grodog's Top 10 Favorite Greyhawk Adventures

On tonight's Gabbin #353 "The Top Published Greyhawk Adventures!" show, Jay Scott, Anna Meyer, and Mike Bridges feature Erik Mona, Carlos Lising, and Joe Bloch as guests (with others to be announced during the show) to discuss their favorite Greyhawk modules of all time.*  

My favorites rankings have slowly evolved over time (two different links there), as I've revisited various classics and my assessments of them:  D3 and L1 rose through such reconsiderations, while G3, WG4, and S4 lost some ground when considered as adventures first and sine qua non, rather than for their introductions of seminal new monsters or magic items, etc.

For my top favorite Greyhawk modules lists below, I've limited myself to adventures set in Greyhawk (whether explicitly or with the serial numbers filed off), rather than those that can (or perhaps should) be adapted to Greyhawk:

grodog's 10 Favorite Gryehawk adventures, ranked, with some quick notes about what appeals to me about each:

1. D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax:  D3 has dethroned G3 as my favorite adventure of all time; it is the quintessential AD&D scenario---a high-level sandbox of doom that will snuff out your PCs if they're not as capable diplomatically as they are in combat; combining the best of dungeon play alongside factions and city play, D3 is the ultimate test of a DM and a play group!
   
   
2. WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz:  WG5 continually remains a favorite, but it is difficult for me to choose between these three levels vs. others in Rob's Maure Castle (in my head, I group the three levels here with the three from Dungeon alongside "Warlock's Walk"), but for the moment it remains at the top among his designs, in my eye:  it's hard to beat the Kuntzian expansiveness of The Lost City of the Elders, the octych stars before the Unopenable Doors, the imaginative Eli Tomorast and his unique familiar Rel, Kerzit and his stewardship of The Tome of the Black Heart, and the fabulous set-pieces throughout the first level
   
   
3. MoZ4 The Eight Kings by Rob Kuntz:  like WG5 it's hard for me to rank MoZ4 vs. others in the series, but this one edges the others out since it presents a 32nd-level archmage's magical lab demi-plane, invaded and taken over by Xaene after Zydilec (its original proprietor) fell victim to one of his own experiments; it also offers a wonderful conclusion to the series, and the opportunity for the PCs to restore the good-and-just Ivid V to the throne of the Great Kingdom (as opposed to his evil clone, controlled by Xaene)
   
   
4. T1 The Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax:  the quintessential challenge for expert players---new 1st level PCs thrown into a powderkeg of local politics and regional-spanning machinations that involve gods and demon princes!; the fact that Lareth is beloved by Lolth (or Zuggtmoy, or whoever you decide to replace his patron with) also demonstrates the importance of actively-engaged deities in the setting (St. Cuthbert and the Old Faith druids and bards, among others), something I have certainly taken to heart in our current campaign
   
   
5. L1 The Secret of Bone Hill by Lenard Lakofka:  another wonderful introductory sandbox, this one uniquely providing local wilderness exploration accessible to lower-level PCs (2nd to 4th), alongside fun dungeon exploration, and the introduction of local politics later exploited and developed further in L2 The Assassin's Knot
   
   
6. G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax:  While I've slipped my ranking of this adventure as I've reconsidered it over time (for many many years it was my #1 module), that's only because I've grown to appreciate the other scenarios above even more-deeply; I still love the drow, the interplay of the factions throughout the adventure (in particular when you consider any previously-surviving giant thanes from G1 and G2 making their last-stands here after fleeing the PCs earlier in the series!), the temple to the Elder Elemental Gods, the wall of tentacles and tentacle rods, and the subtly-suggestive interplays among the evil forces (Queen Frupy's occasional magical control of her husband, the suggestion of an affair between Eclavdra and the king, the illithid spying upon everyone, etc.)
   
   
7. A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity by David Cook:  perhaps my only pick still on the list influenced in part by nostalgia (A1 was the first module I ever bought for myself, using monies saved up from paper routes and/or lining Little League baseball fields), I still find this scenario quite compelling---the introduction of the Slave Lords and their foul depredations throughout the communities of the Sea of Gernant, our first introduction to the ruined-but-still-living city of Highport, my first exposure to tribal shamans and witchdoctors in play, and the vision offered for how to flesh out a four-hour convention tournament (with scoring details, and now-iconic pregen PCs) into a campaign scenario; A1 inspired me to design other buildings in Highport, and to build out its sewer system that the dungeon level would naturally connect to, as well
   
