Editing Gary Gygax (section)

== After TSR ==

=== 1985–1989: New Infinities Productions, Inc. ===
[[File:Throne of Reading, Lake Geneva Public Library.jpg|thumb|right|Members of the Gygax family pose on the Throne of Reading at the Lake Geneva Public Library.]]

Immediately after leaving TSR, Gygax was approached by a wargaming acquaintance, Forrest Baker, who had done some consulting work for TSR in 1983 and 1984.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|188}} Tired of company management, Gygax was simply looking for a way to market more of his Gord the Rogue novels, but Baker had a vision for a new gaming company. He promised that he would handle the business end while Gygax would handle the creative projects. Baker also guaranteed that, using Gygax's name, he would be able to bring in one to two million dollars of investment.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|188}} Gygax decided this was a good opportunity, and in October 1986, [[New Infinities Productions]], Inc. (NIPI)<ref>{{cite news | title = It's Only a Fad| last = Cobb| first = Nathan| date = April 19, 1987| newspaper = [[The Boston Globe]]| page = 77 | issn = 0743-1791| id = {{ProQuest|294411624}}}} (Registration required)</ref><ref name="designers" /> was announced publicly.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|237}} To help him with the creative work, Gygax poached [[Frank Mentzer]] and ''Dragon'' magazine editor [[Kim Mohan]] from TSR.<ref name="Dragon122" /> But before a single product was released, Forrest Baker left NIPI when the outside investment he promised of one to two million dollars failed to materialize.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|237}}

Against his will, Gygax was back in charge again; he immediately looked for a quick product to get NIPI off the ground. He had been able to keep the rights to Gord the Rogue as part of the severance agreement he made with TSR, so he made a new licensing agreement with TSR for the Greyhawk setting and began writing new novels starting with ''Sea of Death'' (1987); novel sales were brisk, and Gygax's Gord the Rogue novels kept New Infinities operating.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|237}}

Gygax brought in [[Don Turnbull (game designer)|Don Turnbull]] from [[Games Workshop]] to manage the company, then worked with Mohan and Mentzer on a science fiction-themed RPG, ''[[Cyborg Commando]]'', which was published in 1987.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|237}} But sales of the new game were not brisk. As game historian Shannon Appelcline noted in 2014, the game was "seen as one of the biggest flops in the industry."<ref name="designers"/>{{rp|329}} Mentzer and Mohan wrote a series of generic RPG adventures, ''Gary Gygax Presents Fantasy Master'', and began working on a third line of products, which began with an adventure written by Mentzer, ''The Convert'' (1987). He had written it as an RPGA tournament for ''D&D'', but TSR was not interested in publishing it. Mentzer got verbal permission to publish it with New Infinities, but since the permission was not in writing TSR filed an injunction for a period to prevent the adventure's sale.<ref name="designers"/>{{rp|238}}<ref name=witwer/>{{rp|190}}

During all this drama, Gygax had a romantic relationship with Gail Carpenter, his former assistant at TSR. In November 1986, she gave birth to Gygax's sixth child, Alex. Biographer Michael Witwer believes Alex's birth forced Gygax to reconsider the equation of work, gaming and family that, until this time, had been dominated by work and gaming. "Gary, keenly aware that he had made mistakes as a father and husband in the past, was determined not to make them again&nbsp;... Gary was also a realist, and knew what good fatherhood would demand, especially at his age."<ref name=witwer />{{rp|189}} On August 15, 1987, on what would have been his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, Gygax married Carpenter.<ref name="telegraph" />

During 1987 and 1988, Gygax worked with [[Flint Dille]] on the ''[[Sagard the Barbarian]]'' books,<ref name="Sullivan" /> as well as ''[[Role-Playing Mastery]]'' and its sequel, ''Master of the Game''.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|191}} He also wrote two more Gord the Rogue novels, ''City of Hawks'' (1987), and ''Come Endless Darkness'' (1988). But by 1988, TSR had rewritten the setting for the world of Greyhawk, and Gygax was not happy with the new direction in which TSR was taking "his" creation. In a literary declaration that his old world 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 = November 19, 2004| url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-2.html| access-date = March 15, 2009| 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 = March 19, 2012| url-status = dead}}</ref>

With the Gord the Rogue novels finished, NIPI's main source of steady income dried up. The company needed a new product. Gygax announced in 1988 in a company newsletter that he and Rob Kuntz, his co-Dungeon Master during the early days of the Greyhawk campaign, were working as a team again. This time they would create a new multi-genre fantasy role-playing game called "Infinite Adventures", which would receive support through different gamebooks for each genre.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|61}} This line would explore the original visions of the Castle and City of Greyhawk by Gygax and Kuntz, now called "Castle Dunfalcon". Before work on this project could commence, NIPI ran out of money, was forced into bankruptcy, and dissolved in 1989.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|239}}

