I like the talk about backgrounds. Keep it up. It will give me ideas to use.
I've been working on making this a great campaign. I've been studying the adventure and preparing editable maps that I will be able to present as attachments. I've also been reading up on the history of the area in the interest of making the world as rich and detailed as possible. Greyhawk is my favorite setting for many reasons, and Maure Castle is one of them. There are so many dungeons with a lot of story attached to them. The original Maure Castle was a dungeon crafted by Rob Kuntz for the original D&D group (of which Gary Gygax was a player). In fact, Gary Gygax once said that Rob Kuntz, who is also the author of the 3.5 version of the adventure, was the best DM there ever was. High praise from the father of the game!
Anyway, as I have been getting deeper into this adventure, I've realized that there are some truly scary and tricky encounters. Kuntz is a masterful writer and crafter of puzzles, traps, and mysteries. Prepare yourselves to be truly challenged by this brilliant scenario. However, because of the perceived difficulty, I have rethought my policy on the Magic Item Compendium and Spell Compendium. There really is a smorgasbord of new items, monsters, and challenges in this adventure and they will really tax your characters' abilities. With that in mind, I have decided to allow you to re-examine some of your choices and present some "wish list" items from the MIC and SC with the following guidelines.
1) Vertexx69 and Thanee may submit a list of spells from the Spell Compendium for my approval. Vertexx69 may select a number of spell levels equal to his character's ranks in Knowledge (religion). Thanee may select a number of spell levels equal to her character's ranks in Knowledge (arcana). For example, if you have ten ranks, you could select ten levels worth of spells, such as two 1st-level spells, two 2nd-level spells, and one 4th-level spell.
2) All players may submit a list of items from the Magic Item Compendium for my approval. Reference the appropriate level guide for each item (given in the appendix) and select a total of twelve levels worth of items. For example, you could select two 3rd-level items and one 6th-level item, or you could even just select one 12th-level item.
3) I have already approved a few additional items. These do not count against your selections for 1) or 2).
Everything is fair game and I will consider each item based on whether I feel it is appropriate for the character and the campaign.
Also, get ready for a tough dungeon. You'll have to think on your feet and be prepared to deal with all sorts of challenging situations besides combat. Rob Kuntz is an old-school writer. He likes tricks, traps, and mind-bogglers, and it shows in this adventure. But you should also prepare to have a blast, because this is one of the best adventures for 3.5 ever written, and I've read a LOT of them.
