Tomb of Gyzaengaxx from Luke Gygax

Coming from Luke Gygax and Alphinius Goo is an adventure created as a tribute to D&D co-creater Gary Gygax. A boxed set, it includes books, poster maps, handouts, cards, and more, and encompasses both an adventure and a campaign setting.

The set is designed for various systems, including OSE (Old School Essentials), D&D 5E, and others.

The adventure itself is 60 pages, for 6th-8th level characters and tasks the PCs with discovering what happened to the long-missing archmage, 'Garold Gyzaengaxx' (no relation of course). The full set contains a 120-page setting book, a GM reference book, a 100-page lore book, and more.

Hear now of the horrendous, historic, and somewhat hilarious opening of the Tomb of Gyzaengaxx — what was once a keep where the great wizard, Garold Gyzaengaxx held sway. But some years past, Garold disappeared, and the keep became a place of much terrifying rumor. Indeed, many deadly monsters, puzzling traps, magical maladies, dark characters, and a most intriguing mystery may be found herein.

The Tomb of Gyzaengaxx is on Kickstarter now. The PDF version of the adventure comes in at $55, with the physical version at $65. The campaign setting is $135 digital or $150 physical. And for both, you're looking at $185 digital and $200 physical. There's also higher level pledges which come with autographed versions, and a seat at a convention game with the authors. It's not cheap, but you do get a ton of stuff. The Kickstarter has passed a quarter million dollars already with nearly a month left to go.

The set appears to be full of 'easter eggs' and nods to D&D's history, and even has NPCs based on various game creators--Ed Greenwood, Erol Otus, Tim Kask, Peter Adkison, and many more.

 

[DarkCrisis]

The big red flag here is the massive list of stretch goals. If you back this, don't expect to see it for a couple years.

It’s not even written yet and I believe they say delivery in 2025. So yeah don’t expect it anytime soon. Going to be atleast 12-18 months.

 

[Mannahnin]

Existing thread here:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-tomb-of-gyzaengaxx-coming-to-ks-soon-thoughts.702829/

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, besides the "I cant believe Ed Greenwood isnt playing Elminster", this looks like a fun setting.

The naming convention is a nice theme, and a nod to the founding players.

 

[billd91]

It’s not even written yet and I believe they say delivery in 2025. So yeah don’t expect it anytime soon. Going to be atleast 12-18 months.

I figure a substantial portion of it is already written. Professor DM was talking about having written (past tense) a contribution in his YouTube channel. And clearly some of the commissioned art is in place.

I hope they do well with it, but I'm personally so done with the game celebrity worship culture infusing this thing. I'll watch people who put on a good live play like Critical Role, Dimension20, or Glass Cannon Network. I'll check out games and materials by people with a good track record. I'll check out their seminars where they talk about their inspirations and how they work. I'd sit down and have a conversation over a pitcher of beer. But this just feels a bit over the top for me in the level of self-indulgence. At least I can say that this seems to be in better management hands than Ernie's Marmoreal Tombs kickstarter so I don't think the market into this kind of thing will be disappointed with the result or timeline. It's just far from being my cup of tea.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I figure a substantial portion of it is already written. Professor DM was talking about having written (past tense) a contribution in his YouTube channel. And clearly some of the commissioned art is in place.

I hope they do well with it, but I'm personally so done with the game celebrity worship culture infusing this thing. I'll watch people who put on a good live play like Critical Role, Dimension20, or Glass Cannon Network. I'll check out games and materials by people with a good track record. I'll check out their seminars where they talk about their inspirations and how they work. I'd sit down and have a conversation over a pitcher of beer. But this just feels a bit over the top for me in the level of self-indulgence. At least I can say that this seems to be in better management hands than Ernie's Marmoreal Tombs kickstarter so I don't think the market into this kind of thing will be disappointed with the result or timeline. It's just far from being my cup of tea.

The old guard having a hand in writing it is great IMO and the main reason Im here for it. Even the self insert characters is kind of neat (though I wish Weis did liek the others and make a self-insert instead of a totally made up NPC). Only thing I do find a tad off is Luke's whole family and his self insert as the main NPC but whatever it's his chance to be in a mega adventure honoring his dad and why not put your loved ones in it as well.

I do wish he and Ernie could collaborate. Being a Gary honor thing I think any and all of his kids should have a hand in it in some way. I wanted to check out Ernies megadungeon but I have not heard good things.

 

[General_Tangent]

Well that looks like a pretty impressive product but it does come at a premium price.

I'm seeing ads for it all over my socials so I wonder how much they're spending on advertising to promote it, quite a lot by the look of it.

Having an army of writers and editors should allow them to whip the manuscript into shape and ready for digital delivery in short order but like other people have said it's the stretch goals and trying to get this thing printed that might cause the shipping to slip.

