Buy Castle Xyntillan in PDF: bit.ly/CastleXyntillanPDF Buy it in print here: bit.ly/CastleXyntillanPrint Or here: emdt.bigcartel.com/product/castle-xyntillan Join the Questing Knights on Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon
Thanks for the review! Much appreciated. Just to clarify, the book should have come with an envelope of four fold-out maps on thick paper (two for the GM, and two for the players). If this was missing from your copy, please contact the store - it might have been an error made in the warehouse - or if they no longer have any map packs left, I'd be happy to help with that as well. As already written below, Exalted Funeral is currently out, but they tend to restock my books every so often, so look out for a future purchase option. I can also ship from my own store (although this is more expensive due to overseas postage). Stocks are currently low, but a reprint is coming in late February.
Yay! My physical copy of the book and maps (!) arrived! They came in perfect condition and are indeed beautiful to behold. It is a Christmas present from my wife but she graciously allowed me to enjoy this piece of art already seeing how it cheered me up 😁 Thank you Gabor for this creation and your kind words attached!
That's actually a great little piece of data for running your own adventure. You can see where real players actually died and ensure you're messaging the danger properly.
To my best knowledge, all the players are alive and well. The crosses mark the places where PCs or hirelings bought the farm, but you can spot the resting place of my poor dog Burkus in the middle, too.
@@friendotoday2663 i think @bal fake was making fun of my conflating of "Player" vs "Player Character". That is, those spots mark where PCs died, as the players themselves are still alive.
We have played this for 36 weeks. We meet for three hours, once a week, every week. We are about 20% into the module. I reckon we have another two years to go. The party consists of DM plus 8 players, four adults and five kids, playing 12 characters (down from an initial 18). The module is deadly, deadly fun, original, cerebral. It is so incredibly rich that everyone adores it as they appreciate different facets according to their age and tastes. The design choice to not accentuate the room headings which you mention in the video is not an issue at all in my experience. The fact hat everything is organized alphanumerically into sections and subsections means that no information is ever difficult to find. There are a few mistakes in the maps (one door on the wrong side of a room, one trap door in floor that does not align with the ceiling underneath, etc.), and some reflections from the author on moving through windows, drilling between floors, etc. would have been good, since creative players rarely like to take risks involved with using doors. But taking the incredible complexity of this piece into consideration, it is darn near perfect. I have read and played hundreds of modules, and this is without doubt the best one. It works on so many levels: setting, atmosphere, humor, innovation, execution. And given the near-real-world setting (a fantasy version of Switzerland c. 1675), the kids are learning history without even realizing it - hah!
I'm very glad you're getting around to reviewing Gabor Lux's stuff. Echoes from Fomalhaut would also be great to cover in one of your zine compilation read throughs/reviews. I'm a big fan of his City of Vultures stuff, including the City Kit.
Castle Xyntillan is one of the top 3 dungeons I've ever run or read. Possibly the best dungeon. I love how everything just makes sense in a quirky fantastic kind of way. The formatting and production quality are top notch and it's a breeze to DM. I love it.
Place this adventure into an Averoigne-centric campaign (from X2) and have it be an original Amber Family steading (mostly abandoned after the exodus to Mystara).
Trivia: the original concept for Xyntillan would have been a (much smaller) tentpole dungeon for an Averoigne sandbox game. It would fit just fine - and in the Mar-Milloir setting for Knave as well.
Loved the review! I agree regarding room separation, it might sound like overkill but there could have been a grey-ish background (alternating between light grey background and no background) to separate each room at least in the text, for ease, as well as a bigger font.
After returning to rewatch this, this appears to be a thoughtful attempt to recreate the look and feel of the early to mid 80s AD&D first edition material. Very nice.
It should work seamlessly with any game from the B/X and OD&D lineage (we have played it with a Hungarian B/X clone, as well as LBB-only 1974 OD&D), or with minimal changes with AD&D-based systems and the more distant old-school systems.
@@mowzrascal2350 I am not very familiar with the ruleset, but I imagine it would be harder to convert. The power curve, play dynamic, and resource management aspects are all different. A lot depends on how long combat lasts, too.
Of all the megadungeons I've read/heard/watched about, this is by far the most interesting looking. I would get the print copy if only to have it in my possession, but it looks like it's out of print for the moment. Bummer. :(
I'm enjoying your videos. I started playing in the 80s. I'm curious if you have a video where you define what OSR is from your point of view? I had a look back through your old videos, but there's a lot ;-) ... so I didn't find a specific one.
