It's October-eve, and that means big things here at The Other Side. I'm starting my Horror Movie Marathon here in a bit. And my theme this year is ... no theme at all! That's right, I am just going to watch horror movies as I find them, as they come to me, or however they get here. I plan to watch all the movies in The Conjuring universe and the movies in the Insidious series, too.
Really looking forward to this month.
A Word About My Basic Bestiary
This one is taking a bit. I am climbing the dual mountains of editing close to 400 monsters AND finding good art for them. I am funding the art myself, as I don't want to rely on crowdfunding for this.
Angels
I have talked about the various angels and related creatures in my games before.
What I want to do is create groupings of various good-aligned outsiders (Celestials) and assign them hierarchies similar to those found in the lower planes. Angels, then, are the Lawful Good-aligned Celestials.
The trick has been finding the right way to group them all, figure out the hierarchies as the Medieval scholars would have classified them, AND (and maybe the most important) find something that works well for the games I play.
The Archangels
The generals of Heaven's armies are the seven Archangels. While some scholars equate an archangel to a particular layer of the Seven Heavens, this is not really the case. Of these seven, St. Michael is considered to be their leader and the most powerful.
ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
General of the Heavenly Hosts
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –6
MOVE: 24”/36” (flying)
HIT DICE: 22 (231 hp)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Special (holy relics only)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 (flaming Holy Avenger sword +6)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d12 + 12 (STR and magic bonuses) + 1d8 fire per hit +6d6 damage to the "unholy."
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Holy Word at will; spell-like abilities as a 22nd-level cleric; Voice of Authority (as Command on all evil within 60’, no save vs. 6 HD or less); Haste 3/day; may summon 2–20 angels once per day.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better weapon to hit; immune to fire, lightning, charm, petrification, poison, death magic; regenerates 3 hp/round; 90% magic resistance.
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 90%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius (25)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
SIZE: Huge (9’–10’ tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: 350
— Attack/Defense Modes: All/All
“I have seen demons in their true forms, nightmare creatures born in dreams of madmen, and even sat in the galleries of a diabolic auction to bid back a mortal soul from the clutches of a Duke of Hell. I have faced things that should have unmade me, yet I walked away with laughter still on my lips.
But when Michael appeared, when the sky split as if dawn had come at midnight, my laughter died. I had thought devils horrific, but they are at least comprehensible: greedy, ambitious, vile. The Archangel is none of these things, and that is what made him terrifying. His presence was like a storm that judged the worth of every breath I had ever drawn. His eyes pierced every spell, every secret and lie I had cloaked myself in, and for a moment, I was naked in truth before the heavens. And he saw all.
I confess, the most dreadful creature I have ever faced was not a demon or a devil or some abomination from beyond the veils of reality, but the Archangel himself. Not because he is cruel, but because he is absolute and just.”
- From the Journal of Larina Nix
Michael is one of the seven archangels and the greatest warrior among them. He appears as a towering, armored figure of radiant fire, bearing a great Holy Avenger that burns with divine light. His voice alone can turn entire legions of fiends.
When encountered, Michael is always on a mission of cosmic import, never idly wandering the planes. He may be summoned only by direct decree of the highest divine power. In battle, Michael is the equal and opposite of the greatest demon princes and arch-devils, such as Demogorgon or Asmodeus.
Michael is the war-leader of Heaven, the one who cast down Lucifer in the First Rebellion, and who wields the flaming sword at the threshold of Paradise. He is invoked in exorcisms, called upon as protector of the dying, and hailed as the angel of judgment. In many myths, Michael weighs the souls of the dead upon golden scales, determining whether they ascend or fall.
Unlike other celestials who guide, heal, or inspire, Michael exists to fight. His presence is a living reminder that the heavens themselves are not pacifistic, but hold a sword against the darkness. He embodies both the mercy of the divine and the implacable wrath of cosmic law.
The sword borne by Michael is no ordinary weapon, but a Holy Avenger of such potency that it channels his immense strength and divine fire together. Each strike inflicts 1d12 damage, to which both his +6 Strength bonus and +6 enchantment bonus are added, followed by an additional 1d8 points of searing flame. Against demons, devils, undead, and those faerie creatures which are inimical to Law and Good, the sword delivers an additional 6d6 points of radiant destruction. Few beings can withstand even a single blow.
Michael’s arsenal of powers extends beyond his martial prowess. He may utter a Holy Word at will, casting down evil beings as if by the decree of heaven itself. His Voice of Authority compels obedience in all creatures of non-good alignment within 60 feet, with no saving throw allowed for those of 6 hit dice or less. In battle, he moves with preternatural swiftness, able to Haste himself and his allies thrice per day, and once per day, he may summon an entire host of angels (2–20, of any order) to his side.
In defense, Michael is nearly unassailable. Only enchanted weapons of +2 or better may harm him. He is wholly immune to fire, lightning, charm, petrification, poison, and all death-dealing magics. His body regenerates 3 hit points per round even if dismembered or disintegrated, so long as a spark of his divine essence remains. In addition, he possesses a 90% magic resistance, rendering most spells against him useless.
