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Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works (UW hereafter) is quite possibly the most long-awaited RPG release in the history of the hobby. As early as thirty years ago, Gary Gygax promised readers of Dragon Magazine that his personal campaign dungeons, Castle Greyhawk, would be published in short order. Unfortunately, reality intruded and only a small number of oddball extraplanar "sublevels" were ever released in the forms of Dungeonland, The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, and Isle of the Ape. These excursions were definitely memorable, but none of them touched on the fabled Castle dungeons themselves.
Before long, Gygax was fired from TSR Inc. and all hope of ever seeing his first, biggest, and most famous dungeon in print went with him.
Until the 21st century, that is, when Troll Lord Games announced their intentions to finally publish the authoritative Castle Greyhawk for their Castle & Crusades system under the non-trademark infringing title "Castle Zagyg" (Zagyg is the wizard who built the Castle, so this is a little like calling Ed Greenwood's Undermountain dungeon "Halaster's Labyrinth").
The project suffered several delays, most notably the departure of Gygax collaborator Robert Kuntz and his replacement with freelancer Jeffery Talanian. Finally, in August 2008, the first of at least three Castle Zagyg boxed sets debuted in August of 2008.
So how does UW live up to the hype? Read on!
UW is a packed boxed set, containing five dungeon modules with soft color covers and black-and-white interiors as well as a black-and-white map and handout book and three poster maps (one color, two black-and-white). The cover of the box features illustrator Peter Bradley's red-tinted overhead view of the Castle within a jade-colored border. It's attractive, if somewhat strangely evocative of Christmastime. The art from the covers of each module, also by Bradley, is also very well-done. Interior art is similar in style (it's a mix of pieces by Bradley and Jason Walton).
The text is laid-out two columns to a page and I'm pleased to report that the vast expanses of white space and abuse of HUGE FONTS that certain other adventure publishers who shall remained unnamed are known for are not present here.
Physical quality of the box, books, and maps is average.
Wow. Where to begin? UW is a whopper of a product. It opens with an introduction by Gygax, who explains, in his typical inimitable style, about the history of the dungeon. It's an eventful tale during which the Castle expands, contracts, and mutates in any number of ways over the years.
In brief, Castle Zagyg is the abode of Zagyg the Mad Archmage. Zagyg is one of the most powerful sorcerers the world has ever known, but he’s equally famous for his irrepressible sense of whimsy. He’s not only a legendary wizard, but a prankster and punster extraordinaire. And he enjoys nothing more that watching parties of brave adventurers explore his dungeons. The product of his overwhelming eccentricity, these are something like a cross between the previously-mentioned Undermountain with shades of the Winchester Mystery House. This is where the original PC incarnations of Mordenkainen, Bigby, Otto, Lord Robilar, and others first cut their adventuring teeth.
Having a character like Zagyg as megadungeon architect really gives UW a unique feel all its own. Not unlike D.C. Comics’ Joker, they’re deadly, but fun. This is a real departure from the tried and true “Evil Overlord” and “Lost City” dungeon models.
The first adventure, Mouths of Madness, is set in and around the network of caves that honeycomb the bluff upon which the Castle sits. Those well versed in early D&D modules will note the resemblence to the Caves of Chaos from the classic Keep on the Borderlands. These caves are filled with clans of warring humanoids and other, more dangerous monsters. Don't let the resemblance fool you, however, because there are plenty of new twists on the old formula to keep you on your toes. Not every "monster" is an enemy. If anything, Mouths resembles Keep with more memorable NPCs that sport a greater diversity of motivations and personalities.
In fact, NPCs are a strong point of UW all-around and many of them are some of the most interesting personalities I’ve ever seen in a published adventure. I don’t want to spoil too much, but “four-armed alcoholic Gypsy minstrel” and “albino ghoul chessmaster” barely scratch the surface.
