Sunday, August 16, 2020

Old Greyhawk Castle - Side Levels

Underground Sea

As for the underground sea think of it more as what would be encountered from further explorations in the D# module, part of the great Underdark. The Black Reservoir level is tiny compred to the former body of water, and the reservoir is filled with large supporting pillars too...although the sea monster dwelling in its waters doesn't mind the obstructions #4690

The PCs ddn't submerge much on the water level of the castle's dungeons. there was a pool with nixies in it, a transporter to an underwater adventure, and various outdoor adventures where most of this sort of thing took place. The encounters were the typical mix of critters, including one where I had a dragon turtle. Sahauagin weren't included, IIRR. #4655


This is likely the level that is using a hex map, as it will be very large. Like much deeper down. This is not the Black Reservoir, which was published in 1975 and part of the Expanded Castle, as the map for it is included in Rob Kuntz's El Raja Key Archive [27].

[Black Reservoir] Allan, I had totally forgotten that lurid tale I wrote. It was a dramatization of an actual dungeon adventure into the enlarged Castle Greyhawk that Rob and I co-DMed, of course, and an accurate one too. The strange rod was a Dirdir laser pistol gained from adventuring through a gate that brought PCs to the "Pkanet of Adventure" and the "Carabas" thereof.
Anyway, I have the map of the level, of ourse, and it might make it into the revised form we need to have so as to have a product that is publishable. At worst it can be used as a potential add-on module to the main levels.
So I have saved the story and will see what can be done in regards including the level in the Zagyg's Castle project. #1640


Orc and Gnoll Warrens

They orcs in the dungeon were of two separate tribes, but I have forgotten the names I gave them. As near as I can recollect, one was the Grinning Skull and the other was the Bloody Axe. they were all cut down or made into vassals by Robilar and Terik, with a good deal of assistance from Tenser. #1871


Museum of the Gods / From Another World

Gygax Games has published the map to this side level.


The level supposedly contained "artifacts" from other worlds and times (i.e. contemporary).

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle - Extradimensional Levels

Most off-world action took place in strange and distant lands, ofter in other universes. My players went to the Carabas to fight the Dirdir now and then, to Barsoom, etc. but I didn't send them into elemental planes or the nether realms to adventure, as none were sufficiently powerful to survive such journeys. #5449

Members of my regular group could discover the entrances to the various non-dungeon-area places such as Dungeonland and the Isle of the Ape on one or another level of the castle dungeons. They ventured into such places of their own accord, and the resulting play was part of the ongoing campaign. Because of group separation, most of the player group had two or more PCs. [35]


["A museum from "another age," a bowling alley for 20’ tall giants, the Machine Level, the Bottle City, plus the gates to the EX modules and Isle of the Ape. I've also read about the running man somewhere and the big stone head"] The machine Level was in Rob's dungeons, not mine or the one we co-designed. I am not sure of the bottle level, but i know it isn't mine. the rest of the things mentioned are indeed features from my original castle.  #4516

As for centering a campaign on a particular historical culture, I certainly prefer a pseudo Western European one of late medieval-early Renaissance sort because I know it quite well, as do most persons that play in it. For away-from-base forays, though, any period and culture that I can research and get reasonable details om which to base the adventures is fair game. #7097

An other-world locale could be devised for a dungeon transporter, although they are usual for cursed scrolls only. Perhaps a strange red-soiled planet with about half the gravity of the normal world for PCs. There miight indeed be six-limded humanoids and beasts roaming about there... but then again, the GM can always create such places for his own campaign, just as my lads used to get sent off to a place a lot like the Carabas of the planet Tchai where aliens hunted humans therein who in turn were seeking valuable sequin-like deposits contained in rock geodes. #3107

I never attempted to give my campaign any airs, just provided as much entertainment as possible for those playing in it. Thus anything was fair game, from Gothis horror to SF, along with everything in between. One of the favorite places my better players liked to be transported to for an adventure was the "Carabas," where the Dirdir hunted sequin takers...and they as did Adam Reith, hunted the Dirdir as in Jack Vance's novel The Dirdir from the "PLanet of Adventure" quatrology. That set of stories being amongst my very favorites.
The players wisely declined to venture into NYC during the famous blackout. After wholloping some street punks they went back down the subway tunnel to where the inter-unicerse game was still operational. #8261

I haven't the memory for that as most of such play was winged by me--such as Robilar's adventures in the City of Brass. We did WWII, modern city, and a bit of wild west as you note. SF action was common, and my players loved to go to the Carabas of the "Planet of Adventure," Tchai IIRR, to fight with the Dirdir. About one session in every 12 would involve somethingfrom outside the fantasy genre. that was enough to keep things from getting too staid. #2689

I wanted to be able to mix genres--not use the A/D&D rules to play other genres, but means of mixing genres. Thus we had fantasy forces comprised of orcs led by an Evil cleric meeting and fighting with a Nazi anti-partizan company, and fought the battle out on a table top. I had PCs sent to the Starship Warden to tangle with Metamorphosis Alpha characters. No need to go on, you get the idea. #2747

No, I didn't have working gunpowder nor did I contemplate having gunpowder weapons in the campaign. #1698

I do not allow firearms to work in any of the campaigns I run, but I have had my players travel to other worlds, parallel ones, where firearms worked. There is no problem handling the damage caused by such weapons, but in my view such technological weapons are counter to the spirit of the fantasy game, and all things considered, quite unnecessary. #114

Intense adventuring in the quasi-medieval fantasy milieu becomes staid without some variety. some campaigns manage this by bringing integue and politics into the mix. My group was too large and action-oriented to enjoy much of that...
Science Fiction is really no more than future fantasy, so that was a logical choice, and one that was popular with most players. The more daring (Rob, Ernie, Terry, etc.) loved to send their PCs into the "future" alternate world area based on Vance's "Planet of Adventure." This was the "Carabas" where the Dirdir hunted humans out seeking nodes bearing sequins.
Unlike gunpowder weapons, SF ones are "magical" in that their operational power is unknown and irreproducable by PC. PCs gaining laser-like arms in a SF setting had nothing more than a "wand" with limited charges, a weapon that was useless after those charges were expended. (I allowed 20 charges, less those expended by the former possessor, with usual damage based on 5d4 for pistols, 5d6 for rifles.)
When I devised a scenario in which the PC party were gated into out own world, entering NYC's subway system during the blackout there, the players caught wise and after wiping out a street gang and getting shot a few times thus, turned tail and hastened back to their own world rather than face police with more firearms;)
The "curses" sent parties to places such as "Barsoom" and to (my favorite) the "Starship Warden" of Metamorphosis Alpha.
So I retained the fantasy base but offered opportunities to experience other milieux. Overall, the group appreciated that greatly. The main complaint came from Jim Ward who was much aggrieved when his elf fighter-mage ended up in his own RPG's setting. The "Vigilists" there welcomed the "mutant" warmly, though, and his wanf of fireballs became the most potent weapon in that group's arsenal! #1227

Barsoom

[ Not a question as such, but I thought you'd like checking out my OD&D versions of ERB's Barsoom Critters: What d'ya think? ] Looks fine to me. There are, of course, heroic members of the various humanoid races with levels, right? Too bad I have long lost the OD&D ststs I used for Erac's adventures on Barsoom. As near as I can recall they are about what I used when I sent PCs to Barsoom. [35]

I note that no one, Brian Blume and I inluded, has treated the cannibals of U-gor. That is where Ernie Gygax's PC Erac gained his ability as a Fighter Class, his magic not working on the Red Planet. [35]



Planet of Adventure

Everyone enjoyed gathering nodes of sequins in the Carabas of Jack Vance's The Dirdir novel--potting off dirdir too :lol: They kept the Dirdir laser pistols as low-charge wands usable by any class and exchanged the sequins for jewelry that could be sold off on their own world. Too bad i can't include that sort of thing in a commercial product... #3251

New York City

Starship Warden


Conan S&S World

 Not reported to have happened, but Gary had this to say on it:

I do not think a magic-rich setting precludes swords & sorcery, although the pure "Conanesque" sort is pretty well out in such an environment. that doesn't trouble me, as the only real roles in such a setting are permutations of the warrior and thief archetypes. [35]

Sorcerers practice sorcery, that is the summoning of demons or devils. They have no magical power, inate or learned. Sorcerers summon demonic entities and command them to perform. [35]

As for adapting the magic in AD&D to the world setting of REH, I believe that a few M-U spells of the type sorcerers would be able to employ and a few Cleric spells for priests should be it. The DM managing the campaign must go through the lists and personally decide which few remain usable in the milieu. [35]

Demonworld

A map in ERK drawn on a huge hex map 25.5" x 33" consisting of 9 sheets of Games Workshop hex paper taped together. This was the plane where Fraaz Urb'Lu made his home and were Erac's Cousin and Ayrelach were taken to from the Old Castle, so strictly speaking, this also was part of the Old Castle. Rob talked to Gary about giving the player's a chance to get out of their predicament. Rob had been detailing a planar setting he called Demonworld and he thought it would be perfect for Mark and Ernie. After some cajoling Gary agreed but was adamant that the blades not return to the campaign! ... The place is reputed to be so anti-magical that items brought to it will lose their magic powers permanently 

Teeth of Barkash Naur

This is a side level reached from level 13 via a great gate of horn.