To mortals, the sight of Michael is awe beyond bearing. His radiance is said to blind the unworthy, and even those of good heart find their voices stolen in his presence. Against him, demon princes falter, and arch-devils bow in bitter hatred.
Michael as a Patron of Celestial Warlocks
Unlike the dark bargains made with demons and devils, pacts with Archangel Michael are covenants rather than contracts. The warlock does not “steal” or “bind” power from him; instead, Michael bestows divine might upon the worthy as part of their service to the Cause of Law and Good. Such warlocks are sometimes called Knights of the Flame or Champions of the Dawn.
The requirements and duties of the Warlock of St. Michael are so strict that few can adhere to them.
Requirements
Alignment: Lawful Good. Any deviation severs the pact.
Vows: The warlock must swear oaths of courage, protection of the innocent, and resistance to evil in all its forms. They may never knowingly ally with demons, devils, or the unseelie fae.
Service: At least once per year, the warlock must undertake a holy quest of Michael’s choosing (via vision, angelic messenger, or dream).
Gifts of Michael
Warlocks in covenant with Michael receive invocations suited to battle and the banishment of evil:
(Minimum level in parentheses.)
Radiant Smite (1st): Once per day per level, the warlock’s weapon shines with holy fire, dealing +1d6 radiant damage to undead, demons, devils, or evil faerie creatures.
Shield of the Host (3rd): The warlock may call upon angelic warding, granting them protection from evil 10’ radius for 1 turn once per day.
Voice of Command (5th): Once per day, the warlock may issue a single-word command (as the spell Command), affecting all evil creatures of 6 HD or less within 30’.
Flame of Michael (7th): The warlock may invoke Michael’s light, striking a foe with 3d6 holy fire (save vs. spells for half). Usable once per week.
Summon the Dawn (9th+): Once per month, the warlock may summon a single Agathós (Aurora, Astral, or Lunar) to aid them for 1 turn per caster level.
Drawbacks
Michael is implacable in judgment. Warlocks who deviate from his vows may find their powers withdrawn instantly. Should they betray their covenant or consort with the unholy, Michael himself may appear, not as a teacher, but as an executioner.
This year I have been celebrating various Fantasy RPGs and judging them on their ability to replace D&D. For October I am going to focus instead on Urban Fantasy games with Horror elements to them; something I rather love.
This past week, instead of gaming, my son and I worked on characters. I was working on characters for my Urban Fantasy Fridays and he was doing Call of Cthulhu 7th ed. We got to talking while listening to his "D&D Classic Rock mix" when the subject came around to the Supernatural series. We both commented on how this September was the 20th anniversary of the show's premiere (September 13, 2005). We all agreed we had a lot of fun watching it. It was the last show we all watched together as a family, you know, before the kids got their own lives. Liam lamented that there was no Supernatural RPG. To which I corrected him and pulled it out. He was pretty excited about it, to be honest.
So we dropped the games we were working on (him CoC7, me Chill 3rd Edition) to recreate the same characters in Supernatural.
Supernatural RPG
2009. by Jamie Chambers. Published by Margaret Weiss Productions.
Supernatural: The Role Playing Game came out in 2009 from Margaret Weis Productions, back when they were adapting a lot of TV properties into RPG form. Like Smallville and Battlestar Galactica, this one used the Cortex System (the pre-Cortex Plus version). That alone puts it in a particular place in RPG history, when licensed games were less about “crunch” and more about catching the mood of the show.
I am somewhat hesitant to review this one. The big reason is that it is long out of print. You can find it on eBay for some really insane prices. The other reason is it only covers Supernatural up to Season 3; so about 20% of the show. There is a lot in the show that is not covered by these rules. Lastly, and this one is hard, it doesn't really *do* anything that other games can also do. The system itself, Cortex, is like a bastard child of Unisystem and Savage Worlds.
The book is great looking and there is a lot here in terms of use and layout that will later be seen in the Dresden Files RPG.
So I am taking this one out of my "Urban Fantasy Fridays" proper, but still giving it its own due by placing it in Supernatural's premiere month.
As you’d expect, this game built for monster hunting, salt, shotguns, and a healthy dose of bad family drama. The book does a good job of introducing newcomers to the Supernatural world, but if you were watching the show back then, it was a nice way to immerse yourself in that universe at home. Characters are hunters, of course, though not necessarily Sam and Dean. You can make your own, or play with archetypes drawn right from the show. Sam, Dean, John (their dad), and Bobby (their other dad) are the only featured NPCs.
Mechanically, it’s pure Cortex: roll a couple of dice based on your traits and hope for the best, with plot points to keep the action flowing. It’s not a heavy system and fits the episodic structure of Supernatural really well, you can knock out a “case of the week” in a session or two. The downside is that it doesn’t dig too deep into campaign longevity; it’s really tuned for one-shots and short arcs rather than sprawling epics. Which is ironic given the show's eventual 15-year-long life.
Looking back, the game is a time capsule. The series was still early in its run (season three), so it reflects Supernatural before it got truly cosmic. So no Crowley, no Castiel, and sadly no Rowena. That makes it more urban horror and road-trip mystery than angels, Leviathans, and end-of-the-world plots. In a way, that’s a strength, it captures the weird Americana vibe that made those early seasons fun.
