Castle Yggsburgh used with D&D?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't have any particular desire to jump into C&C (sorry, Troll Lords), but seeing a big setting centered around a ginormous dungeon by EGG makes my palms itch. How portable is the setting to D&D? I know it's not statted for D&D, but is it mostly using monsters and characters I could duplicate (with a little bit of advance work) ahead of time? (i.e. "OK, we need 10 goblins and a level 2 wizard?")

 

[IronWolf]

I picked up Castle Zagyg Vol. 1 Yggsburgh on Sunday after having flipped through it on Saturday. I picked it up with intention to possibly use it with D&D rules. It doesn't look like its going to be any issue at all yet. Of course a lot of this book is dedicated to the nearby environs, so it has a fair amount of description of local areas, portions of government and traditions, etc. So its not like it has started outlining a Dungeon environ with loads of critters to convert to D&D. The book claims "Over 1000 Adventures and Adventures Ideas" inside. From my initial looks there are plenty of adventure hooks and ideas!

I am still getting into the meat of it, but my initial impression with Volume 1 is that there would be little issue using it with the D&D rules.

 

[PatrickLawinger]

Well, define "easy" ...

It is a great book, at least what I have read over so far, and is basically a DnD oriented book. It has all the info needed for running it with C&C but that is your question/problem I suppose.
It does not have d20 stat blocks for running it with a d20 based system such as DnD, AE, or whatever. This means you'd have to create stats for some things in order to deal with combat, etc.

Now, I don't think it would be that big a deal for some people, probably most on these boards really, but for others I can see that becoming a major pain.

If you don't mind having to come up with NPC stats, then I would call it pretty easy. Most of the monsters used in the book have equivalents in the MM that aren't that far off in power level to what is intended. I would suggest looking at the book, remember, I am a fan of the Trolls and deal with them a lot due to working with Necro. The fact that I write gaming material means that what I think might be easy to do, might not be easy for you.

Patrick

 

[haakon1]

I'm sure going to buy it.

As for compatibility with D&D, I'm thinking this is the City of Greyhawk as its master intended, with the names changed to protect the innocent.

The right city with off-brand rules is probably better than an official but lame version of the city with the official rules.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I'll definitely be picking it up. It's just too much of a gaming legend to ignore.

The Castles and Crusades rules are meant to be adaptable to any edition of D&D. The key thing you would have to worry about is combat, but otherwise it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[Henry]

As for compatibility with D&D, I'm thinking this is the City of Greyhawk as its master intended, with the names changed to protect the innocent.

I normally don't do "me too" posts, but this one's too good.

Correction: It WILL be the vision of Greyhawk and Castle Greyhawk, as Gygax and Kuntz envisioned it, this is the first step. It's as easy as porting any AD&D product to 3E, so take that as you will.

 

[Templeton580]

*

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Wait a minute Cutter XXIII, you're telling me that you edited this book but didn't receive a Contributor Copy? That's outrageous! Tell me who I can call to demand your copy of this pub!

Also, where you go live that you can't go to the store and get a check out your own copy? Greenland?

 

[Voadam]

Wait a minute Cutter XXIII, you're telling me that you edited this book but didn't receive a Contributor Copy? That's outrageous! Tell me who I can call to demand your copy of this pub!

Author's copies usually come months after publication IME.

 

[radferth]

C&C is closest to 1st ed D&D as far as stats go, with some D20 conventions (positive AC = good, attack bonuses). Should be just like porting any 1st or 2nd ed. module over.

Someone on some other board posted that they had heard Yggsburgh was actually based on Stoink in the Bandit Kingdoms, rather than Greyhawk. Don't know or care if this is true, but just thought I'd pass it along.