   
8. "Chambers of Antiquities" by Rob Kuntz and Paizo in Dungeon Magazine #124 (July 2005):  my favorite of the three levels published in Dungeon, and only eclipsing #112's "The Statuary" because I still dislike the ideas of the Id Core and its minions (I haven't reimagined these concepts in my head yet for deployment at the table) enough that they outweigh my love of The Statuary's map (one of my favorite designs by Kuntz); that said, the set-piece encounters of "Chambers of Antiquities" are brilliant, and I love the concept of the Maure family maintaining vault of "stuff to dangerous for us to mess with yet," and the hints at the wider world of the setting (the Dragonmasters of Lynn, Arodnap/Pandora, and the many artifacts and relics Kuntz introduces).  
   
   
9. "COR1-03 River of Blood" by Erik Mona, an introductory and core Living Greyhawk scenario from the campaign's launch in 2000:  Mona's brilliant introductory scenario stands right up there with T1, L1, and T1 as an excellent introductory campaign starter; it leverages xvarts (an under-used goblinoid monster unique to Greyhawk), and as the first in his "Absolute Power" series of planned LG scenarios ties into the Maures, the octyches from Maure Castle, S2 White Plume Mountain, and the ancient powers of the Suloise archmages; Mona followed-up on this adventure in "COR2-01: As He Lay Dying" and I hope that he returns to the series in the future, as it's an excellent premise
   
   
10. Return of the Eight by Roger Moore:  Despite it's railroady introduction---which, in truth, is not much worse than others in classic modules; the advantage of such starting premises is that they can a) be easily jettisoned, and b) take up little space in the module's text---I love this module for its creation of Greyhawk lore (oerthblood and the Fortress of Unknown Depths itself), its exploration of a high-level wizard's demesne (only Kuntz's MoZ4 surpasses it as such!), and a continuation and homage to Iggwilv's ongoing machinations in the setting, building from S4, WG6, and later scenarios (like "The Ravage of Ghorkai" from the d20 freebie download for Slayers Guide to Dragons, and perhaps most-notably in Carlos Lising's use of the character in his C11 and G2 modules)

10 Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order by title, rather than ranked):

• "Fiend's Embrace" by Stephen S. Greer in Dungeon Magazine #121 (April 2005)
• G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief by Gary Gygax
• G2 The Witch Queen's Lament by Carlos A. S. Lising 
• LGCC-1 The Original Bottle City by Rob Kuntz
• "Kingdom of the Ghouls" by Wolfgang Baur in Dungeon Magazine #70 (September/October 1998)
• "Quest for the Golden Orb" tournament from Origins in 1984 by Elaine Walquist
• S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax
• "The Whispering Cairn" by Erik Mona in Dungeon Magazine #124 (July 2005)
• WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax 
• WGR6 City of Skulls by Carl Sargent

I'm sure the discussion tonight will be well-worthwhile, so check it out live on Twitch or as a rerun on YouTube!  (I'll update these links once it's posted).  

* The discussion piggybacks on "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time" listing published in Dungeon Magazine #116 (compiled by Mona, James Jacobs, and the Dungeon Design Panel and published in November 2004).

For reference, here is that list, but note that a) it's not Greyhawk-specific, and b) it cheats by grouping multiple modules in a series as a single line item, which doesn't force hard choices like G1 vs. G3, for example ;)

1. GDQ1-7 Queen of Spiders 
2. I6 Ravenloft 
3. S1 Tomb of Horrors 
4. T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil 
5. S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks 
6. I3-5 The Desert of Desolation 
7. B2 The Keep on the Borderlands 
8. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil 
9. S2 White Plume Mountain 
10. Return to the Tomb of Horrors 
11. The Gates of Firestorm Peak 
12. The Forge of Fury 
13. I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City 
14. Dead Gods 
15. X2 Castle Amber 
16. X1 The Isle of Dread 
17. The Ruins of Undermountain 
18. C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan 
19. N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God 
20. A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords 
21. Dark Tower 
22. S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth 
23. WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun 
24. City of the Spider Queen 
25. DL1 Dragons of Despair 
26. WGR6 City of Skulls 
27. U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh 
28. B4 The Lost City 
29. L2 The Assassin's Knot 
30. C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness

...with some analysis by Glyfair in 2004 ENWorld discussion:

• OD&D: 0 
• 1st Edition: 18 
• Basic D&D: 4 
• 2nd Edition: 5 
• 3rd Edition: 3
• Non-TSR/Wotc products: 1 

Allan.

