Castle Greyhawk
Encyclopedia
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
for the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
roleplaying game. The Castle was originally developed by Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
for his own campaign and later detailed for publication. Castle Greyhawk
Castle Greyhawk (module)
Castle Greyhawk is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting. The module bears the code WG7 and was published by TSR, Inc...
is also the name of a 1988 Dungeons & Dragons adventure module
Adventure (role-playing games)
An adventure is either a published or otherwise written collection of plot, character, and location details used by a gamemaster to manage the plot or story in a role-playing game. Each adventure is based upon a particular gaming genre and is normally designed for use with a specific game or gaming...
that offered a tongue-in-cheek treatment of the Castle. In 2005, Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
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 GreyhawkFree City of Greyhawk
The Free City of Greyhawk, also known as Greyhawk City and the "Gem of the Flanaess," is a fictional city-state in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
, across the Selintan River. The Free City
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
of Greyhawk is located centrally in the Flanaess
Flanaess
The Flanaess is the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, one of the four continents of the fictional world of Oerth in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The Flanaess has been the setting of dozens of adventures published between the 1970s...
, the eastern portion of the continent
Continent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
of Oerik
Oerik
In the Dungeons and Dragons World of Greyhawk Campaign setting, Oerik is the largest continent on the world of Oerth, where the Greyhawk campaign takes place.Oerik is named after the Oeridians, a human people who settled much of the continent...
, the greatest of Oerth
Oerth
In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Oerth, pronounced as "Orth" or "oyth", is the name of the fictional planet on which one of the earliest campaign settings, the World of Greyhawk, is located...
's four continents.
History of the Castle
The Castle was constructed CY c.320 by the wizardWizard (Dungeons & Dragons)
The wizard is one of the standard character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A wizard uses arcane magic, and is considered less effective in melee combat than other classes.-Creative origins:...
Zagig Yragerne
Zagyg
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Zagyg is the god of Humor, Eccentricity, Occult Lore, and Unpredictability...
. Known as "The Mad Archmage," Zagig ruled over the Free City of Greyhawk 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 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
Dwarf (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, dwarves are a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for play as player characters...
, Elves
Elf (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, elves are a fictional humanoid race that is one of the primary races available for play as player characters. Elves are renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the sword and bow...
and other adventurers to the area, and over time the Castle's dungeons became a major site for adventuring on 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 managed to imprison the demon lord
Demon lord (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demon lords are demons who have gained great power and established a position of preeminence among demonkind. Each demon lord has a unique appearance and set of abilities. Most control at least one layer of the Abyss...
Fraz-Urb'luu
Fraz-Urb'luu
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Fraz-Urb'luu is a demon lord, sometimes known as the "Prince of Deception." In Gary Gygax's Gord novels, Fraz-Urb'luu is alternately called Var-Az-Hloo.-Publication history:...
in the dungeons beneath the castle. The fiend was imprisoned there for at least 200 years, but eventually freed by a wizard and a cleric
Cleric (Dungeons & Dragons)
The cleric is one of the standard playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. In the game, clerics are versatile figures, both capable in combat and skilled in the use of divine magic. Clerics are powerful healers due to the large number of healing and curative...
(probably Erac's Cousin
Erac's Cousin
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the man known as Erac's Cousin is a mysterious figure who has not revealed his real name. He is also called simply the Unnamed.-Creative origins:...
and his adventuring companion Ayelerach).
In CY 505, Zagig then captured and imprisoned the evil demigod Iuz
Iuz
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Iuz is the chaotic evil demigod of Deceit, Evil, Oppression, Pain, and Wickedness. Iuz is variously called "The Old One" and "Old Wicked," among other titles. Unlike most Greyhawk deities, Iuz makes his home on...
in the dungeons 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
Rudd (Greyhawk)
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Rudd is the Oeridian goddess of Chance, Good Luck, and Skill. As the Great Gambler, she knows every card game invented. Rudd avoids completely cerebral games like Dragonchess, finding them too easy...
and Wastri
Wastri
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Wastri is the Suloise god of Amphibians, Bigotry, and Self-Deception...
. The remaining five demigods have never been canonically identified, although the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer states that the nine were of "opposing alignments."
Because Zuoken
Zuoken
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Zuoken is the Baklunish god of Physical and Mental Mastery...
is known to be imprisoned somewhere on the central Flanaess, some believe he was one of the nine deities Zagig trapped at the Castle. Noncanonical lists of the other demigods have been offered by Gary Gygax himself, other early D&D notables such as Robert J Kuntz and in various works of fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
, although many of these lists cannot be reconciled with the (now canon) "opposing alignments" criteria noted above.
In Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk is an adventure book for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The adventure is set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting, specifically in and around Castle Greyhawk and its dungeons. As such, it is an update to the...
published in 2007, Zuoken was officially confirmed to be one of the canonical deities imprisoned. According to the module, when Iuz was freed, the other gods effected an escape except for Zuoken who remained imprisoned. By the end of the adventure, Zuoken has been freed, Robilar who had been replaced by an evil double is back to his old self and Castle Greyhawk is now some sort of multi-planar brigadoon.
In CY 570, the warrior Robilar
Robilar
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Robilar is a powerful warrior who serves as commander of Rary's forces in the Empire of the Bright Lands...
freed Iuz from his prison, and subsequently most or all of the other eight demigods escaped as well.
Note: The 1992 publication From the Ashes
From the Ashes (Dungeons & Dragons)
From the Ashes is a supplement for Dungeons & Dragonss World of Greyhawk campaign setting. It was published in 1992 by TSR as a boxed set of materials...
(FtA) provides some contradictory dates to those given above. First, it states that construction of the Castle did not begin until CY 375. The adventure module Greyhawk Ruins
Greyhawk Ruins
Greyhawk Ruins is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was published in 1990 by TSR, Inc...
