Monday, May 31, 2010

CSI Meet Castle Greyhawk

Jimm's Cube of Quasar post made me curious about Mr. Gygax's notes in the photograph he mentions there (crop, above). I don't have the right image plugins on my computer at the moment, but I started messing around, rotated the image and have been trying to sharpen the text to little avail. I can make out a few words here and there (corridor, trap, dagger +1, drink, etc.) but haven't had much success yet. Maybe once I get the right stuff compiled I'll have more success. Then again, I'll probably lose interest by then...

6 comments:

christian said...

I like the detective work!

ze bulette said...

You know, it's actually been pretty fun trying to wrangle words out of that image. I could really use a Read spell of some kind though. It's inspired me to try using a reverse of the process sometime as a prop/handout, with a spell on it that the players will be able to use once they decipher most of it, or maybe it's just a clue of some kind.

Anonymous said...

I have two other pictures similar to this, where the Great Black Binder of Gygax is open. I had started going over to redraw tha maps, but then let myself get distracted. You have inspired me to pull out the magnifying glass again. Thank you.

Ciao!
GW

Stefan Poag said...

What I find interesting is how brief the individual entries seem to be.

ze bulette said...

@Grendelwulf: Keep us posted - I was thinking of wrestling out that map there also.
@limpey: Yes, me too - like is he just on autopilot after all these years, just mentally having it all worked out with a few reminders? Or does he run mostly off of some charts? I'd love to see similar notes of his from earlier years for comparison.

Anonymous said...

Its probably a combination. He ran the castle, or played in it via Kuntz's DMing, and knew enough core elements to keep a game going. He probably left enough blank areas just to keep the element of surprise for his players.

My one wish, barring any "official" release of a Castle Greyhawk, would have been to see Gygax-Games release a facsimile binder, all smudges, coffee stains, & bent sheet protectors, just as Gygax used. Maybe with a few added notes of his own and Rob Kuntz's of different historical annecdotes of the original campaign. It wouldn't be everything, but that's part of its nostalgia & appeal ...it was always an unfinished work!

Ciao!
GW

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