Review - Castle Xyntillan by Gabor "Melan" Lux (Part 2)

Castle Xyntillan by Gabor Lux
(E.M.D.T. release #60) - Maps by Rob Conley

 

Review - Castle Xyntillan by Gabor "Melan" Lux (Part 2)

This review continues from Part 1, and focuses in detail on the adventuring content of Castle Xyntillan.   Unlike in the first part of the review, it is impossible for me to discuss details about Gabor's maps and encounters without spoilers:  so, if you plan to play this adventure, read no further.
 
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Castle Xyntillan - The Maps

The map packet is important to not lose track of, since referencing the maps' broader context and the map key is much easier using the poster maps. I mention this specifically since I hadn't noticed the map packet envelope in my cardboard shipping sleeve and thought it was packing/padding; I should have known better since Gabor includes separate maps in most of his publications.  That said, reading through the entire book without the map key was a bit confusing at times until I eventually ran into it on page 128, so please learn from my mistake!

In addition to the map booklet, the endpapers of the hardcover display Gabor's original hand-drawn maps for the castle (front endpapers) and the upper levels (back endpapers).  The hand-drawn and -written notes are rendered in sepia ink, with the hand-written notes replaced with typed labels for easier reading.  In addition, Gabor adds locations details for where many of the playtesting PCs and their companions met their demise---a nice touch that provides some "at a glance" encounter threat-level visibility for the DM.  I'm sure that each such location being marked with a plus-sign (which I keep seeing as an X marks the spot, or alternately as a headstone) is purely coincidental....

The maps are well-labelled throughout, with details that are both part of the key, and part of the dungeon dressing environs and not detailed beyond mention on the maps:  corridors and chambers may be noted with "coat racks" and "rotting banners" or "singing" and "clammy" which the DM will need to pay attention to as the PCs explore.  By positioning these details on the map, Gabor enhances the immediacy and utility of the map's sensory descriptiveness, and helps to layer into play that "what's around the corner" context as the PCs explore the corridors.  

Castle Xyntillan Upper Quarters -
Map Detail - Map by Rob Conley

In addition, not all rooms on the maps are given encounter key numbers.  I happen to prefer this style of map keying (a style I first encountered in Rob Kuntz's WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure module from TSR), since it also helps to identify "empty rooms" for dungeon dressing, WM appearances/ready-retreat areas, and locations where I can freely insert my own encounters without worrying about disturbing Gabor's existing work. 

Castle Xyntillan Maps Key - by Rob Conley

Castle Xyntillan's map symbols offer some further refinements and differentiations from standard dungeon maps, most notably with:

• Doors - external (standard D&D door symbol of a box within its wall) vs. internal (double-lines which create a more narrow door than the traditional symbol, somewhat difficult to distinguish from the grid lines at times)

• Bricked-up doors are displayed using the traditional false-door symbol

• Secret doors are displayed showing the traditional capital S but beside its wall, instead of within it; the S is on the side that secret door looks like a normal door, and the blank wall side is the secret side; I found this a bit confusing at first, but eventually figured it out during my initial reading even without the key :)

• Fireplaces seem to be drawn with flames within them if actively in use, and with a small round circle if cold (but this difference doesn't show in the map key, and it doesn't always line up with the encounter keys; it may also be that they're the same symbol, just rendered in different sizes, perhaps?)

• Open shafts in ceiling (outlined square) and floor (filled in square); these were a bit more tricky to figure out without the key, since trapdoors and also waterclosets use the same symbols, which begs the question of multi-floor downward-trickling waste connections....

• Stairs are always drawn evenly (the lines don't taper on either end), and an arrow always points to the downward direction, so it's easy to track the flow of each stairway, as well as where it starts/stops on each floor---a noteworthy improvement over the proliferation of often-confusing (and/or hard to render) stairwell symbols used over the years!

The maps are well-rendered, and both easy to use and easy on the eyes.  Including paved walkways in the outdoor environs, adding a boat to the small pier, and the liberal sprinkling of mud and rubble, several different tree silhouettes and a vegetable patch (!) within and around its walls make Castle Xyntillan easy to envision as both a working/living keep, and in its present state of malign neglect.
 

Castle Xyntillan - The Adventuring!