=== 1990–1994: ''Dangerous Journeys'' ===
After NIPI folded, Gygax decided to create an entirely new RPG called ''The Carpenter Project'',<ref name="designers" />{{rp|61}} one considerably more complex and "rules heavy" than his original ''D&D'' system, which had encompassed a mere 150 pages.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|194}} He also wanted to create a horror setting for the new RPG called ''Unhallowed''. He began working on the RPG and the setting with the help of games designer Mike McCulley.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|193}} [[Game Designers' Workshop]] became interested in publishing the new system, and it also drew the attention of [[JVC]] and [[NEC]], who were looking for a new RPG system and setting to turn into a series of computer games.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|194}} NEC and JVC were not interested in horror, however, so they shelved the ''Unhallowed'' setting in favor of a fantasy setting called ''Mythus''. JVC also wanted a name change for the RPG, favoring ''Dangerous Dimensions'' over ''The Carpenter Project''.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|61–62}} Work progressed favorably until March 1992, when TSR filed an injunction against ''Dangerous Dimensions'', claiming that the name and initials were too similar to ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Gygax changed the name to ''Dangerous Journeys''.<ref name="Kyngdoms">{{cite web | last = Sacco | first = Ciro Alessandro | title = The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax | work = thekyngdoms.com | url = http://www.thekyngdoms.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37 | access-date = October 24, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111223222505/http://www.thekyngdoms.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37 | archive-date = December 23, 2011 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

The marketing strategy for ''Dangerous Journeys: Mythus'' was multi-pronged. The RPG and setting were to be published by Game Designers' Workshop, and the ''Mythus'' computer game was being prepared by NEC and JVC. There would also be a series of books based on the Mythus setting written by Gygax. He wrote three novels published by [[Penguin Books|Penguin/Roc]] and later reprinted by [[Paizo Publishing]]: ''The Anubis Murders'', ''The Samarkand Solution'', and ''Death in Delhi''.<ref name="witwer"/>{{rp|ch. 36<!--Dangerous Journeys-->}}

In late 1992, the ''Dangerous Journeys'' RPG was released by Game Designers' Workshop,<ref name="Sullivan">{{cite news| last = Sullivan | first = Patricia | date = March 5, 2008| title = E. Gary Gygax; Co-Creator of Dungeons & Dragons| newspaper = [[Washington Post]]| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030402784_pf.html| access-date = October 17, 2008}}</ref><ref name="p92">{{cite news | title = Dungeons and Dragons Creator Has New Game to Stretch Imagination | newspaper = [[Pantagraph]] | last = Williams | first = Drew | page = C6 | date = October 9, 1992 | id = {{ProQuest|251973031}} }} (Registration required)</ref> but TSR immediately applied for an injunction against the entire ''Dangerous Journeys'' RPG and the ''Mythus'' setting, arguing that ''Dangerous Journeys'' was based on ''D&D'' and ''AD&D''. The injunction failed, but TSR moved forward with litigation. Gygax believed that the legal action was without merit and fueled by Lorraine Williams' personal enmity,<ref name=witwer />{{rp|195}} but NEC and JVC both withdrew from the project, killing the ''Mythus'' computer game.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|194}} By 1994, the legal costs had drained all of Gygax's resources, so he offered to settle. In the end, TSR paid Gygax for the complete rights to ''Dangerous Journeys'' and ''Mythus''.<ref>Gygax: "When the new [fantasy roleplaying game] was introduced at the GTS, a lawsuit was filed by TSR, they claiming it violated the copyright of AD&D. Quite a stretch that, but only a judge intimately familiar with RPGs would know that and dismiss it. So what followed was a long period of discovery and depositions that ran up a huge lawyers' bill—far more on the TSR end than on ours, four to one is likely. Eventually the suit was settled. TSR paid us a very large sum and they got all the rights to the DJ system and Mythus. I suggested to TSR (Lorraine Williams) that the next time I wrote a new RPG they just offer me {{USD|1 million}} for the rights to it, thus saving at least that much money."{{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 4) | publisher = EN World | date = January 4, 2004 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-4.html | access-date = May 12, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110614224739/http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-4.html | archive-date = June 14, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

=== 1995–2000: ''Lejendary Adventures'' ===
[[File:Gary Gyax - ModCon 1999 - 1.jpg|thumb|left|Gary Gygax at ModCon Game Fair in 1999, [[:it:Modena|Modena]], [[:it:Italy|Italy]]. His t-shirt advertises the third edition of ''D&D'', which was to be released the following year.]]
In 1995, Gygax began work on a new computer role-playing game called ''[[Lejendary Adventures]]''.<ref name="Parker2008" /> In contrast to the rules-heavy ''Dangerous Journeys'', this new system was a return to simple and basic rules. Although he was not able to successfully release a ''Lejendary Adventures'' computer game, Gygax decided to instead publish it as a tabletop game.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|380}}

