Will Gygax’s Castle Greyhawk finally be published?

Almost two decades ago, Troll Lord Games ("TLG") began working with Gary Gygax to produce a version of his legendary “Castle Greyhawk” – renamed (for legal reasons) “Castle Zagyg” ("CZ"), after the mad wizard who created it. TLG began this grand endeavour by publishing a few new things concerning the surrounding (“not-Greyhawk”) territory, such as a regional folio and a large hardcover book describing the city of Yggsburgh. I purchased all the CZ products back in the day. Unfortunately, like most TLG products, they were quite poorly edited. Moreover, they weren’t directly based upon the original setting from the early 1970s, and were not especially noteworthy in my view (even ignoring the editing problems). Nonetheless, there was the promise that the famous dungeon would eventually appear, albeit in a modified “updated” form.

In 2008 Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works box set was published. It was co-authored by Jeffrey Talanian, as Gygax was in ill health at this point. My understanding (perhaps incorrect) is that Talanian was using Gygax’s notes and consulting regularly with him on the overall development of the dungeon, not just the initial box set. 

To my relief, Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works was reasonably well-done. I still own it and think that it’s a solid product. (For an informative and interesting PDF review by Greyhawk expert Grodog, go here.) But tragically, Gygax passed away in 2008, and the license for CZ subsequently was pulled from TLG. My understanding is that there was enough material completed by this time to produce further products in the line, but none of it would see the light of day.

Recently, though, TLG received permission to republish the Yggsburgh hardback, as well as some other things by Gygax. And now the green light has been given for them to develop and publish the rest of “Castle Zagyg”!

You can read the announcement from the TLG here.

Upon reading the announcement, two things stood out to me. 

First, it looks like the 2008 box set will not be republished, at least not in its original format. The Trolls write: “We’ve not yet settled on an organizational format but have settled on hardcover books with pockets in the back to hold the many maps that will come with this set.” Since the box set included the “Mouths of Madness” (it was one booklet among five), at least part of it will be published again. Perhaps the other five booklets will be part of the “Castle Ruins” volume (CZ Volume II)? (In any case, I’m [rather selfishly] pleased that the box set will not be republished, as it ensures that it will remain a rare “collector’s item” in the future.)

Second, while (I assume) it’s a good thing that Luke Gygax and James Ward are involved, as they have knowledge of the original dungeon, I did not see Jeffrey Talanian mentioned. Perhaps he was invited to take part in the resurrected project but declined, given that his focus these days presumably is on his own Hyperborea game. But if they are drawing upon the work that Talanian did with Gygax, I would think that he would get credit for that and be mentioned, no? It certainly would dampen my interest in this project if the team now working on it plans to ignore the work on the dungeon that had been completed up to 2008.

In any case, I’ll keep my eye on this. I’m curious to see what comes of it. 

(The picture of Zagyg above is by Jeff Easley and appeared in Dragon #70.)

Update (January 30th): It turns out that Jeffrey Talanian will be consulting on the project. From the TLG "Worlds of Gary Gygax" webpage: "we will be consulting with family members such as Ernie and Luke Gygax, and long time friends like James M. Ward and Jeffrery Talanian to make these works as close to Gary’s vision as we can."

My apologies for missing this in my initial post.

Reflection on the Old School Renaissance

There’s a very interesting and detailed “historical look” at the Old School Renaissance (OSR) at the blog “Simulacrum: Exploring OSR Design.” It’s quite long and consists of five posts: part 1 (the 1^st edition-era AD&D adventure modules, and developments away from “old school” style play), part 2 (post-Gygaxian rules developments in AD&D), part 3 (second edition AD&D), part 4 (3^rd edition D&D and the early OSR), and part 5 (the OSR over the past decade or so). I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the history of D&D and the OSR (but unless you have a free afternoon, you probably will not be able to read all five posts in a single sitting).

 

I was somewhat engaged in the OSR in its “early years” (this blog is on the list of “pivotal early OSR blogs” in part 5 of the “historical look”). I even have a post at Dragonsfoot in what I believe is the first thread in which the term “Old School Renaissance” was used (coined – appropriately enough – by an anonymous poster). (However, T. Foster referred to the “Old School Revival” in an amazingly prescient post a year earlier [2004].)

