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grodog's Greyhawk Castle Archive -
grodog's Version of Greyhawk Castle

  • Central Elevator
  • The Levels
  • The Demi-Planes
  • Random Notes
  • Sources
  • Development Log

    19 November 2012: I finally have access to greyhawkonline.com again to update my web site, so I'll be re-posting updates and new content on the Castle created since the end of 2010:

    • pez

    07 October 2010: Added the new ex-level-07 filled maps. Heather's away on vacation next week, so I may start working on updating my sketch key notes too.

    25 September 2010: Major Update: I linked in the many maps that I've been working on since December 2008's watershed "The Landings Level" map. I haven't culled the various notes about the maps and encounters from the threads on Knights & Knaves Alehouse's Megadungeons forum yet, but will do so eventually.

    2 January 2009: draft second "landings level" map added.

    29 December 2008: 2 new maps added: the environs and Landings Level maps.

    15 December 2007: I spent time last night and today expanding and modifying the caverns portion of my Castle Greyhawk level 14 (based on Wheggi's Quilt Map), and included some new scans of that work, as well as details and notes on my intentions with level 14.

    12 December 2007: I've started work on my Castle Greyhawk again, and posted new scans of all of the my readily-extant maps (the Ruins level, Dungeon Levels 1-3, and two sub-levels of level 4; also levels 14 and 17).

    26 March 2006: on Greytalk, Scott Casper suggested the idea of placing a ruined city/settlement around the Greyhawk Castle ruin, and I like this idea a lot; between it, and the many dungeon design discussions that I've participated in over on the Dragonsfoot and The Knights & Knaves Alehouse forums, I'm going to begin a wholesale revision to my version of Castle Greyhawk.

    I've got some players who'll begin to adventure in it soon, too =)

    Background

    So, how do you put all this Greyhawk Castle lore to use, fleshed out, in an actual D&D game?

    I have never used WG7 Castle Greyhawk or WGR4 Greyhawk Ruins as the basis for my Castle Greyhawk. Within a day or two of both purchases, I returned each book to the bookstore where I bought most of my 1980s D&D stuff---both among the very few D&D purchases I ever returned---equally disappointed in both products. At the time, I was looking for the authentic Gygax & Kuntz Castle, and wasn't satisfied with either book. (As an aside, I now I wish that I had kept both books, since I've learned how both can be put to excellent and diverse uses by talented DMs---one member of Greytalk used WG7 as a cursed alternate demiplane within the Castle, a truly-inspired tip-of-the-hat to the twisted madness of Zagyg!).

    IMC, I created my version of Greyhawk Castle beginning in the early 1980s. At first I didn't know anything about the Castle beyond what was described in the Greyhawk entry of the folio and Guide; naturally, after I discovered The Dragon I mined it (and SR) for as much info as I could find---Joe Fisher's early DM advice articles listed entrances to the Castle, for example---but I didn't stop with just those nuggets. I wasn't willing to wait for the product to finally appear: I wanted Castle Greyhawk to play in NOW (in true Veruka Salt tones), so I created it.

    My Castle started out as a thief's keep instead of a wizard's (to help explain all of those traps!), and I flipped back and forth between calling it Castle Greyhawk and The Lair of Thelmon Onvalth (its long-dead masterthief), as my desire to assert my own creativity and independence from TSR's published works and worlds waxed and waned with the emergence of my own campaign worlds (Thelmon Onvalth exists in Mendenein, a sister-world to Oerth that is planarally "close" in ways similar to the Ghost Worlds from Moorcock's Erekose saga).

    That castle is seventeen-levels deep, with 41 total levels and sublevels, elevators, chute traps, two mirror-image teleport-trap levels, a dragon's lair cavern, etc., etc. I certainly haven't detailed the whole thing, and I have, when the mood so struck me, appropriated bits and pieces from various other castles, dungeons, and what-not into my version of the Castle. That appropriation has included: materials from articles that mention details about the G&K Castle; EX1, EX2, S3, WG5, and WG6; other "authentic" GH sources (Underworld & Wilderness, Greyhawk, 1e DMG, etc.); as well as stridently non-GHworks such as levels built using the dungeon geomorphs, Undermountain and it's lore as published in Dragon by Ed Greenwood, Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Castle, and bits and pieces and elements stolen from fictions by J. Eric Holmes, Michael Moorcock, Jorge Luis Borges, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and the visual works of M. C. Escher and Salvador Dali.

    How have you fold/spindle/mutilated your version of Castle Greyhawk?

    OK, so here’s the outline for my version of Greyhawk Castle (aka, the Lair of Themon Onvalth ). It’s light on the detailed specifics, but this should give you a fuller picture of how I planned, designed, and populated this beast….

    So, just to be sure that I’ve put things into perspective, my verision of the Castle is definitely an amalgamation of lots of different pieces and parts of things, and was also never “finished” in any real sense of the word. I think I must have bought about four sets of Dungeon Geomorphs back-in-the-day: some of the levels are just a sketch of the relative positions of the geomorph parts, labelled for North. When actively running my Castle, players explored much of the ruins, and various portions of the first four levels of the dungeon, and never really found their way much deeper---much to my chagrin. In the notes below, I’ve tried to incorporate sources for any EGG/RJK/etc. info about the Castle, so that you can ignore my parts if you don’t like them.

    Rumors

    I wrote up a d% of rumors, including some really bad treasure rhymes; here’s a sample, though not the worst:

    See the eighth level down---
    and find a crown.
    Touch not this thing unless you be---
    of the possible three.
    Destruction is your’s if you choose wrong---
    yet the Well of Souls and Start of Fire shall guide to thee,
    a treasure of Nessus times three.

    Ugh ;)

    Fragments, Logs, Maps, and Scraps - remnants of delving the Castle

    NPCs

    General NPCs

    1. Standard Hirelings
    2. Choice Hirelings = certain NPCs have been in and out of the Castle with various groups of characters; some switch groups/"sides" on a per-excursion basis (and are sometimes bribed for knowledge of/about other groups too):
      1. several fighters, several of whom don't get along with one another = Fighters level 4, 3, 3, 5
      2. lantern/treasure bearers/porters = Warriors levels 1, 1, 2, 3
      3. MUs = few really make it, so only the crazy/crazed/obsessed/deranged/etc. try to make a living by adventuring in the Castle; some act as agents for other MUs, alchemists, sages, etc.:  levels 3, 3, 4
      4. the veteran mapper = "the" mapper that everyone wants on their expedition:  he gets to keep a copy of all mapping done during any excursion, and also gets to copy one existing map the PCs already have, up front or he's not available (if they dont have anything he needs, he'll either consider them amateurs and bail or charge double his normal rates)
      5. the mazer = a dwarf who never maps, and who has the keenest direction sense in the city; he thinks maps are for sissies, and a waste of precious **time** while in the dungeons; a rival to the veteran mapper, of course
      6. healers = the blood clot brigade = NPCs who help support and patch up warriors and delvers and who insure that everyone returns to the Green Dragon Inn for ale at the end of the expedition; these are often Warriors with the Heal skill, Healer's Kits, a potion or four, and are generally not clerics = more MASH-like; rivals with any real clerics, of course
      7. Alchemists and MUs to identify odd items, areas, substances, etc.; in addition to MUs and alchemists, these are as often Priests of Zagyg, Boccob, Phaulkon; Lord Robilar; Otto, etc.
      8.  
    3. pez

    Rival NPC Parties

    These groups can be enemies, rivals, or compliments to the PCs.