The arrow in the stairs points the way down (!) instead of the way up and it disorientates me completely every time I look at a staircase. WOW! I thought arrow on the way up was some kind of consensus in RPG map terms
I don't see why not. All of the various retro clones work basically the same as OD&D, including B/X. It should be possible to port the adventure over with a minimum of adjustment. If you know your system well enough, how to adapt the Swords & Wizardry mechanics should be fairly obvious, even if they aren't 1 to 1.
Looks incredible, but I just can't do $25 shipping to the States when I may not even receive it. The US Post Office has been absolutely terrible. If anyone knows of a FLGS stateside that has a copy please link me. Exalted Funeral is sold out_
How is it already sold out when you just posted this review a day ago??? WTH is up with such a small print run? The lack of quality printed material is the biggest complaint I have regarding OSR. I like actually owning physical product and PDFs aren't good enough since I don't get to have them bound in a nice cover. I mean I can't get the same prices as the producers of these products can and I certainly do not know where to get them bound. I'm new to OSR so can someone please educate me (politely since I sincerely want to know why) as to why getting printed versions of these OSR products is so much harder than other TTRPG items?
Most OSR publications are from small indie companies that expect to gain a small cult following, not a very large sales market. When someone as influential as Questing Beast covers one of their products favorably, the sudden high demand overwhelms them.
It's been out for about a year now, sold by Gabor Lux. Like most of his stuff, he sells everything a few months after publication in PDF form on Drive Thru RPG, so you can still get it there in that format.
@@cowpercoles1194 I really don't like PDF formatting. I mean I don't mind having a digital copy but nothing I print will last as long or look good on my bookcase. I'm not into having important things existing in a digital format only. I don't understand why OSR hasn't reached enough of an audience yet to allow for regular or at least on demand printing.
@@yltraviole I would've thought the fresh coverage would've resulted in another print run. I might get this on PDF but if I'm honest it isn't likely. I mean in PDF all the great art is just a waste as my paper quality won't do it justice. Then there is the fact of having to burn through the ink and paper to print it out just to have it all bound in a notebook?? No. Maybe as a Gen-Xer I'm just too old but I'm not interested in having my module on my laptop, especially if it's a mega dungeon like this. I'm having to use my laptop constantly for images to show the kids I GM for what creatures look like a is. Then I also use it for ambience music and sound effects. I just am not at the point where I want to spend money for a PDF, especially $20. I mean $40 for the real book sounds fair but as a PDF I'm not spending more than $10. Even that seems high to me for something that I could lose when DRIVETHRU RPG decides to rebrand, cancel my account, or goes out of business. Even with a back up hard drives fail, flash drives get lost, PCs get viruses, and just to much can go wrong. I want this in Hard Back. A book I can pass on to my kids when they are old enough if they are still in the hobby, or donate to a library if they are still a thing in 50 years.
@@dagazrune6453 There are a some products that have on demand printing, or are available through sites like Lulu. I think the main issue is that OSR products are vanity press, small print runs, made by individual hobbyists as side projects. They've always relied on zines or PDFs for most products, because the community sprang up through Blogs in the late 2000s as a reaction against D&D 3.5 and 4.0, but since 5e came out, many of the community moved to that system, attracting people away from OSR purchases. Most of the creators, like Gabor Lux, have regular jobs (I think he's a professor in Hungary). Because the print runs are small, and it's often a one-man operation, they just don't have the time or the capital to finance printing. Only popular books are worth the economic risk to publish in physical form (no OSR guy wants to get stuck with unsold books in his garage). Castle Xyntillan got published b/c Lux has built up a fan base over the last 10 years, and has a reputation for quality work. I purchased mine direct from the shop link at Gabor's Blog: emdt.bigcartel.com/product/castle-xyntillan It looks like he still has some available, but I don't think he has business connections outside of Hungary to print it in elsewhere. I've seen videos or blogs where he's interviewed, and I think he works a lot, and does some international travel, so he doesn't have the time or incentive to publish full time. This book was gradually written by him over 8+ years, in his spare time (which is why it's so damn good -- it's truly a labor of love). I bought this from him right before Covid hit, and felt it was worth the shipping from Hungary. It's one of the best OSR products. I also have a hard copy of the revised Deep Carbon Observatory by Patrick Stuart, and it took several years of PDF sales and a kickstarter before he could publish it.
