Castle Greyhawk

Castle Greyhawk is one of the central dungeon settings in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. The Castle was originally developed by Gary Gygax for his own campaign and later detailed for publication. Castle Greyhawk is also the name of a 1988 Dungeons & Dragons adventure module that offered a tongue-in-cheek treatment of the Castle. In 2005, Gygax announced the release of Castle Zagyg, his new treatment of the dungeon.

Location

Castle Greyhawk lies north and slightly west of the Free City of Greyhawk, across the Selintan River. The Free City of Greyhawk is located centrally in the Flanaess, the eastern portion of the continent of Oerik, the greatest of Oerth's four continents.

History

Construction on the Castle began 320 CY, by the wizard Zagig Yragerne. Known as "The Mad Archmage," Zagig was elected Lord Mayor of Greyhawk approximately the same time, and ruled over the Free City from the Castle for approximately the next 100 years, after which he abandoned the Castle and mysteriously disappeared.

Over the centuries, the Castle's three towers decayed into ruin. The main tower is called the "Tower of Zagig," and the two lesser towers are known as the "War Tower" and the "Tower of Magic" (alternately the "Power Tower"). An extensive dungeon complex lies below the towers.

In the initial years after the Castle was abandoned, few if any adventurers approached the Castle because of rumors that it lay under a powerful curse. Eventually, a group of northern barbarians forayed into the area and pillaged a large amount of treasure. The story of their success attracted groups of dwarves, elves, and other adventurers to the area, and over time the Castle's dungeons became a major site for adventuring in the Flanaess. The influx of trade, travelers, and treasure associated with this phenomenon has provided significant economic benefits to the nearby City of Greyhawk.

Sometime during this period, Zagig reappeared, and with his apprentice Tasha, managed to imprison the demon lord Fraz-Urb'luu in the dungeons beneath the Castle. The fiend was imprisoned there for over 100 years, but was eventually freed by a wizard and a cleric (probably Erac's Cousin and his adventuring companion Ayelerach).

In CY 505, Zagig then captured and imprisoned the evil demigod Iuz in the Godtrap beneath the Castle. Iuz was one of nine demigods so trapped, and this accomplishment was instrumental in Zagig's ascension to become the demigod now known as Zagyg. Other deities imprisoned in the dungeon included Merikka, Rudd, Wastri, and Zuoken. The remaining four demigods have never been canonically identified, although the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer states that the nine were of "opposing alignments."

In CY 570, the warrior Robilar freed Iuz from his prison, and subsequently most of the other eight demigods (save Zuoken) escaped as well.

Note: The 1992 publication From the Ashes (FtA) provides some contradictory dates to those given above. First, it states that construction of the Castle did not begin until 375 CY. The adventure module Greyhawk Ruins, however, provides the CY 320 reference for the start of construction. Greyhawk Ruins is both an earlier work and more specifically focused on the Castle itself, and thus would seem to be a more definitive source. Second, FtA suggests both 505 CY and 507 CY as dates for Iuz's initial imprisonment. Given that all other references to Iuz's imprisonment in official game publications use the CY 505 date, the CY 507 anomaly is usually considered to be an error.

Levels

The Tower of Magic, Surface ruins

The surface ruins are mostly abandoned. They include a temple to Boccob, barracks, storerooms, mess halls, and guest quarters. A large band of kobolds currently dwells in the southern half of this ruin.

The Tower of Magic, Zagig's Gauntlet

This is a twisted maze designed by Zagig to test the mettle of his apprentices.

Publication history

In 1972, Gary Gygax was writing dungeon levels for the Greyhawk campaign at the rate of one per week. The castle and its dungeons were the central location for his campaign at the time. He described these in a 1975 article entitled "Adventure at Greyhawk Castle" in the Diplomacy fanzine El Conquistador.

Castle Greyhawk (TSR, 1988), a humorous/joke treatment of the Castle

Also in 1975, TSR published the Greyhawk supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, although this booklet provided no significant detail regarding Castle Greyhawk itself.

In 1978, TSR then began publishing adventure modules set in the World of Greyhawk, although these early adventures did not directly concern the Castle. Similarly, TSR's The World of Greyhawk 1980 folio and 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set provided information regarding the campaign setting at large, but no detail regarding Castle Greyhawk.

Between 1983 and 1985, TSR published three modules linked to Castle Greyhawk. These were the 1983 adventure Dungeonland and its sequel The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, as well as 1985's Isle of the Ape. All three were originally conceived by Gygax as extra-planar extensions of the dungeons below Castle Greyhawk. As published, however, the modules again provided no information regarding the Castle itself or its dungeons.

The Castle was first detailed for the general public in 1988 in TSR's adventure Castle Greyhawk. However, as the module was steeped in humor and featured numerous references to 20th century culture (such as the character the Amazing Drider-Man), most Greyhawk fans consider the module to be a non-canonical "joke-version" of Castle Greyhawk.

In 1989 The City of Greyhawk boxed set expanded on the detail available for the Free City of Greyhawk and its environs for the second edition D&D rules. The Castle itself received only a minor mention.

The Castle finally received serious treatment in 1990, when TSR published Greyhawk Ruins, a 128-page adventure which examined the Castle in great detail.

In 2005, Troll Lord Games began publishing Castle Zagyg in a number of volumes authored by Gary Gygax and Jeffrey P. Talanian. The Castle Zagyg series is written for the Castles and Crusades game, which aims to reconcile the feel of First Editon Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with d20 rules. These adventures are based on Gygax's original Castle Greyhawk dungeon design and campaign, but are not official D&D materials.

In August, 2007, Wizards of the Coast released Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, a 224-page hardcover book that revisits the material from Greyhawk Ruins and updates the site for 3.5 edition D&D rules.

Bibliography

• Breault, Mike, ed. Castle Greyhawk. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1988.

• Bulmahn, Jason, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona. Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007.

• Gygax, Gary. Dungeonland. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.
• -----. The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.
• -----. Isle of the Ape. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1985.
• -----. Monster Manual II. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1989.
• -----. The World of Greyhawk. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1980.
• -----. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

• Gygax, Gary with Jeffrey P. Talanian. Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works. Troll Lord Games, 2008.

• Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K. Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.

• Kuntz, Robert J. The Original Bottle City. Pied Piper Publishing, 2008.
• -----. The Original Living Room. Pied Piper Publishing, 2007.

• Kuntz, Robert J, and Douglas J. Behringer. "Robilar Remembers: Erac's Cousin." Oerth Journal #5. Council of Greyhawk, 1997.

• Mobley, Blake, and Timothy B. Brown. Greyhawk Ruins. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1990.

• Moore, Roger E. Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.

• Niles, Douglas, and Carl Sargent. The City of Greyhawk. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1989.

• Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.

External links

• Grodog's Greyhawk, a compilation of information about the publications relating to Greyhawk.

• Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg, the home page of Gygax's Castle Greyhawk material.

• Castle Greyhawk at Wikipedia.