Castle Zagyg

This is the only version of Greyhawk Castle authored by Gary Gygax that was partially published.

He had had plans to publish a dungeon that captured the essential elements of the various incarnations of Greyhawk Castle, and as he was public on blogs at the time, he shared some of those plans for what he had in mind. The project took longer than expected, Rob Kuntz dropped out and, sadly, Gary died before he could get it done. It is almost as if there was a curse on it. 

I do not understand why he spent years first detailing a small town as a base of operations, when in his own campaign, Greyhawk City only came into ephemeral being after several levels of play in the dungeon. We might well have more levels had he not done that. 

Embedding The Last Castle in the Milieu

The castle and dungeons are separate and "pure", will not be missed when using the campaign setting or require the campaign setting to be used, all the while forming a natural part of the entire Castle Zagyg work. #4414

So as those 24 modules were in progress the similar detailing of the actual abandoned castle ruins and its subterranean levels went into high gear, basing the work on my previous castle ruins and dungeons developed and revised as my campaign matured...and PCs wreaked havoc in these places #8744

Yggsburgh and the City of Dunfalcon

In order to get to the castle and ruins I thought it best to establish a detailed environment and good-sized community for the setting. Thus Castle Zagyg Yggsburgh and the East Mark. Of course, detailing the big walled town by dividing it into quarters or districts, mapping each and showing the buildings with encounter key numbers and text, giving a bit of color for the sector to assist the GM--and doing the same for the suburban communities--then seemed beneficial in order to give a really detailed urban area. To the best of my knowledge that has not been done previously. #8744

Yggsburgh and its environs are well detailed, but they are sufficiently generic to enable the GM to put them into almost any campaign setting. the area is not specific to any world setting, even that of Greyhawk. [11]

Yggsburgh is a town, not meant to be anything like the Free City of Greyhawk. It is smaller and not near any huge lake #4529

The smaller scale of the Yggsburgh project is to facilitate the presentation of the ruins of Castle Zagyg and its many dungeon levels. As it is likely that there will be a good deal of adventuring activity in the town and surrounding countryside, the urban area has been extensively detailed, while the less-developed land around it has been well-described and provided with additional adventure hooks as befits such a setting. #8279

To make a long explanation short, the introductory portion of the module covers that, placing Yggsburgh on the River Nemo running some miles distant to a major city named Dunfalcon that is on the shore of a large lake... #2416

Literaly translated, dun = gray and a falcon is a type of hawk... #4902

Environs

"This module is large in content but the area of land it covers is relatively small, a bit less than 1,500 square miles, an area of some 44 miles east and west, 34 north and south. With some inclusion of areas “off the map,” that size is sufficient for much adventuring but should be small enough, at most perhaps 3,000 or so square miles if all the border areas described in the adventure text are included, to fit into the campaign world, whatever one is used by the Game Master. The area is likewise suitable to serve as the core for building a complete new campaign world around it should that be desired, a major undertaking to be sure, and not a subject for further discussion here." #2416

The River Nemo could be considered as the Neen, and the Urt river likewise one seen on the World of Greyhawk map. there is also the City of Dunfalcon some miles west to Yggsburgh. The area covered by the Yggsburgh work is up to about 3K square miles if the GM expands the map himself so as to take in the demesnes of the three hostile nobles and the borderlands. That is a miniscule area considering the Flanaess, and yet within it there are hundreds of adventures--given and postulated. The cultural and social information in the work are manifold, meat and drink for the GM inclined to develop detailed material for the campaign. #4488

Rob is working on the second part now, a dungeon-like area that introduces the Mad Archmage before he attained deital prowess.  #2064 

This has been published as Dark Chateau, but has little to do with Greyhawk Castle. 

A Huge Undertaking 

It is, as you suppose, a very major undertaking, the restatement of some 50 or so upper castle and dungeon levels into a module usable by other GMs, with clear and easily read links between levels, fully detailed encounters, instructions as to how some of the "mysteries" of the material can be managed according to the desires of the individual GM.  #4414

There are four man-years of work needed to complete the castle levels and dungeons. If we begin work soon, the first part should be ready in a year, with more coming in the way of additional modules every three months thereafter for about two and a half years. I am not sure when i will be able to commence that work, though, and as I must have the lead, that means Rob can't do anything until I feed him the basic material. [11] 

He vastly underestimated how long it would take him. Six years or so later he had not progressed further than the first level. 