Great book, had it for almost a year now. Print quality isn't great though, almost immediately bubbles started appearing in the lamination of the cover.
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
Buy Castle Xyntillan in PDF: bit.ly/CastleXyntillanPDF
Buy it in print here: bit.ly/CastleXyntillanPrint
Or here: emdt.bigcartel.com/product/castle-xyntillan
Join the Questing Knights on Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon
Comment is 3 hours old. Print is already sold out.
Damn.. I'all add it to the list with Best left buried...
Thanks for the review! Much appreciated. Just to clarify, the book should have come with an envelope of four fold-out maps on thick paper (two for the GM, and two for the players). If this was missing from your copy, please contact the store - it might have been an error made in the warehouse - or if they no longer have any map packs left, I'd be happy to help with that as well.
As already written below, Exalted Funeral is currently out, but they tend to restock my books every so often, so look out for a future purchase option. I can also ship from my own store (although this is more expensive due to overseas postage). Stocks are currently low, but a reprint is coming in late February.
Sorry for not including the maps in the video, Gabor. I completely forgot about them when I was recording it. I can confirm that they are very cool.
@@QuestingBeast No problem at all! I just thought they were missing - glad to know they were included.
Yay! My physical copy of the book and maps (!) arrived! They came in perfect condition and are indeed beautiful to behold. It is a Christmas present from my wife but she graciously allowed me to enjoy this piece of art already seeing how it cheered me up 😁
Thank you Gabor for this creation and your kind words attached!
Those arent the characters you can meet on the end papers. Those are Lux's original maps marked with the spots where his players died.
Ooooh. That's cool
That's actually a great little piece of data for running your own adventure. You can see where real players actually died and ensure you're messaging the danger properly.
To my best knowledge, all the players are alive and well. The crosses mark the places where PCs or hirelings bought the farm, but you can spot the resting place of my poor dog Burkus in the middle, too.
@@balfake3117 oh wow i guess this adventure is way less hardcore than i thought
@@friendotoday2663 i think @bal fake was making fun of my conflating of "Player" vs "Player Character". That is, those spots mark where PCs died, as the players themselves are still alive.
We have played this for 36 weeks. We meet for three hours, once a week, every week. We are about 20% into the module. I reckon we have another two years to go. The party consists of DM plus 8 players, four adults and five kids, playing 12 characters (down from an initial 18). The module is deadly, deadly fun, original, cerebral. It is so incredibly rich that everyone adores it as they appreciate different facets according to their age and tastes. The design choice to not accentuate the room headings which you mention in the video is not an issue at all in my experience. The fact hat everything is organized alphanumerically into sections and subsections means that no information is ever difficult to find. There are a few mistakes in the maps (one door on the wrong side of a room, one trap door in floor that does not align with the ceiling underneath, etc.), and some reflections from the author on moving through windows, drilling between floors, etc. would have been good, since creative players rarely like to take risks involved with using doors. But taking the incredible complexity of this piece into consideration, it is darn near perfect. I have read and played hundreds of modules, and this is without doubt the best one. It works on so many levels: setting, atmosphere, humor, innovation, execution. And given the near-real-world setting (a fantasy version of Switzerland c. 1675), the kids are learning history without even realizing it - hah!
I'm very glad you're getting around to reviewing Gabor Lux's stuff. Echoes from Fomalhaut would also be great to cover in one of your zine compilation read throughs/reviews. I'm a big fan of his City of Vultures stuff, including the City Kit.
Castle Xyntillan is one of the top 3 dungeons I've ever run or read. Possibly the best dungeon. I love how everything just makes sense in a quirky fantastic kind of way. The formatting and production quality are top notch and it's a breeze to DM. I love it.
What were the others?
This adventure is fantastic, 11/10. Have had it in the back burner for months and can't wait to run it
Yeah, it really looks like every room has been designed to be entertaining in some way.
Instant first thought: AD&D first edition book format. Thumbs up.
Your style of presentation and thoughts really helps in figuring out if the product is for me.👍
Place this adventure into an Averoigne-centric campaign (from X2) and have it be an original Amber Family steading (mostly abandoned after the exodus to Mystara).