A small dimension. Within lie weird environments including a savannah of mobile plants that attack interlopers, a great "Egyptian" tomb, a desert of golden dust where north equals south and south north, a frozen wasteland and a huge lake where a large Slimey Horror possessing huge claws and the ability to reduce the unlucky to yellowish clay if the thing's mucous is breathed on them when they are in the water. It is also the demesne of a mighty storm giant. Fabulous treasures can be won in each of these lands, but the mightiest of them are the fabled Teeth of the Barkash Nour. Those passing through the Gate of Horn at the very roots of the dungeon of Castle Greyhawk have but twenty four passing hours to locate the teeth and retrieve them all, else be expelled from the weird plane, never permitted to enter again...

I also need to get material to Frank Mentzer so he can do the development of my old c. 1974 or 1975 tournament module that I designed for the Detroit Metro Gamers convention back then. It has never been played, let alone published, since that time. Troll lords will publish it as a C&C advcenture when Frank has fleshed out the encounter notes. It's original name is The Quest for the Teeth of Barkash-Nour.[35]

The Teeth of Barkash Nour. I designed it for a Detroit Metro Gamers convention way back when. It has indeed been used as a transportation-destination adventure in my old campaign.  [35]

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 13

 Bottom Level / Zagyg / Invisible

Contained an inescapable slide which took the players clear through to China. [3]

Invisible Stalkers and other minions of the secret master of the the castle herded him to the center, where a magically enabled 'slide' carried Robilar down through the earth and out again on the other side of the world, exiting in a strange temple in a land very much like Cathay (China), where nobody could understand him, and from whence he would hav to adventure his way back to Greyhawk over land and sea.  Before being launched, though, as a fighter Robilar had found +3 armor, shield, and sword; and as he careened down that chute to elsewhere he saw none other than Zagyg the Mad Archmage waving bye-bye to him from a sphere of force above, granting with that gesture one whole experience level to Robilar for his accomplishment. [15]

Room with Reward Statues for reaching the bottom; Fighter Statue with Boots of Elvenkind, +3 sword, +3 shield and +2 plate mail. Also there, a staff of wizardry, snake staff on statues of Clerics or Mages if you were of that class. 

When i was running the campaign alone, the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk wree only 13 levels deep. On the 13th was Zagig himself--he observed what went on above, restocked, etc. When a character got down to his level there was no going back. The one managing that was given an appropriate reward then sent on a giant, one-way slide clear through to the other side of the world, a place akin to China;) They had only what they carried at the time.
finding the lowest level was very difficult. Rob, playing Robilar solo, delved into the dungeon, made it. Ernie, noting Rog's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13. Then Terry Kuntz noted both of his usual companions were nopt available to play, went forth with Terik, and made the lowest lever successfully. These PCs were around 10th level at this time. Rob never mapped, and Ernie didn't either when he went exploring with Tenser, so there was no cheating. Can't say how they managed it, but all three did it in succession. Each then solo-adventured back overland syccessfully via different routes.
No other players in the group managed that. About a month after all that Rob and I combined out castles, and Greyhawk Castle's dungeons grew massively, from about 20 levels total, 13 deep, to over 40, going down to about 28 levels. #1307

Castle Greyhawk had to have such a figure behind it. Otherwise, how could one explain all the strange and near-impossible (even in a magic-active universe)? So the advent of Zagig corresponded to the development of the castle-dungeons complex early in 1973 used in my Greyhawk campaign. Zagig put in a cameo appearance when the adventurers managed to plumb the utmost depths #1319

In the bottom-most level of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons lies a massive gate of horn, beyond which is a small dimension. Within lie weird environments including a savannah of mobile plants that attack interlopers, a great "Egyptian" tomb, a desert of golden dust where north equals south and south north, a frozen wasteland and a huge lake where a large Slimey Horror possessing huge claws and the ability to reduce the unlucky to yellowish clay if the thing's mucous is breathed on them when they are in the water. It is also the demesne of a mighty storm giant. Fabulous treasures can be won in each of these lands, but the mightiest of them are the fabled Teeth of the Barkash Nour. Those passing through the Gate of Horn at the very roots of the dungeon of Castle Greyhawk have but twenty four passing hours to locate the teeth and retrieve them all, else be expelled from the weird plane, never permitted to enter again...

Hoist by my own petard! These three, separately, had attained the nadir (pinnacle in terms of success) of the dungeons, and thanks to Zagig were sent "clean through the earth" to a distant land. Having sown the seeds of my own undoing, how could I complain? So I was faced with major works of improvisation as one after another of these PCs (for the record Robilar, Tenser, and Terik) made their separate ways around the globe, seeking to reunite as they quested for their own homeland. While I was  pleased with their enjoyment of the adventuring fare, it was less palatable to the DM. As it happened, each character decided on a different route for their trek. My capacity to invent interesting, different, and exciting material on the spot was stretched to the limit by a long series of one-character adventures, and I determined never to go through such a trial again. So as the triumphant trio of PCs who had penetrated to the lowest level of Castle Greyhawk and survived being sent as far from there as the world allowed received their well-earned laurels from their less enterprising fellows, as DM, more world building was feverishly in progress.

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 12

 Greater Caverns 

Filled with Dragons [3]

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 11

 Arena 

The home of the most powerful wizard in the castle. He had Balrogs as servants. The remainder of the level was populated by Martian White Apes, except the sub-passage system underneath the corridors which was full of poisonous creatures with no treasure. [3]

The name Arena appears only once in all the lists of core levels, and there is the Arena of Evil in the side levels.

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 10

 Lesser Caverns

Caves and caverns featuring a transporter nexus with an evil Wizard (with a number of tough associates) guarding it. [3]

There's no living quarters, guard posts, conjuring rooms, laboratories, etc. in the Greater or Lesser Caverns. [?] Given that, it is unclear how the wizard lived there. 

The nexus may have been one to lead to different sites in the dungeon (transporter being a term for teleporter).

It could also be the one with the three doors to the the extraplanar levels called Monkeying Around, Horsing Around, Fooling Around.

“You come upon three doors and each one is a bit strange,” Gary described. “The left one has the picture of an island in the middle of the door (it was the Isle of the Ape in playtest). The middle door has the picture of a walrus on a beach. The right one has a picture of an odd looking humanoid with a strange cap and in its hand is a strange crossbow pistol.”  [30.4] The group here was level 3 to 6, so way to low for anything as deep as 10th level. Also, while the Monkey and Fool match, the Walrus sounds arctic and not fitting with horses, so that encounter was likely on a higher level. Also, this was probably in the Expanded Dungeon, not the Original one.

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 9

 Greater Caves

Caves and caverns featuring giant insects.[3] 

Long, downward-sloping passages in strategic locations in the lower levels of the dungeon, so that there was a slight chance that an adventurer might get on such a path and find himself all the way at the bottom of the dungeons without realizing what had happened. May also include Thouls, Troll-Ghouls.

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 8

Lesser Caves 

Caves and caverns featuring Trolls.[3]

Also here is a dungeon maze, at the center of which a good werebear guards a special scroll (Urn of Moon Dust) that will free Fraz-urb-luu. [16/320]

The Jeweled Man / Golden Man

First time encountered on level eight, but can be encountered on several levels, especially cleared ones.

Until some player’s character manages to discover the truth about him, the mystery will never be revealed. That’s a secret, and mystery is part and parcel of a good campaign.