It’s out of print now, and not easy to find at a reasonable price. Still, as a piece of the Cortex lineage and a reflection of Supernatural’s monster-of-the-week roots, it’s worth a look for fans. For me, it sits on the shelf next to Chill, NIGHT SHIFT, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, a reminder of when urban horror TV and RPGs crossed streams in fun and exciting ways.
Expanding the Supernatural RPG Universe
I mentioned above Cortex in this version feels like the bastard child of Unisystem (Buffy, WitchCraft) and Savage Worlds (Rippers, etc.) so expanding the RPG options of Supernatural are fairly easy.
I even have a few posts about it already, back when this game first came out.
I have used these ideas at varying degrees to make some new characters, espeically expanding the Supernatural universe to include witches and even succubi.
Each one uses a slightly different type of witchcraft/magic system, and that works fine with me. None is "perfect" as far as I am concerned, but I am sure I could craft one.
In truth if I was going to play Supernatural these days, I would just use NIGHT SHIFT.
But, I'll give magic/witchcraft one last try for Supernatural/Cotrtex.
Larina "Nix" Nichols for Supernatural
Would my witch be in the Supernatural universe? I have to say honestly, not likely. Witches are generally evil or at least up to no good in Supernatural. And anything she would do in the game can already be done by the witch and future Queen of Hell, Rowena MacLeod. But hey, this is my universe.
Concept: Witch (Seasoned)
Attributes
Agility: d6
Strength: d4
Vitality: d6
Alertness: d12
Intelligence: d12
Willpower: d12+d2
Derived Attributes
Initiative: d6+d12
Endurance: d6+d12+d2
Life Points: 20
Resistance: d6+d6
Weapons
Knife d2
Arcane Blast d8, Range: 40 Ammo 6 (Vitality)
Skills
Animals d6, Artistry d4, Craft d6, Discipline d4 (Concentration d6), Influence d10, Knowledge d8 (Linguistics d10, Occult d10), Lore d6 (Demons d8), Perception d6 (Empathy d8, Intuition d8), Performance d4, Ranged Weapons d4, Science d6 (Social Sciences d8), Unarmed Combat d4
Traits
Allure d6
Witch d8 (Telekinesis, Arcane Blast, ESP)
Obsessed (Magic) -d2
Dark Secret (Witch) -d4
Honestly, I like this build. I need to refine the magic system further, but this will certainly suffice. I don't think she would show up on the main Supernatural series. Witches end up in a bad way when Sam and Dead are around. No, if she is going to be a "guest star," then it has to be on Wayward Sisters. Avoids her and Rowena from sharing the same scenes. The group would seek her out for occult advice, not knowing she is a witch. And in proper Supernatural fashion, she even has her own soundtrack to choose from!
I should post Rowena, but she is basically similar to this, only more powerful (as she should be).
Doing this does make me nostalgic for the show.
It really isn't the Forgotten Realms' answer to Gondolin, but I am at a loss to come up with a better example.
Back in the early 90s, TSR was hitting its stride with big boxed sets for the Realms. The Ruins of Myth Drannor (1993) is a prime example, a sprawling campaign supplement that promised to take players deep into one of the most iconic fallen cities of D&D lore. Like a lot of the Realms material of this era, it’s packed to the brim, sometimes messy, always ambitious.
MY first encounter with this mythical Elven realm didn't come from this boxed set, but rather the Forgotten Realms novel Spellfire. I have been looking forward to checking it out on its own for some time, but the prices for it on eBay are all over the place. So, I am settling for the PDF and print-on-demand copies.
The Ruins of Myth Drannor (2e)
1993. By Ed Greenwood. Artists: Erik Olson, Jeff Easley, Arnie Sweikel, and John Sattem
While I will refer to the "boxed set" here, since that is how it was originally published, I am working off of my Print on Demand version from DriveThruRPG.
The box itself comes with three books, a pile of maps, and the Monstrous Compendium monsters. The full “big box” treatment I have come to expect from 1990s Realms.
128 Pages.
This book details the extensive history of Myth Drannor, from its zenith as the "City of Song" to its tragic downfall. It provides in-depth information on the various factions and creatures that now inhabit the ruins, offering a rich and dangerous environment for exploration. The materials include maps of the city and surrounding areas, new rules for the unique and fluctuating magical environment of Myth Drannor, and detailed descriptions of key locations within the ruins. Adventurers are warned that the city is a treacherous place, filled with deadly dangers and formidable monsters, making it a challenge even for the most experienced players.
Once a beacon of magic and civilization where elves, dwarves, gnomes, and humans coexisted in harmony, Myth Drannor fell to a great evil centuries ago, leaving it a despoiled and haunted place. The elves long guarded the ruins to contain the darkness within, but with their departure, the city's long-lost treasures and powerful magic are now a lure for adventurers from across the lands.
Of particular note here are the return of the Devils, aka Baatezu to the Realms. Myth Drannor is filled with them. But they are almost eclipsed by the Baelnorns and the Phaerimm.
We also get some NPCs of note and a good collection of magic items. I am not 100% sure, but I think some of these have appeared in the pages of Dragon Magazine. Whether or not they did, it is always good to have them in their proper place here.