The next three adventures, Ruins of the Castle Precincts, East Wall Towers, and Castle Fortress, detail the true "upper works." That is, the portion of the dungeon that's actually above ground. This material is almost entirely new. As former Greyhawk player James Ward notes in the introduction, the players in that campaign virtually always ignored the above ground fortifications entirely in favor of the dungeons below. Personally, I'm glad that they are more fleshed-out here, because clearly not every group is going to want to skip the Castle itself.
Finally, the fifth adventure is The Storerooms. This is the first dungeon level beneath the Castle proper, and has multiple connections with the Mouths of Madness and the above ground fortifications. This last book also includes appendices describing the may new monsters and magic items mentioned in the adventure and a sample NPC adventuring party that can be used either as pre-generated PCs for players or as an NPC “rival dungeon explorers” encounter.
So what do I like about UW?
1. No tedious backstory and no railroady suggestions for how to get PCs to the dungeons. The dungeons exist because a crazy archwizard wants them to. Adventurous type like the PCs go there for the sheer thrill of exploring the unknown (and because they’re famed for being packed with peril and riches). To paraphrase a famous tv theme song: “Just repeat to yourself ‘It’s just a game. I should really just relax.’”
2. A huge dynamic environment. Just because the PCs aren’t assumed to be visiting the dungeons for any “grand overarching plot”-related reasons doesn’t mean that there’s nothing already going on when they get there. On the contrary, UW does a great job of being packed with NPCs and NPC groups with their own goals and ambitions. It’s a veritable powder keg of colorful clashing factions.
3. No obsession with dungeon ecology and faux-naturalism. There’s some downright weird persons, places, and things in UW, and the authors don’t get bogged-down with explaining them in way that “makes sense.” And the further you penetrate the complex, the further down the rabbit hole you find yourself. It’s magic. Magic by a crazy guy, no less. Anything can happen.
4. The sense of whimsy. This is an aspect that’s all too rare in fantasy RPGs today. This is clearly the product of a man who loved the wild and witty worlds of Vance, Lieber, Pratt, de Camp and their ilk. They don’t call him Zagyg the Zany for nothing. This is not to disparage “grim” or “serious” fantasy, of course, but those niches are already pretty well-represented in RPGdom, so UW with its love of slapstick and punnery is something of a breath of fresh air and will appeal to just about anyone who has enjoyed the work of the above-mentioned authors.
5. This is a dungeon for thinkers. Players will barely get started here with an “attack everything, no surrender, no retreat” policy before dying. This is not to say that UW is nothing but a combat meatgrinder. In fact, this is a much less “killer” dungeon than many. But the sheer variety of powerful NPC factions and twisted magical traps means that caution and quick thinking are musts. The old-school “challenge the PCs, not just their characters” maxim is in full effect here.
6. The dozens of player illustrations in the map booklet. I’ve loved these ever since they were used to excellent effect in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. With so much weird stuff about, it’s so helpful for a DM to be able to point at a picture and say “It looks like this.”
7. The Castle & Crusades system. I don’t actually play C&C, but I appreciate that the system is so close to earlier (pre-WotC) versions of D&D. That means short, concise monster statistic blocks (that is, a big content to page ratio) and rules terms that can be broadly understood by most RPG fans. The authors also go the extra mile by providing tips in the text for adapting C&C-specific concepts like Challenge Levels to earlier versions of D&D. Now that’s classy.
8. There are Greyhawk references aplenty here. They’re “disguised” just well enough to keep the lawyers at bay, but they will be immediately recognizable to absolutely anybody familiar with the original material.
Layer these elements over a very well-designed, detailed, and drafted dungeon and you have yourself a real winner.
Complaints? In all honesty, the only ones that come to mind involve the occasional typo in the text, but even these don’t obscure the meaning or hurt the play value of the product, they just irk the perfectionist in me.
All-in-all, UW is a fitting tribute to an RPG pioneer, a joy for all D&D lovers, and a unique, quality product on every level. I can hardly wait for the next installment. Gygax’s co-author Jeffery Talanian planned out the project in advance with his mentor and inherited years worth of notes and maps pertaining to the Castle, so I have no doubt he’ll continue the series solo in style.
Style: 4
Substance: 5
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