While Castle Xyntillan isn't a traditional mega-dungeon---similar to the Castle Zagyg boxed set, it presents a large manor house/château with a single dungeon level beneath (although unlike CZ, Castle Xyntillan is a complete product!)---it does present an extensive adventuring environment that consists of:

• 298 encounters, broken down as:

• 8 sites in town 

• 226 castle and immediate grounds encounters, including 21 in a castle demi-plane wilderness

• 64 locations in the dungeons

• 60 NPCs residents of the castle

• 11 new monsters/servants/allies of the castle inhabitants

•  48 new and unique magical treasures

While those are useful numbers for a general sense of scope, they don't do any justice to Gabor's creation, which is filled with interesting and evocative encounters supported by useful gaming details, like:

•  NPC family members who are, variously, undead (lots of these in a variety of flavors, including many that are uniques like a four-armed skeleton, and various ghosts with non-standard powers), sentient bugs a la Kafka's Metamorphosis, hunchbacks, intelligent slimes, a giant rat-man, the odd demon or three, The Beast (a la "Beauty and..."), as well as actual human beings (!)
• The family members variously have positive, negative, and indifferent relationships with one another, the non-family castle residents, and NPCs from the surrounding region.  While smart PCs can discover and potentially exploit these relationships to their advantage, and the Malévol family NPCs are a sort of uber-faction to themselves that spans the entire castle, their rivalries are more individual in nature and not group- or faction-based, for the most part.
• An escalation mechanic for campaign play that's somewhat reminiscent of the Notoriety mechanics from Carl Sargent's WG6 City of Skulls.  The PCs collect or absolve themselves of infraction points through their interactions with the Malévols, as well as how they comport themselves on the grounds and in the castle---if the PCs are wantonly destructive to the family tree or to the grounds/castle itself, they earn a black mark.  Once the tally of black marks reaches 6 points, the family begins to take notice and sends more random encounters their way.  As the PCs continue their depradations and earn 12 points, the family organizes hits, ambushes, and installs new traps for the PCs, while at 18+ the Malévol calls an emergency family meeting to address the dire threat that the PCs represent.

When I state that " Castle Xyntillan isn't a traditional mega-dungeon" what I mean that Gabor has created a large, but primarily above-ground, adventuring environment.  Many key design elements from mega-dungeons are featured throughout Castle Xyntillan's structures---the upper floors and dungeon level and wilderness environs serve as "delving deeper" in difficulty like descending levels in a traditional dungeon; in some cases, they also double as sub-levels, in that some areas of the second and third stories are only accessible via specific paths from above or below.   Like a good mega-dungeon, Castle Xyntillan also suggests and inspires additional creations from me as the DM-reader, both to expand upon its existing framework, and to build within it using the tools that already exist between the covers. 
The monster population heavily features undead, but a wide variety of other creatures appear within the castle's walls, too.  The 11 new monsters include new environmental threats (creeping vines, glitterclouds, razzle-dazzles), ghostly remnants of former victims (hand swarms), resident undead servitors and sycophants (headless manservants, masked murderers, undead ladies, undead lords), and other creatures unique to the site (goatrices, rigormortis, stygous).  Several have already made their way into my own Greyhawk campaign planning :D

Gabor embeds a strong sense of action-response throughout the adventure that helps to tighten the tension of PCs roaming about and encountering one monster and trap after another as they blunder about in the usual fashion.  

Traps and tricks also abound, many of which are unforgivingly lethal in addition to being thematically appropriate, quirky and interesting in execution, and occasinally humorous in effect.  Many of the unique magic items and some of the non-magical treasures bear curses, detrimental side effects, and/or suggest alternative skullduggery usages (perhaps originally by Malévol family members); most are unique items (whether magical or not) that range in description from one-liners in the 100 Random Curious table to short entries of one to four sentences for the unique magic items.

Format and Ease of Use

I've already waxed on about how useful the Castle Xyntillan maps are and how they support and compliment the encounter keys.  Map sections are also reproduced inside the pages of the book, and zoomed in to show encounter keys nearby in the text.  The zoomed maps are probably only enlarged 10-20% or so, and the amount of zoom does vary across the map sections, but it makes the maps in the book useful for detail viewing (and perhaps also notes), with the poster maps providing big picture view of the site. 

