Rappan Athuk Complete

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TheMetal1
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Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by TheMetal1 »

Bottom Line Up Front:

Rappan Athuk is being redone as a single 1,000+page possible faux leather cover with additional material expanding from Rappan Athuk Reloaded's 36 levels to 54+ levels and more outdoor areas in this new version. Tomes will be printed for Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry.

Spotted this over at ENWorld and then went to FGG's website to read more detail. Here is the link:

http://www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/news

http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/31316 ... r-rpg.html

And here is the FGG Blurb:
October 24 2011

FGG-The Big Announcement

The background of the big announcement goes all the way back to1978, when I read a small book by Gary Gygax detailing the use of outdoor and wilderness adventures in D&D. This book, along with what has affectionately been termed the “Skull Dungeon” of John Holmes fame, formed the basis of my thinking when I began to write my own vast dungeon that I called Rappan Athuk.

A decade ago, I released the first few levels of Rappan Athuk as a book, which wasfollowed by a series of releases of different parts and pieces (29 levels in the first 3 books, andanother 7 or so later in Rappan Athuk Reloaded).

To my surprise, even though I expected it to be a success,Rappan Athuk turned out to be one of the major hits of the Third Edition decade. Even though it’s not the largest dungeon that was ever published (it might be this time!), it quickly picked up a reputation for being one of the deadliest, and if you haven’t heard, “Don’t go down the Well” or “Beware of Purple Worms,” you probably weren’t attending gaming conventions or reading the RPG internet during the Third Edition years.

Rappan Athuk Reloaded,which contained a lot more of the original dungeon, became an immediate collector’s item. With only 1000 copies ofRappan Athuk’s expanded version in existence, many players unfortunately could never get a copy. This was probably fortunate for a lot of player characters, but it means that many people who wanted to see the dungeon’s broader scope never got to see what they were missing.

Well, it’s been almost 10 years since I wrote the last few chapters of Rappan Athuk Reloaded. As you would expect, I haven’t been idle during that time. In fact, over the last few hundred gaming sessions I’ve run, I have continued to write up my notes from levels that were never published, and add new levels as adventurers continued to explore. Many of the mid-level areas have been fleshed out (the ultimate adversaries, of course, remained the same), and several new upper levels have been added as adventurers avoided “The Well” and “The Mausoleum” in attempts to delve deeper into Rappan Athuk’s depths. I have been mulling over what to do to get this monster out to all of you. So here goes…

Weighing in with over 50 dungeon levels and dozens of wilderness areas, Rappan Athuk will be released next summer as a hardbound, library-stitched book in both Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry formats. The book contains 18 more levels even thanRappan Athuk Reloaded, as well as the outdoor adventures supporting them. I am also working on a leather cover (or faux leather) for thebinding.

This thing is truly the granddaddy of all dungeons. It represents years of play testing, years of adventure, and hundreds of player character deaths. Many parts of my campaign that have transpired over the years are included in its pagesfrom the dead remains of fallen heroes, to marks left on walls, to cryptic scribblings left by lost or dying adventurers.

Just like the dungeons of the early 1970s played by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson,Rappan Athukis like a living being, big enough to be used for thousands of hours of play. From the Goblin city of Greznek to the Hall of the Titan Cyclops, from the Well of Zelkor to the Mithril gates, and from the Well of Agamemnon to the Abyssal pocket-plain and to the throne of Orcus himself—this terrifying place will create memorable experiences for all players and Game Masters.

This Tome represents the completed manuscript, including the wilderness surrounding the dungeon, three villages nearby, and the dreaded Temple of Tsathogga, where the sinister, evil priests of the frog-demon seek dark secrets and dark powers lost when the army of light destroyed the temple of Orcus at the site.

This book will be available for pre-order in March or April 2012. Retail price and page count are still to be determined (though it will probably be about $125 and 1000 pages or so). The pre-ordered copies will contain bonus material as a pdf enhancement that were cut from the final manuscript and will not be available after the pre-order period ends.