Meanwhile, in 1996 the games industry was rocked by the news that TSR had run into insoluble financial problems and had been bought by [[Wizards of the Coast]]. While WotC was busy refocusing TSR's products, Christopher Clark of Inner City Games Designs suggested to Gygax in 1997 that they could publish role-playing game adventures that game stores could sell while TSR was otherwise occupied, so Inner City published the fantasy adventures ''A Challenge of Arms'' (1998) and ''The Ritual of the Golden Eyes'' (1999).<ref name="designers" />{{rp|380}} Gygax introduced some investors to the publication setup that Clark was using, and although the investors were not willing to fund publication of ''Legendary Adventures'', Clark and Gygax were able to start the partnership Hekaforge Productions.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|380}} Gygax was thus able to return to publish ''Lejendary Adventures'' in 1999.<ref name="Sullivan" /> Hekaforge published the game in a three-volume set: ''The Lejendary Rules for All Players'' (1999), ''Lejend Master's Lore'' (2000) and ''Beasts of Lejend'' (2000).<ref name="designers" />{{rp|380}}

The new owner of TSR, WotC's [[Peter Adkison]], clearly did not harbor any of Lorraine Williams' ill-will toward Gygax: Adkison purchased all of Gygax's residual rights to D&D and AD&D for a six-figure sum.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|203}} Gygax did not author any new game supplements or novels for TSR or WotC, but he did agree to write the preface to the 1998 adventure ''[[Return to the Tomb of Horrors]]'', a paean to Gygax's original AD&D adventure ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]''.<ref name="Dragon #248">{{cite journal| last = Varney| first = Allen| author-link = Allen Varney| title = Profiles: Gary Gygax| journal = [[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]| issue = #248| page = 120| publisher = [[Wizards of the Coast]]| location = [[Renton, Washington]]|date=June 1998}}</ref> He also returned to the pages of Dragon Magazine, writing the "Up on a Soapbox" column which was published from Issue #268 (January 2000) to Issue #320 (June 2004).<ref name="designers" />{{rp|282}}

=== 2000–2008: Later works and death===
[[File:Gary Gygax and Stephen Chenault at Gen Con 2003.jpg|thumb|right|Gary Gygax at [[Gen Con]] in 2003. He is sitting in the [[Troll Lord Games]] booth with [[Stephen Chenault]].]]

Gygax continued to work on ''Lejendary Adventures'' which he believed was his best work. However, sales were below expectation.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|204}}

[[Stephen Chenault]] and [[Davis Chenault]] of [[Troll Lord Games]] announced on June 11, 2001, that Gygax would be writing supplements for their company.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|378}} Gygax wrote a hardcover book series for Troll Lord known as "Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds", beginning with ''The Canting Crew'' (2002) about the underworld of rogues, and including the game design books ''World Builder'' (2003) and ''Living Fantasy'' (2003) for various different settings.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|379}} Gygax wrote the first four books before taking an advisory role on the series, but the series logo continued to carry his name.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|379}} Troll Lord also published some adventures as a result of their partnership with Gygax, including ''The Hermit'' (2002) which was meant to be an adventure for d20 as well as ''Lejendary Adventures''.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|379}}

Gygax had given an encyclopedic 72,000-word manuscript to Christopher Clark of Hekaforge by 2002 which detailed the setting for the Lejendary Earth, which Clark expanded and split into five books. Hekaforge was only able to publish the first two Lejendary Earth sourcebooks ''Gazetteer'' (2002) and ''Noble Kings and Great Lands'' (2003),<ref name="designers" />{{rp|380}} and the small company was having financial difficulties by 2003. Clark got Troll Lord Games to be their "angel" investor and publish the three remaining ''Lejendary Adventures'' books.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|381}}

[[Necromancer Games]] announced their plans to publish a [[d20 System|d20]] version of the adventure ''Necropolis'' on October 9, 2001. Gygax had originally intended to release this through New Infinities Productions, but GDW published it in 1992 as an adventure for ''Mythus''; ''Gary Gygax's Necropolis'' was published a year later.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|366–367}}

Gygax also performed voiceover narration for cartoons and video games. In 2000, he voiced his own cartoon self for an episode of [[Futurama]] entitled "[[Anthology of Interest I]]"<ref name="TheTimesObit" /><ref name=":0">{{cite episode| title = Anthology of Interest I| episode-link = Anthology of Interest I| series = Futurama| series-link = Futurama| credits = Writers: Rogers, Eric; Keeler, Ken; Cohen, David X. Directors: Loudon, Chris; Moore, Rich | airdate = May 21, 2000 | season = 2 | number = 29}}</ref> which also included the voices of [[Al Gore]], [[Stephen Hawking]], and [[Nichelle Nichols]].<ref name=witwer />{{rp|202}} Gygax also performed as a guest Dungeon Master in the Delera's Tomb quest series of the [[massively multiplayer online role-playing game]] ''[[Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Foster|first=John|date=January 18, 2006|title=Dungeons & Dragons Creators Lend Their Voices to Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach; Legends Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson Sign On For Turbine's Highly Anticipated OG|url=http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060118005745&newsLang=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227015853/http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060118005745&newsLang=en|archive-date=December 27, 2008|access-date=December 17, 2008|publisher=[[Business Wire]]}}</ref>

