Canonfire!

Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:46 pm New Gygax Material

Just flipping through a recent dungeon and came across an ad for Castle Zagyg. Followed directions to a website (trolllord.com); this seems to be a seven part adventure (?) written by Gygax, centered around and under yet another version of Castle Greyhawk, albeit set in a different land. Does anyone know anything about this product? Is it even out yet?

Even if it takes some tweaking, both rules and geography wise, I'd love to work it into my campaign. Years ago I ran my PCs through Greyhawk Ruins, and in the same campaign I've already further fleshed out the seemingly endless catacombs beneath the Castle, but if Gygax has written more about our favorite mad wizard, there's always room to work that material in. Feedback, please, if anyone has some...

Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:18 am

Castle Zagyg is not released yet(in any of its parts), but it is coming soon. The title gives the subject matter of the adventure away. This is THE Castle Greyhawk(Gygax's previously unpublished original adventure), but it is set in another world due to the fact that Gygax does not have the legal rights to the World of Greyhawk.

The two previously published versions of Castle Greyhawk are non-Gygax, and only the second one is a serious attempt at putting together a somewhat cogent adventure(the first one was a hodge-podge of adventures written separately by many of the TSR staff of the time; it is mostly rubbish).

This new Castle Greyhawk will not be viewed as canon in strict terms, but this version of CG is the basis of EGG's campaign, so most Hawkers' will give it a look on this basis alone. The Castle & Crusades rules system is extremely similar to OD&D, so it will be easily converted to OD&D or 2e without much effort. 3.5e conversions will be a slight bit more involved.

It will be fairly easy to drop this adventure into its proper geographical place within your Greyhawk campaign if you want to.

I've only seen a work-in-progress draft of part 1, but it looks interesting. It will be worth a look at the very least.

Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:33 am

The 1st installment (soon to be released?) will include the village of Yggsburgh as written by Gygax and a side hook area, the Dark Chateau as written by Kuntz.

You could learn more by visiting Rob Kunt'z forums which have a dedicated forum for Castle Zagyg.

Rob Kunt'z Forums (Pied Piper Publishing)

Also, there are probably 10 threads in which you can learn bits and pieces over at Dragonsfoot's Greyhawk forum, in which the primary participants are primarily grognards and proud of it. Wink

Dragonsfoot's Greyhawk Forum
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Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:58 am

From what I understand, the new 7 part "Castle Greyhawk" by Gygax is actually a new version of it, placed within a totally different setting. I remember reading over at Dragonsfoot that book 1: Yggsburgh, is more or less almost and entire overview of the new setting with lots of adventures pertaining to the new setting, and the only the top level, and the area around Castle Zygyg.

Was Castle Zygyg written excusively for the Castles & Crusades game, or is it a generic setting? Anybody know?

............................Omote
FPQ
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Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society

Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:27 am

C&C is a ruleset, not a game, so the setting is more-or-less "generic."
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Kneel before me, or you shall be KNELT!

Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:15 am

Oh, I meant Castle Zygyg. Was TLG's new Castle Zygyg written for the C&C game (with rules, stats etc for C&C), or was Zygyg written to be usable with ANY system (ala Yggsburgh will just be story and other "fluff" with no "crunch?"

.............................OMote
FPQ
_________________
Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society

Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:32 am

Oh.. it is being (was) written using the C&C Ruleset, yes.
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Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:00 pm

The Castle Zagyg series will consist of a collection of the 'best of' material from EGG's version of Greyhawk city, the surrounding area, and the Castle, plus some new material. Because of IP reasons, it can't be Greyhawk, but it is a town, near a lake, with a ruined castle built by Zagyg with dungeons underneath nearby. EGG has been writing the material using 1E AD&D stats, and the material is being converted to C&C stats by Troll Lord.
Scott

Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:46 pm

Finally! Don't get me started on the old Castle Greyhawk stuff...

How well is this going to fit into GH istelf?

Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:11 pm

Fri Dec 31, 2004 7:53 am

Ghhhh...
Troll Lord Games... Shocked

I had to translate an adventure and a manual for them... It was the worst thing I've ever ever ever read for RPG.
Hope all of this is better... Gygax make me hope. Smile