Trivia: the original concept for Xyntillan would have been a (much smaller) tentpole dungeon for an Averoigne sandbox game. It would fit just fine - and in the Mar-Milloir setting for Knave as well.
One of the best recent mega-dungeons.
What a well timed video. My copy should be arriving this week and the wait has been killing me. This will sate the nerd lust for now...
Did it arrive? Yet?
Reminds me of Castle Amber. One of the best adventures of all time.
Castle Xyntillan
Thanks for letting me know about this. Just ordered. I've been a fan of Gabor Lux ever since the Fight On! days.
this is one hell of a find right here, i'm already buying this beautifull book
Has a very "Castle Amber" feel.
Amber meets Tegel Manor, but better than both!
Ooo I love me some Castle Amber. One of my all time favorites.
@@mountainking1166Just read Castle Amber and it's my new favorite.
@@cowpercoles1194that's debatable but that's just because I'm a fanboy of Moldvay.
Loved the review! I agree regarding room separation, it might sound like overkill but there could have been a grey-ish background (alternating between light grey background and no background) to separate each room at least in the text, for ease, as well as a bigger font.
After returning to rewatch this, this appears to be a thoughtful attempt to recreate the look and feel of the early to mid 80s AD&D first edition material. Very nice.
This review just inspired me to make a family of Necromancers.
Yes. Been waiting for this.
Friday afternoon just got interesting, thank you :)
Very interesting video!, I have been after this book for a while, but it seems difficult to get from the UK.
Very nice. I imagine this will port pretty easily to any of the more traditional OSR games, eh?
It should work seamlessly with any game from the B/X and OD&D lineage (we have played it with a Hungarian B/X clone, as well as LBB-only 1974 OD&D), or with minimal changes with AD&D-based systems and the more distant old-school systems.
@@mowzrascal2350 I am not very familiar with the ruleset, but I imagine it would be harder to convert. The power curve, play dynamic, and resource management aspects are all different. A lot depends on how long combat lasts, too.
Of all the megadungeons I've read/heard/watched about, this is by far the most interesting looking. I would get the print copy if only to have it in my possession, but it looks like it's out of print for the moment. Bummer. :(
Really great adventure....I have multiple copies of this one.
Yeah I just looked for this book and the only thing I could find was one that Noble Knight games listed at $135. It must be out of print.
I just got a copy! Hope you got yours!
How much modules written for Sword & Wizardry are compatible with Old School Essentials?
Any differences are negligible and trivial for the GM to adjust on the fly.
Sort of a newer version of Tegal Manor
I'm enjoying your videos. I started playing in the 80s. I'm curious if you have a video where you define what OSR is from your point of view? I had a look back through your old videos, but there's a lot ;-) ... so I didn't find a specific one.
You're costing me money, Ben!
11:58 that wouldn't be a globe, that would be a torus.
i remeber hearing about this
Aaaaaand it's gone - sold out, I mean. So, yay for new adventures, and I'll bug EF about it later lol.
Try here: emdt.bigcartel.com/product/castle-xyntillan
I went to Exalted Funeral: sold out there, but ended up ordering it from EMDT. Can't wait!
The arrow in the stairs points the way down (!) instead of the way up and it disorientates me completely every time I look at a staircase. WOW! I thought arrow on the way up was some kind of consensus in RPG map terms
Lo vais hacer compatible con la marca del este
Sounds like X2: Castle Amber
I run a DCC/D&D (B/x) hybrid with a selection of megadungeons. Do you think Castle Xyntillan could work for my campaign?
I ran it in B/X and the only thing I changed was all the damage being in d6s.
Jimothy, I have been thinking about meshing OSE and DCC myself. I would love to discuss how you do that and your house rules if you're into that
@@flyingmojo5 Sure man, DM me? Is that a thing on TH-cam?
@@JimothyTheGreen Are you on Discord? My Discord tag is Mica#0572
I don't see why not. All of the various retro clones work basically the same as OD&D, including B/X. It should be possible to port the adventure over with a minimum of adjustment. If you know your system well enough, how to adapt the Swords & Wizardry mechanics should be fairly obvious, even if they aren't 1 to 1.
Looks incredible, but I just can't do $25 shipping to the States when I may not even receive it. The US Post Office has been absolutely terrible. If anyone knows of a FLGS stateside that has a copy please link me. Exalted Funeral is sold out_
Finally!