32 Pages.
One thing I’ve always appreciated about this set is that it doesn’t shy away from the scale. Myth Drannor isn’t just a dungeon crawl; it’s a blasted, cursed, haunted city where every corner hides a different threat. The designers clearly wanted this to be more than a string of rooms, it’s an entire sandbox of dangerous possibilities. There are magical zones, weird planar overlaps, and plenty of remnants of the elves’ glory days now twisted into something darker.
The adventures lean into that. You don’t just wander into a ruin and fight skeletons; you’re uncovering old elven magic, running into rival adventurers, and dealing with the ongoing fallout of Myth Drannor’s fall. For a 1993 product, it feels ahead of its time in terms of encouraging exploration and faction play.
Map Book
50 pages*
Ok this part of the PoD book likely differs a lot from the Boxed Set. I am assuming that the maps were done much like the maps of other Realms boxed sets with a guide book. Here they are all one big document. While the Realms maps art works of art in their own right, sometimes they work better on the walls than on the game table. These are easier to use at the table, but haver their own issues. I might need to print them all out and tape them all together. Less than ideal, of course, but beggars can't be choosers.
Monstrous Compendium Monsters
This includes 18 new monsters to add to your Monstrous Compendium binders. That is if you don't mind the chaos the alphabetizing is already descending into. I detail that more below.
Overall
Of course, it has its quirks. Like many TSR boxes from this era, the material can be overwhelming. There’s so much stuff that it’s easy to lose track, and unless you’re ready to put in the prep time, you’ll drown in details.
Still, if you’re a Realms fan, The Ruins of Myth Drannor is a classic. It captures that sense of wonder and danger that defines the best Forgotten Realms material. It’s not just about elves and ruins; it’s about the weight of history pressing down on the present, and what happens when your adventurers dig too deep into stories that should have stayed buried.
Looking at it now, this set feels like a bridge between old-school mega-dungeons and the more narrative-driven campaigns that would come later. It’s very much a 2e product, but one that still has plenty of life for DMs willing to do the work. If you want your players to feel like they’re stepping into a legendary, doomed place, Myth Drannor delivers.
The Campaign guide is just fun reading to be honest. While I was looking forward to using this in my Realms game, it was also just a pleasure to read through.
Sinéad, Nida, Arnell, Jaromir, and Rhiannon
That sense of danger and epic quests fits in perfectly with where my own characters are heading. Sinéad, Nida, Arnell, Jaromir, and Rhiannon have been journeying eastward, leaving the safety of Sword Coast and the Dales behind. For them, Myth Drannor is less a tourist stop and more a trial by fire.
I read the material and thought about what these characters might be thinking as they pass through. While Sinéad is overtly the "star" of my little adventure, it was the other characters that began to shine through.
Sinéad feels the pull of her people’s legacy in the ruins; Arnell feels the same pull but along with a loss he can't explain; Nida says she is going to treasure but really she worries about what old magic might do to the weave of the world; Jaromir is simply wary of walking into a place where so many great adventurers have already fallen. And Rhiannon, well, she can’t resist the thought of lost lore buried beneath the rubble. Her quest really starts here.
Nida, Arnell, and Rhiannon come out of this most changed. Honestly, Arnell leaves the group, such is the weight of loss he feels for this fallen elven empire. Sinéad's reaction is more tempered by her human side. Nida, who I know I am going to switch over to wizard soon, feels a loss as well, but for the magic.
By the end of this, Nida is an 8th-level Rogue and will Dual-Class into a wizard soon. Sinéad is 7th level in Bard and Wizard Multiclass.
Looking back on the sheets I have for them (and it is lot surprisingly) I had both Nida and Sinéad be different types of Witches. I am not sure that applies to them anymore. At least not how I have been playing them of late. I think I will keep Nida as witch, using the Witch-kit from The Complete Wizard's Handbook (which was what I had planned for Sinéad) and then use the Rashemaar Witch kit for Rhiannon (planned initially for Nida). What I wanted was to try out all the witch kits that 2nd ed had to offer. I might still try that in some way.
About the Print on Demand
I have enough Forgotten Realms boxed sets now to know what to expect, and to know what I am not getting here. The maps are part of the book rather than being printed separately, which honestly limits their utility.
The books are bound together in alphabetical order, which is not a huge help as "Adventures" comes before "Campaign Guide." It is a little odd though.
The Monstrous Compendium supplement, while perfectly usable here in the book format, also comes as a PDF for my printing pleasure. So much that I accidentally printed two copies. One copy went into my grow Forgotten Realms Monstrous Compendium and the second copy was divided between my Core Compendiums and my Ravenloft one.
Final Thoughts
What really strikes me, reading this set today, is how much mythic weight and age it gives to the Forgotten Realms. Myth Drannor is not just another dungeon stuffed with monsters and treasure; it’s a reminder that the Realms had centuries of triumph and tragedy before any adventuring party set foot in it. The magic items scattered across Faerûn don’t come from nowhere; they’re the legacy of civilizations like this one, built by the elves and then broken by hubris, war, and time.
I know from reading online Ed had a tight deadline for this, but I wonder how much it he already had planned or even written. The feel is he had Myth Drannor in some form in his head and maybe on paper already. The result only adds to the mythic feel in my mind.