"a figure made entirely of gold" and "encrusted with faceted gems of all sizes and shapes"--"thousands of carats of diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies" first encountered here, too fast for PCs to catch even with boots of speed, magic to hold it had no effect, "it seemed impossible to take the creature by surprise", several groups launched failed attempts to prove it unreal (an illusion). First encountered in the "mid-levels" and "down to a moderate depth". [16/290]

There was nothing in the entire Greyhawk dungeon as insidious as the Golden Warrior. The upper levels of Gary's dungeon would get explored and emptied of goodies. After a bit there would be new and more deadly dangers to face there. However, if we wanted to get to the lower levels, we had to walk through those upper ones. One day we are turning a corner and a warrior all in gold runs past up and we are surprised. He shot at it and cast some spells, but he didn't stop it from running. It was an unusual sight and we all took it as a challenge. Every other adventure we would walk those pillaged halls and suddenly the gold warrior would run past us. We managed to hit it with our magical weapons; we set traps for it that the being bullied its way through; eventually we wet up elaborate traps with ballista, nets, and spells all to no avail. Eventually, we had to give up. The act of trapping this fast moving pile of gold was taking a lot of time and resources. After that, whenever the golden warrior appears we waved it good day. [30.1]

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 7

Maze

Centered around a circular labyrinth and a street of masses of ogres. [3]

While the names above are established, the order of this and the remaining is not well resolved, the name Maze is also given for level 13, and sometimes for earlier levels.

The Face in the Floor 

"Erac's Cousin [...] came upon a beautiful face that cried golden tears. The face told the adventurers the tale of his imprisonment and the heroic deeds required to release him. The adventurers agreed to recover The Urn of Moon Dust from a group of werebears. [They] successfully recovered the urn, and [...] sprinkled the moon dust on the weeping visage. The face was actually the demon prince of deception, Fraz-Urb'luu, who had been imprisoned by the mad arch-mage Zagyg centuries earlier. The completion of the quest resulted in his release. The demon then whisked himself and the adventurers back to his own plane where strange forces drained the magic from all [their] items. Fraz-Urb'luu quickly subdued the stranded adventurers and they suffered unspeakable tortures at his hands before they eventually managed to escape." "Actually the face duped our duet into pouring a potion onto it. The potion was held by a very large and very good aligned wearbear, which for some reason our duet didn't wonder about."

The doughty explorers made their way quickly through some upper levels of the dungeons and came upon one where the main encounter was with the bas-relief head of a magically chained demon prince, Fraz-urb-luu. Upon entering the place, the demon’s power was sufficient to prevent the paladin from detecting evil.  [...] off the two stalwarts went to an 8th-level dungeon maze at the center of which a werebear guarded a special scroll that would free the demon lord from his confinement [...] Eylerach read the scroll, and the freed Demon Lord carried both PCs with him to the Abyss, where their magical swords (2 vorpal swords and a holy avenger +5 that Gary wanted out of the campaign) became useless. [16/320]

This is a good example of why giving to much treasure and then taking it away sucks. Ernie was aware of the trap, but continued on to play in character  I don’t think Ernie has forgiven me for the loss of Erac’s blades, and he had just cause to be upset, Gary wrote 30 years later. Clearly one should learn from this. 

The location of the face on the 7th is not sure, as it is not clearly stated if the PCs went down to the 8th, but the intro says they went through some upper levels - if the dungeon has 13 levels, with the 13th being a special exit level, then upper levels would be 1-4, mid-levels would be 5-8, and lower levels would be 9-12. There would be no point to mention they went to the 8th, if they already were there, to it must have been above the 8th. So it could be anywhere between level 5-7. But level 6 already has a strong unique encounters with both wereboar-maze and was the "black dragon level" that players avoided, and if it was level 5, this would be gap of full three levels, it seems a bit too far apart.

Well of Shadows is bottoming out here (but was not part of the Original Castle, only of the home campaign).

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 6

 Labyrinth. or, "The Black Dragon Level"

A repeating maze with dozens of wild hogs (3 dice) in inconvenient spots, naturally backed up by appropriate numbers of Wereboars. [3]

At the northern end were a series of large chambers, while to the south lay a number of mazes populated by monsters such as wereboars and, of course, minotaurs. The large chambers had four exits in the cardinal directions. Separating these were large areas of seemingly solid stone and each blank zone held a secret door leading to a repository of magical goodies that contained only one type of treasure---potions; scrolls; magic armor, shields, and weapons; and gems, money, and non-magic items. In addition to the treasure troves, two black dragons were held in stasis in similar caches, purple worm may be "allied" to the mated dragon pair (black dragon and purple worm battle by Robilar in second run). A black pudding that made its lair in a hollow passageway and dissolved Robilars boots of flying upon entering the level.

This level was a labyrinth with a lot of were-boars and other shape-shifting creatures lurking around. To the east were several large open areas, all alike of course, and on the western faces of the seemingly solid stone forming these big chambers were secret doors. These accessed six rooms. These hidden places were filled with gold, jewels, scrolls, potions, other magical items, and enchanted weapons. All save two, that is. The second and fourth of these held a mated pair of the oldest and largest black dragons held in stasis, freed when the secret door was opened, that also lowering a wall section for the good dragon to exit. [15]

After the two dragons were by accident both freed by the greedy treasure hunters: 

They had discovered previously that there was a shaft that went upwards several hundred feet in the far eastern portion of the level. 

With an overall level depth of 50 feet. This would indicate that several hundred feet would span at least four levels, which from level six would be all the way up to level two or even level one. Unless the level was offset to the side, the round room at the very north-eastern corner of level one and three would fit the description "in the far eastern portion", and also the admonishment that unusual areas and rich treasures should be relatively difficult to locate, and access must be limited [1].

Robilar, sparated from the others would have the first check for a random monster, of course, seeing as how there had been considerable commotion. [...] A purple worm was indicated, and it could be only one place .... coming down the shaft! [15]

In his haste to allow his character to escape, Rob forgot that the passageway down which he said Robilar was fleeing happened to be the very one in which a large black pudding had taken up residence in a depression on the floor. It ate those boots of levitation off his feet as Robilar ran across, and delivered sufficient additional damage to put the poor fighter near his end. [15]

In the previous looting the three discoverers went up a couple of levels each [...] from which lesson I learned never to have so much treasure so unguarded. [15]

As to the tale of the black dragons in Castle Greyhawk, I do not want to go into great detail now, as something similar will be found in the Castle Zagyg dungeons ro begin publishing late this summer and on into 2008. Here is a precis of the tale.
My excellent veteran players--Ernie, Rob, Terry, and one or two others explored a level of the dungeons and accidentally discovered a series of secret chambers in which were stored treasure and magic items. They looted all of these repositories. Of course being greedy they searched for a new secret room...and found and deleased a dragon instead of wealth.
After failing to subdue it, taking breath damage twice, they ran for their lives. Robilar slung his subdued gargoyle flunkie over his back, and when the dragos spit acid at him, the gargoyle turned to goo, but Robilar took only one-quarter damage. He then have the dragon the slip, used his Boots of Flying to ascend a vertical shaft, but by random chance a purple worm was descendiing ths same route. Roblilar dropped down in a hurry, went for a normal exit passage, and was spotted by the dragon. At that Robilar ran full speed, forgetting there was a black pudding on the floor ahead, and his flying boots were "eaten."
As the rest of the party had escaped without loss, they returned for more loot. Instead they released a second dragon. After that the mated pair of drakes ruled the level and the adventurers shunned it assiduously. That saddened me as the DM, as the lot of them had gained a full level and about half the number of XPs to go on to the next.
What annoyed me most was that all of the different repositories were discovered by luck, the mapper thinkingthat he was leading the party to the original place each tome, but actually being off course. Naturally, luck lead them to the ones with much treasure before their greed brought them to the ones holding a dragon in stasis :] #7726

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 5

 Catacombs

Centered around a strange font of black fire and gargoyles. [3]

Sloping passage / stair complex

About a third of one level was given over to a special complex, and most of the other passageways through the level accessed this portion so as to invite entry.  Inside it, long passages sloped gradually down to a central area where a flight of stairs conveyed the wayfarer back up to the elevation of the surrounding area.  However, once inside, the number of direction choices was seemingly far greater, although all eventually led back to the central declivity, the stairway back up. [16/293] This is not located for sure on level five, but the statement that The PCs altered their route so as to explore" and were surprised to find monsters that aren't very tough for so deep a level [16/293]  would indicate it cannot be much further down than fifth, maybe even higher up.