Another nice feature in the book is that while the two primary maps depicting the castle's ground floor and dungeon level appear on facing full-page spreads (pages 124-125 and 128-129), the map images overlap along the edges of the book's spine, so that we as readers don't need to peer deep into the gutter in order to figure out a map symbol, an encounter key number, or a word label.  This feature obviously isn't required on the poster maps, but the attention to detail and usability shown here manifests nicely throughout the book, and in particular through excellent cross-referencing.  The cross-references help knit to together Castle Xyntillan's multitude of encounters, plot hooks, relationships, and mysteries, and make the setting come alive through: 

• Making clear the vertical connections between the upper and lower floors of the castle, as well as the dungeons 
• NPCs who are available at multiple possible encounter locations  
• Thematic and motivational connections between NPCs and treasures/objects they seek, or other specific goals that they wish accomplished---including several that reach outward from Castle Xyntillan to the nearby town (or even further to the capital) 

This attention to detail is also especially evident in the information design of Castle Xyntillan's encnouters.  The two-page PDF sample provides a good sense of the overall layout style, including the page template, the organization of the encounters, and monster stat blocks.  They blend well into a economicly-presented and highly-usable flow of encounter information:

 

• Each encounter key entry has a title, which provides a quick gloss in context; this title is reproduced on the maps, too
• Each room and chamber's dimensions follow (although these are not exact for oddly-shaped chambers, caves, etc.), again providing key information at-first-glance
• A short introductory paragraph sets the scene, sometimes with bold-faced text for prominent features
• Further detail on such features is provided via indented arrows below each key, sometimes with another layer of indenting too (but that's less common and appears with longer lists of things, as when describing a group of the magical portraits for example)
• Monster stats round out each encounter key, with the monster name bolded, the stat block details, and hit points listed last in a string with space allocated to mark off each creature's hp as needed during play

 
The design allows for quick scanning, and also presents more detail the further you read into the encounter key's description, with first-glance/obvious features appearing earlier in the text.  The bullets and bolding help to drive home important points, and remain well-focused with each new item of import having its own bullet point.

Another distinctive usability feature is that the Rogues' Gallery for NPCs and new monster entries doubles as a wandering monster table listing---although it spans 10 full pages!  You can roll d% for your WM, and a result of 01-60 finds the PCs face-to-face with a Malévol family member (perhaps with entourage), while 61-100 is with one of the 11 new monster types. 

My only concern with Castle Xyntillan on the usability front is that some tables are rendered as bulleted lists when they should have simply been presented as tables, which would make their 1d12 or 1d20 or whatever entries stand out more visibly, as well as increase their immediate utility.   I'm not sure if this was an active design decision (it does conserve page space a bit versus a full table, I think), or if it's a minor formatting oversight, or something else.  A far cry from a serious layout issue like "see Page XX" remnants in the text, but given the otherwise high-caliber presentation, this did stand out to my eye (and probably more than it would to your eye!).  

In Summary (but not Conclusion) 

Castle Xyntillan is a brilliant product, and it achieves what I wish T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil had turned out to be---a living, breathing large-scale adventuring environment with a distinct flavor of its own that calls out to me to fill it out further!  

A few small inconsistencies appear here and there in the book (arrows slits are described as murder holes in the text once, and the southern tower/wall area has no access from the main building), and some useful details could have been added here and there (the heights of the cliffs to the east behind the castle), and a couple of pieces of artwork seem a bit too dark (pages 82 and 91---and they're from the Dead Victorians, so this could be an artifact of the quality of the originals, or perhaps the scanning or printing processes), but I see very few true gaps in the design of this adventure: 

• Adding a regional map to site the castle relative to the roads and the nearby town of Tours-en-Savoy, would whet our appetites further for Helvéczia
• Adding some description and details about the roofs and what hazards await the PCs who clamber out onto those heights
• Adding a summary table of the NPCs (a one-pager for WM rolls), and perhaps another summary with NPC short descriptions/mnemonics (or even thumbnail-portraits---given the number of magical paintings adorning the walls that would be a very useful download!), and perhaps also including some summary notes toward a day/night activity cycle for the family members and other inhabitants

All of these are very much "nice to haves"---so while their inclusion would have improved the final product, the book doesn't suffer greatly for their lack.  Well, I suppose it would have been more than merely "nice" to get that second dungeon level alluded to in R15's Folly, too!  =)
 
All of the above issues are minor quibbles, at best.  To be very clear---I am VERY pleased!.  Go forth, and buy Castle Xyntillan NOW! 
 
I'll wrap up my take on Castle Xyntillan's inspirational footing in an Addendum to this review, but the core of why I love Castle Xyntillan is here, and hopefully you'll find it as compellingly-excellent a product as I do! 


Allan.

