Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk - got it!

[meomwt]

Robilar's betrayal of his best friend Mordenkainen _was_ out of character, and has never been adequately described. Rary's motives were given a minute's attention in a product farmed out to a random freelancer, and thus was born yet another pointless fault line in Greyhawk's fandom. There is no reason for past hackwork to intentionally piss off the people who created the campaign setting. It's bad business, for one.

Whilst I can understand your frustration with the way both Rary and Robilar were portrayed in the post-Greyhawk Wars era, the defection of an arch-mage and a powerful warrior was a powerful way to illustrate the change in the game-world. Agreed, Rary's motives (the search for knowledge in the Bright Desert) are somewhat sketchy, and the location of the Scorpion Crown should be easy for him to discover, but it also provides a focus for changes in the dynamic around the Abbor-Alz/ Cairn Hills regions.

I tried to add a spin to the Robilar plot that allowed the setting to reclaim one of its most important characters in a way that purges lame backstory and moves the setting forward at the same time.

Its certainly a good thing to do, and piques my interest for certain (not that I wasn't going to buy this adventure, but still ). The return of Robilar "to the fold" will definately stir things up and make Rary's plans in The Bright Desert more tenuous.

Of course, as my Greyhawk campaigns are still immediately post-From the Ashes (CY588 in my latest game), it might be a while for this plot to kick in...

Anyway, I'm looking forward to picking this one up when it makes it over the pond.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

*moan*

... going into ... preview ... withdrawal ...

 

[demiurge1138]

Can anyone spoil what the other demiplanes included are, other than the Isle of the Ape? I'm guessing one is Dungeonland, but I can't think of what the third might be.

And how much of a write-up does each get?

I'm thinking Goodman Games' Forest of Lanterns might fit nicely in here as well.

Only two are truly demiplanes, although the Isle of the Ape has a "surprise" demiplane hidden inside it. The three featured planes are the Isle of the Ape (not nearly as bastardly as the original - PCs are still hot and diseased, but their equipment doesn't melt), Dungeonland, and Hollow's Heart, the layer of the Abyss belonging to Fraz'ub'uluu.

The surprise demiplane is

Spoiler

the Spheres of Thought, which is part of Zagyg's divine conciousness

.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shemeska]

Can anyone spoil what the other demiplanes included are, other than the Isle of the Ape?

Just because I know they're Erik's favorite demiplanes of all time, I'm absolutely certain that he would have included the Demiplane of Inferior Construction Materials, the Demiplane of Flowers and Other Green Things, and IIRC a Demiplane of Silly and Unused Monsters.



*ducks and runs from Mona*

 

[Erik Mona]

Whilst I can understand your frustration with the way both Rary and Robilar were portrayed in the post-Greyhawk Wars era, the defection of an arch-mage and a powerful warrior was a powerful way to illustrate the change in the game-world. Agreed, Rary's motives (the search for knowledge in the Bright Desert) are somewhat sketchy, and the location of the Scorpion Crown should be easy for him to discover, but it also provides a focus for changes in the dynamic around the Abbor-Alz/ Cairn Hills regions.

Nothing that we did in this book invalidates anything in this paragraph at all.

FYI.

--Erik

 

[T. Foster]

So, here's the big question (at least for me): for someone who doesn't play 3E D&D (never has) and who hasn't been following and couldn't care less about Greyhawk "canon" from 1987 on (as far as I'm concerned Rary was a joke-name character created by Brian Blume who was only played in a handful of sessions and never did anything significant), but who's a big fan of the old Gygax-Kuntz Greyhawk and loves reading stories about folks in Lake Geneva plumbing the depths of this Castle back in the early 70s, is this book a worthwhile purchase? In other words, does the Castle as described in this module feel more like the stories from the 70s or like the (ultra-lame) 2E Greyhawk Ruins (I realize that the 3-tower structure comes from the latter; I'm more concerned with what lies underneath that...)?

 

[haakon1]

As much as I like most of 3.x Greyhawk products, I kind of disapointed with the editorial choices. It seems that they are doing, in the best Marvel comics style, a return to the original setting by undoing all modifications introduced later. I think it is kind of boring to have a setting that refuses to change.

Yes undoing FtA would be like having Han Solo shoot first again . . .

 

[haakon1]

To stick with your comics analogy, splitting Superman into red and blue electricity twins might be an interesting storyline for a while, but eventually you get him back into the costume that people are interested in and that stays true to the roots of the character.

Greyhawk without 2nd edition randomizations is like Superman without the Wonder Twins as sidekicks.

To mix cartoons:

"Form of . . . an ice gazebo!" -- Wonder Twin

"I waste it with my crossbow." -- Erik Mona as a Knight of the Dinner Table, restoring all that is right and just in Greyhawk

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I saw it at Barnes and Noble, I failed my Will save. It's in my hands and I've read it through twice now.

 

[grodog]

I just picked mine up @ B&N too, and hope to read some on the plane tomorrow. I still have to finish some pregen PCs, so I'm back to that