Hiya Gary---
Sorry for the slow reply, I was in NJ for my brother Phil's wedding, and just got back at the end of last week.
Col_Pladoh said:
As a matter of fact the plan is to create entirely new maps, so none of the areas in the castle and dungeons will ever have been previously explored. 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. There will be "side levels" that are difficult to find too.
That sounds good. Out of curiosity, why are you planning to redesign the levels? From what I understand, from comments you and Rob have made before, they're pretty much 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of graph paper, right? Are you planning to expand/contract the levels, combine existing levels into larger ones, etc.?
We plan to broadly theme levels, based on inhabitants or major feature of the area.
Sounds good.
To say more rather takes away from the object of the work--to explore and discover what is there, survive and best the challenges, and carry forth rewards.
Oh, of course---sorry, I don't want to reveal/learn spoilers by any means, since I'm hoping to find someone to run the levels for me vs. me reading them as my first experience of them!
As for the original dungeons we devised, there were a couple of levels that were pretty much shunned, but to the best of my recollection every one of the 40-some in the dungeons was explored to some extent. The prototypical Plant Master's area was entered by one of my PCs--and a couple of other players' characters too, but I don't remember any names after 30 years and a single visit.
Thanks for the details, as always
While I was in NJ, I found an old TSR shipping box that I thought I had lost years ago. In it, amongst other treasures, were my letters to/from you and also Rob c. 1987-88. You were still running NIPI at the time, and Rob was still immersed in Creations Unlimited. Did you recall publishing a "Realms of Adventure" newsletter after #2? I found my copies of #s 1 and 2 (which, ironically, I had literally just replaced the week before...), and was curious about any others you may have produced. I also found my refund letter for the cancelled NIPI Necropolis; did you have other NIPI rpg projects that were never published but that might see the light of day at some point?