The Great stone face of Greyhawk, the Enigma of Greyhawk

A "towering block of carved stone ... located in a large open area of one of the mid-levels of the dungeon complex, a circle of strange runes and pictograms were carved around its base, and impervious to read magic and comprehend languages, radiates several sorts of magic, attracts wandering monsters".  [16/288]

The Great Stone Face was a large Easter Island looking statue, illustrated by Gygax himself in the Greyhawk Supplement. [16/288]

Mid-levels could be anything from level 5 to 8.

Erac's Cousin was lawful good, but he was also greedy, a trait that the wizard Bombadil was able to use to his advantage.  Deep in the dungeons of Greyhawk Castle there stands an enormous stone statue known as The Great Stone Face, or The Enigma of Greyhawk. A ring of strange runes circle the base of the statue, and the statue itself radiates magic. Many adventurers have tried in vain to unlock the enigma's secrets.  While adventuring alone in the dungeons Bombadil placed a Magic Mouth spell on the stone face that when triggered stated, "The ways of balance need to be maintained.  Give your most prized possession as a gift freely to one who walks the path of balance and your great reward will follow in short time."  Shortly thereafter Bombadil returned to the chamber of The Great Stone Face, this time accompanied by Erac's Cousin.  While exploring the area Bombadil conveniently placed himself out of hearing range of the spell.  As planned his unnamed companion triggered the spell, and a short time later donated a potent magic item to the sly Bombadil, who just happened to be the first neutral character Erac‘s cousin ran into.

The moral of this brief tale is a simple one: If the DM places something that seems insoluble in the campaign, if it defies attempts to unravel its mystery for a prolonged period, the players will likely take over and make something else of it.

I suspect there really was no explanation behind it. It just was a monster magnet and a way to puzzle players. Gygax commented that he did not want to release the real background, but rather several possible explanations, as: "the very best part of mysteries is keeping them that".  []

[References: see Greyhawk References]


Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 4

 Crypts

A level of crypts and undead [3]. 

Secret doors to areas they wanted to explore in the pits, some leading to additional traps. [16]

A band of gnolls in an out-of-the-way corner hides a portable hole in a dead-end corridor behind the gnolls' lair---the 'hole is open, so it looks like a "jagged hole in the floor" (it is 10 feet deep and four feet). [16 / 296]

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 3


 This is the third level of the ORIGINAL Greyhawk Castle, named THE DUNGEONS, redrawn for clarity.


The original map is somewhat blurry, so there are several areas in the redrawn map that could look somewhat different. Here is the original:

Level 3 featured a torture chamber and many small cells and prison rooms. [3]

A magical laboratory that's difficult to find exists near the center of dungeon level 3.  [16/287]

The hexagonal room in the upper left likely was the torture chamber, East of it are the cells. 

The "Secret Laboratory near the center of the map" could be the section that includes the diamond shaped room.

More dangerous pits began to appear: spiked pits, pits 20' or 30' deep, trapdoors that close upon the pit victim, poison on the spikes, black pudding, yellow mold, etc. at the bottom.  [16/294]

It's not quite clear to me if the darker corridors were intended to show lower ground, or overlap, or if they just end at each other. I think slopes and overlap is more interesting but harder to make work logically. 

This map also shows that Gary remodeled / re-edited, with additional rooms added at the very bottom, and in some areas, darker shade of erased solid stone sections showing. 

The position of the central Staircase and the round room at the upper right match to level one, which makes me think that room also was a shaft that traversed multiple levels.

I'm not sure if the greenish areas on the photo had any meaning. Could be areas of poison gas.  Or based on [19], a sloping corridor "Sloping ... green". Notably, the Dungeon Geomorphs also suggest using green to denote sloping passages -- or gas: Color will be helpful nothing such things as passageways which are slanted so as to lead upwards or downwards (perhaps green, with the letters "U" and "D", with appropriately pointing arrows to indicate the direction of the slant), gas areas, and special doors (non-resisting, wizard locked, intelligent, etc.) [21]. Normally sloping passages woudl aim to confuse the characters as to what level they are on. This is not the case here, it is just a short, dead end passage, although it seems to contain an error indicating sloping down, mathing the one in the middle of the top of the page. Maybe this indicates a subterrean passage/connection not shown, to confuse mappping?

Are the yellow areas teleporters, as on level one? "Teleporter rooms are delineated by yellow" [19]: The key to Gygax's binder map of level 1 shows a circle filled in with yellow with "Transporter" written next to it. OD&D Vol 3 uses "transporter" in the sample level as name for a teleporter, so the two seem to mean the same. The Dungeon Geomorphs suggest "putting in areas where those who enter are teleported to a similar spot elsewhere", which appears to be what Gygax used for the binder map level one (the two yellow-colored areas are similarly L-shaped), but not here.

We again encounter the weird bisected squares, that were in front of one of the stairs down in triplicate on level 1, this time sectioning off an area. Covered pits, maybe? 

The "Well of Darkness", from this blog post is highly likely the "Well of Shadow" and was a later feature not present in the original castle (a pity really, the play reports from his refurbished home game in 2007 sounded awesome): Jon Creffield and I did a pretty deadly and most unusual dungeon crawl module back in 1999, The Well of Shadows. He is working on re-creating the lost level maps for it, and I hope to turn the ms. over to TLG by the end of the year. [35]

Obmi

Obmi first encountered here, with gnoll archer servitors; Obmi had boots of speed and dwarven thrower; gnolls and Obmi had a repulsion projector ray (10'-wide beam, 90' range). [16/287]

Repulsion ray included both a reversal of course and a temporary illusion that the subjects were still moving towards the dwarf. After a round of enforced retrograde the effect ended, and the party was back where it started from. [?]

Obmi appeared in may campaign as a vile dwarf who worked with gnolls (see other thread on same on the boards). Worse, Obmi has a machine-like device that would cause the opponents to move backwards instead of forwards when they tried to attack him and his band in their fourth level dungeon abode. He had his throwing hammer and speed boots too, so that he really enraged the players. Eventually they managed to kill all his gnolls, his reverse motion machine was destroyed by spell attacks, and so Obmi ran off to return in the G series modules. #953

 Elevator Room. The elevator on level 3 (EGG/GrhCastle 1). Seems simple, but the idea is very complex for a supposed medieval society.  And it wasn’t magical. [RJK]

[References: see Greyhawk References]


Old Greyhawk Castle, Level 2

 Cells/Dungeons/Cellars/Deep Cellars

Had two unusual items, a Nixie pool and a fountain of snakes [3]. A pond of never-ending snakes. [20, p. 63]

Covered pits appear, and could be placed in rooms and chambers. [16 / 294]

Giant lizard (with gems in his innards). Wights in a dungeon cell area. [?]
(Here the episode of "it was all a dream" with Robilar could have happened, or maybe on level three). 

It was quite possible to journey downward to the bottom level by an insidious series of slanting passages which began on the second level, but the likelihood of following such a route unknowingly didn't become too great until the seventh or eight level. [3] 

Robilar was trapped at 2nd level near abandonned cells by two wights [41]

Also here is a transporter room 20x20 to a lower level (likely level 4) [14].

In the home campaign [12], likely because they already were level 4, the players encountered: six gnolls, then a troll, and eventually a giant lizard, a human warrior and a dozen orcs that were his servants, winning 3,000 gp in gold and gems, a wand of paralysis, a snake staff, and a +2 dagger.

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Saturday, August 15, 2020

Old Greyhawk Castle Level 1

This is the ORIGINAL level one from Castle Greyhawk, the only level for which we have both the map an the key from Gary's notes. The map is the original 1972 one. Here is a cleaned up view. 


