GARY GYGAX Q&A PART L

You are spot on in regards my preference for a warmer clime The seasons in the WoG speak
volumes in that regard, and I confess to a great fondness for a Mediterranean-like
environment.

The weather tables were done by another person, so you are actually preaching to the choir,
more or less. While I was quite satisfied with informal climatology and general information in
regards weather, many gamers wanted more specific systems. Frank Mentzer had a friend
with such data, so that is how the weather tables for Oerick came about. I must accept the
blame for incongruities, of course, as I okayed the material. Of course, being a DM who
always flew by the seat of his pants, I never used them, so I failed to spot the glitches. When I
was running a game the weather was what I said it was [EGG]
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76849&page=5&pp=15

I am nearly finished with new campaign-base material for the central thems, the ruined castle
and its many dungeons. Rob, meantime, is devising an introduction to Zagyg, the Mad
Archmage. All of that will take a few more months to complete. When that is accomplished,
we will then turn out attention to the castle and dungeons.

We will use my original scheme of the dungeons, altering them as need be for coherant
presentation to a general audience of GMs. That means a lot more text and explanation, for I
winged encounters, and as Rob learned from me, so did he. The major features from the
original levels he and I designed will be included in the re-design of the castle, just as my
original work was incorporated into the huge new dungeon complex Rob and I created by
combining our respective castles. Additionally, as that complex was explored and exploited,
we created new levels and changed things. In all, the original work was one that was in
progress, continually in flux of change.

We will do our best to make the printed version not only true to the spirit of the underlying
material, but also accommodating for GMs who wish to have "living" dungeons.

Finally, we will not give all away. Where there are great mysteries involved, such as the Great
Stone Face and the Disappearing Jeweled Man, we plan to offer the GMs several possible
answers Overall, the PCs adventuring in the dungeons will encounter the same challenges as
faced the original delvers in 1972 and onwards, that Robilar discovered and Mordenkainen
met. [EGG] http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76849&page=5&pp=15

Actually, about 80% of the game action in my old GH campaign centered on the castle and
dungeons and in city adventures. Wilderness adventuring covered the balance of what wasn't
published in various modules from TSR. The dungeon-centricity of the campaign was by
popular demand, and that's why there were so many levels and side adventures based off of
encounters in the depths [EGG] http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?
t=76849&page=6&pp=15

Only the most veteran of my group attempted to explore the ToH with their regular PCs. Son
Ernie and Terry Kuntz retreated when they discovered how difficult and deadly a dungeon
their PC faced. Rob Kuntz with PC Robilar made it to the end, losing some dozen or so orc
troops along the initial route, and when faced with the rising skull of the demi-lich did the
logical thing for his character--scoooped up the treasure and retreated in utmost haste. Note
all of those forays were by single PCs, Robilar accompanied by flunkies.

A number of large parties of PCs made the journey into the tomb, some with many survivors,
and two I know of defeated the demi-lich. The most innovative solution was by a tournament
group that used the reverse end of the scepter to touch the crown gained with it in the throne
room. When the skull arose one of the PCs popped the crown on it, another used the scepter,
and the demi-lich was powder. Russ Stambaugh was their DM, and when he told me what
they had managed to pull off, I awarded them first place hands down.

The adventure is meant to be deadly, kill off all the unwary PCs, and make the survivors
paranoid. It is best played with characters created for the adventure, not the regulars in a
campaign, as the ToH is unforgiving and often results in TPK. [EGG]
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76849&page=6&pp=15