The reason I ask is because I saw Whiterock in a store today for 99 bucks. Unusued. I see it on ebay for "buy it now for 35 bucks". Was it any good? Was world's largest dungeon better? I doubt I'd ever use it as is, but would use it to steal from for other campaigns. Any recommendations?
Quote from: Joethelawyer;337360The reason I ask is because I saw Whiterock in a store today for 99 bucks. Unusued. I see it on ebay for "buy it now for 35 bucks". Was it any good? Was world's largest dungeon better? I doubt I'd ever use it as is, but would use it to steal from for other campaigns. Any recommendations?
I guess it depends on what you expect out of them.
I think Castle Whiterock is the better of the two. They both have substories weaved into the various sections, but Whiterock feels more "organic" to me. Some sections of WLD are less than stellar, and there are some zany assumptions in WLD.
I don't even recall hearing of castle whiterock. What the fuck is that?
RPGpundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;337390I don't even recall hearing of castle whiterock. What the fuck is that?
RPGpundit
Goodman Games' 700 page boxed set megadungeon---1st to 15th level in a box.
Avoid World's Largest Dungeon. It's bland and repetitive.
Castle Whiterock is, in Monte Cook's words, "everything that World's Largest Dungeon should have been - and wasn't."
I've spent far too little time perusing the PDF, so I can't recommend you to either buy or avoid it (the price btw is a bargain, as the hardcopy usually fetches twice that money on Ebay). However, if you loved Hackmaster modules for their humour, Whiterock could be up your alley and replete with things worth mining. To give you an idea, here's an encounter with an ettin named "Gar and Nar":
QuoteGar and Nars Hovel: The ettin lives in one of the
hollowed-out stalagmites. The entrance is covered
with crudely sewn lizard skins. The interior is about
25 feet in diameter, and smells of stale body odor. A
flat stone is balanced on a stone pedestal to serve
as a table. Another flat rock serves as a chair. In
one corner of the room is a pile of mangy animal
furs and pelts infested with fleas the size of a pea.
This is Gar and Nars bed, but all of the pelts are
worthless, due to the stench and nameless stains.
Although he doesnt place importance on treasure,
a few items he is fond of are stashed in a nook near
his bed (Search DC 15 to find).
Gar and Nars Pretties:Inside the nook are the fol-
lowing items: ...a tube which holds a scroll
containing greater dispel magic an
teleport (both CL11th). Needless to say, the ettin
has not figured out how to open the scroll tube.
Truth and Deception: Gar and Nars attitude at the
start of the encounter is indifferent. If the adventur-
ers can speak Ettin (see the Ettin Whisperers
sidebar for area 10-24), he is more than interested
in talking. However, the ettin has a most unusual
personality. The head named Gar always tells the
truth, and in general, this head is calm, mild man-
nered, and the voice of reason. However, the head
named Nar always tells lies, and in general is rude,
commanding, and itching for a fight. If the heroes
can sway Gar and Nar to helpful, he invites them
into his hovel, offers lizard stew, and chats with
them. The GM should role play the two heads to the
hilt. Gar and Nar have lots of information about this
level, but the adventurers should have a difficult
time sorting through the conflicting information pro-
vided by the two heads.
What Gar and Nar Know:The ettin has knowledge
on the following topics:
If asked about the pyramid, he might show them
his cave paintings (see below).
He hints that drow are nearby (although he has
no idea where the Inverted Tower is located).
...
Read both.
Castle Whiterock is good. It's a large, extensive, vanilla megadungeon that can fit in pretty much any game world. It is well built, varied, with many ways to get the PCs involved with it... I recommend it.
WLD has a few good ideas but by and large, I have to agree with Windjammer that it is bland and repetitive. Some good nuggets, again, but the overall treatment is poor.
I have Whiterock on PDF and for $10 I found the price just about right. It's decent, but not really outstanding. If you really feel the itch to run a campaign like that, you could do a lot worse for $35. I don't think the production values put it anywhere near worth $100.
Anybody looked at Castle Blackmoor?
Quote from: ggroy;337448Anybody looked at Castle Blackmoor?
