Castle Zagyg cover art

[Ourph]

Let me get this straight, SEVEN volumes, at $29.95 a pop???

My enthusiasm has been sharply curbed.

Twowolves Howling

The first volume (Yggsburgh) is significantly larger than the others because it establishes an entire campaign area. Subsequent volumes may be considerably less expensive (and smaller).

 

[Sandain]

My current Greyhawk Campaing is set 1000's of years in the past and is about to end with the invoked devastation and rain of colorless fire and the first defeat of Vecna. I am hoping my next camping can start 1000 in the future when Greyhawk city was a small town (knows as Yggsburg?)

I think may be exactly what I am looking for.

 

[Twowolves]

The first volume (Yggsburgh) is significantly larger than the others because it establishes an entire campaign area. Subsequent volumes may be considerably less expensive (and smaller).

According to the website, each and every volume is tentatively priced at $29.95.

And no, it's not a campaign setting, it's a dungeon crawl, albeit a massive one. It details a castle and the dungeon underneath, not whole continents, cultures, organizations, pantheons, races, etc etc. Comparison to something like Forgotten Realms or Scarred Lands is an "apples to oranges" arguement.

Twowolves Howling

 

[T. Foster]

The first volume (Yggsburgh) is significantly larger than the others because it establishes an entire campaign area. Subsequent volumes may be considerably less expensive (and smaller).

Well, technically the TLG page is claiming volumes II-VII will be 180pp and $29.95 each (vol. I is 240pp and $29.95), but since vol. II-VII haven't actually been written yet (except for maps and assorted notes, some of them 30+ years old) those are essentially just guesses by TLG. Remember, Castle Zagyg was originally billed as an 8-volume series, until the manuscript for vol. II ("Dark Chateau" by Rob Kuntz) was turned in and was closer to 32pp than 180. So I'd imagine things are still subject to change.

 

[gideon_thorne]

And no, it's not a campaign setting, it's a dungeon crawl, albeit a massive one. It details a castle and the dungeon underneath, not whole continents, cultures, organizations, pantheons, races, etc etc. Comparison to something like Forgotten Realms or Scarred Lands is an "apples to oranges" arguement.

Certainly an 'area' setting. There is a great deal more to it than just a 'dungeon crawl' though. The detailing involves not just the dungeon and the castle but as well the 1500 square mile area and the peoples and cultures therein.

Thus:

Yggsburgh, Castle Zagyg Vol. I, consists of the town of Yggsburgh and its Environs, which include the town of Garham and 53 different geographic locales, each with their own peculiarities and adventures. The map charts over 1500 square miles of adventuring terrain, allowing the inclusion of Yggsburgh and Environs into almost any fantasy campaign setting. Each geographic locale has one or more adventures associated with it, offering hundreds of different plots, themes and escapades players can take their characters on.

The town of Yggsburgh itself compries over 50 encounter areas, including the famed Outs Inn, and 200 non-player characters. Each encounter area has adventure plots and themes to explore. When combined with the adventures to be had in the environs Yggsburgh, Castle Zagyg Vol I, offers hundres of adventures to keep players busy for years to come.


What you will find within Yggsburgh, Castle Zagyg Vol. I:

Full Color (16" x 22") Map of the Environs of Yggsburgh

Full Color (16" x 22") Map of the town of Yggsburgh

Nine Black and white maps of areas of interst

250+ Non-Players Characters

20 Random Encounter and Event Tables

50 Random Encounters, offering hundreds of adventure venues

Orders of Battle for everything from goblins to Knights

New Magic Items

New Spells

The Common Names of Yggsburgh
Over 1000 adventures characters can undertake, from set piece adventures, such as the Cursed Mines, to loosely described adventures left to the Castle Keeper to develop.

 

[Troll Lord]

Series

Foster's on target here concerning price, page count etc. Though much of the mss have actually been written, what Gary turns over to TLG in the end as the final mss for Vols II-VI are not certain at all. He wants to playtest them, rework them and make certain that everything is crossed and dotted. I've talked to him at great lengths about this and suspect each manuscript will be over 100 pages long, but how much more I cannot say. Prices will be determined with each product. I should clarify that on the web page, that both page count and prices are estimated. I'll try to get that later.

And the first book is the setting book, the other six the dungeons. In a strict definition of the term campaign setting twowolves is right. But in a more general sense this is a setting in that there are plenty of locales and areas of adventure with accompanying NPCs beyond the that presented with the forthcoming dungeon. Its just smaller than FR or GH or Erde...but is designed to be placed inside any of those larger settings.

Steve
Troll Lord Games

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

These books will be dual-statted, yes?

EGG has said he doesn't care for 3E -- who's handling the D&D stats for everything?

 

[gideon_thorne]

These books will be dual-statted, yes?

EGG has said he doesn't care for 3E -- who's handling the D&D stats for everything?

Stats are for C&C only AFAIK, actually. Shouldn't be very hard to convert anything though.

 

[Samuel Leming]

It may be some time before the other volumes are published, though, due to EGG's health problems.

I suppose somebody's got to ask this.

Does anyone know if Troll Lord Games has made any contigency plans for completing this thing if EGG... is unable to finish Castle Zagyg?

Sam

 

[Mythmere1]

My sense, especially from reading the preview, is that in terms of campaign setting this is a small, modular setting with huge numbers of adventures within and one big (massive) dungeon at the center. The same structure as "Keep on the Borderlands," but in a larger area, with more hooks and detail.

TLG has a history of keeping price low. The Castles & Crusades hardback, for example, is $20. If TLG kept with the rest of the market, they would have jacked up the price another $10 of pure profit. And it's actually a sturdier book than anything except the WotC core books. When they say the pricing will be determined later, they've got a track record of credibility on this.

It should be quite convertible - C&C uses the same monster set as D&D (so you can reference a 3x MM for details). It's slightly easier to convert from 3x to C&C than vice versa, but there's a converse advantage. The C&C stat block is far shorter than a d20 one, so MUCH more of the book will be devoted to actual material than 3x players will anticipate.