Castles & Crusades Castle Zagyg Yggsburgh Classic Reprint

Product History

Castle Zagyg Yggsburgh is a prelude to Gary Gygax’s legendary dungeon, Castle Zagyg. Yggsburgh is the town that sits near the castle of the mad mage and the East Mark, that lies just beyond the town’s walls is the small setting within which both Castle and Town reside. Note: For those who do not know what Castle Zagyg is, it was originally named Castle Greyhawk and part of Gary Gygax’s world of Greyhawk. The Castle sits atop a mighty dungeon at least 17 levels deep. It was this massive work that Gary was finally writing when he crossed the bar in 2008. We cannot speak with clarity on the origins of the castle and dungeons, they predate TLG by three decades. Their creation lay upon Gary’s game table and in a mountain of notes. But castle, town and dungeons came to TLG in 2003.  TLG had been working with and publishing Gary Gygax since 2001. When Gary finally consented to begin work on Castle Zagyg he tied it closely to TLG’s own game Castles & Crusades (part of the reason for creating C&C was to give Gary a home for CZ). Gary was never particularly keen on working on the dungeons but the town of Yggsburgh and the Castle very much interested him. This was at first a surprise to Steve & Davis Chenault when Gary began work on the dungeons . . . it was Yggsburgh first. Work began in 2003 and carried on through ‘04. Gary gathered his copious notes on the town and begin writing the entire project. He engaged the artistic talents of an old friend of his and a fan favorite, Darlene to do the cartography. Darlene’s own legendary world of Greyhawk map was well known to all and it seemed only fitting that she come out of fantasy art retirement to paint a map for Yggsburgh and the town’s environs. Gary poured his heart and soul into the work and produced a wonderful manuscript filled to overflowing with NPCs, encounter areas, locales in the city and area, creating a breath-taking city-setting. Each neighborhood was detailed and the outer wall and the “Outs” as well. It proved a masterpiece of game and setting design. His excitement about Yggsburgh was palpable. It was clear from conversations with him and the content that was finally published that the city was, for him, a living thing. He envisioned each neighborhood and what activities marked it, whether nefarious or otherwise. He felt so much love for Yggsburgh that as it was being made print ready he assembled a team, eventually led by Jeffrey Talanian that would expand upon the town, making each neighborhood its own book. Several of these were produced before the licenses were pulled. The Trolls sought out an artist whose paintings could capture both the epic feel, dangerous severity of and the legendary status of the town and castle and the dungeons beyond. Stephen Chenault looked no further than Jeffrey Jones (later changed her name to Jeffrey Catherine Jones) and after some searching found the artist in the foothills of New York enjoying retirement. Jones was famous from the 1970s and 80s, with work on no less a title than Wagner’s Kane. The artist released a number of works to TLG (for use on singular publications) but only one saw the light of day. The one on the 2005 and 2023 version of Yggsburgh. The manuscript moved to the printers in mid ’05, with Jones cover and Darlene’s double-sided maps within. The massive 256-page book unleashed a world of adventure in a sand box setting. Castle Zagyg Yggsburgh officially released in 2005. Designed with AD&D in mind, it was written for Castles & Crusades and was one of the first large scale releases for the game system. The product went out of production in 2008, nearing the end of its first print run when the Gygax licenses were removed from TLG. The setting, the town and all of it sat fallow for 15 years until Luke Gygax reached out to TLG to bring it back to life.