For Sinéad, Nida, Arnell, Jaromir, and Rhiannon, the ruins are a crucible, but they’re also a history lesson. Every shattered tower and cursed bauble is proof that even the mightiest fall. And that’s what makes Myth Drannor so compelling: it’s both a playground for adventurers and a gravestone for a lost golden age.
Running or reading The Ruins of Myth Drannor reminds me why I have come to love the Realms in the first place. It’s a world with scars, where the past is constantly pushing against the present, and where the future is written by those bold (or foolish) enough to venture east into the ruins.
So, back at the end of October 2024, I celebrated reaching 10 million hits here on the Other Side.
Not too shabby of a milestone if you ask me. 10 million hits from 2007 to 2024. Pretty good for 17 years (at that point). I said then: "I hope the next 10,000,000 hits are just as good as the first or even better."
Well. They were! And I barely noticed them.
Sometime last week I hit 20 Million!
It took me 17 years to reach my first 10 million, and then about 10-11 months to reach my next 10 million.
The uptick in my hits all began around the time I stated that D&D 2024 needs a new game world. They shot up significantly then and never really came back down. According to my Google Analytics page I have a reasonably consistent reader base that basically grew by about 500% this year.
That's just crazy. I hope I am doing enough here to make your visits and reading time worthwhile.
What am I going to do for the next 10 million hits? No idea, but hopefully we will all figure it out together.
I started this post once before, but I am returning to it now. Especially now with so much new Castle Greyhawk material to be had. I also wanted to do another of my In Search Of... feature.
In Search Of... Castle Greyhawk
Castle Greyhawk has been a quasi-mythical dungeon. It did exist, in one form or another, and was part of Gary Gygax's own D&D campaign. It was rumored to be anywhere between 13 levels, to 70 to 100s of levels. It was merged with Rob Kuntz's "El Raja Key" at some point and made even larger. The full Castle Greyhawk had always been promised to us but only partially delivered. I'll have some links below so you can read more on all of these topics.
The Published Castles Greyhawk
Despite never getting a full and proper publication, many Castles Greyhawk have existed over the years. Some official, others...well, less so, but all fit the spirit of the idea of Castle Greyhawk. I will cover them below with my own experiences.
I remember being quite excited about this one. The *real* Castle Greyhawk. Finally! Well...that is not the case, really. I like humor in my games, but this was not a great adventure nor a particularly good "joke" one. There are some good bits here. I loved the idea of multiple levels. I loved the idea of a different author/designer taking on each one. Some of the levels were also fun send-ups of my early D&D tropes like "The Temple of Really Bad Dead Things." Sadly, it all never really worked.
Getting different designers to cover each level was fun in theory. They never connected at all. Some were even so bad that I had my players bypass them altogether. For example, when they got to Level 8, I put a "handwritten" sign (in ketchup, no less) up outside the entryway saying, "Food fight in progress, please proceed to Level 9." Eventually, the whole thing collapsed under the weight of its own silliness.
There are some good ideas here. There are some good hooks, and I like the introduction and the first level. Though I do remember some awkwardness in the transitions between levels. One I recall was Level 10, which assumed that you had gone all the way back up to Level 1. Seemed to run counter to the stated reality of the adventure. The maps are good, the art, for the most part, is fun, and again, pulling it all apart to make a bunch of unrelated mini-adventures might be the way to go.
However, I can't help but think that there was a little bit of vindictiveness in having such a high-profile and "bad" adventure carry the name Castle Greyhawk come out in the days after Gary Gygax had been let go. Given that the previous WG7 was supposed to have been a high-level adventure from Gygax called Shadowlands. There is a lot of evidence against this, but thinking back to 1988 and knowing that Gary had been booted. Plus, at the time, I was connecting with other gamers from all over the state, and we shared our pre-Internet opinions. Well, conclusions, truthful or erroneous, can be drawn, and opinions die hard.
Don't misunderstand me; I know Gary loved a good funhouse dungeon. And really, is this one any more ridiculous than "Tomb of Horrors" or the really awful puns in the graveyard of Castle Ravenloft? This one, however, feels like a bridge too far. It was too bad, really. I was in the midst of my "Greyhawk renaissance" at the time, and I wanted to consume anything and everything related to Greyhawk, but mostly official Greyhawk material, rather than the pastiche I had built over the years.
I had a copy, but I lost it many years ago, and I recently reacquired my copy from my old DM's collection. I have the PDF, but I never had a desire to grab a new PoD version. However, I did think about it back in my early days working with Eden Studios, when I read the WitchCraft short story "The House that Dripped Clichés." I wanted to make something good of the Castle Greyhawk adventure. But ultimately, I reasoned I would be better off making my own. Thankfully, I didn't have to.
After the misfire of WG7 Castle Greyhawk, TSR had another go at presenting the legendary dungeon in print. This time, in 1990, they gave us WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, written by Blake Mobley and Timothy Brown, for 2nd Edition AD&D.
On the surface, this one looked like a course correction. Gone was the parody tone, gone were the ketchup-smeared signs, and in their place was a serious attempt to frame Castle Greyhawk as an honest-to-goodness megadungeon. The adventure describes the ruins of the Castle aboveground, and beneath them, three partially intact towers that served as gateways to the deeper dungeon levels.