    1. (based on the crew from Heat:  the Planner is famous for hitting the Castle with careful reconaissance, exploring beforehand, even going into other areas to throw off spies/watchers/scriers so that they don't know his real target)
      1. The Planner - Neil McCauley (Cleric?)
      2. The Explosives Guy - Chris Shiherlis (MU with fireballs :D )
      3. The Muscle ("Slick") - Michael Cherrito (Ftr)
      4. The Twisted Muscle - Trejo (Ftr/Thief?)
      5. The New Guy (Waingro) - Ftr
      6. The Enemy/Sponsor (Van Zant) - wus noble
      7. The Fixer (Nate) - Master Thief
    2. demi-human party = they've been together for decades:
      1. Elf Fighter/MU 5/9
      2. Dwarf Fighter 12
      3. Elf Fighter/Druid 3/10
      4. Gnome Illusionist/Thief 7/7
      5. Human Bard 3 (son of previous human member; he's new to the group, but grew up with stories all about them; they love him like their own child)
    3. neutral/evil NPC party:
      1. LN Arrikuhn (Paladin) of Wee Jas (will turn LE over time?):   female Suel
        Str 17, Int 14, Wis 16, Dex 12, Con 15, Cha 17
        spell-like abilities (at will unless noted otherwise):  detect chaos, detect undead (1/day + Cha bonus/day), detect magic (same); lay on hands (cure/cause 3x level damage per day, or damage to undead); divine grace (+2 to saves [or Cha modfiier, whichever is greater]); divine health (appropriate for a death goddess??); immune to fear, anti-fear aura; smite chaos; dispel magic or chaos (instead of cure disease); turn/disrupt undead, never command, even if LE (drop and combine with dispel magic/chaos??); casts MU spells on Paladin table?; mount = ??; wardog pack, raises dogs?
      2. Cleric of Boccob N
      3. Fighter/Thief N(E)
      4. MU N(l)
      5. Bard - the research machine = N (split Bard/Sorc?) (drop bard as redundant with previous band?)
    4. Evil NPC party
      1. Cleric of Nerull
      2. Fighter
      3. Sorcerer
      4. MU/Monk
      5. Fighter/Thief
    5. The Fox - a Greyhawk Castle legend who scrawled cryptic graffiti throughout the dungeon levels; Fox or The Fox was already a legend when Mordenkainen and Robilar first explored the Castle, and few now know Fox's race, sex, class, etc.; legend says that Fox was the first serious explorer of the Castle ruins and dungeons, and some adventurers have reported discovering the Fox's signature in other famous dungeons like Maure Caslte, the levels below Blackmoor Castle, the Tomb of Horrors, etc. Some notable personages have attempted to study Fox and collect his/her clues, including Robilar, Mordenkainen, some sages, etc.

      The Fox's signatures often appear in very dangeous areas surrounded by traps (mundane and magical), vicious monsters, and in very out-of-the-way locations (the bottom of 120' pits, on obscure sub-levels, etc.). Some have speculated that the phrases are enchanted to attract monsters, and intelligent omnsters have sometimes figured out that they phrases are signficant, and will lay ambushes using them as distractions or lures, as well. The letters themselves are magical, permannet, and usually glow softly (most often blue, silver, gold, hot pink, red, deep green, purple, etc.); they are almost never trapped with glyphs of warding, symbols, sigils, etc., although sometimes others do leave such magical defenses in close proximity to the phrases (in particular, collectors have been known to try to disguise the messages with illustory script). The letters themselves radiate magic (strong alteration if magic is detected), cannot be erased, and cannot be easily destroyed---examples will be found where scorched, eaten away surfaces show pristine phrases, and other instances where the original surface, if any, was disintigrated, transmuted to mud, etc., and the letters remain hanging in mid-air (some phrases will read OK both forward and reverse-mirrored, so knowing the original orientation may prove to be difficult).

      For examples of the Fox's signature phrases, see The Fox entry under the graffiti section of Dungeon Dressing.

    Dungeon Dressing

     

    Graffiti

    1. "Boley" = Bole-Eye = say it and press the appropriate place to open a secret door
    2. dungeon level markers for depth (at each stairway? = a patter of raised and lowered/carved strokes, perhaps also falsified by Zagig and/or others afterward; perhaps can use detect magic to see different auras and therefore determine which were original vs. changed by others?)
    3. epitaphs, epigrams, and in memoriam verses scrawled on walls, for fallen comrades, or perhaps battle praises for victories over enemies:
      1. "Brazrabul of Irongate fell here, slain by trolls. 14 Wealsun 468 CY"
      2. "Brelid died, a doughty thief /
        here he lied---we have no grief /
        since in his pack gold we found /
        and gemstones too did abound /
        and it seems he did not share. /
        Let him rot here, we don't care."
      3. "The vampire Plincourt was laid low here. Beware: he escaped in a gaseous state, vowing to return."
      4. "The olvic demon Caledras was banished from Oerth in this chamber --- Father Hennon, CY 571"
      5. written in Olven script: "Nickar was killed by this trap. 4849 Sunflowers 17."
      6. "Thayed Toetael RIP 492 CY"
    4. Oddball phrases:
      1. "Help me, please I'm hiding in the ceiling two doors down. Ivid banished me. I can reward you if we escape."
      2. "Ware the watcher. B."
    5. The Fox's clues, cryptic "Kilroy was here"-like phrases scrawled throughout the castle ruins and dungeons; examples include:
      1. Turn 5 B2 Fox
      2. Swim 5 G3 Torc The Fox
      3. Down 2 A4 Fox
      4. Ware Pits Q1 The Fox
      5. Crawl 12 I6 Fox
      6. Climb Ropes 30 S2 Fox
      In general, the graffiti follows the pattern of Verb [Noun] Number Letter Number combination [Noun] then "Fox" or "The Fox" as a signature.

    Litter

    1. Broken weapons, spikes, flasks, etc.
    2. cloth, paper scraps
    3. food scraps
    4. burnt out torch stubs
    5. nuts, bolts, screws, armor keys, keys, sharpening stones, and other pieces of flotsam
    6. rat traps

    Surface Levelness and Shape

    1. area with canals, bridges, spans, high vaulted ceilings, etc.
    2. arrow slits, murder holes, spy holes, windows (open, barred, etc.) to allow attacks/spying into other areas
    3. balconies
    4. climbing/walking ledges
    5. flat
    6. hand-over-hand rungs (jungle gym)
    7. ladders
    8. other regular shapes (square, rectangle, hex, pentagon, septagon, octagon, novagon, etc.)
    9. raised or lowered sections, paths, platforms, galleries, etc.
    10. rope-bridge path
    11. semi-circle n and U shapes, both flat-side down and flat-side-up
    12. sloped (steep, subtle, undetectable)
    13. spherical (S4)
    14. triangular with tip at top, with tip at bottom (with water?)
    15. tubular (round)
    16. variable

    Texture of Surfaces of Walls, Floors, Ceilings

    1. bas relief
    2. bricks
    3. cemented
    4. columns - whole, intact, and broken
    5. damaged: chewed, chipped, chiseled, gouged, scratched, scored, sliced, etc.
    6. different types of stones
    7. drip-castle-like
    8. flagged and mortared
    9. frescoes
    10. hardwoods
    11. holed and honeycombed
    12. jagged and broken
    13. lava-like, melted
    14. mosaic
    15. painted (smooth, chipped, crumbling, etc.)
    16. porous (pumic-like)
    17. regular geometric patterns (circle, square, triangle, hexagon, octagon, pentagon, septagon, novagon, linear patterns, etc.)
    18. rough/pebbled
    19. rough-hewn and worked
    20. rubble from collapses, fallen bridges, cracked walls and masonry, eroded edges/pits, broken balcony guard rails, etc.
    21. sandstone, sandy, granular
    22. seamless
    23. smoothed by water's erosive action
    24. smoothly set
    25. spongy, soft, giving surface
    26. stalactites
    27. stalagmites
    28. tiled
    29. wavy
    30. wooden/timber (nice panelling, log cabin look, etc.)