People with better eyes than me decoded the key, which is not the original one, but likely close:

LEVEL 1 THE VAULTS

1. 9-16 KOBOLDS – dust covered silver mirror 750 CP[?]
2. 7-12 GOBLINS – 10 GP /
3. 3-12 GIANT RATS – no treasure (in room potion strength)
4. 10-16 BANDITS, LEADER WARRIOR - +1 shield, potion und. cont., 1,000 GP 
5. 5-8 GIANT CENTIPEDE NEST –
6. 2-3 HOBGOBLINS – Battle axe +1, gem 200-800 GP
7. 1 GIANT BLACK WIDOW / SKELETON IN PLATE AR – 50 GP on floor
8. – IRON[?] CHEST, EMPTY - false bottom[?], needle trap, 6 gems c 200 ea
9. 3-7 ORCS - chest with 8 flasks oil, 30 SP + 8 GP /
10. – WATER SEEPAGE – drink!
11. 1 GIANT CONSTRICTOR – Gems inside (1-4) or nothing 50/50[?]
12. – RUSTLING CORRIDOR – no bats
13. 2-5 SKELETONS (pile of bones) – 1 piece of jewelry [in pile?] (d10 x 300)
14. 1-2 GIANT BATS – no treasure – RUSTLING [more text unreadable, may continue line above]
15. 1 GIANT STINK BEETLE – 2 attack in 5’ r. – nothing/10-100 SP + 1-10 GP
16. 3 BERSERKERS – R. of Prot., 20-40 GP each, Idol with curse (-1/[+3?]/[d in or dia?])
17. 1 SEER (Chaotic) – LIGHT, CH.PER. – +1 dagger, spell books, 1-20 GP 
18. 1 EVIL ADEPT + 1 GNOLL Gd. CAUSE LT. WOUND.– staff of healing (6 [?] chg) 
X-circle [red] PIT – 10’ deep – TRAP
O-circle [green] TRANSPORTER

A warrior is a level 2 fighter (called fighting-man in OD&D), a seer a level 2 wizard (called magic-user), an adept is a level 2 cleric. 

The reason for the unused space there on the right border is that there are 3-ring binder holes there. While the maps were in plastic sleeves at the con, the original was likely put in a three ring binder with the map on the left, the key on the right, for play.

Here is the Matt Bogen's photo of Gary running the game for ENWorld moderators at GenCon 2007 that provided the source for all this:

The original map from the photo, stretched square and magnified:

Gary described he originally created the level as: A simple maze of rooms and corridors, for none of the participants had ever played such a game before. [3]

Monsters & Treasure

The key is not the original one, as Gary described in several instances a chest with thousands of copper pieces that the kobolds held as treasure in the first play sessions, and that chest is not listed here.

Several rooms show a 1 for kobolds or a 2 for goblins. The treasures listed for those keys are in some cases specific (like a silver mirror for the kobolds), so it could be that these groups were spread over several rooms. However, there are at least 6 rooms with a 2, that would just leave about one goblin per room. It seems more likely that the numbers indicated the area controlled by the monster group, or that each of these rooms had the allotment of monsters, and only one of them had the treasure. There is an  analysis that tries to square the XP of this key with the OD&D guidelines.

When he played this level later at conventions, his original 14 kobolds killed several groups of players, getting stronger or more numerous each time, which he explained in a post. This resulted in the elite kobolds described in Castle Zagyg (who had the shaman he contemplated adding in that post). The original kobolds were just plain old kobolds. 

In the home campaign from 2004/5 that used this map PCs were already level three or four, and the encounters were: 9 orcs with chieftain; bandits were level 2 fighters, with a level 4 leader and had 3,000 g.p., 2 potions and a sword +1; the evil priest had two gnoll guards; the giant rats a human keeper; there were multiple giant black widows, and the armor was +1, there were multiple giant stink bugs; additional treasure of 10 +1 arrows, a +1 dagger and 8 gems base 100 g.p, and the kobolds were much stonger and numerous than indicated here.  

All of this just shows how the actual dungeon was somewhat fluid and he adjusted the dungeon difficulty, treasure, number and strength of monsters a bit for PC actions or level [1, 7]. 

Traps

The map does indicate traps. What were these traps?

A couple open pits (in corridors), useful in combination with doors---entering from the non-pit side PCs may fall in, while the pit makes the door difficult to use from the pit side. [16] 

This is contradicted by [13], where one of the players drops into a covered 10' pit behind a door. I believe that Gygax used open pits in the very beginning in 1972, or with new and less experienced players, and more challenging covered ones with more experienced players. As he advises in [7]: adjust the difficulty of encounters accordingly. Some monsters can have higher HP or HD, while others might be more numerous [...] It is your job as Castle Keeper to appropriately challenge your players. 

The group that he ran was level 2, as he mentions in his own recounting of the trip: dungeon crawl in my original Greyhawk dungeons for a half-dozen of the Esteemed EN World Moderators.  [...] Each of the six created 2nd level PCs and managed to survive the adventure. According to his dungeon stocking advise in OD&D there is no question that a player’s character could easily be killed by falling into a pit thirty feet deep or into a shallow pit filled with poisoned spikes, and this is quite undesirable in most instances. It is therefore likely that the pits, even though covered, were not deeper than ten or at most 20 feet.

Random Encounters

The encounter key above did not provide information on wandering monsters. It is very likely that the ones listed for random dungeon stocking in OD&D and the Greyhawk Supplement came from the ones used in the Castle, and best to use would probably be the one from Greyhawk. 

In the home campaign from 2004/5 play reports, there were wandering monsters: ghouls, and groups of up to 10 skeletons. [12] In the EN world game, the level 2 players encountered a gelatinous cube as a wandering monster (likely attracted by the noise of their treasure cart). All of them fit these tables. Ghouls would typically be a level 2 encounter, but the players where at higher level already (and the stocking method also allows for picking a deeper level denizen.)

Stairs

According to ENWorld Game, there were stairs down in each corner. This would mean the stairs in the SE would go up, not down, and the grey angle in the NE are stairs, too. 


Here is the map the players from the EN world session created.

This map is from the same session, as the map on the photo above, but it differs at several points, in ways that cannot all just be mapping errors: the entrance stairs and room are different, the area north of the split room near their entrance differs, the rooms and archway location near the stink bug differ, and most extremely, the stairs down they found are definitely not on Gary's map.

All this just goes to show that Gary used the map and key for the most part to trigger his imagination and provide framework, while he made up a lot on the fly

Is this really the original level one map? What about the one from Castle Zagyg?

This map, not the one from Castly Zagyg is the original 1972 1st level. Gary says so himself in his report on the game. He also describes the original level like thisIt was a level that had lots of corridors and rooms, few squares penciled in to indicate solid stone. There were, however, only about 20 encounters on it", and in a forum post stated I have run OD&D games every year at several cons for the last five or so years. I start them at 2nd level [of the PCs, not the dungeon, ed.] and use the old dungeon levels. [17]  

The map in Zagyg closely fits his description of the map that was created for new level one of the Expanded Dungeon: I drew a new first level that could accommodate both bands of fledgling adventurers and the initiated. Four separate descent areas were created with designations by the cardinal directions. Each had multiple flights of stairways leading lower, some ending several levels farther down. Three were "guarded" by dungeon denizens -- elves, dwarves, a very large and strong ogre. [15]

[Benoist] reports in the K&K Alehouse forum that Ernest Gygax, who played in the original campaign, also remembers the map to look like this, not like the one from Castle Zagyg: I showed the maps to Ernest, both this one, and the map of level 3. He told me these certainly look like the original maps of Castle version 1, back when Rob was a player, not a DM.  I showed Ernie [...], the Castle Zagyg map [...], and the level 1 map [above] together, in that order. His answer was [...] the bottom map is the way I remember the 1st level.

How does this play?

I have not played it, but the fact that everyone, including Gary dropped this style of labyrinthine maps and mapping challenges likely means it was less fun than a map with higher occupancy and fewer rooms. You were wandering around wasting time to get to the good parts. 

Here is a quote from T. Foster, about how playing such a dungeon feels:

The long hallways and winding, circuitous, and overlapping routes (and occasional dead-ends), the clustered nests of small rooms, the low occupancy rate (with the vast majority of rooms empty or only transiently occupied) -- all of these help create the "maze-like" atmosphere where the dungeon seems bigger and more complex than it actually is. Throw in a couple teleporters, one-way doors, and sliding walls (all of which are probably there, the resolution of the pic just isn't high enough to pick them up) and this one-sheet 5x5-grid dungeon level with probably about 200 rooms and 18 keyed encounters will, in play, feel almost infinitely large, with dozens or even hundreds of options facing the players. Which means that when they do come across something distinctive and unusual (i.e. one of those 18 key encounters) they'll really feel like they've accomplished something (and then will start wondering how they're going to find their way back to the surface, and how they're ever going to find this room again -- and suddenly the idea of players drawing a map begins to make a lot more sense :)).