How is it already sold out when you just posted this review a day ago??? WTH is up with such a small print run? The lack of quality printed material is the biggest complaint I have regarding OSR. I like actually owning physical product and PDFs aren't good enough since I don't get to have them bound in a nice cover. I mean I can't get the same prices as the producers of these products can and I certainly do not know where to get them bound. I'm new to OSR so can someone please educate me (politely since I sincerely want to know why) as to why getting printed versions of these OSR products is so much harder than other TTRPG items?
Most OSR publications are from small indie companies that expect to gain a small cult following, not a very large sales market. When someone as influential as Questing Beast covers one of their products favorably, the sudden high demand overwhelms them.
It's been out for about a year now, sold by Gabor Lux. Like most of his stuff, he sells everything a few months after publication in PDF form on Drive Thru RPG, so you can still get it there in that format.
@@cowpercoles1194 I really don't like PDF formatting. I mean I don't mind having a digital copy but nothing I print will last as long or look good on my bookcase. I'm not into having important things existing in a digital format only. I don't understand why OSR hasn't reached enough of an audience yet to allow for regular or at least on demand printing.
@@yltraviole I would've thought the fresh coverage would've resulted in another print run.
I might get this on PDF but if I'm honest it isn't likely. I mean in PDF all the great art is just a waste as my paper quality won't do it justice. Then there is the fact of having to burn through the ink and paper to print it out just to have it all bound in a notebook?? No.
Maybe as a Gen-Xer I'm just too old but I'm not interested in having my module on my laptop, especially if it's a mega dungeon like this. I'm having to use my laptop constantly for images to show the kids I GM for what creatures look like a is. Then I also use it for ambience music and sound effects. I just am not at the point where I want to spend money for a PDF, especially $20. I mean $40 for the real book sounds fair but as a PDF I'm not spending more than $10. Even that seems high to me for something that I could lose when DRIVETHRU RPG decides to rebrand, cancel my account, or goes out of business. Even with a back up hard drives fail, flash drives get lost, PCs get viruses, and just to much can go wrong. I want this in Hard Back. A book I can pass on to my kids when they are old enough if they are still in the hobby, or donate to a library if they are still a thing in 50 years.
@@dagazrune6453 There are a some products that have on demand printing, or are available through sites like Lulu. I think the main issue is that OSR products are vanity press, small print runs, made by individual hobbyists as side projects. They've always relied on zines or PDFs for most products, because the community sprang up through Blogs in the late 2000s as a reaction against D&D 3.5 and 4.0, but since 5e came out, many of the community moved to that system, attracting people away from OSR purchases.
Most of the creators, like Gabor Lux, have regular jobs (I think he's a professor in Hungary). Because the print runs are small, and it's often a one-man operation, they just don't have the time or the capital to finance printing. Only popular books are worth the economic risk to publish in physical form (no OSR guy wants to get stuck with unsold books in his garage). Castle Xyntillan got published b/c Lux has built up a fan base over the last 10 years, and has a reputation for quality work.
I purchased mine direct from the shop link at Gabor's Blog: emdt.bigcartel.com/product/castle-xyntillan
It looks like he still has some available, but I don't think he has business connections outside of Hungary to print it in elsewhere. I've seen videos or blogs where he's interviewed, and I think he works a lot, and does some international travel, so he doesn't have the time or incentive to publish full time. This book was gradually written by him over 8+ years, in his spare time (which is why it's so damn good -- it's truly a labor of love).
I bought this from him right before Covid hit, and felt it was worth the shipping from Hungary. It's one of the best OSR products. I also have a hard copy of the revised Deep Carbon Observatory by Patrick Stuart, and it took several years of PDF sales and a kickstarter before he could publish it.
The book sold out as I was placing an order :(
Me too. :(
Worry not, I've just heard from Gabor that there will be a reprint.
Check here: emdt.bigcartel.com/product/castle-xyntillan
@@QuestingBeast Thanks for the heads up, but shipping to the US is $25. Gonna have to hold out for the reprint.
What system is this book for? Is it AD&D? Dungeon Crawl Classics? Or what
Swords & Wizardry, but it should be fairly easy to adapt it to work with other retro systems like OSE.
Great book, had it for almost a year now. Print quality isn't great though, almost immediately bubbles started appearing in the lamination of the cover.
Haven't had that issue, personally, but I'll keep an eye on it.