    Spoor

    1. footprints (warm/cold outlines that fade, like when exit a warm shower on tile floor)
    2. bloody trail
    3. feces, hair, hair balls, etc.
    4. 100% clean, absolutely nothing there (a sterile area)
    5. perhaps evidence of recent passage of a gelatinous cube, slime trail, blobules, etc. (jellyfish glops)
    6. location of spoor:  floor, floor/wall corners, walls, walls/ceiling corners, ceiling, midair, no definable location (all around/omnipresent, shifting, etc.)
    7. delver/explorer trails:  string, wall markers (chalk, scratches in walls from blades, chisels, etc.)
    8. creature evidence (spider webs, husks/drained food, food scraps, bones, old shells, shedded skins or scales, etc.)
    9. marking territory (urine, scents, rubbing, etc.)
     

    Air Currents

    1. warm
    2. cool
    3. hot
    4. dry
    5. moist
    6. cold
    7. slow
    8. swift
    9. at level of floor/middle/ceiling
    10. gusting

    Air Quality and Visibility

    Dampness

    1. aquaducts
    2. cisterns
    3. dewy
    4. draining below
    5. dripping from above
    6. dripping sounds
    7. dry
    8. floating in mid-air (S2)
    9. lakes or other large bodies of water (river, sea, etc.)
    10. moist
    11. open trenches/channels for water (not a stream, but a man-/dwarf-made stream/channel)
    12. pools
    13. puddles
      1. in general, they're all over, esp. after it rains
      2. puddles that are flowing (from cracks in the ceiling, down the wall and across the floor with an exit stream/flow at floor of opposite wall)
      3. stagnant puddles
      4. dried puddles (residue of some sort left behind---salt, slime, etc.)
      5. puddle depth (film, shallow, can see bottom, can't see bottom, etc.)
      6. placement (can walk around it, pool-like, long and thin, blocks the passage, etc.)
      7. water quality (potable, sewage, briny, salty, acidic, ferrous, fllled with algae, slimy, cool, warm, oily, etc.)
    14. small stream running
    15. springs
    16. streams
    17. water running down walls/along floor/along ceiling
    18. wells

    Lights

    1. shafts for light and air from above
    2. darker/lighter zones
    3. darkness (only magical light work, or only certain races see normally)

    Smells and Tastes

    1. acidic
    2. animal
    3. blood
    4. chalk
    5. charcoal
    6. cloying
    7. dry
    8. floral
    9. food cooking
    10. fruity
    11. gasses (methane, sulfur, etc.)
    12. incense
    13. meat
    14. medicinal (rubbing alcohol)
    15. monster
    16. ozone
    17. paint (fresh/wet)
    18. rot
    19. salty
    20. sewer
    21. smoke
    22. sour
    23. spiced
    24. stale
    25. sweet
    26. verdant/plant/loam
    27. vinegar
    28. water
    29. wine

    Sounds

    1. animals (moo, quack, oink, birds chirping, hooting, etc.)
    2. babbling
    3. belching
    4. boiling
    5. breathing
    6. breezeway/wind tunnel blasts
    7. bubbling
    8. burbling
    9. buzzing bugs
    10. cars and other mechanical noises
    11. chanting
    12. clicking
    13. collapsing
    14. compressors
    15. crashing
    16. crying
    17. dripping
    18. drums
    19. fighting/combat
    20. fizzing
    21. fizzling
    22. flapping
    23. frequency (regular, irregular, lunar, occasional, constant, continuous, rhythmic, etc.)
    24. giggling
    25. grating
    26. gurgling
    27. intensity (loud, sibilant, soft)
    28. hooved clomping
    29. laughter
    30. mechanical sounds
    31. musical sounds (azathoth piping, bells, chimes, drums, gonging, horn blowing, guitar string breaking, wind chimes, etc.)
    32. moaning
    33. padding
    34. ringing
    35. roaring
    36. rodents
    37. rumbling
    38. running
    39. rustling
    40. scraping (metal on metal, stone on stone, etc.)
    41. shaking
    42. skipping (feet, stones)
    43. skittering
    44. sliding
    45. sneezes
    46. sniffing
    47. snuffling
    48. stirring
    49. sucking
    50. talking (audible vs. Peanut wah-wah-wah)
    51. wailing
    52. water (dripping, running, rain)
    53. whistling (steam)
    54. wind
    55. yelling
    56. yowling (cat-like)

    Tactiles

    1. pez
    2. vibrations in the floor

    Traps

    Tricks

    Special Features

    1. shifting features (walls, doors, floors, ceilings, levels, falling blocks, uncovering wells, etc.---triggered locally or remotely, etc.)
    2. chasm that's only crossable via a swing (rope swing?) = it takes TIME to cross safely; galleries/balconies overlook the chasm (similar to Star Wars chasm, LOTR Durin's Bridge)
    3. frescoes/faces/sculptures/statues/etc. that change over time:  sleeping, silly face, sticking tongue out, Spock eyebrow raised, frown, scowl, smile, laughing, etc
    4. floor designs, mosaics, etc. that change over time (color, pattern, shapes, depicted image, map display that changes over time [and can be controlled, perhaps?], etc.)
    5. portrait gallery of heroes who have fallen in the dungeon, with blank portrait space and blank name plates scrolling off into the distance
    6. special zones and/or destination points/attractions like the Black Reservoir, Great Stone Face, etc.;  landmarks that ground you, and let you know where you are when you find them after you've been lost:
      1. black and white zones (no color, only shades of grey and gray)
      2. silent zones
      3. reverse-gravity area (side-gravity areas = localized by surface gravity)
      4. Elemental areas/themes (earth, air, fire, water, wood, metal, ice etc.)
      5. dead magic
      6. free/powerful magic
      7. areas/doors/portals/gates/arches/etc. that only allow passage by certain races, classes, alignments, sexes
      8. corridors, rooms inscribed with runes, symbols, glyphs, stories, dead languages, etc.
      9. sleep- or stasis-incuding area that has a treasure in plain sight, surrounded by doznes of mosnters, NPCs, etc. (note: this would be a possible place that could save your life if you get there in time before poison, mummy rot, etc. kills you)
      10. slow, haste, youthening, aging zones (level that when you enter it ages you 50 years, you have to be old, then exit again on other side in order to regain your youth)
      11. fungi gardens and other food sources (cave fish, cave crickets, rats (rat traps?), giant bee hives, etc.
      12. frozen area:  icy, rime- and icicle-covered corridors, snow, freezer burn, etc.
      13. the hall/wall of blades:  it grows and spreads over time; according to legend, for each blade that breaks in the Castle, the shard disappears/is absorbed by the stone, and it grows out of the wall in the hall of blades (note that you can't see the stone of the wall at all, you can only see the blades---blades from swords, spears, pikes, daggers, knives, leaf-bladed arrows, etc.)