If you've never run or played in this type of dungeon it has a feel that's completely different from a simpler, more straightforward layout that, even if it's large, is still easy for the players to grasp conceptually, and that makes them feel that it's only a matter of time (and patience) for them to have explored and mapped the entire place. In a dungeon like this you don't feel that way -- you always feel like you've barely scratched the surface of its possibilities.

[References: see Greyhawk References]


Greyhawk Campaign Play Style

What was Greyhawk like? 

More than the specific floor plans or monsters, the play experience is what made the essence of Greyhawk Castle and the City of Greyhawk .

            "Old School Delve" is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.


In general the ideas that the GM presents to the players, the level of mystery and challenge, and the sense of lurking danger or looming threat tend to appeal to me. I like to be captivated by action and problem solving, explore, and if there is some fun roleplay in the process, so much the better. [35]

Agency: Players created the story through their actions, there was no predefined "plot"

The story developed by the GM reacting to the actions of the players. This was supported by the non-linear structure of site-based adventures, with no larger overarching plot to adhere to, and based on Gary's  insight that imposing a story on the players is depriving them from the ability to make meaningful decisions, that is at the very heart of role-playing.

Although he was a storyteller, there was no effort to thread a plot through his dungeon. Keep in mind that this was the dawn of role-playing and some concepts of 2020 gaming weren't known then. It was entirely find the monsters, fight the monster, and take his treasure. [30.2] 

In those early versions of the game there was no thought of story line or major villains to be over come. It was all fight the monsters, defeat the monsters, and grab their treasures. [30.3]

After the industry had moved to painfully boring railroads of level-adequate battle challenges, player agency is one of the key concepts that the "old school revival" rediscovered.

Challenge: Mistakes could be deadly

Gary believed in palpable danger for excitement, and that rewards achieved against tough odds were more satisfying. The world was not calibrated to present only winnable encounters -- and how could it be so? Respect the game world, as real and dangerous and exiting.

If you wanted to survive, you needed every trick in the book: think, be cautious, be stealthy, keep moving, hire help, work together, and most importantly: pick your battles and run away if the opposition is too strong. If you played badly, you had it coming.

While for low level characters life was cheap, once the players were more invested in their characters, and of higher level, Gary provided means to help the players not losing them, from raise dead to wish spells -- and these were a good way to sap some of the surplus treasure from the party. 

There was a constant escalation of new tricks and traps vs new tactics to work around them. After characters began listening at doors regularily, Gary invented ear-worms that would bore into your head from the door. The players countered with "Ear Trumpets" to protect themselves. He then ruled that you had to take of your helmet and mail coif, which would take time and leave you vulnerable in case of attack.

Some of the dungeon chambers were filled with surprises. There were creatures hiding above the doors, there were creatures looking like tables and chests, and there were surprises in plain sight that would attack as we moved in the rooms. It got so that I would say upon entering any new area, “Gary, I look up, and down, and all around the area before I walk in. That stopped a lot of ugly surprises from happening. [30.2]

"Until the wretches conceived of ear trumpets, those marvelous little grubs surely did stop all that vile listening with ears pressed to doors so as to avoid nasty surprises the DMs wished to spring on the PCs." #193

For this to work it was crucial that the GM be impartial and fair. As a GM adjucating fairly in devising ever new challenges in "competition" with players refining their tactics is a subtle step from antagonism, and led to the bad name of oldschool play being antagonistic and deadly. Maybe Gary was able to do it, but from my experience, it is hard to remain impartal as a referee if you represent one of the two sides. And anything hard is not going to translate well to a broad audience. 

Characters were much weaker than in later editions of the game. They lacked superhuman feats and abilities, outside of Magic. The style was much more like Conanesque Sword & Sorcery. 

While I agree that there also must be deadly encounters for the world to be believable, as the world cannot just evolve around the player characters. In my experience is that winning easy fights takes  much longer than most GMs imagine before it gets old, so provide a wider margin of safety. 

Immersion: Theatre of the mind, ad hoc rulings and suspense

There was nothing to detract from imagining your surrounding. In spite of coming from a tabletop battle background, there were no miniatures and no battlemat. Neither were there soundtracks (with rare execptions) props. Flow and action even trumped the rules, as Gary would rather make up a chance for something based on experience, knowledge and his judgment, than interrupt play by looking up rules.

During games, cross-talk was discouraged: the party caller did most of the talking, and other players only talked if they had something to contribute. If the players chattered too much, they’d miss what the Disembodied Voice was saying, and that would be, as Mike put it, “suicide”. “You could feel the tension in the room,” he added. [29]

The second important aspect was that Gary rarely looked up rules in the rulebook. Firstly, the rules were light anyways and did not cover many cases, and secondly even if they did adjucating without stopping play to look up the detail rule kept the action going. This rules-light approach allowed all participants to just imagine and describe what they wanted to do, without being restrained by rules mechanisms. Anything was possible, you just needed to trust the GM to give a fair estimate of success.

Digging around in rules books is much the same as having the film break or the TV station experience transmission difficulties during an exciting program...a loss of the unagined participation. #7881

[T]he only time [Gary] consulted the rules was when he gave out experience points for killed monsters and treasures. He made moving through his dungeon come alive. We could easily imagine the sights, sounds, and even the smells as he described the chambers and the corridors. [30.2]

Lastly: Gary used a lot of mysterious noises early on, without direct monster conflict, to create an atmosphere of tension. The first level key has an entry for "rustling". The DMG Appendix I has a whole list of mysterious noises and sounds. I did not realize this may have a had a significant effect on play atmosphere, until I saw this post by Rob Kuntz, where he describes unnerving Gary with the noise of mysterious footsteps:

If it had instead been an encounter with goblins, for instance, this “physical” encounter would not have fashioned itself as anxiety in fantasy immersion terms but primarily in game terms only, and then only briefly as the mind moved to focus on the combat and statistics side through immediate evaluation of circumstances. [...] Both Gary and I immediately recognized, and separated, the game parts from the immersive world, the latter which we concentrated on. [...] So the Gygax and Kuntz credo was: Always keep your players guessing; and the best way that is accomplished is to always keep them at the edge of doubt through rising and falling anxiety.

Random encounters in combination with encounter distance provided another way to have the players hear noises instead of just another tedious combat. The goal of encounters was mostly to encourage action. Players could never know if a noise was just that, or a last second warnign before something horrible materialized.

Improvisation: adventures made up from whole cloth

While this may not have been obvious or visible for the players, apart from map and extremely skimpy encounter keys per level, all the detail of the adventures was made up on the spot by Gary. In wilderness adventures and city adventures, all of it was "winged". This had a lot of advantages over pre-written detail: you needed no time to look it up, you could respond to the interestes and ideas of the players, and you could calibrate the challenges to their strength.  

In the original campaign run in Lake Geneva, much of the refereeing was done "seat-of-the-pants" style, and encounter areas were not fleshed out much beyond quickly jotted notes.  [7]
Just in case some reader here thinks it odd to create on the fly as Rob and I usuall are want to do:
The main difference between formal creation of material and doing it as one serves in the role of GM is spontaneity, that allowing the material created on the spot to better suit the player group and the situation at hand. Otherwise one must set forth the material to be played and recite it more or less verbatim, forcing the group to its mold. The creative demand is much the same, but the free-style method usually allows for more enjoyment by all participants. I recommend it to all GMs able to manage such playing style #4664

Megadungeon: devling for treasure, not logic

I think these three are the main pillars of the old school style of play. However, specifically in the Greyhawk Campaign, there were others that strongly must have shaped the experience of play. The first is that the piece de resistance, Greyhawk Castle, was a Megadungeon. It does not really matter that much, which Megadungeon. All Megadungeon Campaigns, by their form of a huge dungeon complex that is getting more dangerous the deeper you get, and that you venture forth and dive into from a nearby home base such as the City of Greyhawk, and that are too large to be cleared or even fully explored, will lead to a specific play experience that differs strongly from other forms of play.

For the most part, early on it was treasure and experience points hunting. Nobody cared too much about how logical the dungeon was, or how the monsters lived there. And since treasure gave experience, the foremost goal was treasure, not killing. 

