Castle of the Mad Archmage Finished...

...well, the "basics" are finished...

Okay, so I started playing in like 81 with the Basic and Expert sets just released (Moldvay? Is that right?). Anyway, once I was hooked, I spent every dime I could scrounge on D&D stuff - advanced, basic, whatever - if TSR put it out, it was gold as far as I was concerned. I picked up a copy of the Best of Dragon Vol I and read tantalizing bits about this "Castle Greyhawk" thing that some guy named Gygax dreamed up (what? His name's on a bunch of D&D stuff...he must be somebody important). Then I saw the Greyhawk supplement (to OD&D) which I picked up (mistakenly) thinking that it would have some details about this Castle Greyhawk and the dungeons beneath. Still it was a great little item to add to my Basic/Expert/Monster Manual collection and there were a few more hints about this mysterious castle.

In the intervening years I bought them as they came out: EX1&2, Isle of the Ape, the "Supermodule" style Castle Greyhawk (argh!!), 2e Greyhawk ruins. Actually, I picked up everything published for Greyhawk until kind of late in 2e era when I quit playing.

But...sadly, nothing really said Castle Greyhawk like those little hints in my early purchases...

I got back into gaming and Troll Lord put out Castle Zagyg co-authored by Gygax...but I didn't have (and still don't) the cash for that purchase. Besides, I've always been a "wait until the whole series is published before buying" kind of guy when I can be - so I thought when the whole series was finished (I was figuring around 2120 - heh...) I'd look into mortgaging my home to pick it up... And...well, that Castle seems pretty...inflated. Lots and lots and lots of words...I mean Gygax has always been pretty verbose, so I guess I should have expected it...

Anyway, Gygax passed away and TLG lost the Zagyg license.

All the while I'd search for "fan made castle greyhawk" and simlar Google searches (actually, alta vista and hotbot and...wow, the search engines of the past) to find Castle Greyhawks on the web somewhere. But usually they were fruitless searches.

I'd hit on Grodog's Greyhawk (and his castle) some years ago...but for him it's clearly both a labor of love and a labor of convenience, so while he has some really great information on his version, it's just a skeleton, really (though he has a TON of research regarding both the castle and the world at large).

So a year and a half ago or thereabouts the OSR (is it still called that?) blogosphere lit up a bit when Greyhawk Grognard (Joseph Bloch) indicated that he was going to flesh out the lower levels of the dungeons.

Well, the other day he finished (at least the "basics" - sub levels and upper levels and - finally - the Black Reservoir to come) thirteen levels beneath the Castle Ruins. You can find it here. I haven't read more than the first level yet, but it looks like a worthy homage to what Gygax started decades ago. I'll have more to say about a project that I'm thinking about working up soon...