A module containing many dungeon levels is perforce huge, a very lengthy and demanding project is properly planned out. The only time I have done a mega-dundeon was for my gaming group. Of course a version of that work in now underway, and it includes the upper castle works as well as many subterranean levels. [11]

The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so. What I have done is gone back to my original design of more modest scope, because I doubt the work will need to accommodate groups of 20 PCs delving on a daily basis.  #1628

The Castle Was Only Written Up in Sketchy Notes, Most of It Was Improvised

As Rob learned from me, he too DMed by the proverbial seat of the pants method. A single line of notes for an encounter was sufficient for either of us to detail a lengthy description, action, dialog, tricks or traps, and all the rest. As this is not the stuff of modules, we will have to do the same thing as we go over each encounter on the map, actually recording our otherwise extemporized details for the reader. #1628

This will be a lot of work, as we both used very sketchy encounter notes, a single line was typical, for "winging' was the favored approach to all adventures. #1643

That means a lot more text and explanation, for I winged encounters, and as Rob learned from me, so did he.   #1995

Rob and I both DMed on the fly, made only short and often cryptic notes, and thought very much alike, so handing the "castle" back and forth as co-DMs was never a problem. The old material would be basically unusable my most others, of course, encounter notes consisting of only one line from which we created reams of information out of whole cloth on the spot;  #4414

Now you understand why the Castle Zagyg project is such a major design undertaking. If we handed over the binders containing the maps and the notes don't think even the ablest of DMs would feel empowered to direct adventures using the materials...unless that worthy was someone who had spent many hours playing with Rob and me as DM.  #4660

The Castle Was Changed By Play and Reconstructions

To be frank, the castle changed over the years, so "original" is moot. As levels were added by me, new and different things were introduced. When after a couple of year's of time Rob became my co-DM there was a massive alteration in the upper works of the castle, a whole, massive new 1st level was created, and then the level plan for the expanded lower levels of the dungeon was created anew, with the original levels of my making incorperated with those of Rob's dungeons, plus a number of new ones we created to fill the whole scheme. #1628

The maps will have to be re-drawn from originals. The latter were altered as we merged dungeons, and as PCs interacted with the complex. At one time Robilar, Tenser, and Terik converted the first level of the dungeons to their base. In short the original upper and lower parts of Castle Greyhawk changed many times over the years they were in active use.  #1628

Additionally, as that complex was explored and exploited, we created new levels and changed things. In all, the original work was one that was in progress, continually in flux of change.  #1995

The New Work Will Be a BEST OF in the Spirit of the Old Castles

The most interesting and demanding features of levels will be retained.  #1628

What we will do is to take the best of the lot and put that into a detailed format usable by anyone, no "winging-it' required. Note that it is "Zagyg's Castle", so no tedious explanations of how the denizens of the place got there will be needed. #1628

Again, what our challenge is going to be is to cull the extraneous, take the best, and re-create the details we made up on the spot. Of course the most famous things will be there, along with most of the best parts that are not well-known through story and word of mouth.  #1628

The salient features of the original dungeons will be retained, of course. If the work proves to be sufficiently popular we can always supplement the base with add-ons too, just as we did with the campaign material through opening new split and side levels, placing transporters into dungeon areas to move PCs to separate adventure areas akin to those published as separate modules--DUNGEONLAND, LAND BEYOND THE MAGIC MIRROR, and ISLE OF THE APE. #1643

The major features from the original levels he and I designed will be included in the re-design of the castle, just as my original work was incorporated into the huge new dungeon complex Rob and I created by combining our respective castles.  #1995

We will do our best to make the printed version not only true to the spirit of the underlying material, but also accommodating for GMs who wish to have "living" dungeons.   #1995

Our mission is to keep the number of levels presented to a reasonable quantity while covering all the major places and features of the original models. #2064

Of course into the new maps will go the most interesting and remarkable features of the original dungeons Rob and I did separately or jointly. #3249  

So we need to do a lot of re-working and explanatory material even as we reduce the sprawling levels into a more managable and publishable form. As we do that we will most assuredly retrain all of the best material--map ideas, encounters, oddities, and so forth within the revised level plans.  #4414

Meantime, I am collecting all the most salient feature, encounters, tricks, traps, etc. for inclusion on the various levels. So the end result will be what is essentially the best of our old work in a coherent presentation usable by all DMs, the material having all the known and yet to be discussed features of the original work that are outstanding..I hope #4660

None of the traps were such that clever play could avoid their worst effects. I'll say nothing more, as Rob and I are working on updated dungeon levels now that are based off of those original ones you mention above. The whole will not consist of as many levels as we had, but there will be plenty [11]

 

I think this last one is meant to say the opposite: that clever play could NOT avoid worst effects, which would be in line with Garys believe that clever play should be rewarded.

The Final Castle Would have Been Similar to the Old Castle, Smaller than the Merged Castle

Of course, the expanded work's multiple levels will have to be cut back. Having six second level maps is not only impossible for a published work but quite unnecessary for a normal campaign.