The whys and hows of the monster population in the gloomy labyrinths were unimportant to all concerned. The sense of danger in mentally exploring a lightless maze filled with perilous traps and fell creatures of unimaginable sort was far more important [7]


Intensity: Lots of players in a persistent, shared world

I mean it. Back in the Greyhawk Campaign, there was A LOT of play. There was so much playing going on, that Gary ran two sessions on some days, and later enlisted Rob Kuntz as a Co-DM to help. This must have been a much more immersive experience.  Groups could count over 20 players on weekends. This left little time for long arguments, acting or detailed rules. 

Because groups were so large, and to streamline actions, each group had a "caller" who was the one to tell the GM, what the group was doing.

The actions of these groups were persistent. If one group slew monsters, plundered treasure or destroyed a wall, the monsters would be dead, the treasure gone, the wall demolished for the others. If you wasted time, some other party might take advantage of you and get to the treasure first. This experience must have made it feel much more a real place to the players, than a typical "adventure" that just provides a story around the characters. 

We play with a handful of friends once a week, with a single group. So this part may be the hardest to replicate, if you have a life outside of role playing games.

Variety: Sci-Fi and Weirdness

To avoid tedium and boredom, instead of switching to another game, Gary ran "extradimensional" adventure moduels like Alice in Wonderland, or employed cursed scrolls that sent the players into sci-fi worlds like Barsoom or Jack Vance's Planet of Adventure, or even to contemporary New York City, for a change of pace. This was supported by the light and abstract rules system. While you might be able to bring back "magic wands" in the form of laser pistols that had a limited number of charges, he never introduced gunpowder to the main campaign.

As a matter of fact we did dungeon crawls until DM and players alike were sick and tired of them, mainly because the large number of players at each session made almost any other sort of adventure very difficult. As the players dropped out, the adventures shifted to outdoors settings, town adventures, action in a tavern, etc. [35]

I have mixed genres since the OD&D game was published. [35]

Exploration and combat over role-playing 

Unsurprising given the wargaming background of most players, the predominant dungeon setting, and the large groups of players with using a "caller", most of the time in the inital campaign was spent on exploration and combat, with little role-play

Later as groups got smaller, and play shifted more to city adventures, more negotiation, investigation and intrigue was possible, but the players were still pretty uninterested in playing a character (and often there was no clear distinciton between player and character). As more retainers and henchmen were handled, this then started to get into character a bit more, to keep appart whom one just had talking. 

So I think this part was not essential for the experience. You can play old school in character.

 Mapping was part of the challenge

"His games featured a lot of mapping of dungeons. As the heroes explored, one player had to draw what Gary described on graph paper. Part of the game was trying to figure out when a passage was gently sloping. Ideas like pouring some water on the ground and seeing where it trickled help, until Gary started having water seeping into the floor's many cracks." [29]

Gary did not draw the map for the players, he described the rooms and they had to figure it out and draw it. There also was a "no walkie-talkies" rule - only who had a copy of the map could actually look at it for describing their actions. Some people decided to not map at all, because due to all of Gary's strategems such as sloping corridors, teleporters, elevator rooms and so on, it was easy to be mislead. Gary also modified maps beween sessions, see the dungeon design guidelines. If he felt it made for a better adventure, Gary even changed levels on the fly during play

All that said, mapping was a chore, and today nobody does it for a reason. Even Gary started to drop it and change his level designs from pencil-thin wall labyrinths with dozens of small rooms most of which were empty to fewer and larger rooms and more "white space" on the map. When I tried to play oldschool with my modern day players, they bitterly objected and compained against this. 

A lot of magical treasure

Also never doubt that Gary was not a Monty Haul referee. He had to be because he had to play test all of the magic items he put in his rules. He had no idea what a Deck of Many Things or a Portable Hole would do to his campaign world. So his wondrous dungeon was liberally sprinkled with magical treasures. [30.2]

Gaining lots of treasure is something I always favored. To keep it moving I encouraged players to have their PCs hire many retainers, troops, build a castle, etc. When that failed to keep them seeking more wealth the trainig costs and other cash-draining devices were added into the game. #5255

This led to the myriad ways Gary devised to strip characters of their riches again: having to pay premium to get petrified or polymorphed characters restored or magic items identified by the striped mage, having dead characters raised from the dead, having fireballs destroy and consume magic items, and so on.

Then we have the concept of cursed items. Gary loved to expose his players to cursed items; way too much if you asked me. [30.2]

The procedure for sharing this treasure that the players came up with:

As the DM I left it up to the players. Generally they took all treasure as property of the party, then at the conclusion of an adventure divided it in shares according to the total number of levels of the PCs involved, counting half of any multi-classed PCs levels only as addition the the higest sngle class one, i.e. a F/T/MU of 8/4/10 levels would get 4+2+10 shares of the loot. #384

Magic was always selected by high d% roll, each player getting a roll for each level of his or her PC--in the above example 16 rolls saving the highest. Picks then went from highest on down. Many a tie of 00 rolls occurred. In such case the top scorerers rolled off for order of picks. #384

NPCs are people, too

Assume that you’re speaking in character. We entered the dungeon with a lot of hirelings: we had hired a dozen bandits last session, and this session we hired half a dozen heavy footmen. At three people per rank, our expedition filled about twenty feet of 10-foot-wide corridor.

Our party was so unwieldy that the wizard joked about letting the dangers of the dungeon doing our downsizing for us. The hirelings heard him, and they were not happy. A few bad reaction rolls later, and my bandit followers abandoned us in the dungeon.

We should have foreseen this, because Mike’s NPCs tended to join into our out-of-character strategy conversations. When we lost a heavy footman, and we were discussing whether it was worth it to get him resurrected, the other heavy footmen weighed in strongly on the “pro” column. [29]

Gary views on what made for the original play expereince

Asked later about what made up the spirit of play of original D&D, Gygax came up with this list (with "comic book superhero" he refers to later editions of D&D that gave characters feats to give them effectively superhuman abilities):
  • Absolute authority of the DM, rules lawyers given the boot
  • Rule books seldom used by a competent DM
  • Action and adventure in play
  • Swords & sorcery, not comic book superhero genre material
  • Group co-operation paramount for success
  • Freedom to extemporize and innovate for all participants
  • Reliance on archetypical models for characters
  • Fellowship of those participating [6 #7878]
When asked what was needed to have a successful campaign:
  • Pay attention to what the player group finds most interesting, and provide adventures that reflect this preference.
  • Do not let the rules get in the way of play; be the arbiter of the game so that the adventure continues on without unnecessary interruptions, and the immersion of the players in the milieu remains complete.
  • Do not make the group face impossible challenges, and keep the rewards as reasonable as possible (that is modest), so that there is always someting more to seek after.
  • Well developed villains are usually very compelling to players, and the longer these antagonists remain alive and thwarting the PCs, the more exciting the adventures.
  • Mix up the adventure settings so that play is not always in the same dort of place. A town adventure leads to a wilderness trek, that brings the party to a subterranian setting for example. From there they might have a waterborne or earial mission.  [6 #6966]
When asked what made a game session enjoyable

I'll take a stab at the five elements that make a game session enjoyable:
1. Good personal relationships between all the participants.
2. Subject matter that interests the whole group.
3. Able GMing, including animated participation by that one.
4. Able play, role-assumption, and roleplaying by the players.
5. A sense of danger from the environment, but knowledge that clever play will likely overcome all hazards, #2025

And finally, his view on the real rewards of a role playing campaign:

As for the rewards of an RPG campaign, I believe they are more related to group interaction and discussion after play sessions than to some vague theory related to story telling. After the group completes a campaign story, their discussion of events, and recounting them to other players outside their group, seems to me to be the most cherished reward, other than those special victories or acquisitions gained by their own game character ;) #6073

If the session was compelling, there will be a lot of thought between the end of that adventure chapter and the beginning of the next. I know that applies to me too #6929

I like the consclusion on blog of holding:

I’m still not sure what player skill is in OD&D, and I still think it has something to do with battle tactics, trapfinding procedures, and gaming the DM. But I’m also starting to think it has something to do with respecting the gameworld as a world. Monsters learn. Henchmen want riches and safety. PCs can’t communicate telepathically. And if you’re a dwarf fighter, sometimes your best course of action is to hit something with an axe.