 

[Alphinius Goo]

The $140 level tier includes a physical copy of the setting book and a physical copy of an "explorer's guide" not included in the $60 tier - but it also does not include the actual adventure (you'll have to pledge $190 to get it all in physical and digital format). Frankly, the reward tiers don't make much sense to me unless they're simply designed to drain wallets, which I realize is a cynical view... but i just can't think of any other reason to split up the content like that.

Hi J! Alphinius here. We wanted to allow folks to get the Adventure only and to keep that price as low as possible for all the materials we put in the package. Then we also wanted to put in place the campaign setting box and the explorer's guide as a package as they really do go together. That was the second option for folks who might just want the setting. Then, for folks who wanted to get all of it, we did the full bundle. That is the third option. With our materials the cost of production/art/etc... is very high. Much higher than most other products. But we believe that all the extras are worth it. It is a more premium product... and we understand that it might be a stretch for some. But the quality, we believe, makes it worth a little extra money. We really are not at all trying to drain wallets... Rather, we are trying very hard to make marvelous products that significantly enhance the game experience, enthrall players and make the preparation for a GM much easier.

 

[Alphinius Goo]

Well that looks like a pretty impressive product but it does come at a premium price.

I'm seeing ads for it all over my socials so I wonder how much they're spending on advertising to promote it, quite a lot by the look of it.

Having an army of writers and editors should allow them to whip the manuscript into shape and ready for digital delivery in short order but like other people have said it's the stretch goals and trying to get this thing printed that might cause the shipping to slip.

Hi General! We do produce more premium materials... but we believe that the game experience and the lessening of prep time for the GM is worth it. Sadly... we don't have an army of writers and editors. Indeed... this little company is our "side business".... but it is a lot of fun and we love the community we are building. And I truly believe our products are wonderful with much passion, care, and effort put into creating them.

 

[Alphinius Goo]

More info:

Gyzaengaxx Crowdfund - Gygax Tribute RPG Adventure

Join the "Tomb of Gyzaengaxx" crowdfunding campaign to explore a unique RPG adventure honoring Gary Gygax. Secure your collector's edition and exclusive rewards today!

shop.gooeycube.com

I haven't seen anyone talk about this here yet. Luke Gygax and friends are doing a box set classic style adventure in honor of his dad, Gary G.

I can't find much info yet but I'm guessing when the Kickstarter begins in a day or 2 there will be a flood of it.

I am SUPER pleased to see it's not only 5E but also OSE. I wonder if they consider the power levels when doing the conversion or just 3 goblins is 3 goblins. You know, plus 5E increased access to recovering HP and status ailments etc. Anyone ever compare a 1E and 5E versions of other dungeons/adventures and noticed a difference in the play style?

Anyways, an honest to goodness box set like the days of old full lead by a Gygax. Can't wait!

Oh and Ed Greenwood is involved and has a new Bard NPC that sounds kind of like Volo, named Rirandral. He posted about it on his Facebook. And much like Elminster, looks a lot like him.

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Thank you for the kind words, my friend. We are truly excited at crafting this adventure and the campaign setting with Luke and our other friends. We believe it will be amazing and will bring much joy to Game Masters and Players all over the world. And to honor Gary... and have all the legends that are a part of it being honored as well is truly wonderful. <3

 

[Alphinius Goo]

GooeyCube had an aggressive marketing person at their booth the last convention I attended - so much that I purposefully avoided their aisle on future passes through the exhibitor hall.
Just generally speaking - their products have a certain level of production that I don't need (especially considering the cost). Just going off memory ... "Here's an adventure. With all the tokens you need. And handouts - for anything that could possibly come up. And battlemats. And puzzle components. It covers one 1 level and costs what you'd want to spend on a mega-campaign adventure."
So, yeah, it's that sort of Beadle & Grimm style luxury product I'd never buy. Too much of a good thing gets in the way of running an adventure, if that makes sense.
Now that the Troll Lords have gotten the Gygax estate to resume releasing Gygax gaming products, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of this stuff, capitalizing on the name and legacy with premium products to entice us older gamers (with disposable income). The Trolls are already releasing something like an 8-volume Gygax library to this end. And it's probably not as good as half the stuff coming out from lesser known authors.

Hi Retreater... I'm sorry that you did not have a good experience with someone at our booth. We truly are trying to make some very special things here with extremely high production values and many wonderful additions that we do believe enhance the game. But as you know... we all must run the games that the friends at the table enjoy... and I totally understand your point of view. I remember the days of just graph paper and coins for characters and monsters. But today... I do enjoy terrain elements... handouts... etc... more. That said... I do know that is not for everyone. =)