        other legends hint that various doors/ rooms/halls have been encrusted over with blades, and that various spells will part the curtain of steel to allow egress to the otherwise hidden areas; PCs may also find maps to areas that have since been over-grown with blades; treat the discovery of such areas without a map as secret doors that are twice as difficult to find; sometimes when such areas are opened, a loud grating and snapping of blades will occur, as the metal is sheared off by door/opening actions
      14. the Leaden Cathedral - a large, vaulted chamber/cathedral (perhaps not really a cathedral, some way just dubbed it that?), built of and with lead and non-magic stuff throughout; anyone present in the room is 85% undetectable to non-deital scrying; this leaden chamber is like a bank's safety-deposit storage vault---each mini-vault (and there are thousands lining the walls) may contain an undetectable item (magical or mundane), because it is enclosed in lead and wards, it cannot be located/scried/etc.  The Leaden Cathedral is in a VERY dangerous level, and each of the vaults is trapped, summons guardians, is over 80 feet high in the air and behind a secret door in a flying buttress, etc.
      15. the Stair Well - a huge, deep, open, winding, spiral stairwell that descends many levels into the bowels of the Castle Dungeons; a narrow stair skirts the open shaft (at least 50' wide if not wider); flying creatures are true hazards; scavengers live at the bottom on those who have fallen to their doom; windows, balconies, and landings are strategic points of contest, and are sometimes fortified and manned (charge tolls?)
      16. rooms and sublevels that require PCs to expend a lot of resources just to get there---lots of protection from [elements] spells, prot from evil, passwall, wraithform, stoneshape, etc.; use these areas as lures/destinations on treaure maps that mention the long distances travelleed, tec.
      17. a long, long corridor lined with bones and covere with at least 1-2" of a fine, blueish-white dust (dust of sneezing and choking); it's very hard to move within, or above the corridor because air currents cause the dust to stir (which necessitates the usual save or die); flying, levitationg, etc. willl most likely cause the dust to stir as well (at least 50% chance per passing person without strong precautions in place); thes dust in not easily harvestable for this same reason; PCs find a map showing areas on the other side of the long corridor, perhaps significan treasure; the corridor cuts the level in 1/2 or in 1/3 and 2/3; if PCs are uanble to safely cross the corridor, they need to bypass the corridor and access remainder of the level from another route from above or below
      18. a waterfall corridor, in which water cascades downward from above, blocks visibliity, soaks the PCs, and threatens to wash them away with the water itself if they're not cautious
      19. sewers, drains, and infrastrucutre sub-levels: maintenance corridors/access points to reset traps, feed monsters, channel water to the Black Reservoir, spy on dungeon invaders, control pivot points (to redirect a corridor's direction/flow/access from A to B [like a train tracks switch])
      20. a spy room accessible from many levels above the room that's being spied upon, which allows the king/dungeon builder/whoever to spy on those working in his treaure room (accountants, counters, guards, whatever); the spy room sits above the high, vaulted ceiling of the treasure room, and looks down into it via spy hole slots in the flor (you lie down on the floor in the body-cavity indentations, place your face into the indentations, slide open the spy holes slot, and peer below); the room is accessed via a long, winding narrow stair, via asecret door from a much higher/easier dungeon level than where the treasure room is; it's a long walk (2+ hours?), which helps the king reach a nice, rope old age (exercise, you know)
      21. a series of synchonized one-way secret doors, that open all at once, based on the opening of the first door; they close based on a timer, and if PCs dawdle too long too far into the string of secret doors, they may not be able to exit until someone else comes in the first door (imagine the closing credits of "Get Smart" as the PCs try to flee through the doors as they close around them...).

    Maps and Map Details

    Unless noted otherwise, all graph paper sheets are 4 squares to the inch, 1 square = 10 feet

    I have two elevations showing the general connections and relative positions of all of the dungeon levels, Top Elevation and Bottom Elevation; in the level descriptions below, you can get a sense of the size of a level from its “width” in the elevation (although several levels weren’t neatly stacked one atop the other, and instead radiated outward in different directions relative to a fixed central point).

    A Note about Teleporters: I liked ‘em, so there were various intra-level teleporters throughout most of the levels, as well as inter-level teleporters (heh). I even had one room where, depending on which square you walked into, you’d hit a inter-level teleporter that could take you to any level in the complex except for level5B ;)

    A Note about the Central Stair, Central Elevator, and other highly-trafficked areas:  Central stair with gallery around it on all levels = avoided by most denizens save when its use is required, since it's a likely spot for ambushes (wandering monsters are much  more common...).

    Central Elevator

    The elevator was fun!  Powered by both technology (winches, pulleys, glassteel cables and chains, etc.) and magic, the elevator links the first eight dungeon levels ...

    At any given time, there is a 15% chance that the elevator is already in use when you arrive at it (In Use button indicator?)

    Roll d100 to figure out what level the elveator currently sits on:

    d100 Elevator Location
    01-15 Dungeon Level 3
    16-30 Dungeon Level 4
    31-40 Dungeon Level 5
    41-55 Dungeon Level 6
    56-70 Dungeon Level 7A
    71-86 Dungeon Level 7B
    87-100 Dungeon Level 8

    Elevator Summoning

    If the elevator is not on your level you have to summon it with one of the following conjuration spells:  unseen servant, conjure elemental, invisible stalker, monster summoning, drawmij's instant summons, dust devil, aerial servant, animal cummoning, phantom steed, summon shadow, [more?]; in a pinch, a properly-worded alter reality, limited wish, or wish will also summon the elevator.

    When any of the above spells are cast within 50 feet of the elevator, only the elevator is summoned, and no conjured creatures arrive.  When the elevator arrives on a level, a loud "DING" resounds; after it is entered, the elevator doors shut with wizard lock (20th level) and a magic mouth speaks “Please grab the handle and pick a number between 1 and 7” (1 = Dungeon Level 3, 2 = Dungeon Level 4, etc., per the above chart).  The elevator will then travel to the requested destination level.  Each 50 feet of descent requires one-half segment of travel time, while ascending takes one full segment for each 50 feet (see the dungeon elevation map; count the arriving level but not the departing level as part of the distance travelled); characters noticably feel the speed of the elevator.  During the trip, random music plays (lute/harp/mandolin/sitar/dulcimer/etc., organ/harpsichord/mini-Moog, muzak versions of the Beatles/old Yes/old Genesis, Queensryche or Rush, Hawkwind with Moorcock chanting, etc., etc.). 

    While within the elevator, the following spells will not function:  rope trick, teleport, dimension door, gate, meld into stone, spike stones, planeshift, stone tell, word of recall, astral spell, succor, stoneshape, dig,   knock, blink, Leomund's Comfortable Quarters, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Leomund's Secure Shelter, Leomund's Secret Chest, move earth, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, phase door, vanish, maze, shadow door, shadow walk.  In addition, extra-dimensional magic items such as bags of holding, portable holes, Leomund's Secret Chests, etc., are not accssible from within the elevator (items within such spaces are not lost, they're simply not retreivable from within the elevator). 

    Upon arrival, the elevator comes to an abrupt halt, and PCs not holding onto the railing hit the ceiling then the floor, taking falling damage for the distance travelled by the elevator.