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Friday, August 14, 2020

Old Greyhawk Castle Ruins

The fallen west gate of Greyhawk Castle was at hand, and through this mouldering portal the party passed. In a few moments they had entered the great central keep, heaved open an inner door, and carefully proceeded down a set of winding stone steps---steps worn with age and slippery with dampness. They had entered the dungeons." [4]

Castle Bodenburg, that served as inspiration for the Upper Works.

In the original campaign, [...] the first level of Zagyg's dungeon was pretty much where the adventuring began. No great pains were taken to detail the ruins above the dungeons. Sure they existed, but the adventure was chiefly subterranean, and in those formative years of fantasy role-playing, dungeon exploration was what the players most desired to do. [7]

Gary had a model of Bodenburg Castle (he called it "Castle Bodenstadt") in his basement, and used it as the original model for the ruined upper works of Greyhawk Castle, elongating some curtain walls to make it match the full rectangle of graph paper he had for the dungeon. [15]

The castle is not a model of Bodenburg. The name came from the "Siege of Bodenburg" game, that had Rules written by Henry Bodenstedt, and inspired Gary to write the Chainmail Rules.

In the first incarnation, Castle Greyhawk was to have no substantial above-ground presence. A few rats and minor bandit nuisances only, with entrances to the real adventure hidden by rubble, so the "upper works"  received short shrift. Four minor encounter areas, and a pit area where an adventurer of incautious sort might slide down and take damage, but possibly find another hidden entrance to the first level. All done! [15]

The original ruins were an elongated version Bodenburg Castle as Scott points out. This of course only has one central tower, a gatehouse, bartizan, and building surmounted walls (which might have 1 or 2 towers incorporated amidst buildings). [PS]

The Central Staircase

[T]he wide staircase provides access through levels 1 to 3. [7]

Gary briefly described the castle ruins and broken walls and outline, and then we immediately descended down spiral stairs into the dungeon. We get almost at the bottom of the stairs - about to walk into a room, when a large spider drops down from the ceiling and bites the lead PC. He fails his check and dies of poison! [14]

The central staircase went down a good 125-150 feet - at fifty foot intervals were doors. We ignored these and continued to go down. Eventually we came to bottom and a landing that led to another narrow hallway heading in a northeasterly direction that went on for a good 80-100ft, which abruptly ended in a dead-end. [12]

The stairs have been described to go down to level 3, but the purported map of level 3 does not match this play report - there is no dead-end corridor with secret door to the North-East if we assume N is up -- and the round rooms of level 1 and 3 align, so no different compass rose either. Level four is supposed to be undead, and they encounter a wraith. 

Random Encounters

Six robed men who wear pointy hats with symbols on them, low level magic-users who charm person. Old school charm person, good for a long time. From the play reports it sounds as if wizards essentially consisted of sleep (against groups of weaker monsters) and charm person (against strong individuals). 

[References: see Greyhawk References]

Old Greyhawk Castle Level Design

Old Greyhawk Castle Dungeon Level Design

Maps

My dungeon levels were both an exploration/mapping problem to solve and a place for encounters. As I would place perhaps 15 or so active encounters on a level of many passagerways and as many as 50 or so rooms, to keep things "interesting" I'd include various traps. That became a de rigeur thing in general from around 1977 on. Of course when combined with monsters and NPCs, traps add a degree of complexity to encounters too, so they are a handy tool. [6 #227]

The number of encounter areas I have on a level depends on the overall setting, but 20 on a map with four lines per inch is about as spare as I'll go so as to avoid tedium in exploration. With careful planning one can work in a lot of encounters without the place seeming like a fun house. #4308

I usually made one-line notes for my duneon encounters, from around 20 to 25 of same for a typical level done on four-lines-to-the inch graph paper-a few more on five-, six, or seldom used 8-line graph paper, the other spaces were empty save for perhaps a few traps or transporter areas and the like. [6]
Being of insidious nature, I varied the maps for levels of the castle dungeons. Sometimes I used 8.5" x 11' paper, 4 squares to the inch, sometimes 5, 6, or 8. then I'd throw in two or more levels on the same map, or use 17" x 22" paper with 4 or 5 squares to the inch. At least one level was done with small hexagons. Also, many of the levels were connected so that it was difficult to know when one was leaving one and entering another. [6]

"We used all sizes of graph paper (4, 6, 8, and even 10 squares to the inch); EGG and I also liked to use several methods, such as transporters and long, slowly descending down-slants, both of which caused players to map parts of two levels as one. EGG always made maze like maps, with down slants, transporters, shifting walls and rooms and other such contraptions and devices to befuddle mappers" (RJK)

I use graph paper of four, five, and six squares to the inch. when my eyes were better I sometimes used eight... [35]

[Random Dungeon Maps] No, not for Castle Greyhawk. There I always had an idea in mind, frew out each level with ruler and template. I did use random dungeon generation for such places discovered in outdoor adventuring by the PC party. [35]

In Castle Zagyg, the ceilings of rooms on the first level are 24 feet high at the apex, with up to 25 feet of rock above, making an overall level depth about 50 feet, it is plausible that the Old Castle had comparable dimensions, at least for the upper, non-cavernous levels.

The great central staircase that went down to level 3 and has been described as approximately 150 feet deep also would indicate about 50' depth per level.

I seldom used the random dungeon generation system, although I found it useful on a few occasions. That said, I wouldn't call most of my dungeon levels "carefully crafted." Especially themed ones were, and I did my best to make all of them confusing to map, but that's more workmanlike than otherwise. The encounters were likewise a mix or "whatever" and "this will knock their sox off" sorts, but some features of many thrown together as mere mazes levels, had specially designed and placed features. [35]

Keys

Encounters named only something like "9-16 gnolls," in an area. If it was a big party of PCs entering I'd make that 16 gnolls and have some sort of leader or leaders with them. If only a few characters of low level were exploring and entered the place they might encounter only 9 of those critters. #1418

My own work is usually a map with key numbers and a few sketchy notes as to the nature of the encounter, and I find in the details when the party gets to the location. If they are able to manage a very difficult challenge, I really up the ante and then do the same for the rewards if they succeed in overcoming the adversarial conditions, whatever they might be. #2706

What we used was not 'pro" but simply veteran DM notes to more easily wing the actual action. Traps and "trick" areas were detailed in regards to trigger and damage or result from activating a trick.
Monster encounters looked like this: 12 ORCS, 4 with crossbows, 7-12 gp each, POTION OF HEROISM in hole under water barrel. Will fight until death.
Depending on the party entering their area, the HPs would be set high, or rolled, or set low. Likewise, the orcs might have a spy hole, detect the approaching party, fire through loopholes in the door and wall, or else be sitting around and possibly surprised.
Special encounters might be more detailed, two or three lines of notes.
Whatever was there was just to stimulate the DM's imagination and inspire something that suited the party for good or ill. #1965

Traps

The transporter also has the benefit of making any dungeon level more difficult to explore and map, thus adding to the challenge involved. They are also handy devices to move the player characters to such new and different places as the GM wishes #3031

Modification and Evolution

I did indeed create details for the PC party on the spot, adding whatever seemed appropriate, and as Rob played and learned from me, he did the same, and when we were actively co-DMing we could often create some really exciting material on the spot, if you will. [6]

When the encounter was elimiated I simply drew a line through it, and the place was empty for the foreseeable future. I'd give Rob the details of any session he was not at and vice versa, so we winged all of it. Sometimes a map change and encouunter key note of something special in nature was made, but not often. We both remembered things well, Rob very well and when necessary something was made up out of whole cloth for the sake of continuity of adventuring. [6]

When the setting was in constant use, we never restocked, just drafted new side and deeper levels, as it was assumed that the depredations of the cruel PC parties kept the monsters away in fear and loathing :uhoh:

The kobolds and others came into the place when expeditions of PCs were few and far between. The kobolds and the goblins made a pact to pretty much divide up the upper works and the first level of the dungeon between them, cooperating to fight back the other denizens.
A female magic-user made common cause with the goblin chief after successfully charming him, assisted in arming and equipping the goblin forces, but when more PC parties began to raid the place I determined that she took what was available and beat it. No sense in risking one's life on behalf of goblins for no more than a heap of silver.
The goblins were pretty well wiped out from their upper ruins holdings, and seeing the force of the PC parties assailing the place, she slipped away. #3827

[References: see Greyhawk References]

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