D&D General Luke Gygax Brings Back Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg

Luke Gygax is bringing back his father's creations starting with the Castle Zagyg, Yggsburgh Campaign Setting. Written by Gary Gygax and first published by Troll Lord Games in 2005 and dropped from publication in 2008. It is available now in preorder. The intent is to ship in September/October.

For the near future this is the first of three planned products, the second being The Hermit followed up by the Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds series, probably via Kickstarter or other crowdfunder, maybe in January. The executor of the estate seems to have granted access to just these things so far. If they do well then more will be available and Luke intends to get the entirety of the Castle printed.

If you preorder the Yggsburgh book you will get a PDF and a docx with conversion notes to D&D 5E. The book is as it was in 2008 and they currently intend to leave it that way, other than updating the PDF via new software, and change the logo on the cover and the product number on the spine.

They intend to make the PDF available as a separate product, via their store and DriveThrRPG.

This book uses Castles & Crusades as its system--you can get the 7th edition Player's Handbook in PDF for free.

Other items mentioned:

• They don't intend to print Gary's notes, as his wishes were they not to be published.
• They will see about other creations of Gary's if they can show the executor of the estate they are good stewards. Good sales will absolutely work towards that goal.
• Luke doesn't want to attach this to anything he's doing separately, like his own setting.
• Gord the Rogue books are also on the list of things they'd like to bring back.

Luke Gygax & Troll Lord Games SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Very exciting news for the gaming industry, gamers and anyone who is a fan of Gary Gygax and his works.

www.youtube.com

The transcript of the youtube video is in the spoiler block.

 

[Froderik]

That just seems lazy and disappointing.

I was primarily an AD&D guy back in the day. After being away from the hobby for three decades, I missed all of the post-TSR Gygax works, so I'm kind of thrilled to get an artifact from his last few years without paying collector's prices for it.

My impression from the announcement videos is that getting something out and in the hands of consumers as fast as possible is part of what's fueling their initial decision to not clean anything up. I also got the impression that cleaning up the old PDF (created in 20 year old software) without unintentionally destroying the existing layout of the book is also a concern. I think their decision to push this title out with very minor changes (catalog number...) is the right one in this particular case. IIRC, there was also a hint at possibly remastering this title later (TLG loves to redo their stuff) if this initiative to re-release Gygax' later works is deemed a success by his estate.

Of course the decision to re-release this book without corrections doesn't excuse TLG for its long history of releasing titles without properly editing them. I'm a fan of their work because much of their C&C catalog gives me the AD&D-feels from my youth, but I recognize that their enthusiasm for parallelizing the creation of (maybe too many) products at a feverish pace often results in products that needed just one or two more passes across an editor's desk.

 

[Queer Venger]

wait, doesn't Goodman Games do the old TSR modules (Keep on the borderlands, Lost cavern, isle of dread)??

 

[Staffan]

wait, doesn't Goodman Games do the old TSR modules (Keep on the borderlands, Lost cavern, isle of dread)??

This is not something that was ever published by TSR, but instead a refined version of Gary's home campaign from back in the day.

 

[darjr]

wait, doesn't Goodman Games do the old TSR modules (Keep on the borderlands, Lost cavern, isle of dread)??

They did/do. But they haven’t done a new old TSR adventure in a while. OAR has branched out the Jennel Jaquays work and soon Grimtooths.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

wait, doesn't Goodman Games do the old TSR modules (Keep on the borderlands, Lost cavern, isle of dread)??

TSR/WotC doesn't have any rights to the Castle Zagyg material. Look at what they've published as Castle Greyhawk over the years -- if they had any claim on the real stuff, we would have known decades ago.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I enjoyed Gord the Rogue back in the day. I reread a few of them a few months ago, and while they hadn't held up from a literary perspective, they were still good gaming reading.

That is a very gentle way of putting it. I oftentimes think about someone in 1985 picking up Saga of Old City after reading Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and how they might have reacted to the squalid and sordid second-rate Fafhrd and Grey Mouser tale. Not that Dragons of Autumn Twilight is without its faults, but I still find it a more enjoyable read than Saga of Old City.

 

[timbannock]

That is a very gentle way of putting it. I oftentimes think about someone in 1985 picking up Saga of Old City after reading Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and how they might have reacted to the squalid and sordid second-rate Fafhrd and Grey Mouser tale. Not that Dragons of Autumn Twilight is without its faults, but I still find it a more enjoyable read than Saga of Old City.

I'll take this a step farther: Saga was easily in the top 5 worst books I've ever read. Possibly top 3. Maybe...maybe even #1.

On the flip side, I find Yggsburgh to be a fantastic example of a decent-sized but still pretty contained hex map region and city all in one book, and Upper Works to be a far superior "castle ruins and dungeon" plus "caves of chaos pastiche" than anything before it, including Keep on the Borderlands. There's just so much more to it, and it's got a more interesting ecology and encounters. IMO, it's Gary's best adventure output ever. (NPC names notwithstanding.)

 

[Nikosandros]

I certainly won't try to argue that Saga is a well-written book. I don't think that DL is good literature either, but it is certainly written better.... and yet, in the end, I've enjoyed Saga more than the DL novels.

 

[Parmandur]

I'll take this a step farther: Saga was easily in the top 5 worst books I've ever read. Possibly top 3. Maybe...maybe even #1.

On the flip side, I find Yggsburgh to be a fantastic example of a decent-sized but still pretty contained hex map region and city all in one book, and Upper Works to be a far superior "castle ruins and dungeon" plus "caves of chaos pastiche" than anything before it, including Keep on the Borderlands. There's just so much more to it, and it's got a more interesting ecology and encounters. IMO, it's Gary's best adventure output ever. (NPC names notwithstanding.)

So, how closely can this be plugged into, say the 1984 Greyhawk box set? Pretty seamlessly, or lots of rough edges...?

 

[Nikosandros]

So, how closely can this be plugged into, say the 1984 Greyhawk box set? Pretty seamlessly, or lots of rough edges...?

I would say quite easily. The big city of Dunfalcon, which is name-dropped in the set, is clearly Greyhawk and it all fits rather well, at least with the Darlene map which is not too zoomed in.