    Elevator Traps and Tricks

    The elevator often had a trick or trap placed upon it, either directly by Zagig or by a resident of the dungeons; sometimes creatures choose to lair upon/within the elevator, though that's rare:

    d100 Elevator Status Notes
    01-60 "Normal" pez
    61-65 Occupied by a wandering monster pez
    66-85 Random Trick pez
    86-95 Random Trap pez
    96-100 Roll again using d100+50 pez

    pez

    d100 "Normal" Status Notespez
    01- Elevator man is there to guide you to your floor (like in an old hotel) pez
    pez pez pez
    pez pez pez
    pez pez pez
    pez pez pez

    pez

    d100 +50 Roll Again Table Notes
    51- Secret Trapdoor in wall/floor/ceiling left open (some lead to secret sublevels) pez
    pez 2 parties are in combat in/around the elevator pez
    pez PCs discover current victims of a trap/trick (roll to see what it was) pez
    pez Elevator Bardic Music (inspires courage or competence) pez
    pez Doors open onto another plane pez
    pez Doors open onto another time pez
    pez Door open onto another place pez
    pez pez pez
    pez pez pez

    Elevator Tricks

    1. Elevator appears to work normally but goes to a different destination level than the one selected by the PCs (including staying on the same level)
    2. Elevator acts as a teleporter
    3. Roll on Wand of Wonder (no attacks, just quirky stuff)
    4. Strobe lights (may daze PCs, no save if PCs are light-sensitives)
    5. Different interior:
      1. mirror walls (like hotel room closet doors)
      2. transparent walls (one-way or two-way)
      3. filled with water (water may or may not flood out; if not, you need water breathing to use the elevator; sometimes the elevator provides water breathing, too)
      4. window(s) in wall(s) and/or floor and/or ceiling that look out onto the elevator shaft, other planes, other levels, random scenes (real or illusory), play movies (Star Wars, Dune, Empire of the Sun, Yor - Hunter from the Future, etc.); sometimes the windows are clear and covered with glassteel panes, other times they're open gates that can be wandered into, and other times they appears to be clear windows looking on the shaft but are in fact all open pits so that you can only stand on the elevator areas between the panes....
    6. Elevator locks and acts like it's moving like a Wonkavator (diagonally and horizonally in addition to vertically) but really just works normally
    7. Strange noises and/or smells accompany the elevator's functions (farts, body odor, troglodyte stench, ghast stench, vrock stench, etc.)
    8. Sub-levels that are only accessible if you stop the elevator between levels, or by pressing buttons in certain combinations (elevator may teleport users from central elevator to another elevator (randomly determine which and the level that it's on; perhaps can remotely control another elevator from the central one?)
      1. Sub-level that's only accessible the elevator is away from the bottom of the shaft; need to force doors open to access it; if elevator returns, it will trap you in the sub-level
      2. Secret doors in elevator walls only line up with levels sometimes and the elevator won't generally move with any door (standard or secret) open, therefore PCs need to check at each stop if they think that a particular secret door may open onto a sub-level; sometimes the elevator secret door will allow egress to an open corridor, other times the elevator secret door opens onto another secret door, which must be bypassed to gain entrance to the hidden level
      3.  
    9.  

    Elevator Traps

    1. Poison needle in elevator button (randomly determine which) and/or door handle
    2. Pit - the floor of the elveator drops open
    3. Sleep gas released after the elevator is in motion---often after the music starts ;-)
    4. Doors open but the elevator's not present
    5. When PCs push a button, monster summoning for that button number is cast, and the summoned monster attacks PCs at/near their destination (generally doesn't appear within elevator itself)
    6. pez

    Elevator Signs

    70% of the time, the Greyhawk Castle Elevator has a lettering of some sort, on a plague, sign, inscription, strong of faerie fire lettering, living fireflies lined up in place, etc.  Sometimes they're in Common, Old Oeridian, various unreadable languages, codes, dead languages, non-Oerthly scripts, etc.

    Some sample messages on such signs could read:

    1. In case of fire, use stairs.
    2. In case of deadly trap, use stairs.
    3. In case elevator absent, use stairs.
    4. Watch your step.
    5. In case of emergencies, use stairs.
    6. In case elevator absent, use ropes.
    7. In case elevator absent, use cables.
    8. In case elevator absent, use ladders.  A whole LOT of them.
    9. In case of purple worm, use boots of flying.
    10. In case of purple worm, pray.
    11. In case of poisonous gas, don't use lungs.
    12. In case of aqueous submersion, use towel.
    13. Hold handrail.
    14. Elevator makes frequent stops.
    15. Don't push the big red button.
    16. Nurse.  Nuke.
    17. Place thumb pad onto biometric scanner.
    18. Push the big red button.  Really.
    19. Now serving number 1,042,136,759.
    20. Now serving number 6.02x10^23..
    21. Now serving number i.
    22. Greyhawk Construction Company.  Permit #1.  Last inspection date 14 Wealsun 353 CY. 
    23. In case of elevator, use stairs.

    Elevator Interior

    [Description]

    Elevator Controls

    The default elevator controls configuration is a panel of eight push buttons (generally labelled three through eight in Common numerals), with an "in use" indicator button, and a red emergency stop button.  Each button lights up when pushed, and, like a standard elevator, you can push more than one stop.  If the emergency stop button is pushed, the elevator stops immediately (and alarm bells may sound too??).

    NOTE:  the elevator controls always display only six level buttons, for dungeon levels three through eight, EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE TWO DUNGEON LEVEL 7s.  If the PCs select level 7, the elevator will deposit them at either level 7a or 7b. 

    To determine whether the default elevator controls are present or not, roll d100 on the table below:

    d100 Elevator Controls Notes
    01-50 Normal (as described above) None
    51-70 Old man in red uniform with hat, with a monkey in identical costume operates the elevator (won't work for anyone else) (he only works part-time) (roll again to determine configuration) The old man is immune to harm, and believes that he was hired to work at the Sir Francis Drake hotel in San Franciso in the year 1931.  He knows that in these trying times, it's tough to keep a job, even such a strange one, so he simply does his job and does it well, no questions asked.  He has been known to accept tips, even strangely-wrought silver and gold coins....

    The monkey's name is different each time PCs visit:  Blip, Gleek, Kong, King Kong, Son of Kong, Clyde, Rafiki, Abu, George, Curious George, Grape Ape, Magilla Gorilla, Igoo, Bingo, Bear, Cheetah, Chim-Chim, Cha-Ka, etc.

    71-75 No buttons panel, need to speak request aloud in Common (or your native tongue) pez
    76-80 Switchboard panel with connection wires (manually need to link the level you're on to the one you want to go to) pez
    81-85 Levers instead of buttons, with an up and down position (go up to get to selected floor, go down to get to selected floor) pez
    86-90 One lever, with one notch/position per floor pez
    91-95 16" deep holes that have dials/knobs/levers inside that you need to reach and then to push/pull/twist/turn/
    raise/lower to activate the elevator; the holes are dark and can't be seen into (even with magical light, x-ray vision, etc.):  they operate only by wishes or by touch
    pez
    96-100 Other (a Twister board on the floor with numbered-button dots; buttons are all labelled in Braille; buttons are reversed; buttons are random) pez

     

    Riding the Elevator

    Sometimes the elevator rides smoothly, other times it's very choppy and herky-jerky; sometimes it seems to move sideways some, or it spins in place (perhaps making PCs dizzy), its movement may be accompanied by rattling and shaking, etc.

