Greyhawk ruins was one of my most popular dungeon runs. Tied multiple npc into it from the city, several rival adventuring parties delved into it, causing party battles... and at the end... the winning adventuring party settled into the castle and took over occupancy. Which was great as the greyhawk war was much more brutal in my campaign. As for the maps, didn't have an issue as to me and my players...party maps were almost never the same as the real one...they were made by characters in danger, using pencils by torchlight....no engineering people nearby..so inaccuracies were common which added to the realism I tried to play by
I love the text, hate the maps. Give me functional maps. Jim Ward provided some memories from his adventures in the dungeons to the authors. The layout is actually based on V2 of the dungeon after Rob joined and they combined dungeons. There was only one set of ruins above ground, and one 1st dungeon level, but there were separate “towers” that descended from there. There were elf guardians (see Expedition to the Black Reservoir) and dwarf guardians. After adventuring there a bit they figured out that their was mostly monetary treasure if you went down the dwarves entrance, but a lot more magic if you went down the elves’ staircase. I think it was level nine where the “towers” converged back into a single core dungeon. Most of the content was made up by the authors, but there were a few that were based on Jim’s recollections.
Interesting. I wonder if some combined or amalgamated version of the Castle Greyhawk mega-dungeon would ever make it into a Goodman Games OSR hardcover book, like the ones they've done for Keep on the Borderlands and Isle of Dread (possibly my own favorite).
This one module (?) probably logged more gaming hour/ gamers under my DMing than any three others combined! Good times, great memories...I really miss that game!
All of the monsters in WGR1 are updates of ones that originally appeared in 1e: the gingwatzim are from Ken Rolston’s little-discussed C3 (The Lost Island of Castanamir), and the manotaur is from Dave Cook’s CB1 (Conan Unchained!).
I liked the gingwatzim most in C3, and i did not think it a bad one shot. however, while trying for decades, i have not been able to get them in use in our games
I made a huge digital map (fully guided) with campaign cartographer back in the day, had fun decorating the rooms and linking the room descriptions… to make things even worse for myself I ran it in 3.5, favorite trap was the shrinking corridor.
Loved your review Joe! I have a sickness for all things Castle Greyhawk. A ton of work was put into that module so you have to appreciate it (and I love the War Wagon). I also love the cross section map in Expedition. I just wish that Gary's dungeon was released for his fans. Haven't heard any updates from Paul S for a long time.
@@GreyhawkGrognard I guess I could do more than hope, e.g. find out Gail Gygax’s contact details and talk her into making it happen soon… however, it’s not that important to me. I have other priorities, like learning Russian and Arabic in a hurry, before my online courses expire. I have plenty of other (A)D&D modules I haven’t played yet.
@@SimonAshworthWood It's my understanding that she's waiting for some big company to offer her a boatload of cash for the rights to Gary's material. Unless someone is going to make a computer game or movie or something, it's unlikely to happen.
I love this module, mostly. For the divine pillar (Vaprak v. Nerull) my answer would be "Cuthbert." This would force divine intervention. If I had a holy word I would just use that.
I have not run Greyhawk Ruins, but you make it sound interesting. I probably should have a look at it, if for no other reason to mine the .pdf for ideas I may like to incorporate into my homebrew. There are so many ways to use a product like this - reading entertainment, inspiration for ideas, even as ancient history and backstory - once upon a time there was this place called Greyhawk Ruins... Cheers!
Would be great to hear what they updated for the "Expedition" Module. Also I'd love to hear you explain your own castle of the archmage and what you included with info from Gary.
Thank you for covering this module. I also noticed the lack of a grid for the maps as well, but still enjoy this module. Thank you again for you review.
Ohhh I remember that module. We were playing Forgotten realms at the time and it says you can use that module for Dragonspear Castle up by WaterDeep. I remember it has like a two ton iron book that has the recipe for iron Golems in it. I had to use a wish to get it home. lol
I enjoyed this Version of CG i had run the earlier version and it was to comical, This is the version i run on my campaign., every help wanted board my party encounters at first level, and onwards has advertisements for CG in fact i printed one up and handed it to the party. As they get to mid level and get to Greyhawk they are familiar and just want to check it out like they are visiting the CN tower. this module requires a bit more than usual prep work from the DM but its well worth it.
Great video! Greyhawk Ruins was something I bought, even though I knew it had nothing really to connect it to the original. It is, at least, more interesting and has the potential for a lot more fun than that @bortion TSR released to spite the man that was called Castle Greyhawk. Greyhawk Ruins is a great source for ideas for one's own campaign, even if it isn't run for itself.
That's a very timely video. Am just about to run my first OSE adventure, I've decided to set in Castle Greyhawk. The module sounds very interesting, but I'd rather use it for my main GURPS campaign and run a more traditional dungeon for the oneshot.