, 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 CY 505 and CY 507 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.
The Tower of Magic
- Surface ruins. The surface ruins are mostly abandoned. They include a temple to BoccobBoccobIn the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Boccob is the god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance, and foresight. He is known as the Uncaring, the Lord of All Magic, and the Archmage of the Deities...
, barracks, storerooms, mess halls, and guest quarters. A large band of kobolds currently dwells in the southern half of this ruin, and elves guard the entrance. During Castle Greyhawk's heyday, the Regalia of Neutrality were evidently stored in the Temple of Boccob here, and were the goal of countless pilgrimages. They are now gone, but something of their power still remains. This level is coded P100 in Greyhawk Ruins.
- Zagig's Gauntlet (P200). This is a twisted maze designed by Zagig to vent his eccentricities, test the mettle of his apprentices, and guard the crypts below.
- The Ochre Crypts (P300). This level contains the crypts of Zagig's apprentices and family members. Living as he did for hundreds of years, he outlived a lot of people. The stonework is a distinctive ochre hue. Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk removed the passageway that led to stairs from the surface ruins, connecting the crypts only to Zagig's Gauntlet.
- Apprentice's Walk (P400). This level was originally built as dormitories for Zagig's apprentices. For a time this and many other of the levels beneath the Tower of Magic were used for an experiment conducted by the Ring of Five on the impact of magic on the three philosophies of evil. Staircase 2 in the surface ruins has evidently been changed in Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk to lead here instead of to the Ochre Crypts, while staircase 4 on this level has evidently been changed to lead from either the surface ruins or Zagig's Gauntlet instead of from the crypts.
- The Sanctum Arcanum (P500). This level is a complex of classrooms and laboratories.
- The Vaults of Creation (P600). This level was intended for golem creation and research, but never finished. The map was changed extensively between Greyhawk Ruins and Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, but a few of the rooms match up. P612 matches F12, P601 matches F11, and P602 matches F15, but the destinations of the staircases and tunnels leading from those rooms have been altered or blocked.
- Master's Walk. These were Zagig's personal workshops and libraries.
Publication history
Gary GygaxGary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
designed Castle Greyhawk as a locale for the amusement of his children and friends and as a testing ground for the game of Dungeons & Dragons that he developed with Dave Arneson
Dave Arneson
David Lance "Dave" Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game , Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s...
during 1972/73. Dungeon levels were written at the rate of one per week as those adventures progressed, leading to the original thirteen-level castle.
In those early days, for exploring outwith the immediate area of the castle and nearby city there was no "Flanaess"; Gygax's world map of "Oerth" was simply drawn over a map of North America.
A second version of Castle Greyhawk was developed/created prior to the publication of Dungeons & Dragons by incorporating Rob Kuntz's "El Raja Key" (also commenced in 1972), which had been created to allow Gygax to adventure using his own PCs such as Mordenkainen
Mordenkainen
Mordenkainen is a fictional wizard from the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. He was created by Gary Gygax as a player character and is one of the oldest characters in roleplaying fiction...
.
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
published the Greyhawk supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, although this booklet provided no significant detail regarding Castle Greyhawk itself.
Later on, Gygax developed the area around this new version of his castle and Greyhawk City to include new cities and countries as needed, expanding to a surrounding area of around 50 miles mapped in depth and approximately ten times that far in outline form by 1976.
In 1978, TSR 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
Dungeonland
Dungeonland is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, written by Gary Gygax for use with the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules...
and its sequel The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror is an adventure module, written for use with the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. It is set in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting.-Plot summary:...
, as well as 1985's Isle of the Ape
Isle of the Ape
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game World of Greyhawk campaign setting, the Isle of the Ape is a magical demiplane created by the mad archmage Zagyg Yragerne.-Plot overview:...
. 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
Castle Greyhawk (module)
Castle Greyhawk is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting. The module bears the code WG7 and was published by TSR, Inc...
. However, as the module was steeped in humor and featured numerous references to 20th century culture (such as the character the Amazing Drider
Drider
In the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game, a drider is an aberration that was formerly a drow . Driders are centaur-like creatures in the game, appearing as drow from the waist up, with their lower portions replaced by the abdomen and legs of immense spiders. They are most commonly found in the...
-Man), most Greyhawk fans consider the module to be a "joke-version" of Castle Greyhawk.
In 1989 The City of Greyhawk
The City of Greyhawk
The City of Greyhawk is an boxed set accessory published in 1989 for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.-Contents:...
boxed set expanded on the detail available for the Free City of Greyhawk
Free City of Greyhawk
The Free City of Greyhawk, also known as Greyhawk City and the "Gem of the Flanaess," is a fictional city-state in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
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
Greyhawk Ruins
Greyhawk Ruins is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was published in 1990 by TSR, Inc...
, a 128-page adventure which examined the Castle in great detail.
In 2005, Troll Lord Games
Troll Lord Games
Troll Lord Games is an American publisher of role-playing games , The Crusader magazine and other board/dice/card games....
began publishing "Castle Zagyg" in a number of volumes authored by Gary Gygax and Jeffery P. Talanian. The Castle Zagyg series is written for the Castles and Crusades game, an OGL
OGL
OGL may refer to:* Open Game License, an open-content license by Wizards of the Coast* OpenGL, a standard for computer graphics* Observer Group Lebanon, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization observers in Lebanon...
game derived from Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
. 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
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
released Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk is an adventure book for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The adventure is set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting, specifically in and around Castle Greyhawk and its dungeons. As such, it is an update to the...
, a 224-page hardcover book that revisits the material from Greyhawk Ruins and updates the site for 3.5 edition D&D rules.
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 the Greyhawk wiki.