    Exiting the Elevator

    Sometimes the elevator doors open onto a set of metal accordion gates (just like old-fashioned elevators), a lowered portcullis, steel bars that run from the below the floor into the ceiling (too narrowly spaced apart to squeeze past unless you're a child or halfling or gnome), etc.  In such instances, PCs may need knock, gaseous form, polymorph self, polymorph other, etc. in order to bypass any given level's entrance barriers.

    The Levels

    Ruins Level

    Two sheets of 8.5x11 graph paper, taped together to form a single 11x17 sheet, with 25 rooms; Average Monster Level 2, Highest 7; provides two entrances to the dungeons: a trapdoor in Ruins #22 (a tower in the south wall) leads into the large parade ground on level1#30; a stairwell open to the sky within a gutted building descends to level 1 #1.

    On Greytalk, Scott Casper suggested that there may be a ruined city/settlement around the Castle Ruins, and I fully plan to take advantage of this idea by expanding the ruins level to include a ruined city/settlement nearby. As a hybrid wilderness/dungeon environ, I would expect the ruined city to be more challenging than the ruins level itself.

    Dungeon Level 1 - The “you’ve found me now try to catch me” Level

    Four sheets of 8.5x11 graph paper, taped together to form a single 16x21 sheet (apparently I trimmed these sheets a little), with 106 rooms, and total width of about 900 feet; ; Average Monster Level 2-3, Highest 7; an open chasm in level 1 #68 leads down to level 5C (Dragon’s Lair), then eventually to the outside of the hill upon which the Castle is built; the chasm also touches level 2, level 4, and level 4A; a secret door hides the stairwell to level 2

    Dungeon Level 2

    Six sheets of 8.5x11 graph paper, taped together to form a single 22x33 sheet, with 193 rooms, and total width of about 1300 feet (this level is tied with levels 3, 14, and 17 as the largest in the dungeon); Average Monster Level 2, Highest 6; two stairwells lead from level2 to level3, and one stairwell leads from level2 directly to level5A;

    Dungeon Level 3 - Guard level

    Six sheets of 8.5x11 graph paper, taped together to form a single 22x33 sheet, level map not completed, and total width of about 1300 feet (this level is tied with levels 3, 14, and 17 as the largest in the dungeon); Average Monster Level 3, Highest 6; central elevator shaft begins on this level and continues straight down to level 8 (use of the elevator generates ambient mechanical noises in Dungeon Dressing); both a ramp and a stairwell lead from level3 to level4, a teleporter leads to level 4A.

    original notes from level 14:

    ===

    You can view a scan of my rough notes on the original map for level 14. I had originally thought that this level would use my dungeon geomorphs plan that showed which geomorphs were used to build the level. Level 14 consists of 17 geomorphs, with 256 rooms. However, I've since decided to use Wheggi's Quilt Map level instead, since it's a far-superior design! :D (and re-discovered the level key, which shows it was level 3).

    I’m not postitive that the geomoprhs were built to be this level, but based on the width the maps should be this level, which is about 1300 feet wide (this level is tied with levels 2, 3, and 17 as the largest in the dungeon); Average Monster Level 6-7, Highest 9; stairs ascend to levels 13A2 and 13B2 respectively, while and elevator descends to level 15, a shaft connects to level 16, and a single branching stair descends to levels 15, 16, and 17.

    ===

    Dungeon Level 4

    Four sheets of 8.5x11 graph paper, taped together to form a single 17x22 sheet, level map not completed, and total width of about 950 feet; Average Monster Level 3, Highest 6; central elevator access, along with a stairwell up to the Dragon’s chasm, on the other side of which is the entrance to level 4A; a chute (secret well shaft) also connects level 4 to level 5B. 

    Dungeon Sub-Level 4A

    One sheet of 8.5x11 graph paper, 31 rooms, and total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 3, Highest 6-7; directly above level 4B, 4A connects to it via an elevator and a stairwell

    Dungeon Sub-Level 4B

    One sheet of 8.5x11 graph paper, 38 rooms, and total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 3-4, Highest 7; directly below 4A, level 4B can also be accessed by teleporter from level 4 and level?? [not marked on map]. 

    Dungeon Level 5

    Level map doesn’t exist, and total width of about 750 feet; Average Monster Level 3-4, Highest 6; central elevator access, and two stairs lead to level 6.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 5A

    Level map doesn’t exist, and total width of about 300 feet; Average Monster Level 4, Highest 6-7.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 5B

    Level map doesn’t exist, and total width of about 450 feet; Average Monster Level 3-5, Highest 8; secret chute descends from level 4, and elevator descends to level 7B.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 5C - The Dragon’s Lair

    Level map doesn’t exist, and total width of about 250 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 6.

    Dungeon Level 6

    Level map doesn’t exist, and total width of about 850 feet; Average Monster Level 3-4, Highest 6.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 6A

    One sheet of 8.5x11 graph paper, level map not completed, level is flooded with water, and is total width of about 350 feet; Average Monster Level 3-4, Highest 7-8; connects directly to level 6, and a chute leads to level 7B1.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 6B

    One sheet of 8.5x11 graph paper, level map not completed, level is flooded with water, and is total width of about 250 feet; Average Monster Level 3-4, Highest 7-8; connects directly to level 6.

    Dungeon Level 7A - First Mirror Image Teleporter Level

    Level map not completed, and is total width of about 750 feet; Average Monster Level 4, Highest 6-7; central elevator access, a stairwell down leads to level 7A2.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 7A1

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 4-5, Highest 7-8; a 200’ pit leads to level 7A1.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 7A2

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 550 feet; Average Monster Level 5-6, Highest 7-8; a chute leads to level 9A, two stairwells lead to level 9B.

    Dungeon Level 7B - Second Mirror Image Teleporter Level

    Level map not completed, and is total width of about 750 feet; Average Monster Level 4-5, Highest 7; central elevator access, a stairwell down leads to level 9A.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 7B1

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 700 feet; Average Monster Level 3-5, Highest 7; an elevator connects to level 5B, and two stairwells lead from this level to level 7B.

    A note about the Mirror Image Levels:  the maps for levels 7A and 7B were identical in almost all respects, and each of the sub-levels also contained entire sections of room-corridor configurations that were identical to sections within each of the main and sub-levels throughout level 7. Hence, you could end up entering level 7A, be teleported to an identical section in level 7B, then be teleported to another identical section in level 7B1, which happens to be above level 7A (so that the only exits you can find are stairwells down, a direction you may not want to go…).

    Dungeon Level 8

    Four sheets of graph paper taped together and trimmed into a square, with total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 4-5, Highest 7-8; the central elevator shaft ends in the center of level 8; stairwells lead from level 8 to levels 9A (stairs turn into a chute) and 9B, while a ramp leads to level 10.

    Dungeon Level 9A

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 800 feet; Average Monster Level 5-6, Highest 8.

    Dungeon Level 9B

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 800 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8; one stairwell leads to level 10, while a long stair leads to level 13B.

    Dungeon Level 10

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 1150 feet (the largest level in the top half of the dungeon); Average Monster Level 4-6, Highest 8; a ramp ascends to level 8, two stairs ascend to levels 9A and 9B respectively, and two stairs lead to level 11.

    Dungeon Level 11

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 600 feet; Average Monster Level 5-6, Highest 8-9; an open shaft connects levels 11 and 12, and two stairs descend from 11 to 12. 

    Dungeon Level 12

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 750 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8-9; an open shaft connects levels 11 and 12, an elevator rises from level 12 to level 13A, a ramp connects levels 12 and 13B, and two stairwells descend to levels 12A and 12B respectively. 

