Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk - got it!

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hooray for double posts!

 

[demiurge1138]

Questions:

1) How much takes place in the Free City?

2) Is this similar to EtUndermountain in that it's missions to locations within the ruins, or is it much more of a standard dungeon crawl?

3) What iconics appear in the adventure and what sort of role, generally, do they have?

4) Any new/new-to-this-edition crunch?

1) The Free City gets an entire chapter, and it's expected that the Green Dragon Inn is the home base of the adventurers throughout the module. Side-quests in the Free City occur throughout.

2) It is missions in locations in the ruins, but treats other layers of the dungeon as "wilderness", complete with random encounter tables and a few sample fleshed-out encounters and maps for terrain. An overview of all of the levels of Castle Greyhawk is given, though, with suggestions for what can be found there.

3) Mordenkainen and Robliar are both present in fairly ambiguous roles, and Iuz and Iggwilv are the main antagonists. The adventure also explains why Robilar has been acting "out of character" in Second Edition products, like "From the Ashes".

4) Stats for the aurumvorax and catobolgine demon, and a couple of new magic items.

Demiurge out.

 

[DemonKing]

Are the maps complete?

I only ask because the Undermountain maps stopped short in quite a few places (arghhh... how I regret wasting my money on that product) and I'm hoping this one doesn't have that problem.

Get ready for disappointment then...ala Undermountain there is a side cut-out map detailing the various dungeon levels beneath the three towers of Greyhawk ruins (which seem even *more* extensive than those in Undermountain, to me) - but only the ones players are expected to visit for the adventure are fully detailed.

Saying that it looks like a fun adventure where the dungeon adventuring (although extensive) will be broken up by considerable city-based exploration.

The whole thing is certainly drenched with Greyhawk lore though (in fact, it seems like almost anyone who's anyone gets a mention) and there is an opportunity to visit a couple of locations made famous in 1stEd Gary Gygax adventures towards the end of the quest.

There seems to be a good variety of encounters (most from the basic Monster Manual too, which probably evokes the 1st Ed. feel) and not too great a reliance on unusual source material (although I did see one prestige class from Dragon magazine).

BTW Some of the random encounter tables in the lower dungeon levels are not for the faint of heart. 1d4 Liches - ouch!

As far as the original 2nd Ed. Ruins of Greyhawk comparisons go, the basic layout of the towers and dungeon levels seems very similar, as do some of the more memorable dungeon features. Unfortunately I don't have my copy on hand so that's the best I can give you at the moment.

Fortunately it bears no resemblance at all to the 1st Ed. Castle Greyhawk adventure!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ooh, I've missed the aurumvorax. This sounds like a heck of a good book.

The approach to the dungeon sounds similar to the 3E Undermountain. I suspect the differing expectations will lead to very different reactions this time.

 

[meomwt]

3) Mordenkainen and Robliar are both present in fairly ambiguous roles, and Iuz and Iggwilv are the main antagonists. The adventure also explains why Robilar has been acting "out of character" in Second Edition products, like "From the Ashes".

Without too much of a spoiler, does this volume take Robilar out of The Bright Lands and pull him away from working with Rary?

 

[catsclaw227]

2) It is missions in locations in the ruins, but treats other layers of the dungeon as "wilderness", complete with random encounter tables and a few sample fleshed-out encounters and maps for terrain. An overview of all of the levels of Castle Greyhawk is given, though, with suggestions for what can be found there.

This is a pretty spot on two sentence description of the way the ruins are set up. I am going to really go through it --more than a skim -- tonight after work.

 

[Shadeydm]

Deleted useless post.

 

[RatPunk]

I stopped at my FLGS on Friday (that's Fiendish Local Gaming Store, in case you were wondering) and they had the audacity to not sell me a copy. They told me that they hadn't received it in yet, and swore that there were not copies stored in the back. Of course, they are fiends so I have my doubts as to their veracity.

Well, the actual street date of the book is tomorrow, so its a good possibility they weren't lying to you.

 

[catsclaw227]

Well, the actual street date of the book is tomorrow, so its a good possibility they weren't lying to you.

That's what I thought. I wonder why buy.com shipped mine out (standard shipping) and got it to me by last Friday?

Usually they ship things out on release date -- generally Tuesdays.

 

[TerraDave]

They finally have a decent preview:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070812a

But it would be great to hear more from those lucky few that have it.