Every Thursday there's a regular video, and every Sunday there's an adventure hook. Videos drop at 4 PM ET. There might be extras others here and there, but that's the regular schedule. But thanks for subbing and signing up for alerts! Hopefully they'll work out whatever the bug is.
I enjoy Castle Greyhawk discussions but this is kind of sad when TH-cam is now for whatever reason not letting me know that your videos are up on your channel. I’ll check back but I am subscribed to a lot of people so this makes it kind of difficult to always remember. But this is very odd and that’s why I’m letting you know in the comments because I enjoy Grayhawk discussions but for whatever reason TH-cam does not want to notify me and now I’m kind of wondering how many of your other members have this issue.
A comprehensive list would be impossible to compile. Some of the missing features (such as the Godtrap) were added back in, in the later Expedition to Greyhawk Ruins.
I had this but I lost it - I was looking for it as a reference. Didn't this module have several levels that are left to the DM to populate and flesh out; they came with a paragraph or 2 of what was roughly going on in them. Or was that another module I'm thinking of?
I know the module states levels 2-15 but why? Is a dungeon to get from 2 to 15? Or it means that it can be played by characters of those levels? It doesn't seems like balanced.. what would be the most appropriate character levels for this module? 8-9?
The World of Greyhawk was first published as a setting in 1980. Forgotten Realms wasn't published as a setting until 1987. Both, of course, were actively used by their creators before that, and each appeared in Dragon Magazine before their published sets as well.
Assuming you mean "...other than the one you wrote", and disqualifying Castle Zagyg because only the first set was ever published, I'd say the Dungeon Hobby Shop Dungeon.
It looks like this module could _really_ use an updated digital remake of the maps.
Boy howdy, could it! Could have used one decades ago! Trying to DM it was a challenge!
My friend made it in Roll20, trying to get my head around it now to run it
Greyhawk ruins was one of my most popular dungeon runs. Tied multiple npc into it from the city, several rival adventuring parties delved into it, causing party battles... and at the end... the winning adventuring party settled into the castle and took over occupancy. Which was great as the greyhawk war was much more brutal in my campaign.
As for the maps, didn't have an issue as to me and my players...party maps were almost never the same as the real one...they were made by characters in danger, using pencils by torchlight....no engineering people nearby..so inaccuracies were common which added to the realism I tried to play by
Played in this module twice and ran it once. Absolutely enormous! Barely scratched the surface every time!
I love the text, hate the maps. Give me functional maps. Jim Ward provided some memories from his adventures in the dungeons to the authors. The layout is actually based on V2 of the dungeon after Rob joined and they combined dungeons. There was only one set of ruins above ground, and one 1st dungeon level, but there were separate “towers” that descended from there. There were elf guardians (see Expedition to the Black Reservoir) and dwarf guardians. After adventuring there a bit they figured out that their was mostly monetary treasure if you went down the dwarves entrance, but a lot more magic if you went down the elves’ staircase. I think it was level nine where the “towers” converged back into a single core dungeon. Most of the content was made up by the authors, but there were a few that were based on Jim’s recollections.
Interesting. I wonder if some combined or amalgamated version of the Castle Greyhawk mega-dungeon would ever make it into a Goodman Games OSR hardcover book, like the ones they've done for Keep on the Borderlands and Isle of Dread (possibly my own favorite).
This one module (?) probably logged more gaming hour/ gamers under my DMing than any three others combined! Good times, great memories...I really miss that game!
All of the monsters in WGR1 are updates of ones that originally appeared in 1e: the gingwatzim are from Ken Rolston’s little-discussed C3 (The Lost Island of Castanamir), and the manotaur is from Dave Cook’s CB1 (Conan Unchained!).
I liked the gingwatzim most in C3, and i did not think it a bad one shot. however, while trying for decades, i have not been able to get them in use in our games
I made a huge digital map (fully guided) with campaign cartographer back in the day, had fun decorating the rooms and linking the room descriptions… to make things even worse for myself I ran it in 3.5, favorite trap was the shrinking corridor.
Loved your review Joe! I have a sickness for all things Castle Greyhawk. A ton of work was put into that module so you have to appreciate it (and I love the War Wagon). I also love the cross section map in Expedition. I just wish that Gary's dungeon was released for his fans. Haven't heard any updates from Paul S for a long time.
I had a couple of comments but I deleted them since you answered the questions in the video 30 seconds after I posted them. :)
According to this video, Greyhawk Ruins sounds nice, so I’m glad I bought it. I’m still also keen to get Castle Zagyg when it’s made available again.
We can only hope...
@@GreyhawkGrognard I guess I could do more than hope, e.g. find out Gail Gygax’s contact details and talk her into making it happen soon… however, it’s not that important to me. I have other priorities, like learning Russian and Arabic in a hurry, before my online courses expire.
I have plenty of other (A)D&D modules I haven’t played yet.