So once again, in this new decade of gaming, we will have the chance to say, “Don’t go down the Well.”
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Omote »

I'm in. Though I already have Rappan Athuk, getting 18 more levels plus more of the wilderness section fleshed out is just totally awesome (temple of Tsoggatha, baby!). I love this dungeon adventure more than any other.

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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by mgtremaine »

I'm pretty sure I will not be able to resist this either. [S&W version please]

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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Relaxo »

good god! 54+ levels?!
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Omote »

Yeah, well there are lots of sub and split levels to Rappan Athuk that are in these calculations. But otherwise yeah, lots o' badass dungeon. [S&W version please]. ;)

~O
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by TheMetal1 »

Perhaps the Trolls could talk with FGG about a limited run of Castles & Crusades version of this dungeon.

While I am still patiently waiting for the Castle Zagyg to eventually appear in some form and certainly using the S&W version of this mega-dungeon would be easy - a specific C&C version would be quite awesome - IMHO.

I too managed to get a copy of the box set of Rappan Athuk Reloaded. Still have yet to play it or even read it! Ugghh!

While I like Pathfinder, I too will likely get the S&W version, just to see how it plays out using BHP's White Box.
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Frost »

I frickin' love this module but even I am wondering if this is worth it. I have the originals and RARE. Kind of hard for me to get too motivated to shell out cash again for it (even though the Temple of Tsoggatha bit tempts me).

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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by commanderFuron »

First Tome of Horrors Complete - Now this. Rappan Athuk - kicks all kinds of butt. I would be very interested in a C&C version of this as I don't play S&W or pathfinder.

Omote ran one of the best campaigns ever set in Rappan Athuk and Bard's Gate. 54 levels now - I don't know if we could make it to lair of the master this time. Just the epic scope of this module. I may have to break down and get this.

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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Omote »

commanderFuron wrote:First Tome of Horrors Complete - Now this. Rappan Athuk - kicks all kinds of butt. I would be very interested in a C&C version of this as I don't play S&W or pathfinder.

Omote ran one of the best campaigns ever set in Rappan Athuk and Bard's Gate. 54 levels now - I don't know if we could make it to lair of the master this time. Just the epic scope of this module. I may have to break down and get this.
Thanks CF! By the way CF, if I had to put a number on it, I would say that through all of Rappan Athuk Reloaded, you only explored 40% of the dungeon, and a small percentage of the wilderness areas (less then 30%, perhaps). There is so much material left for another foray into the Dungeon of Graves!

Get the S&W version as it is very close to C&C.

Ah! But perhaps this is CF's way of saying that you can now run a brand new Rappan Athuk campaign! That would be mega-dungeon awesome. Or, perhaps revisit that campaign using C&C Think how awesome those characters would be as high level (using the CKG of course) C&C PCs.

~O
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by CKDad »

Already having Castle Whiterock (3E) and with the Castle of the Mad Archmage out there, I'd been leaning against getting this. But it gets rave reviews from people whose opinions I respect, and the S&W conversion should be one someone could do in their sleep. :) So to the wish list it goes!
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Lord Dynel »

I'd like to get it, I just don't know if I can justify it. I have the originals, and never got Reloaded. I kind of want to get this Complete version, but I don't know. If it would be the centerpiece of a campaign (or my entire campaign!) then I might be able to justify its purchase. Otherwise, it'd be an expensive piece to sit on my shelf (and occasionally pulled off to read through). Not that that's stopped me before (I'm looking at you, two volume Ptolus set). :)
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by gurpsgm »

Hi all!

Has there ever been any progress made on this project?

It would probably sell out on Kickstarter...

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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Buttmonkey »

Yes. The project was completed years ago following a highly successful kickstarter campaign.
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Treebore »

Yep. It came out long enough ago that I have played through it twice.
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Buttmonkey »

In fact, you can purchase it here in Swords & Wizardry format for the low low price of $99. You can even get it in a leather binding if you have $400 lying around.
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Re: Rappan Athuk Complete

Post by Persimmon »

Just got my copy today. And now I'm thinking of ways to link it to Barrowmaze complete, though I highly doubt I could ever get a group together enough to finish one, let alone both, of these mega-dungeons. But I am integrating them and their lore into my own campaign world.
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