Remember, when Castle Greyhawk was in its heyday, groups of 10 or more PCs would adventure in it several times a week, many of the players in each group different from the previous ones. #1628

In short, we'll cut the size back to something in the range of 20 levels, a bit larger than my original work but a lot smaller than the combined material Rob and I used to entertain player groups of 10-20 persons several times a week. #1643

Quantifyng will eat up much time and space, not to mention the re-drafting of old level maps to fit the new configuration we have outlined. #1643

We will use my original scheme of the dungeons, altering them as need be for coherant presentation to a general audience of GMs.  #1995

The original material for the castle and dungeon levels beneath it will be revised and detailed using the old maps and encounter notes. That is the most difficult part of the prohect, as we will have to work from my model of 13 levels, that expanded to about 20 by me, then to over 40 when Rob joined forces with me as co-DM.  #2064

There will be "side levels" that are difficult to find too. #3249 

I have laid out a new schematic of castle and dungeon levels based on both my original design of 13 levels plus sideadjuncts, and the "New Greyhawk Castle" that resulted when Rob and I combined our efforts and added a lot of new level too. From that Rob will draft the level plans for the newest version of the work. #4660

Plan of the layout

from mail by Gary forwarded by Steve Chenault

Part III Upper Works - Castle Ruins

Part IV Beneath the Ground (first three levels)

Part V  The Laboratories, Menagier, Museum (five levels)

Part VI The Deeps (six levels)

Part VII The Caverns - grotto, maze (six levels)

Part VIII Zagig's Way - Lightless Lake, Inferno (three levels) [Numbers below added]

• 1 Storerooms
• 2 Cellars
• 3 Dungeon
• Arena
• 4 Laboratories
• 5 Menagerie
• 6 Museum 
• Catacombs
• Upper Crypts - access Lower Crypts
• 7 Lairs 
• Lower Crypts 
• 8 Labyrinth 
• Warrens  - access from the Labyrinth, accessing the Lower Crypts above, the Vaults below
• 9 Endless Rooms 
• Grand Mausoleum - no entry to the Vaults
• Vaults - no entry to either Endless Rooms or Mausoleum
• 10 Maze
• 11 Grottos (small caves) 
• Pools of Chaos*, normal connections Burrows and Caverns, transporter pools to various other dungeon level locations on a one-way basis.
• 12 Caves 
• Burrows - connecting to the level below, and Caverns
• 13 Caverns
• 14 Lightless Lake
• 15 Little Inferno
• 16 Zagyg's Zone (or some such name).

The Floor Plans Would have been Made New

The plan is to create entirely new maps, so none of the areas in the castle and dungeons will ever have been previously explored. #3249 

Of course there won't be transporter gates to existing modules, but we will probably have them with suggested destinations. #4516

The Storerooms, level 1 of the dungeon, seem to be embedded in a new "mouths of madness" and upper works setting, but they seem to match very closely the map of the old first level of the expanded dungeon, matching descriptions on many points, and matching an older map. So I think, alternations and adjustments to the maps would have been minor.

Mysteries Would Have Remained Mysteries

Finally, we will not give all away. Where there are great mysteries involved, such as the Great Stone Face and the Disappearing Jeweled Man, we plan to offer the GMs several possible answers :D Overall, the PCs adventuring in the dungeons will encounter the same challenges as faced the original delvers in 1972 and onwards, that Robilar discovered and Mordenkainen met. #1995

Rob Dropping Out 

As Rob adventured a lot in my original castle, I in his, and we also co-DMed groups, we knew each others style, and what the castle should "feel" like, what the mysterious areas were all about, etc.

Working without him means I have to a great deal additional explanatory material for the growing list of special encounters I have on hand, expend a lot of time communication with another writer or team of same, carefully content edit each piece of the project. #6182

As a matter of fact, Rob Kuntz and I have parted company since he reneged on his agreement to co-develop the Castle Zagyg campaign project material, doing so in a most ungentlemanly manner. I was taken aback at that since he originally approached me to do the work and then agreed to terms set forth in a written agreement, accepted an advance payment. All I can assume is that he is going through some rough personal times. [11]

Large parts of the text actually written by Stephen Chenault of Troll Lord Games

When I was developing Castle Zagyg for Gary, I was unabashed in my efforts to include CAS elements to the whole, including Tsathoggua-like gargoyles in the ruins in front of the castle; also, in "The Storerooms" a certain sorcerer who sequestered himself behind a series of illusions, and if the illusions were overcome (I'm looking at you, Ro(a)bilar!"), the sorcerer would place a geas on the intruders, directing them to confront the hill giant of the Storerooms (which could be an insurmountable task for low level PCs); and lastly (to my recollection), in the basement of the castle proper their was a summoning chamber carved of yellow ivory. Well, these are the CAS elements that immediately spring to mind, and Gary was not opposed to any of these, though I think he may have passed (i.e. post March 2008) before I developed the yellow ivory summoning chamber. Anyway, he may not have been as big a CAS fan as Rob is, but he certainly did not dislike him. [42.5, CAS = Clark Ashton Smith, RJK's favourite fantasy author]

[References: see Greyhawk References]