can see you're already looking for timelines The way I made the timelines "work" is I'd map out things like: travel time, rest, dungeon delving, and "random encounters." Then, I'd try to place their rivals at various places along the way. Therefore, it was possible to pass, fall behind, or meet their rivals.
What will the PCs do when they meet rivals? Some players will try to thwart their efforts. All is fair, right? It's good for you to have some idea what their rivals can do, but the PCs shouldn't have access to NPC stats, levels, and abilities. The next step is to make different versions of the NPCs to reflect their progression and syncronize that with the timeline. This allows the PCs to work dilligently and surpass the other party or to blunder and fall behind. The details make it easier for you to roleplay the NPCs their adventures and misadventures when the two groups meet at various stages. Reading Rob Kuntz's memoirs will remove most of the leg work.
Finally, don't worry too much about canon. The more you worry about canon, the less the PCs are able to accomplish. In a campaign like this you're making history, so make it your own.
Sounds good Joe! You should definitely post a play summary over on PPP's Dark Chateau boards @ http://piedpiperpublishing.yuku.com/forums/31 since it's a great adventure and I'm sure folks would be interested in hearing how it goes :D _________________ Allan Grohe<br />https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html<br />https://grodog.blogspot.com/
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The way I made the timelines "work" is I'd map out things like: travel time, rest, dungeon delving, and "random encounters." Then, I'd try to place their rivals at various places along the way. Therefore, it was possible to pass, fall behind, or meet their rivals.