Treebore
First Post
From Steve of Troll Lord Games:
1) Why the shape/size of Zagyg has seemingly changed.
When originally contracted. TLG was told there were seven “PARTS” that would comprise the Setting, Castle and Dungeon. These included the setting, castle and 5 dungeon levels. The levels comprise MULTIPLE sub-levels, many of which were not at all fleshed out. At this point we hadn’t any experience with boxed sets (and many retailers were saying they couldn’t sell them...oh were they wrong on that) so I (that is ME, Steve Chenault) after talking briefly with Gary, Rob and Davis, made the decision to set the series at 7 books with the intention of creating a slip sleeve for the whole series that would be large enough for an 8th book of notes, maps and indexing.
This decision was made without looking at the material Gary and Rob had. It was based off the number of titles presented and how Gary and Rob planned to turn the material over to me. The length of each book wasn’t important. I can go down to as low as 90 pages on a hardback or as high as 120 (the max we set for the Dungeon books). That is why no SET price nor SET length was established for any one volume. Only the covers were laid out.
Rob petitioned about six months ago to change the format into something more user friendly. Gary seconded that. Hardbacks would not allow easy access to the multiple number of maps that each project has (some 50 for the Castle (see below for more)). They convinced me that some other type of format was necessary so we began to abandon the 6 follow on volumes. It had nothing to do with truncating the text but rather re-formatting the whole into one or two box sets.
Since Yggsburgh is out we are looking at the final six books. How to produce them is still on the table. We have not decided. No decision has been made. But we are pretty certain (as Gary and Rob advised) that we are abandoning the 6 hard backs and going with boxed sets. The Castle will not be a problem. It should fit in its one box with ease. But I honestly cannot see how the Dungeons can fit into one box set. They are expansive. We may put the Castle and the first two Dungeon books into one box...? Who knows. Until I have a chance to look over the material more closely I cannot say and right now 42 gazillion other things are demanding my attention (Gary is constantly revising his work and Peter is still dutifully working over the Castle Maps though, so work progresses).
2) The varying number of maps
You guys are just crazy with this stuff. There are multitudes of maps. One level does not equate to One map. No way in heck. The Castle level alone has about 50 (that is what Gary is talking about with the original 15/16). BUT those 50 are all taken from Gary’s original maps. Where Gary has a 30' round tower on one map, Rob and then Peter made that map into THREE maps because it has THREE levels. Gary didn’t spec it out. Why should he have. He knows what’s there.
There are 16 levels, and a further bunch of sublevels to the Dungeon. But again, some of these will require more than one map to show their various interactions....
3) Why nothing was turned in from Rob.
Rob is a very busy man with a growing/start up company of his own. I suspect most of the material Rob did work on was that which he was most familiar with . . . ie his copyrighted Castle material. This stuff will not be seen in the TLG publication. You’ll have to see his own company for that.
Beyond that I don’t even speculate. Its irrelevant to all but the sewing bee.
4) 13 districts
These mods were contracted AFTER Rob took over the Castle levels. Gary was directing it while Rob was managing the Castle affairs. The 13 district mods are largely finished (writing) and are soon to be heading toward editing etc etc
5) Why is Steve/Davis only now looking at all the material
Gary and Rob had this well under control. I didn’t ask Mike Stewart to send me all his text, maps etc for Verdant Rage before I put it in the line. He’s a good writer, creative adventures and fits the style. I don’t do Gary and Rob any differently. Since Rob has moved on, I offered Gary to help organize his notes. He accepted and here we are.
I hope that helps explain some of this. But trust us, what we are going to deliver is going to be Gary Gygax’s fully envisioned Castle Zagyg and Dungeons. Nothing cut, nothing shorted. There are no great conspiracies or behind the scenes dagger fights, but just a bunch of people trying to bring the best product to light.
Regards,
Steve
1) Why the shape/size of Zagyg has seemingly changed.
When originally contracted. TLG was told there were seven “PARTS” that would comprise the Setting, Castle and Dungeon. These included the setting, castle and 5 dungeon levels. The levels comprise MULTIPLE sub-levels, many of which were not at all fleshed out. At this point we hadn’t any experience with boxed sets (and many retailers were saying they couldn’t sell them...oh were they wrong on that) so I (that is ME, Steve Chenault) after talking briefly with Gary, Rob and Davis, made the decision to set the series at 7 books with the intention of creating a slip sleeve for the whole series that would be large enough for an 8th book of notes, maps and indexing.
This decision was made without looking at the material Gary and Rob had. It was based off the number of titles presented and how Gary and Rob planned to turn the material over to me. The length of each book wasn’t important. I can go down to as low as 90 pages on a hardback or as high as 120 (the max we set for the Dungeon books). That is why no SET price nor SET length was established for any one volume. Only the covers were laid out.
Rob petitioned about six months ago to change the format into something more user friendly. Gary seconded that. Hardbacks would not allow easy access to the multiple number of maps that each project has (some 50 for the Castle (see below for more)). They convinced me that some other type of format was necessary so we began to abandon the 6 follow on volumes. It had nothing to do with truncating the text but rather re-formatting the whole into one or two box sets.
Since Yggsburgh is out we are looking at the final six books. How to produce them is still on the table. We have not decided. No decision has been made. But we are pretty certain (as Gary and Rob advised) that we are abandoning the 6 hard backs and going with boxed sets. The Castle will not be a problem. It should fit in its one box with ease. But I honestly cannot see how the Dungeons can fit into one box set. They are expansive. We may put the Castle and the first two Dungeon books into one box...? Who knows. Until I have a chance to look over the material more closely I cannot say and right now 42 gazillion other things are demanding my attention (Gary is constantly revising his work and Peter is still dutifully working over the Castle Maps though, so work progresses).
2) The varying number of maps
You guys are just crazy with this stuff. There are multitudes of maps. One level does not equate to One map. No way in heck. The Castle level alone has about 50 (that is what Gary is talking about with the original 15/16). BUT those 50 are all taken from Gary’s original maps. Where Gary has a 30' round tower on one map, Rob and then Peter made that map into THREE maps because it has THREE levels. Gary didn’t spec it out. Why should he have. He knows what’s there.
There are 16 levels, and a further bunch of sublevels to the Dungeon. But again, some of these will require more than one map to show their various interactions....
3) Why nothing was turned in from Rob.
Rob is a very busy man with a growing/start up company of his own. I suspect most of the material Rob did work on was that which he was most familiar with . . . ie his copyrighted Castle material. This stuff will not be seen in the TLG publication. You’ll have to see his own company for that.
Beyond that I don’t even speculate. Its irrelevant to all but the sewing bee.
4) 13 districts
These mods were contracted AFTER Rob took over the Castle levels. Gary was directing it while Rob was managing the Castle affairs. The 13 district mods are largely finished (writing) and are soon to be heading toward editing etc etc
5) Why is Steve/Davis only now looking at all the material
Gary and Rob had this well under control. I didn’t ask Mike Stewart to send me all his text, maps etc for Verdant Rage before I put it in the line. He’s a good writer, creative adventures and fits the style. I don’t do Gary and Rob any differently. Since Rob has moved on, I offered Gary to help organize his notes. He accepted and here we are.
I hope that helps explain some of this. But trust us, what we are going to deliver is going to be Gary Gygax’s fully envisioned Castle Zagyg and Dungeons. Nothing cut, nothing shorted. There are no great conspiracies or behind the scenes dagger fights, but just a bunch of people trying to bring the best product to light.
Regards,
Steve