This felt much closer to what I had always imagined Castle Greyhawk to be. The presentation was straightforward: keyed maps, monsters, treasure, and plenty of challenges. In many ways, it’s a classic meat-and-potatoes dungeon crawl, and for DMs who wanted a usable Greyhawk megadungeon without wading through parody, it delivered.
But there were two problems. First, no published module could ever live up to the myth of Castle Greyhawk by this point. Gamers had been hearing about Gary’s original for over fifteen years, and expectations had grown to impossible heights. Second, the stink of WG7 still lingered. After being burned once, many fans weren’t ready to embrace a new “official” Castle so soon. That left Greyhawk Ruins in a tough spot: serious in tone, expansive in scope, but struggling to shake off its predecessor’s shadow.
I also have to admit, I’ve never been a fan of the cover. It doesn’t capture the sense of awe and menace I wanted from the ruins of the game's greatest dungeon. Inside, though, the content is solid. Twenty-five plus levels of dungeon to explore, each with its own flavor, from ruined laboratories to caverns crawling with monsters. It’s not subtle, but it is dangerous, and it can easily keep a party busy for years of game time.
Looking back, WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins represents the first truly earnest attempt to give us Castle Greyhawk as an actual megadungeon. It wasn’t Gary’s Castle, and it wasn’t Rob’s either, but it was playable, and it kept Greyhawk alive at the table in the early 2e era. For me, it feels like the first step toward reclaiming the myth after WG7, even if it never stood a chance of satisfying everyone’s expectations.
This is another old adventure of mine that was in the collection of my old DM. I think I bought it with the idea that he would run me through it, but it was the 1990s, and I was still finishing up my undergrad studies and likely never got around to it.
Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk
By the time 2007 rolled around, I had already been through the highs and lows of Castle Greyhawk in print. WG7 had left a sour taste, WGR1 had done some course correction, but the mythical real Castle Greyhawk still seemed just out of reach. Then came Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk for D&D 3.5. On paper, this was the one that might finally get it right.
This was a big (224 pages), glossy hardcover and part of Wizards’ “Expedition” series that included Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, and Expedition to Undermountain. These books were meant to be love letters to classic adventures, rebuilt for the then-current edition. And with writers like Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona (names I respected then and now), I had reason to hope.
The book immediately set itself apart from WG7’s funhouse antics. Instead of a parody, it gave us a full-on campaign, a sprawling dungeon crawl combined with political intrigue in the Free City of Greyhawk. Iuz, Zagyg, my ex-girlfriend Iggwilv, and even Zuoken show up, giving the adventure cosmic stakes beyond just “loot the dungeon.” It’s pitched for characters of about 8th–13th level, which honestly felt right. By that point, adventurers are strong enough to tangle with demigods, but not so epic that the whole thing feels like a superhero comic.
The design is ambitious. You don’t just get dungeon rooms mapped and keyed; you get partial maps, encounter tables, and plenty of blank space to make the Castle your own. That’s clever; it echoes the fact that Gary’s original Castle Greyhawk was never static. It was a living, changing environment, tailored to the players at the table. Of course, the downside is obvious: if you're looking for a completely mapped, plug-and-play megadungeon, you won’t find it here. DMs had to be ready to improvise and prep.
I ran pieces of it rather than the whole campaign. Some of the encounters, especially with the new monsters (the aurumvorax got a facelift here, and the cataboligne demon was nasty), were deadly even for 13th-level PCs. My players loved that sense of danger, though — it felt like the dungeon had teeth again.
But did it finally give us the “real” Castle Greyhawk? Well. That depends on what you were hoping for. If you wanted Gary’s original notes, this wasn’t it. If you wanted a megadungeon that was both a campaign centerpiece and a love letter to Greyhawk lore, it largely delivered. It felt like Mona and Jacobs, in particular, were saying, “Yes, Greyhawk matters. Here’s why.”
I remember closing the book after my first read-through and thinking: this is probably as close as we’re ever going to get to a “canon” Castle Greyhawk. Not Gary’s, not Rob’s, but a 3rd Edition interpretation that pulled from the mythos, built a strong framework, and left room for each DM to add their own touch. Say what you like about 3rd Edition, but at the time, respect for Gary was at an all-time high.
Thankfully, it was not the last word.
If Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk was Wizards of the Coast’s official attempt to canonize the Castle for 3rd Edition, then Castle of the Mad Archmage was the fan-driven answer — and in many ways, it feels closer to the dream of a “true” Castle Greyhawk than anything TSR or WotC ever put out.
Joseph Bloch, the “Greyhawk Grognard,” originally released Castle of the Mad Archmage starting in 2009. His idea was simple: if Wizards of the Coast wouldn't and TSR couldn't (because they were gone) give us the real Castle, then he would build one in the old school spirit, level by level, and let people play in it. Later, he expanded and polished the whole into a professional print version through his company, BRW Games. You honestly have to admire that.
