Editing Greyhawk (section)

==Unofficial Greyhawk sources==
Although TSR and WotC had each in turn owned the official rights to the ''World of Greyhawk'' since the first folio edition was published in 1980, the two people most responsible for its early development, [[Gary Gygax]] and [[Robert J. Kuntz|Rob Kuntz]], still had most of their original notes regarding the fifty levels of dungeons under Castle Greyhawk. Gygax also had his old maps of the city of Greyhawk,<ref>Gygax: "The original map of Greyhawk city was one sheet of graph paper with colored boxes indicating various places where PC would go--inns & taverns, armorers, money changers & banks, gemners & jewelers, city buildings, guilds, etc. That was expanded to two, then four map sheets, with the thieves' quarter and Rob's Green Dragon Inn shown". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, page 2) | publisher = EN World | date = 2004-02-13 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-2.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121004180519/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-2.html | archive-date = 2012-10-04 | url-status = dead}}</ref> and still owned the rights to [[Gord the Rogue]].

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, he continued to write a few more ''Gord the Rogue'' novels, which were published by New Infinities Productions: ''Sea of Death'' (1987), ''City of Hawks'' (1987), and ''Come Endless Darkness'' (1988). However, by this time, Gygax was furious with the new direction in which TSR was taking "his" world. In a literary declaration that his old world of Oerth was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final ''Gord the Rogue'' novel, ''Dance of Demons''.<ref>Q: "After you left TSR, you finished the Gord the Rogue books. At the end of the cycle, Oerth bites the bullet. Was this your way of saying that Greyhawk is dead and that fans should turn away from TSR's version with disdain?" Gygax: "More my way of saying that since T$R had killed the setting with trash releases, it was time to wipe out the shame by obliterating the setting". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, page 2) | publisher = EN World | date = 2004-11-19 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-2.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319233448/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-2.html | archive-date = 2012-03-19 | url-status = dead}}</ref> For the next fifteen years, he worked to develop other game systems.

But there was still the matter of the unpublished dungeons under Castle Greyhawk. Although Gygax had given glimpses into the dungeons in his magazine columns and articles, the dungeons themselves had never been released to the public. Likewise, Gygax's version of the city of Greyhawk had never been published, although [[Frank Mentzer]] believed the reason for that was because "the City of Greyhawk was a later development, originally being but a location (albeit a capital). As such it was never fleshed out all that thoroughly... notes on certain locations and notorious personnel, a sketch map of great brevity, and otherwise quite loose. That is doubtless why Gary didn't publish it; it had never been completed".<ref>{{cite web | title = The Acaeum Forum | publisher = The Acaeum | date = 2008-05-13 | url = http://www.acaeum.com/forum/about7105.html | access-date = 2009-09-04}}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

However, in 2003, Gygax announced that he was working with Rob Kuntz to publish the original castle and city in six volumes, although the project would use the rules for ''[[Castles and Crusades]]'' rather than ''Dungeons & Dragons''.<ref>Gygax: "I have laid out a new schematic of castle and dungeon levels based on both my original design of 13 levels plus side adjuncts, and the 'New Greyhawk Castle' that resulted when Rob and I combined our efforts and added a lot of new levels too. From that Rob will draft the level plans for the newest version of the work. Meantime, I am collecting all the most salient feature, encounters, tricks, traps, etc. for inclusion on the various levels. So the end result will be what is essentially the best of our old work in a coherent presentation usable by all DMs, the material having all the known and yet to be discussed features of the original work that are outstanding... I hope". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81) | publisher = EN World | date = 2005-12-15 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110614223737/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81.html | archive-date = 2011-06-14 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Since WotC still owned the rights to the name Greyhawk, Gygax changed the name of the castle to ''Castle Zagyg''<ref name="auto"/>—the reverse homophone of his own name originally ascribed to the mad architect of his original thirteen level dungeon. Gygax also changed the name of the nearby city to "Yggsburgh", a play on his initials E.G.G.

