Rob just announced that he is releasing a few great new products.  Among them, an essay detailing dungeon crafting in the early campaigns, including Greyhawk Castle among others, as a learning tool for DM's:

"Within that context, Ramsey Dow and myself have concluded that a treatise—an in depth essay—on dungeon-crafting in its many facets should be of interest, so we are gathering notes to add to my already 10,000+ word MS which describes the creation of Greyhawk™ Castle, Castle El Raja Key and Maure Castle™. This historical and instructive treatise will cover the beginnings of this honored endeavor and track some of the changes that have taken effect with the modernization of the game."

In addition, he is releasing two new products in his Dungeon Sets (tm) line, detailing 12 levels of dungeons, USABLE BY ANY SYSTEM!

"DUNGEON SETS™ was an idea conceived to bring maximum game value to each DM's table, whatever FRPG system they are currently using. These are un-keyed, color maps with integration notes and a comprehensive legend that are presented as a contiguous, and exacting, dungeon setting. In studying the needs of DMs who all have specific campaigns with real histories, characters and plots of their own, it became apparent that the idea of mainstay adventure modules, such as many based upon TSR's old model of assumed expediency, has shifted greatly with the contraction of that market and an ever present need over the years for specific game material created by each DM. In keeping with that honored ideal, PPP will make a leap in two areas: in presenting challenging maps for expansion along different creative lines by individual DMs; and in offering supportive materials for these, such as booklets containing new and innovative monsters, NPCs, spells, magic items, magical areas and set pieces which can be incorporated into the map designs as each DM sees fit, thus expanding the range for them to continue "branding" their own campaigns as creatively unique. "

In addition, he will be detailing in other Dungeon Sets, locales alluded to in other products:

"I will be designing sets such as the Fortress of Fyarz and the Cloud Castle of Aer (as noted in the Bottle City). Ramsey will also be creating increasingly imaginative and challenging sets to test the tenacity of your players! The integration notes for DMs will increase as each set expands upon the base we have realized. They will include creative additions not seen at "basic" levels and in concert with supplemental source material will allow for an ever-expanding range of imaginative material to be used in stocking these dungeons and settings."

Release date is November 15. Check Pied Piper for more details.   Full pdf attached (if I did it right...)

I can't wait!

Not to be Mr. Negative but Rob Kuntz has announced a very large number of products over the years and actually released very few of them. Therefore I take everything he says with a huge grain of salt until it's confirmed that people have actually received physical copies of the products.

Also, who is Ramsey Dow? I don't believe I've ever heard this name before (unless perhaps I know him under a forum handle). The list of collaborators who've worked with Rob for awhile and ultimately parted ways often under less-than-amiable circumstances is almost as long as the list of announced-but-never-released products.

BUT, all that said, those products Rob has released have almost always been at least interesting (and The Original Bottle City is what I wish we'd gotten for the entire Greyhawk Castle) so if you ignore all the behind the scenes BS and focus on actual product he has a very strong track record and I'm pretty much guaranteed to buy anything he puts out (I just won't pre-order it).

Quote from: T. Foster;342231Not to be Mr. Negative but Rob Kuntz has announced a very large number of products over the years and actually released very few of them. Therefore I take everything he says with a huge grain of salt until it's confirmed that people have actually received physical copies of the products.

Also, who is Ramsey Dow? I don't believe I've ever heard this name before (unless perhaps I know him under a forum handle). The list of collaborators who've worked with Rob for awhile and ultimately parted ways often under less-than-amiable circumstances is almost as long as the list of announced-but-never-released products.

BUT, all that said, those products Rob has released have almost always been at least interesting (and The Original Bottle City is what I wish we'd gotten for the entire Greyhawk Castle) so if you ignore all the behind the scenes BS and focus on actual product he has a very strong track record and I'm pretty much guaranteed to buy anything he puts out (I just won't pre-order it).

I can't speak to any of that, personally.  I just can't wait to see his original Castle Greyhawk levels and his memoirs.  He's been involved since day 1.  The guy has a history, stories, and a perspective that's unique.  I wish he lived closer, I'd take him out for a weekend of beer guzzlin' just to hear his stories of how it was back in the day.

If he's shipping November 15th, then I'll be ordering. Otherwise, wait and see.

The memoirs sound interesting.  

Hopefully we will get some previews of the actual products.

Quote from: T. Foster;342231Also, who is Ramsey Dow? I don't believe I've ever heard this name before (unless perhaps I know him under a forum handle).

Ramsey's doing the cartography for my next three releases. If nothing else, the maps on those Dungeon Sets are going to look good.

Here's the map he did for the Halfling Mound in Insect Shrine, with an above/underground effect I asked for.

Well, that looks OK. I'm not sure how much I'd pay for them.

RPGPundit

That map is workmanlike, no more. I will give it credit for being very functional rather than pretty; I hate eye-candy maps unless they're for the players.

As far as Kuntz's stuff goes, I've only read two things by him (HackMaster's City of Brass and Dark Chateau) and they both sucked. To be fair, nobody holds those up as sterling examples of his work. So perhaps he shouldn't be judged by them, but they don't inspire me to want to check out any more of his stuff. I'd rather get the print version of the Dungeon Alphabet.

I'm sure those people clamoring for photocopies of Gygax's grocery lists and used toilet paper will snatch them up, however.

Quote from: FASERIP;342352...
As far as Kuntz's stuff goes, I've only read two things by him (HackMaster's City of Brass and Dark Chateau) and they both sucked...

Why did you think Dark Chateau sucked?  I thought that it was solid, and, with a little tweaking, quite good.  (I'm not actually a 'Kuntz fan' in general, but I didn't think DC 'sucked'.)

Quote from: Akrasia;342366Why did you think Dark Chateau sucked?  I thought that it was solid, and, with a little tweaking, quite good.  (I'm not actually a 'Kuntz fan' in general, but I didn't think DC 'sucked'.)

It just made very little impression on me, so I'll retract that.

It probably merits a re-reading.

Quote from: FASERIP;342390It just made very little impression on me, so I'll retract that.

It probably merits a re-reading.

I read dark chateau a lot before playing and enjoyed reading it more than any other module I've read.  I really looked forward to playing it.  When we finally did, it didn't live up to my own hype I put in my head.  It was good, but I couldn't find a way to get the best parts of it into the actual play of the game.  I blame it on me mostly, and my rusty/bad DM skills.

I still say its the best module I've ever read.  Hopefully someday I can get it to play as good as it reads.

I liked DC as a good example of a well-written old-school style low-level module, which are, in general, harder to write and pull off successfully than higher-level adventures.  It's also the only low-level adventure that Rob has ever published, which makes it interesting from that POV as well.