    Dungeon Sub-Level 12A

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8-9; a ramp descends to level 12C.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 12B

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8-9; a ramp descends to level 12C.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 12C

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 350 feet; Average Monster Level 6-7, Highest 9; two ramps respectively lead to this level from levels 12A and 12B.

    Dungeon Level 13A

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 700 feet; Average Monster Level 5-6, Highest 8-9; a chute slides from level 13A to level 14, and an elevator connects to level 13A1.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 13A1

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 500 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 9; an elevator connects to level 13A, a stairwell leads to level 13A2, and a long stair connects to both levels 14A and 15.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 13A2

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 300 feet; Average Monster Level 6-7, Highest 9; a stair descends to level 14.

    Dungeon Level 13B

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 700 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8-9; a ramp descends to level 12.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 13B1

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8-9.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 13B2

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 6, Highest 8-9.

    Dungeon Level 14

    You can view a scan of my rough notes on Wheggi's original Quilt Map level, in which I started to modify it for use as my dungeon level 14. Since discovering Wheggi's map, I've decided to use it as the basis for level 14, since it's a great level design! So, my notes below follow about how I intend to fold/spindle/mutilate Wheggi's original map to make it a premiere level in my Castle Greyhawk (or at least, so I hope...).

    Based on my elevation maps, the width for level 14 should be about 1300 feet wide (this level is tied with levels 2, 3, and 17 as the largest in the dungeon); Average Monster Level 6-7, Highest 9; stairs ascend to levels 13A2 and 13B2 respectively, while and elevator descends to level 15, a shaft connects to level 16, and a single branching stair descends to levels 15, 16, and 17.

    ===

    I wrote lots of notes on the map itself, in two thicknesses of red ink, and colored portions with blue pencil for water. Sometimes I wrote on areas that are easy to miss/somewhat hard to read (i.e., parts of the black markering), and sometimes with the map orientation changed (i.e., upside down). There's also some truncated text thanks to the scanner's canvas size limits, and I wrote some notes on the back, too. So, here they are, since I'm sure they're not particularly legible in various places and/or my shorthand may not be clear (I've had to puzzle on a few of these more than I had thought I would when I took what I thought was going to be a short hiatus...).

    I'll start on the back, since they help to contextualize the level in my Castle Greyhawk (and for more context, see http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle_grodog.html#levels):

    • Entrances: chute from 13A
    • Exits: 1) stairs down to 15/16/17; 2) elevator down to 15; 3) stairs down to 14B
    • Both: 1) stairs down from 13A2; 2) stairs down from 13B2; 3) shaft between 14 and 16
    Starting on the front, to orient, I grouped the level into seven primary areas, and I roughly outlined them on the map, too. They are, starting at the top right, and continuing clockwise:

    1. The Caverns
    2. West Central Core
    3. The Southern Core (the largest section on the map)
    4. Hidden Sub-Level (lower left)
    5. Maze
    6. East Central Core (center of the map, between the maze and West Central Core)
    7. The Northern Core
    From the top, my notes proceed clockwise around the map:
    • 12 o'clock, edge: note to right of levels diagram: "1 level: have parts overlap and connections above and below"
    • 12 o'clock, below above note: arrow pointing right and "stairs down" (slow down toward caverns entrance); below that, with circles to left, and verging into the caverns: "collapse" and "sinkhole/collapse --> insert some rooms only reachable after dig through rubble (another observation room?)
    • 12 o'clock, 2" down from top edge: a long corridor leading N reads "stairs down = slope" (obviously I was unsure which to use Very Happy ), and a thick red line 2" down fills in a corridor from the Northern Core to the cavern access corridor, with an arrow pointing to it that reads "keep?"
    • 12 o'clock, 5" down from top edge: a covered pit has an arrow leading to a slide to an airshaft
    • 1:00, edge: "expand caverns and make some really big ones" and off of that I wrote "within caverns = depth too", and also off of that = "caverns include shaft b/n 14 and 16" and "122 squares across, 161 squares up/down" (my measurements for the level as drawn by wheggi)
    • 1:00, top right sixth: "The Caverns (glowing fungus)"; arrow extending to right: "long corridor to sub-level";
    • 2:30 at bottom of caverns area, text upside down: "observation room overlooks Caverns---impossible to enter from here +/- DROP)"; i think it says "drop" meaning that the observation area looks down into the caverns, via a one-way/glassee effect of sorts; it may also say "DINOS" since I was thinking of putting something worth watching in there :D )
    • 3:00 @ edge, above fold: arrows pointing down and "down" = a down-sloping corridor; directly inside from the edge and on the fold, at the stairs = "up, to 13B2"; directly inside from that is a red square outlined = "shaft [up arrow] ceiling"
    • 3:00, in 3" from edge: "West Central Core"; to
    • 3:30, at edge: more downslope corridors; then "deep pit" at covered pit symbol then line then "pit with secret door?" and more downslope arrows with "d" letters, ending in SE corner with "uber nasty encounter"
    • 3:30, in 2" from edge: "throne room" with an arrow pointing to an X where the throne sits
    • * 4:00, in 2" from edge: "temple" and to the left of that "stairs down to 14B", and to the left of that "chapel" with a line leading to the SE corner that reads "temple & EHP"
    • 5:00, in the lower left corner: "5 WM tables: N, S, C (with E and W branches), Caverns, Maze"
    • 5:30, up 2" from bottom edge: "parade ground/death arena/sacrifice pits"; to the N between this and the chapel it says "balcony" twice, with red lines to indicate where rooms overlook the arena/whatever area; below and to the right of the sacrifice pits is a large 20' square trapdoor, with "sacrifice posts" and an arrow pointing left which reads "slopes down", and then two identical rooms to right which read "beasts (stasis?)"
    • 6:00, to the left of the sacrifice pits: "cells" and the various sets of dots indicate portcullises (portcullii?)
    • 6:00, up 4" from bottom edge: "The Southern Core"; I added lots of water here, and steps and landings to keep it from overwhelming the entire area; several rooms are only accessible via water, though (and may flood when opened, or not, don't know yet)
    • 6:00, on bottom edge: various random notes: ""the Shifting Corridor"; "disappearing arches & doors for access to hidden sections"; "Castle GH - Level 14?"; 1 square = 10'; "pits - with teleporters at bottom & secret doors"
    • 7:00, on bottom edge, below "Sub-Level hidden?" = "flooded? cut? access via teleport only? -- passwall, cyclical?"
    • 7:30, in lower left corner: "place above one of the central core areas"?
    • 8:00, 3" in from left edge: "Maze/enter?" and to the left of it appear two notes, one above the other: "stairs up?" along an arrow pointing left, and (at the spiraling up stairs) "up to 13A2"
    • 8:30, 4" in from left edge, just below the thick red maze area boundary: "mini-sub-level-like" and, almost directly against "like" is the word "chapel?" for the room with two rows of columns within it;
    • 9:00, 5" in from left edge: just above the chapel is a 30' circular room marked "Central Elevator/stair down shaft to 17", and the room of many pillars above that reads "teleporter pillars?"; to the left of that room
    • 9:00, 2.5" in from left edge, just above the fold, in the center of the maze: "© chute from 13th?"
    • 9:00, 1" above fold, at left edge: several thick red S secret doors are marked, and the left edge text scrolling up reads "maze doesn't connect to main level"
    • 9:30, 4" in from left edge: "recess the maze: [something I can't read]/tall corridors"
    • 9:30, 5" in from left edge, to the right of the recess comment above: "air? airshaft" and to the right of that is an arrow marked "slide" pointing into the shaft area
    • 11:00, 2" in from left edge: "The Northern Core"; blue areas = more water up here, too;
    • 11:30, along top edge: "The Red Book of Henchmen" = I have no idea what I wrote that for, perhaps too much red ink on my mind....
    • 11:30, 1" down from top edge, at three circular 30' rooms in a row: 1st room reads "elevator to 15" (perhaps crossed out?) and then the 2nd room indicates "secret door only accessible when elevator is gone"

    So, from here, I started to re-draw the map, which caused some map errors for me as I miscounted and otherwise didn't always align things the way they were in Wheggi's original. That took several evenings, and I only got as far as about 1/6th of the level mapped, which is where I stopped last year.