This is a megadungeon in the classic sense, sprawling, multi-layered, with dozens of levels stacked on top of each other. Unlike WGR1 or Expedition, Bloch’s Castle doesn’t pull back. It goes all in. If you want a dungeon that feels like it could go on forever, with weird sub-levels, eccentric monsters, and dangerous tricks, this is it. The DNA is clearly Gygaxian: funhouse elements mixed with deadliness, nods to pulp fantasy, and the sense that anything could be around the next corner.
When I first cracked it open, I remember thinking: “This is what I wanted WG7 to be.” It’s not parody. It’s not restrained to three towers. It’s not half-mapped. It’s a full megadungeon you could run a whole campaign in, or strip for parts if that’s more your style. And it’s very much meant for old-school play, resource management, exploration, and danger at every turn.
Is it Gary’s Castle Greyhawk? No, of course not. But in spirit, it comes closer than most. Bloch captures that sense of scale and unpredictability that the Castle always promised. For me, this book represents what the fan community can do when official channels fall short: keep the torch burning, keep the dungeons sprawling, and keep Greyhawk alive at the table.
Now I am a bigger fan of "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk" than Joseph is. But I am happy to have both in my collection.
There are several "flavors" to choose from to suit your gaming needs.
There will likely be more.
When Gary Gygax himself returned to publishing in the early 2000s, hope flared again that we might finally see his Castle Greyhawk the original megadungeon that started it all. Of course, Wizards of the Coast owned the Greyhawk name, so Gary couldn’t publish it directly. Instead, he partnered with Troll Lord Games and released it under the title Castle Zagyg (Zagyg being Gary’s famous mad archmage, his own anagram).
The first product in this line was Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh in 2005. Rather than plunge straight into dungeon levels, this hefty book detailed the city of Yggsburgh, Gary’s version of the Free City of Greyhawk. It was written for Castles & Crusades, Troll Lord’s ruleset that deliberately hewed close to the feel of old-school AD&D, but conversion to earlier editions was painless.
Yggsburgh wasn’t the dungeon itself, but it was meant to set the stage: a living, breathing city that adventurers could use as their home base before venturing into the nearby Castle. The book offered districts, NPCs, and hooks galore. For those of us who had been following the “Castle Greyhawk saga” for decades, it was tantalizing. At last, we had something directly from Gary’s hand.
The plan was to follow this up with the dungeon levels themselves, released as boxed sets under the Castle Zagyg name. A few pieces trickled out, Castle Zagyg: The East Mark Gazetteer and The Upper Works (2008), before Gary’s death in March 2008. After that, the line was discontinued. For various reasons that I don't really need to get into now the line would remain dead for the next 15 years.
In 2023, Troll Lord Games released a 256-page Classic Reprint of Yggsburgh through DriveThruRPG and their own website, making this long out-of-print title available again to fans who missed it the first time. It’s a facsimile edition, preserving the original text and layout; a chance to finally own one of the last projects Gary worked on. Not only that, the maps are by none other than Darlene herself.
So, what we got in Yggsburgh was a glimpse of what could have been: Gary’s vision of the city that would sit at the foot of his legendary Castle. The megadungeon itself never fully saw print. That fact alone makes this one bittersweet. Reading through Yggsburgh now, you can see the connective tissue to Greyhawk, but also Gary striking out on his own terms, freed from TSR and later WotC.
For me, Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh is less about the content (though it’s rich with Gary’s flavor and quirks) and more about the promise it represented. We almost had the real thing. We almost got to walk the halls of the original Castle with Gary as our guide. Instead, we’re left with fragments.
And the myth grows ever larger.
How to Reconcile All These Castles Greyhawk?
Regardless of what version of Castle Greyhawk you prefer, someone else has a different opinion. How can we have ALL the Castles Greyhawk in a game?
Well. We borrow from the real world.
Zagig Yragerne as Ludwig II of Bavaria
Known as "The Mad Archmage," Zagig Yragerne was the builder of Castle Greyhawk. But what if the Mad Archmage had something in common with another famously "Mad" person? In particular King Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as "The Mad King." Why was he mad? He built castles. Lavish ones at that. Neuschwanstein Castle, Linderhof Palace, and Herrenchiemsee. Neuschwanstein is a "fairy tale" castle and is the model for the castles of Disney World and Disneyland. There is even a tenuous connection to Castle Falkenstien here that I might explore later on.
So what if all the Castle Greyhawks are real? All were built by Zagig Yragerne, and all of them were called at one point or another "Castle Greyhawk?"
Which leads me to my next thought.
Castle Greyhawk as a Pan-Dimensional Altgeld Hall
On five Illinois college campuses, castles were built during the time of Gov. John Altgeld. These buildings are all called Altgeld Hall, and all resemble Gothic Revival Castles. There has been a long-standing rumor that you could take these buildings and put them together to form one massive castle. There is no evidence of this, but it was a powerful idea. Plus, having walked by Altgeld Hall at SIUC for years, it left a powerful image. One too good to ignore.
What if all of the various Castles Greyhawk are connected somehow? Not like I suggested with the Temple of Elemental Evil (one location that exists simultaneously across multiple realities), but one supermassive structure built in different pieces in different locations.
What was Zagig trying to accomplish? Was he going to build these different castles and link them? Merge them across time and space? This may explain why WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins and Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk have similar maps in some places but very different ones in others.
