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• They don't intend to print Gary's notes, as his wishes were they not to be published.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.

 

[Riley]

I own both Yggsburgh and The Upper Works (apparently I preordered that through "FRP Games" for a mere $23.95!), but I am still thrilled to see this re-release.

And then perhaps on to The Dungeons!?!

 

[teitan]

My point still stands. IMO the game needs new stuff. Stuff we haven't seen before (whenever it was created). Catering to the grognards like me will not grow new players. Or am I wrong and new players are flocking to old school content?

And the revenue the second hand market generates on a very limited quantity doesn't mean their is enough demand to justify re-publishing. Maybe it does, but all alone it doesn't mean there is enough demand to justify publishing numbers (though admittedly low run prints are much more affordable than they used to be).

It was a short release originally and very quickly hard to find once GG pulled the permission. There is a demand for the reprint and after so long a reprint is needed to lay the foundation for what’s left to publish from it.

 

[timbannock]

My brother had a copy of the Upper Works on pre-order from TLG. Sadly he wasn't one of the lucky ones to get his mailed out before the estate shut it all down.

I thought Yggsburgh was all right. What we all really wanted was the dungeons. Has Luke or anyone from TLG given an indication of how much material exists that wasn't released?

They played coy, even back when Upper Works was released. But I very specifically recall Jeff Talanian stating that they were "deep into" the next few levels.

They clearly already had an overview of all the levels -- see the list above in this thread of what sets were announced -- and hopefully with publishing schedules being what they are, Talanian was at least a level or two ahead by the time Upper Works was finally published.

 

[darjr]

They played coy, even back when Upper Works was released. But I very specifically recall Jeff Talanian stating that they were "deep into" the next few levels.

They clearly already had an overview of all the levels -- see the list above in this thread of what sets were announced -- and hopefully with publishing schedules being what they are, Talanian was at least a level or two ahead by the time Upper Works was finally published.

They also have Gary’s notes.

Oh and apparently had conversations with Gary. He talked to them, ostensibly about the rules set, but I surmise it waxed about the dungeon as well.

I hope they took good notes.

 

[adamantyr]

They played coy, even back when Upper Works was released. But I very specifically recall Jeff Talanian stating that they were "deep into" the next few levels.

They clearly already had an overview of all the levels -- see the list above in this thread of what sets were announced -- and hopefully with publishing schedules being what they are, Talanian was at least a level or two ahead by the time Upper Works was finally published.

Yeah, I remember that.

I also remember thinking that Gary seemed... reluctant to actually publish the dungeons. Possibly because his original notes had a lot of zany stuff that he didn't necessarily want shared out in publication. I think Rob Kuntz was brought on to the project at one point as well?

 

[darjr]

Yeah, I remember that.

I also remember thinking that Gary seemed... reluctant to actually publish the dungeons. Possibly because his original notes had a lot of zany stuff that he didn't necessarily want shared out in publication. I think Rob Kuntz was brought on to the project at one point as well?

Yea. He’s also published pieces of it. Like the troll lords did under a different set of names. Sort of.

 

[Nikosandros]

Yeah, I remember that.

I also remember thinking that Gary seemed... reluctant to actually publish the dungeons. Possibly because his original notes had a lot of zany stuff that he didn't necessarily want shared out in publication. I think Rob Kuntz was brought on to the project at one point as well?

Rob was part of the project for a while, but I think that he was more interested in publishing the notes and less in re-working the material which is what Gary preferred and he left after a while.

 

[Nikosandros]

Yea. He’s also published pieces of it. Like the troll lords did under a different set of names. Sort of.

True. And to make matters even more confusing, he did contribute to the Castle Zagyg project by publishing Dark Chateau.

 

[adamantyr]

Rob was part of the project for a while, but I think that he was more interested in publishing the notes and less in re-working the material which is what Gary preferred and he left after a while.

That was it, thanks!

I think part of it also was that us, the audience, were intensely frustrated at the wait for the actual dungeons. A dungeon we could immediately use in ANY setting, in any campaign. Even the Upper Works is largely redone material we'd already seen in the older TSR products.

I really hope the Dungeons do exist as a product and just never made it to the printer.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I remember that.

I also remember thinking that Gary seemed... reluctant to actually publish the dungeons. Possibly because his original notes had a lot of zany stuff that he didn't necessarily want shared out in publication. I think Rob Kuntz was brought on to the project at one point as well?

I mean, the iron was hot in about 1982 for it...would love to see more of what he had, though.