    I picked this up again in December 2007, and worked on the caverns area, which I had originally thought would include a long corridor off to a "Lost World" style sub-level, but that corridor turned into an underground stream (which may still lead to a new sub-level), and I decided to have two giant pylons act as gates to/from a Lost World demiplane/whatever which the dinosaurs would traverse regularly. I also added some new observation points; some rooms only accessible by crossing the sinkhole/chasm/hole; made the funky divot just south of my first "3:00 entry" which mentions "down" into a pivoting secret door providing alternating access to the two really good observation points (which can likely see the massive gate, I think); made the pit further south from there into an open pit (depth as yet undecided, but likely in excess of 60 feet); added some secret doors to the map; and generally re-architected and substantially expanded the caverns themselves (including with the addition of another underground river, and large pool).

    More will come, I hope, now that I've spent the time to pick this up again!

    Wheggi: hopefully this'll be a fair homage to your Quilt Map, once I complete it!

    Dungeon Sub-Level 14A

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 400 feet; Average Monster Level 6-7, Highest 9-10.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 14B

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 550 feet; Average Monster Level 6-7, Highest 9-10.

    Dungeon Level 15

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 1250 feet; Average Monster Level 7, Highest 10.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 15A

    Level map doesn’t exist; Average Monster Level 7-8, Highest 10.

    Dungeon Sub-Level 15B

    Level map doesn’t exist; Average Monster Level 7-8, Highest 10.

    Dungeon Level 16

    Level map doesn’t exist, and is total width of about 1250 feet; Average Monster Level 7-8, Highest 10.

    Dungeon Level 17

    The level map consists of one 11x17 sheet of graph paper with 10 squares to the inch, looks like about 60 rooms, and is total width of about 1300 feet (this level is tied with levels 2, 3, and 14 as the largest in the dungeon); Average Monster Level 8, Highest 10-11*; connects to level 14 via a long stairwell, 15B via a ramp, to level 15A via a stairway, and to level 16 via a stairwell; secret tunnels connect this level to the deeps of the drowic underworld….

    *11th level monsters were the uniques in my campaign: Fraz-Urb’luu, Demogorgon, etc.

    The Demi-Planes

    I planned many more demi-planes than I ever designed for play.   In the tradition of EX1 and EX2 (inspired by Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) and WG6 (based on King Kong), several of them are much more silly/strange than standard D&D fare, and most of them are very deadly.

    Here's a listing of the various places I've developed as demi-planes; these are listed in a rough chronological order, though the listing is by no means 100% sequentially accurate:

    • Connections to Zagig's Mansion (grodog's version, similar to the Winchester Mystery House)
    • The Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, etc.; a nicely small, self-enclosed demi-plane; with Bears in the Night - a mini adventure/encounter tacked onto the Hundread Acre Wood where the PCs climb up Spook Hill)
    • Peter Pan's pirate island (Barrie and the Disney film meet Pirates of the Caribbean)
    • H. G. Wells (perhaps as an add-on to Gamma World, crossed with Sherlock Holmes/Neil Gaiman Neverwhere London)
    • Narnia (warped perhaps by LaVey?)
    • Clark Ashton Smith (Xothique, Hyperborea, Saturn, etc.)
    • Michael Moorcock (with Hawkwind)
    • Arabian Nights (a la the Banana Splits H&B cartoon, perhaps a Banana Splits demi-plane, with the Three Musketeers too?)
    • Scooby Doo
    • Mythologies (Greek, Norse, Egypt, Faerie)
    • Tolkien (Moria, the Shire, the Lonely Mountain, Dol Goldor, Angband, Nargothrond, Gondolin, etc.)
    • Neil Gaiman's works (Sandman, et al)
    • Lilliput
    • Shakespeare
    • Willy Wonka (new monsters:  Oompa Loompas, Wangdoodles, Hornswagglers, Snozzwangers and rotten Vermicious Knids)
    • Dr. Suess (a tour de-force of strangeness across a surreal landscape peopled by the oddest creatures seen outside of a 3e MM [Etheral Filchers anyone??])

    Random Notes

    • flooded levels = watery of course, perhaps allow river access and/or access to Nyr Dyv?
    • level with train/mine cart tracks that run throughout it = faster movement within a level, therefore much easier to miss secret doors, can't map very well at all, etc., since everyone's in a rush (conveyor belts may do the same thing, depending on their speed)
    • translucent walls level = filled with gelatinous cubes, invisible stalkers, slithering trackers, skulks, etc.; the only non-clear/non-invisible creatures there are powerful enough not to care if they're seen
      • glassee, glassteel for walls/floors/ceiling
      • some of the level is clear, most is translucent??
      • central area and perhaps some sub-levels that's standard walls/environment and/or blocked off by magical darkness; note:  if PCs are invisible, their light is still visible, even if the light source is not visible
    • Assassin's Run-like sub-level within the dungeons??
    • Treasure Tax thoughts (from my GH journal, reposted from PPP boards):

      Greyhawk City as a hive of scum and villainy during the treasure boom (c. 560s-570s CY) = a locus for greed, apathy, free-market neutrality at its worst

      - the fixers = those who are the nodes, the brokers, the team-makers = the real movers and shakers

      - the sponsor and patrons = the nobles, retired adventurers, master merchants, high priest, guildsmen, etc.: they run teams against one another ("Lord Masten's Men", etc.), and vie for the best team players and best targets/goals/prizes = they'll often ambush one another within the dungeons, and sometimes are in cahoots with the thieves guild to do so

      Therefore, need multiple entrances into the Castle to be able to support this diverse rivalry = some will opt to camp outside known approahes to the Castle to prevent others from entering at all; therefore, these sponsors/etc. require a revolving herd of new facts who are "unattached" and unknown as regulars, so that they can sneak by the factions when they're in heat (so to speak)

      Castle Exploration Tax = pay 1gp per head before PCs leave the city or you have to pay more when cross Zagyg's Bridge, where guards are stationed; when exit, may also need to report to special assessors before PCs reach the bridge garrison, or have to pay more then too (25%?); assessors will ask PCs to declare goods found, if PCs fail to disclose everything, then any extra found is forfeited to the city;

      Magical Treasure Tax = targetted to adventurers specifically, the Treasure Tax is a flat 10% of all value from magical goods recovered (payable in coin only), and 15% of all wealth/goods---all paid if treasure is recovered anywhere within the Domain of Greyhawk

    •  

    Sources

    In addition to all of the Castle Greyhawk lore I've codified over the years (on my own, through Greytalk, and through information-exchange with other like-minded Greyhawk geeks), I've found the following articles particularly useful in aiding my dungeon design efforts:

    • pez

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