Castle Zagyg by Gary Gygax

[Treebore]

In Gary's thread here on ENWorld I asked him a week or two ago, in the most recently archived thread, how long it would take to get Castle Zagyg finsihed and out. He thinks they will all be out in roughly the next two years, even if his health gets worse.

I'm sorry those of you dedicated to 3E are cheating yourself out of this. This is one product line that I think you should put the "its not 3E, I don't want it" perspective aside. Hey, its your choice, and if you've read this, you've made what is called an informed choice.

I'm looking forward to reading more of this book later today. With an exceptional amount of eagerness!

 

[JoeGKushner]

excluding inventing D&D, I would say that this is indeed his Magnum Opus. Though some may like his world building books better.

Only problem with that comparission is that Gygax didn't write many of the World Building books eh? There just in the Gygax's series. You know, like Roget's Thesaurus isn't actually written by the original Roget?

 

[mcrow]

Only problem with that comparission is that Gygax didn't write many of the World Building books eh? There just in the Gygax's series. You know, like Roget's Thesaurus isn't actually written by the original Roget?

that's true, I had a brain fart.

At least D&D is his seminal work .. I apologize my use of terms, but I just checked them on wiki

both terms apply, it just depends on who you ask.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yggsburgh is a spectacular tome. It easily takes its place amidst the great cities of fantasy RPGs.

Now, when the Castle sourcebook arrives, that will be a wonderful day.

 

[Glyfair]

It's one of the reasons that I run pre-generated adventures instead of writing my own now. If I buy an adventure and have to stat it out myself then for me that's a waste of money. Great for all you C&C fans (and for the record I have no interest in C&C, the more evengelical fans have really turned me off and also there's a reason I stopped playing 2nd ED) but sucks for me I guess.

I'll wager there will be 3E conversions online eventually, unless Troll Lord is very strict about such things.

Sucks for you, I guess, but I actually have come to the conclusion that I'd rather just see a brief one-line suggestion about a character in a bought module than half a page of stats. When I buy a module, I want a good situation/story, with a few twists.

There seems to be two growing factions on ENWorld about what they want in a product. One feels they can do the "crunch" but buys things for the "fluff.' The other is the opposite, they feel they can do the "fluff" best, but want to buy a product for the "crunch." I'm a little of both, but lean towards the second, I can do fluff, but am always looking for ideas. I can do crunch, but I'd rather have the bulk of the work done and I'll tweak as needed.

As a recent convertee to Castles & Crusades I'm also glad to see this material - just got the order confirmation from Amazon on Yggsburgh this morning.

I considered picking this up during Troll Lord's "all books for $10" a couple of weeks ago, but decided I didn't really need another city. I did pick up the C&C book in case I needed it to convert Castle Zagyg.

 

[DaveMage]

In Gary's thread here on ENWorld I asked him a week or two ago, in the most recently archived thread, how long it would take to get Castle Zagyg finsihed and out. He thinks they will all be out in roughly the next two years, even if his health gets worse.

I really, really hope that this is true.

 

[Numion]

I'm sorry those of you dedicated to 3E are cheating yourself out of this. This is one product line that I think you should put the "its not 3E, I don't want it" perspective aside. Hey, its your choice, and if you've read this, you've made what is called an informed choice.

This is one consideration. Another is the overall quality - it doesn't bode well if it's riddled with typos :\

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I really, really hope that this is true.

Yeah, me too.

The Yggsburgh book does have tons of adventuring material in it, though, even though it doesn't detail the castle at all. It covers the town of Yggsburgh and the environs, which include smaller settlements, other castles, forests, marshes, et cetera. It's more than just a "city book." There are adventure hooks all through the book, ranging from one or two line suggestions to well-developed sites with maps and keys.

The map by Darlene is beautiful, and will bring back fond memories for anyone who used the old World of Greyhawk maps.

Anyway, it's very well done. My only quibble is some editing issues, but they're certainly not showstoppers.

 

[Treebore]

This is one consideration. Another is the overall quality - it doesn't bode well if it's riddled with typos :\

As I read more and more it bodes very very well.

This is a book with the same mind behind it that brought Dungeons and Dragons to the world. Us old schoolers will in a likelihood love this book, especially if you still enjoy reading through the original GH boxed set.

As for the "World" series, yes Gary didn't write much or any of them, but it is my understanding that he did "edit" them, which to me means even though he didn't write them, it is what he would have said if he had written it. Especially since he puts his name on it.

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, me too.

The Yggsburgh book does have tons of adventuring material in it, though, even though it doesn't detail the castle at all. It covers the town of Yggsburgh and the environs, which include smaller settlements, other castles, forests, marshes, et cetera. It's more than just a "city book." There are adventure hooks all through the book, ranging from one or two line suggestions to well-developed sites with maps and keys.

The map by Darlene is beautiful, and will bring back fond memories for anyone who used the old World of Greyhawk maps.

Anyway, it's very well done. My only quibble is some editing issues, but they're certainly not showstoppers.

Gary outright calls this a "Campaign Setting", and several times in the Foreword and various pages of the book , he says this is being written to be a contained campaign setting if the DM/CK wants to use it that way.

Definitely tons of ideas. Its great to see all these tables again. I don't agree with some values used, such as for wealth/social class level, but hey, Gary won't mind when I change them! In fact he would probably cheer and applaud!

I also love the details of titles and even the coloration and composition of devices of heraldry.

OK, I'm going back to reading more!