Maybe I could tie this into my whole idea of Erde/Oerth/Arth/Urt/Learth/Ærth, where there is a Castle Greyhawk on the various connecting planes, and they are the point of contact. From the Castle's perspective, it is one massive structure; it's just that mortals only see what is on their own plane. Now, are the castles there because the planes are connected? OR are the planes connected because the Castles are there?
There is at least some published evidence to this. Erde/Aihrde, the world of Castles & Crusades, has its own Castle Yggsburgh, AND for a time, they were the publisher of Lejendary Adventures. So maybe Erde/Aihrde is what I jokingly refer to as Learth.
Frank Mentzer gave us Urt, an earlier name for Mystara which is Earth circa 150 MYA. And we know that he was working on the other side of Oerth; Aquaria. It is not a stretch then that there is a Castle Greyhawk on Mystara/Urt too. Those with the knowledge can move from to the next and thus cross realities. NOTE: I am not going to explain why Empyrea failed here. There are more sites on the net that have gone over that far more in-depth than I will or even want too.
By this logic, there could be more Castles Greyhawk out there in the D&D multiverse just waiting to be discovered.
In Search Of the Real Castle Greyhawk
At the end of this long journey through the printed Castles Greyhawk, I keep coming back to the same realization: there was never just one Castle Greyhawk. Every attempt to capture it on paper; from the parody of WG7, to the earnest sprawl of WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, to the ambitious but incomplete Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk, to Joseph Bloch’s Castle of the Mad Archmage, and finally Gary’s own Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh; all circle the same mythic source but never quite touch it.
Part of that is simple: Gary’s Castle was never a finished product. It was a living dungeon, reshaped by play, rebuilt after disasters, improvised week after week for the players in his original group. You can’t publish that experience whole cloth. At best, you can give glimpses, fragments, or homages. It will never be the late 1970s in Lake Geneva, WI ever again.
But maybe that’s the true legacy of Castle Greyhawk. Not the maps, or the monsters, or the towers above the Free City, but the idea that the dungeon is never done. It’s always changing, always waiting for the next group of adventurers to descend into its depths. Every version we’ve looked at, official or unofficial, serious or silly, carries a spark of that truth.
Gary himself got closest with Castle Zagyg, and though his death left that project unfinished, what we did get reminds us that the Castle was never about completeness. It was about potential. It was about mystery. It was about a group of players gathered around a table, wondering what lay behind the next door.
So, in a sense, the real Castle Greyhawk has always been with us. It’s in every megadungeon we map, every ruin we stock with monsters, every campaign we launch into the unknown. The Castle is a myth, yes, but it’s a myth that keeps inspiring us to build, to imagine, and to play.
And maybe that’s the best tribute of all.
Links
This is not an exhaustive list, it is the one I used when researching this post.
The Ankou
(Spirit of the Harvest Dead, Servant of Death)
Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 1
Move: 12"
Hit Dice: 8+8
% in Lair: 30%
Treasure Type: None
No. of Attacks: 1 (scythe)
Damage/Attack: 2–12 (plus special)
Special Attacks: Wither, death strike, aura of dread
Special Defenses: +1 or better weapon to hit; immune to sleep, charm, and hold spells; turned as spectre
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Average (10)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: M (man-sized, gaunt)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Level/XP Value: VIII/2,800 + 12/hp
The Ankou is a dreaded harvest revenant, said to be either the spirit of a cruel farmer cursed to reap souls, or a servant of Death itself. It appears only during the great harvest festivals of Lughnasadh, Mabon, and Samhain. At dusk, it is a fleeting shadow on the fields, but by night, it roams openly: a skeletal figure in ragged peasant garb, a wide-brimmed hat casting a shadow over its skull-like face. Within its eye sockets, cold points of balefire burn.
The Ankou carries a great mowing scythe, which functions as a Sword of Nine Lives Stealing. On a natural roll of 20, the victim must save vs. death magic or perish instantly, their soul cut down like wheat at harvest.
The Ankou fights as a skilled reaper, striking once per round with its enchanted scythe. It can also call upon its powers of decay:
The Ankou may be turned as a spectre, though it will often resist by summoning a cold wind and vanishing into shadow.
The Ankou wanders the fields and barrows of rural lands, sometimes seen by day as a distant silhouette, always acting by night. Peasants leave offerings of bread, cider, or the last sheaf of wheat to appease it. If ignored, it will strike at fields and flocks, leaving ruin in its wake.
Witches sometimes whisper that the Ankou is not a true undead but a manifestation of the dying year itself. Its role is to ensure that the harvest is paid for in blood and that the cycle of death and rebirth continues.
The Ankou cannot be permanently slain by weapons or spells. If destroyed, its form reconstitutes at the next Lughnasadh, unless a Remove Curse or Exorcism is performed at its lair (usually a barrow mound, gallows tree, or abandoned farmhouse).
It is believed there is never more than one Ankou per land, and that each year’s harvest binds a different soul into the role, chosen from the cruel or the damned. Some claim that those who die alone at harvest are most likely to become Ankou. The Ankou disappears after Samhain, not to return till next year.
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Been wanting to do this guy for years. This came out of a conversation that none of the Halloween scarecrows we saw were scary enough.