This project proved to be much more work than Gygax and Kuntz had envisioned. By the time Gygax and Kuntz had stopped working on the original home campaign, the castle dungeons had encompassed fifty levels of maze-like passages and thousands of rooms and traps. This, plus plans for the city of Yggsburgh and encounter areas outside the castle and city, were found to be too much to fit into the proposed six volumes. Gygax decided he would recreate something like his original thirteen level dungeon,<ref>Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so. What I have done is gone back to my original design of more modest scope, because I doubt the work will need to accommodate groups of 20 PCs delving on a daily basis". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9) | publisher = EN World | date = 2003-11-02 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319232836/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | archive-date = 2012-03-19 | url-status = dead}}</ref> amalgamating the best of what could be gleaned from binders and boxes of old notes.<ref>Gygax: "...the original upper and lower parts of Castle Greyhawk changed many times over the years they were in active use. What we will do is to take the best of the lot and put that into a detailed format usable by anyone". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9) | publisher = EN World | date = 2003-11-02 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319232836/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | archive-date = 2012-03-19 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Neither Gygax nor Kuntz had kept careful or comprehensive plans. Because they had often made up details of play sessions as they went,<ref>Gygax: "I did indeed create details for the PC party on the spot, adding whatever seemed appropriate, and as Rob played and learned from me, he did the same, and when we were actively co-DMing we could often create some really exciting material on the spot, if you will". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81) | publisher = EN World | date = 2005-12-15 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110614223737/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81.html | archive-date = 2011-06-14 | url-status = dead}}</ref> they usually just drew a quick map as they played, with cursory notes about monsters, treasures, and traps.<ref>Gygax: "As Rob learned from me, he too DMed by the proverbial seat of the pants method. A single line of notes for an encounter was sufficient for either of us to detail a lengthy description, action, dialog, tricks or traps, and all the rest". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9) | publisher = EN World | date = 2003-11-02 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319232836/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | archive-date = 2012-03-19 | url-status = dead}}</ref> These sketchy maps contained just enough detail so that the two could combine their independent efforts, after determining the merits of each piece.<ref>Gygax: "What our challenge is going to be is to cull the extraneous, take the best, and re-create the details we made up on the spot. Of course the most famous things will be there, along with most of the best parts that are not well-known through story and word of mouth". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9) | publisher = EN World | date = 2003-11-02 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319232836/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | archive-date = 2012-03-19 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Recreating the city was also a challenge; although Gygax still had his old maps of the original city, all of his previously published work on the city was owned by WotC, so he would have to create most of the city from scratch while maintaining the look and feel of his original.<ref>Gygax: "Yggsburgh was a pain in the rump to write because I wanted to include as much detail as possible for the GM interested in using it as a campaign base. So there are sections on history, costume, monetary system and economy of the area, and complete descriptions of the town, its main locations, and the outstanding geographical areas all with encounters or suggestions for same". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23) | publisher = EN World | date = 2005-02-18 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110614223800/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23.html | archive-date = 2011-06-14 | url-status = dead}}</ref>

The slow and laborious process came to a complete halt in April 2004, when Gygax suffered a serious [[stroke]]. Although he returned to his keyboard after a seven-month convalescence, his output was reduced from fourteen-hour work days to only one or two hours per day.<ref>Gygax: "The problem is that I tire out after about an hour". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9) | publisher = EN World | date = 2003-11-02 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120319232836/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | archive-date = 2012-03-19 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Kuntz had to withdraw due to other projects, although he continued to work on an adventure module that would be published at the same time as the first book. Under these circumstances, work on the Castle Zagyg project continued even more slowly,<ref>Gygax: "Rob has finished his add on module, but i have not been up to doing the work needed to create the upper works of the castle proper, let alone the dungeon levels below them. When my oldest friend died in late November, it was quite a setback for me. Anyway, I am feeling a good deal better if late, and I will attempt real creative work as soon as I feel up to it--likely March". {{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23) | publisher = EN World | date = 2005-02-18 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23.html | access-date = 2009-03-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110614223800/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23.html | archive-date = 2011-06-14 | url-status = dead}}</ref> although Jeffrey Talanian stepped in to help Gygax. In 2005, [[Troll Lord Games]] published Volume I, ''Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh''. This 256-page hardcover book contained details of Gygax's original city, its personalities and politics, as well as over thirty encounters outside the city. The two part fold out map of the area was rendered by Darlene Pekul, the same artist who had produced the original map for the folio edition of ''World of Greyhawk''. Later that year, Troll Lord Games also published ''Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau'', an adventure module written for the Yggsburgh setting by Rob Kuntz.

Book catalogs published in 2005 indicated several more volumes in the series would follow shortly, but it was not until 2008 that the second volume, ''Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works'', appeared. ''The Upper Works'' described details of the castle above ground, acting as a teaser for the volumes concerning the actual dungeons that would follow. However, Gygax died in March 2008 before any further books were published. After his death, Gygax Games, under the control of Gary's widow Gail, took over the project, but no more volumes of the ''Castle Zagyg'' project have been published.

Rob Kuntz also published some of his creative work from the Castle Greyhawk dungeons. In 2008, he released the adventure modules ''The Living Room'', about a whimsical but dangerous room that housed enormous furniture, and ''Bottle City'', about a bottle found on the second level of the dungeon that contained an entire city. 2009 saw Kuntz release ''Daemonic & Arcane'', a collection of Greyhawk and ''Kalibruhn'' magic items, and ''The Stalk'', a wilderness adventure. By October 2010, Black Blade Publishing began to publish several of Kuntz's original Greyhawk levels, including the Machine Level, the Boreal Level, the Giants' Pool Hall, and the Garden of the Plantmaster.<ref>{{cite web | title = Black Blade to Publish Rob Kuntz's Lake Geneva Castle & Campaign Product Line | publisher = Black Blade Publishing | date = 2010-10-08 | url = http://www.black-blade-publishing.com/ | access-date = 2010-10-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110701180025/http://black-blade-publishing.com/ | archive-date = 2011-07-01 | url-status = dead}}</ref>