During his time with TSR, Gygax had often mentioned the mysterious Castle Greyhawk which formed the center of his own home campaign, but he had never published details of the castle. In 2003, he announced that he was again partnering with [[Robert J. Kuntz|Rob Kuntz]] to publish the original details of [[Castle Greyhawk]] and the [[City of Greyhawk]] in six volumes, although the project would use the rules for ''[[Castles and Crusades]]'' rather than ''D&D''. As Gygax wrote in an on-line forum:

{{blockquote|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&nbsp;... I hope."<ref>{{cite web | title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81) | publisher = EN World | date = December 15, 2005 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = June 14, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref>}}

[[Wizards of the Coast]] had bought TSR in 1997 and still owned the rights to the name "Greyhawk", so Gygax changed the name of Castle Greyhawk to "Castle Zagyg" and also changed the name of the nearby city to "Yggsburgh", a play on his initials "E.G.G."<ref name=witwer />{{rp|208}}

The scale of the project was enormous. By the time that Gygax and Kuntz had stopped working on their original home campaign, the castle dungeons had encompassed 50 levels of complex passages with thousands of rooms and traps, plus plans for the city of Yggsburgh and encounter areas outside the castle and city. All of this would be too much to fit into the proposed six volumes, so Gygax decided that he would compress the castle dungeons into 13 levels, the size of his original Castle Greyhawk in 1973,<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 = November 2, 2003 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = March 19, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> by 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 = November 2, 2003 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = March 19, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> However, neither Gygax nor Kuntz had kept comprehensive plans because they had often made up details of play sessions on the spot.<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 = December 15, 2005 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = June 14, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref> They usually just scribbled 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 = November 2, 2003 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = March 19, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> These sketchy maps had contained just enough detail that the two could ensure that their independent work would dovetail. All of these old notes now had to be deciphered, 25-year old memories dredged up as to what had happened in each room, and a decision made whether to keep or discard each new 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 = November 2, 2003 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = March 19, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Recreating the city too would be a challenge. Gygax still had his old maps of the original city, but all of his previously published work on it was owned by WotC, so he would have to create most of it from scratch while still 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 = February 18, 2005| url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23.html| access-date = March 15, 2009| 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 = June 14, 2011| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Due to creative differences, Kuntz backed out of the project but created an adventure module that would be published at the same time as Gygax's first book.<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."{{cite web| title = Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)| publisher = EN World| date = February 18, 2005| url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23.html| access-date = March 15, 2009| 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 = June 14, 2011| url-status = dead}}</ref> Gygax continued to put Castle Zagyg together on his own, but this came to a complete halt when he had a serious stroke in April 2004 and then another one a few weeks later.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|211}} He returned to his keyboard after a seven-month convalescence, his output reduced from 14-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 = November 2, 2003 | url = http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9.html | access-date = March 15, 2009 | 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 = March 19, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> ''Castle Zagyg Part I: Yggsburgh'' finally appeared in 2005, the first book in the six-book series.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|381}} Later that year, Troll Lord Games also published ''Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau'' (2005), the adventure module written for the Yggsburgh setting by Rob Kuntz.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|381}} Jeff Talanian assisted in creating the dungeon, which was ultimately published in the limited edition release ''CZ9: The East Marks Gazetteer'' (2007).<ref name="designers" />{{rp|381}}

That same year, Gygax was diagnosed with a potentially deadly [[abdominal aortic aneurysm]]. Doctors concurred that surgery was needed, but their estimates of success varied from 50-percent to 90-percent. Gygax came to believe that he would likely die on the operating table, and he refused to consider surgery, although he realized that a rupture of the aneurysm would be fatal.<ref name = witwer />{{rp|216}} In one concession to his condition, he switched from cigarettes, which he had smoked since high school, to cigars.<ref name=witwer />{{rp|212}}

It was not until 2008 that Gygax was able to finish the second of six volumes entitled ''Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works'', which described details of the castle above ground. The next two volumes were supposed to detail the dungeons beneath Castle Zagyg, but Gygax died in March 2008 before they could be written. His widow Gail had formed the new company Gygax Games, and the company withdrew all of the Gygax licenses from Troll Lord<ref name="designers" />{{rp|382}} and from Hekaforge three months after he died.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|381}}