Game Education

Castle of the Mad Archmage on RFI

This weekend the Roll for Initiative podcast did a very nice and in-depth review of Castle of the Mad Archmage. Very positive; most of the crew gave it four or four and a half swords out of five. Definitely check it out.

They did have a couple of questions, and I thought Id just cover them here real quick (Ill also send an email, in case they dont read this). (Caution: Spoilers! - actually there are spoilers throughout the podcast too, so dont listen if you think youre going to play in the adventure.)

• Im pretty sure the grey monks are original, and not found in Gygaxs dungeon. I dont recall hearing about them...
• The gate to Lewis Carrolls Wonderland is in the mushroom forest in the Greater Caverns.
• Unfortunately the three books cant be bundled on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow because of a technical limitation of the site. You cant do bundles of print books, so you have to add them separately to your cart. The pricing for the books was adjusted so that the total is what it would have been if I had been able to do a print bundle.
• The maps were printed in their own book based on playtest feedback. Its *far* easier to have a separate book rather than needing to flip back-and-forth in one larger book. I found that out myself, too, running it for my group at home as well as at conventions. When the decision was made to do an illustration book (because the fans overwhelmingly said that was something theyd like to see), it made sense to treat it the same way. 
• Youre correct about the designers notes that were in the original free version - they were excised because, as a published product under the OGL, I was much more sensitive to copyright issues. I might do some designers notes here on the blog, if people think it would be fun and/or helpful. Let me know!