@@SimonAshworthWood It's my understanding that she's waiting for some big company to offer her a boatload of cash for the rights to Gary's material. Unless someone is going to make a computer game or movie or something, it's unlikely to happen.
I love this module, mostly.
For the divine pillar (Vaprak v. Nerull) my answer would be "Cuthbert."
This would force divine intervention. If I had a holy word I would just use that.
I have not run Greyhawk Ruins, but you make it sound interesting. I probably should have a look at it, if for no other reason to mine the .pdf for ideas I may like to incorporate into my homebrew. There are so many ways to use a product like this - reading entertainment, inspiration for ideas, even as ancient history and backstory - once upon a time there was this place called Greyhawk Ruins...
Cheers!
Would be great to hear what they updated for the "Expedition" Module. Also I'd love to hear you explain your own castle of the archmage and what you included with info from Gary.
This! id be very interested to hear about the castle of the arch mage and the expedition module
Same! Love to hear you talk about your module, and how it integrates into greyhawk lore
Thank you for covering this module. I also noticed the lack of a grid for the maps as well, but still enjoy this module. Thank you again for you review.
Ohhh I remember that module. We were playing Forgotten realms at the time and it says you can use that module for Dragonspear Castle up by WaterDeep. I remember it has like a two ton iron book that has the recipe for iron Golems in it. I had to use a wish to get it home. lol
I enjoyed this Version of CG i had run the earlier version and it was to comical, This is the version i run on my campaign., every help wanted board my party encounters at first level, and onwards has advertisements for CG in fact i printed one up and handed it to the party. As they get to mid level and get to Greyhawk they are familiar and just want to check it out like they are visiting the CN tower. this module requires a bit more than usual prep work from the DM but its well worth it.
You mentioned Kara-Tur; I remember being fascinated by that one, but Greyhawk will always be my "first love". --Ok that sounded weird.
Great video!
Greyhawk Ruins was something I bought, even though I knew it had nothing really to connect it to the original. It is, at least, more interesting and has the potential for a lot more fun than that @bortion TSR released to spite the man that was called Castle Greyhawk. Greyhawk Ruins is a great source for ideas for one's own campaign, even if it isn't run for itself.
That's a very timely video. Am just about to run my first OSE adventure, I've decided to set in Castle Greyhawk. The module sounds very interesting, but I'd rather use it for my main GURPS campaign and run a more traditional dungeon for the oneshot.
YT doesn’t let me know you still have new episodes. I’m subbed and bell notified. Fook yt. Glad I saw this scrolling.
Every Thursday there's a regular video, and every Sunday there's an adventure hook. Videos drop at 4 PM ET. There might be extras others here and there, but that's the regular schedule.
But thanks for subbing and signing up for alerts! Hopefully they'll work out whatever the bug is.
I enjoy Castle Greyhawk discussions but this is kind of sad when TH-cam is now for whatever reason not letting me know that your videos are up on your channel. I’ll check back but I am subscribed to a lot of people so this makes it kind of difficult to always remember. But this is very odd and that’s why I’m letting you know in the comments because I enjoy Grayhawk discussions but for whatever reason TH-cam does not want to notify me and now I’m kind of wondering how many of your other members have this issue.
Otherr than the great central staircase and the fountain of snakes, what things are known to have been in Gary's dungeon that are not in this module?
A comprehensive list would be impossible to compile. Some of the missing features (such as the Godtrap) were added back in, in the later Expedition to Greyhawk Ruins.
I had this but I lost it - I was looking for it as a reference. Didn't this module have several levels that are left to the DM to populate and flesh out; they came with a paragraph or 2 of what was roughly going on in them. Or was that another module I'm thinking of?
The problem with this module is the party level. It says it’s for levels 2-15. The problem is that is not too well balanced.
I know the module states levels 2-15 but why? Is a dungeon to get from 2 to 15? Or it means that it can be played by characters of those levels? It doesn't seems like balanced.. what would be the most appropriate character levels for this module? 8-9?
Did Greyhawk precede Cormyr? Or was it equivalent release schedules for a few years?
The World of Greyhawk was first published as a setting in 1980. Forgotten Realms wasn't published as a setting until 1987. Both, of course, were actively used by their creators before that, and each appeared in Dragon Magazine before their published sets as well.
@@GreyhawkGrognard Wow, Cormyr Accessory was from 94', can't beat the Master I guess.
What is your favorite megadungeon module?
Assuming you mean "...other than the one you wrote", and disqualifying Castle Zagyg because only the first set was ever published, I'd say the Dungeon Hobby Shop Dungeon.
soooo, Where is the jeweld man?
While interesting, never got around to running it, mostly because of the lack of grid.
The lack of the grid was indeed annoying.
Greyhawk Castle is certainly a bad joke as written, but cut all the crappy humor and do some re-keying it's a solid, well mapped, dungeon.
That's a very different module than Greyhawk Ruins.