 

After a decade away from D&D (and relatively little in the way of other RPG activity during that time, despite frequent visits to gaming shops), 3^rd edition lured me back in 2001. But by 2004 I had DM’ed two campaigns with 3^rd edition D&D and had come to find it rather tedious. Once the characters reached 6^th or 7^th level (which took about 10-11 months in my groups, as I was deliberately giving out “stingy” rewards in order to keep things sane) the game simply became a joyless chore. My experiences did not match the fun I remembered having during the 1980s. (I also was a fan of Middle-earth Roleplaying back in the day – indeed, as much of a fan as I was of AD&D. But MERP had gone away with ICE’s loss of the Middle-earth license in 1999, and Rolemaster had evolved into a rules-heavy behemoth in its “Standard System” edition. Of course, I could’ve played MERP again anyway. But I did not consider that option at the time.)

 

So, disillusioned with 3e, I began looking for something different...

 

I was an early Castles and Crusades enthusiast, especially when it promised to be a vehicle for the publication of Gary Gygax’s Castle Zagyg (a version of his original Castle Greyhawk mega-dungeon). That project proceeded quite slowly, alas, and only saw one release directly related to the mythical dungeon: Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works (co-authored by Jeffrey Talanian). Then Gygax shuffled off this mortal coil, at which time the entire project ended. (I still have that box set, which I believe is now quite valuable, along with the other CZ-related products – all carefully packed in a box in storage somewhere. For an excellent, comprehensive review of The Upper Works, see this one by Grodog.) But I eventually drifted away from C&C. One reason was the end of Castle Zagyg. Another, entirely independent of the system itself, was the terrible editing by Troll Lord Games. While Upper Works was fine, almost everything else I read from them (including the core rulebook) was simply too badly edited for me to enjoy.

 

During this same period, fortunately, I also had dusted off and reacquainted myself with 1^st edition AD&D, B/X D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia D&D, and the like. I played in some online (play-by-post) 1e AD&D games (in a Greyhawk one as a cleric of Trithereon). Unlike C&C, this interest in AD&D and D&D persisted. Then came along OSRIC (the 1e AD&D clone), Labyrinth Lord (the B/X D&D clone), Swords & Wizardry (the 0e D&D clone), the fanzines, and so forth. The OSR was well underway – and I signed on.

 

This blog started out as a place for me to talk about old school D&D/AD&D-based games, including especially Swords & Wizardry. I contributed articles to Knockspell and Fight On! back in the day. Having reread many of R. E. Howard’s “Conan” and “Kull” stories in the years immediately before I started this blog, I was interested in house-ruling S&W in order to play some “swords and sorcery” flavoured games. (Those house-rules remain available here; many were later incorporated into Crypts and Things.) I eventually became interested again in more “conventional” modes of play, including especially 1^st edition AD&D, and made a minor contribution back in 2013 to the OSRIC supplement Dangerous Dungeons (“background professions”). I also ran a brief AD&D campaign around that time (2013-14).

 

But I’ve drifted away from active participation in the “OSR scene” in recent years. I never was active on Google+. I sporadically followed what was happening through forums and blogs. But in terms of actual gaming, I have spent more time playing Mythras, Call of Cthulhu, Adventures in Middle-earth, and the like, over the past seven years or so.

 

However, I never abandoned my interest in “old school” Dungeons and Dragons. So I found part 5 of the “historical look” quite informative. It filled me in on what has been happening over the past several years. In a nutshell: it’s largely been fragmentation, decadence, and degeneracy.* I guess not paying attention was beneficial – at least for my mental health. (Unsurprisingly, the pre-OSR, old “old school” communities seem to be carrying on just fine.)

 

 * I should add some caveats to this generalization. An exception seems to be Old School Essentials, which is both quite recent and very much a "clone" of B/X D&D (even more so than Labyrinth Lord was). It seems to be enjoying quite a bit of success. Swords & Wizardry continues to be quite popular (indeed, I received the most recent "box set" edition last year). Crypts and Things continues to enjoy support. And material for AD&D/OSRIC continues to be created, including free material at Dragonsfoot (which of course started before the "OSR"). [Note added 14:35 ET 20 January 2022]