Review - Castle Xyntillan by Gabor "Melan" Lux (Part 1)

Castle Xyntillan by Gabor Lux
(E.M.D.T. release #60) - Cover art by Peter Mullen

Castle Xyntillan by Gabor "Melan" Lux - Part 1

Castle Xyntillan is Gabor Lux's tenth English-language publication since he launched Echoes from Fomalhaut in March 2018, and is also the sixtieth---yes 60th!---title released from E.M.D.T., the First Hungarian d20 Society since 2003 (and 18 of the pre-2018 E.M.D.T. titles are available in English, too).  Unlike the many gems that appear in Gabor's regular zine, Castle Xyntillan is a self-contained adventure that falls into several simultaneous categories of interest:

• Castle Xyntillan is a large campaign dungeon in scope, although not a traditional mega-dungeon in design or presentation
• Castle Xyntillan is an homage to the classic Judges Guild haunted mansion adventure, Tegel Manor
• Castle Xyntillan is also an homage to Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne pulp fictions, and perhaps by way of inspirational osmosis, Tom Moldvay's X2 Castle Amber

None of these individual influences speak to Castle Xyntillan's perhaps-primary intent, in that it also serves as the first English-language release and publication for the upcoming Helvéczia RPG.  From the penultimate page:

[The Helvéczia RPG is a] lightweight, light-hearted historical fantasy game for playing scoundrels and low-lives in an alternate-reality magical Switzerland (and beyond) ca. 1698, [that] gives you everything you need for fast-paced picaresque adventures featuring stagecoaches, robbers, daring escapes and dark deviltry.  Using a greatly streamlined, six-level ("E6") version of the renowned d20 System, Helvéczia has been thoroughly reworked and customized to capture the spirit of swashbuckling movies, adventure novels, penny dreadfuls and colourful historical legends.  Match your wits against the lackeys of robber barons and faerie realms; waste your winnings in merchant towns ruled by avarice and eccentric custom; and choose between virtue and sin in a world where Heaven and Hell contend for the souls of mortal men. 

Gabor concludes this preview with:  "A love letter to dodgy pamphlets, stamp-sized mini-states, and the oddball side of European history, Helvéczia is (hopefully) coming 2020 in a hardcover edition (including plentiful support material and GM advice), along with maps, a regional hex-crawl supplement describing four mountain cantons, and a selection of adventure scenarios" (page 131).
That's a lot of ground to cover, so let's get to it! 

Castle Xyntillan - The Specs and Details

Castle Xyntillan is a 132 page hardcover book and separate map packet you can buy from Gabor's store for $40 USD plus shipping from Hungary; it contains:

• Introductory matter including two pages of playtesting notes for the PCs still alive, and a far longer list of those slain within its confines =)
• 18 lettered sections that detail 298 encounters spanning the castle ruins, grounds, and dungeon environs
• three two-page spreads of maps:  the main castle level and its immediate grounds, the upper stories of four sections of the castle, and the dungeon level and indoor wilderness; the main maps are also reproduced in smaller sections within the encounter keys for quick reference, and as posters in the map packet (more below)
• six tables of setting content and new rules:  The Rumour Mill with 36 entries, Morale and Men rules, 100 Companion Quirks, 100 Random Curios, and the Table of Terror with its 12 amusingly random panic/flight survival outcomes

You can read more about Castle Xyntillan in Gabor's two publishing announcements (two different links there), as well as more about its publishing history (with further information if you're curious to read more about its origins in his campaign).

Castle Xyntillan - The Artwork and Maps

Gabor worked with three OSR artists to illustrate Castle Xyntillan:  Peter Mullen (color cover and B&W interiors), Stefan Poag (B&W interiors), and Denis McCarthy (B&W interiors), who recently showcased his pieces at https://gwythaintny.wordpress.com/2019/12/21/castle-xintillan/.  The work of all three artists complements the look and feel of the adventure, and breathe life into its varied NPCs and environs (with some help from the dead Victorians, too!). 

Castle Xyntillan's maps were rendered by Rob Conley of Bat in the Attic Games.  His mapping style is clean and the map packet's four 12" x 16.5" poster maps are an indispensable addition to the book; they are printed on the same cream-colored, heavy paper stock that Gabor has used for his Echoes from Fomalhaut map inserts.  The four maps are:

• A single-sided DM map of Castle Xyntillan's ground floor and environs
• A double-sided DM map of the upper stories for Castle Xyntillan, as well as the dungeon level and wilderness side-level on the reverse side
• A singled-sided player map of Castle Xyntillan's ground floor and environs
• A double-sided player map of the upper floors and dungeon/wilderness side-level

Replacement player maps are also freely downloadable, along with two other files via the first announcement link above. 



To be concluded in part two!

Allan.