Link? Is it of the same scope/size as the others?
Quote from: Joethelawyer;337452Link? Is it of the same scope/size as the others?
There doesn't seem to be many links I can find via googling the keywords "castle blackmoor", other than ones to amazon and some reviews.
http://watermark.rpgnow.com/pdf_previews/51492-sample.pdf
It has 20 levels. It was published about 3 years ago.
Parts of it was in Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor campaign from the 1970's.
Quote from: ggroy;337455There doesn't seem to be many links I can find via googling the keywords "castle blackmoor", other than ones to amazon and some reviews.
http://watermark.rpgnow.com/pdf_previews/51492-sample.pdf
It has 20 levels. It was published about 3 years ago.
Parts of it was in Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor campaign from the 1970's.
That's pretty much what I found too. Goodman published it, but it doesn't appear to be for sale anymore on their site. Odd....
With respect to Blackmoor - that's very interesting indeed. I had no idea a 3rd edition version existed. Here's an Ebay auction (http://cgi.ebay.de/Dungeons-and-Dragons-Blackmoor-NEU-OVP_W0QQitemZ310163459449QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRollenspiele_Tabletops?hash=item48372ecd79&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14) for the 4th edition version:
QuoteClassic campaign includes 96-page book and 2 fold-out maps.
(http://i.ebayimg.com/04/!BY1vTVgCGk~$(KGrHgoH-D4EjlLle-etBKjtCV!HR!~~_12.JPG)
"From the first excursions into the dark depths of Blackmoor Castle's Dungeon it became apparent that these first hardy bands of adventurers would soon seek out new worlds to pillage. From the castle itself the small town of Blackmoor grew, then the surrounding countryside became filled with new holes to explore and beyond that talk was already spreading about visiting the Egg of Coot. Each of these steps entailed a great deal of work upon a naive referee who felt that there was already more than enough trouble already available to satisfy any band of adventurers, a phrase no doubt heard rather frequently since than in other areas. In general, a fairly loose procedure was set up for the establishment of each of these new areas, with a great deal of emphasis being placed on the players themselves setting up new Dengeons, with my original Dungeonmaster role evolving more into the job of coordinating the various operations that were underway at any given moment. At the height of my participation as chief co-ordinator there were six Dungeons and over 100 detailed player characters to be kept track of at any one time. Each area had to mesh with those areas that were around it, in so far as setting up the various monsters etc. were concerned. It was also readily apparent, from previous experience running a "Conventional" Napoleonic Wargames campaign that some sort of Overall Background would have to be constructed to provide a framework within which the players could work. Thus the overall concept of the Evil. Egg of Coot and the Great Kingdom was born. These two entities could prove to be the source of great events outside of the actual, campaign, a source of new recruits and monsters, and give the stimulus, in the way of quests and adventurers to give the players more of a motive than just looting the Dungeon..."
I have the same problem with the d20 Blackmoor as I do with all the later hands that touched Dave Hargrave's Arduin: the attempt to make the setting more palatable for a general audience seems to have stripped out everything I found interesting in the first place.
Quote from: Joethelawyer;337391Goodman Games' 700 page boxed set megadungeon---1st to 15th level in a box.
I see. And it too is for 3.x?
RPGPundit
Quote from: jrients;337521I have the same problem with the d20 Blackmoor as I do with all the later hands that touched Dave Hargrave's Arduin: the attempt to make the setting more palatable for a general audience seems to have stripped out everything I found interesting in the first place.
Damn right. And at the time I warned them that this would make it flop, and the guy (I forget his name now) that was basically co-authoring with Arneson just refused to believe me. He was an idiot.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;337561I see. And it too is for 3.x?
RPGPundit
It is.
Quote from: jrients;337521I have the same problem with the d20 Blackmoor as I do with all the later hands that touched Dave Hargrave's Arduin: the attempt to make the setting more palatable for a general audience seems to have stripped out everything I found interesting in the first place.
I rather liked lots of things about D20 Blackmoor. But I do feel they sort of missed some golden opportunities when it came to showing what the best of old Blackmoor was.