"From the people that brought you the Graveyard of the Dead and the Castle of the King, comes a harrowing tale of creepy dungeoneering called... THE DUNGEON OF THE CRYPT!!!"
I'm sorry to be so harsh, but did the word-naming-thingie machine break down on a Friday afternoon or something? That's got to be the most generic name for an adventuring location that I've ever seen in gaming. Perhaps I'm not up on my Waterdeep lore, but does this lame excuse for a dungeon name have some sort of FR historical precedent or something? I'm at loss for how this could be the name of a real dungeon.
I'm sorry to be so harsh, but did the word-naming-thingie machine break down on a Friday afternoon or something? That's got to be the most generic name for an adventuring location that I've ever seen in gaming. Perhaps I'm not up on my Waterdeep lore, but does this lame excuse for a dungeon name have some sort of FR historical precedent or something? I'm at loss for how this could be the name of a real dungeon.
The Dungeon of the Crypt and the Fireplace Level are two Forgotten Realms dungeons from the "original Realms campaign" (i.e. prior to the publication of the old gray boxed set in 1987). Both are new dungeons, but both were built using Ed's remaining notes from the original campaign. There have been a lot of requests at GenCon seminars over the years for details of both. FWIW, both names were given by adventuring bands. In other words, the Dungeon of the Crypt is named because they accessed it through a crypt in the City of the Dead. The Fireplace Level is named because they reached it through a ... you guessed it ... fireplace.
--Eric
Aaawww man, "The Cave of Caverns" was one of my favorites...or was it the "Treevillage" in the Trees? I can never remember.
"The Underground Dungeon" was also good.
The Drawmij, and Yrag stuff always amazed me...I mean, couldn't the creators of D&D come up with some original names, or had they already burned through them all by the time they got to Olidamra? If I remember correctly, Gygax worked his initials into the map in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
In 26 years of playing, I've never had a player over the age of 10 reverse their name for their character.
ASEO out
Yeup, they are old names made by someone's homebrew that turned in the wildly successful FR.
Dungeon of the Crypt sounds somewhat scary to me. Its generic-ness is what makes it sound dangerous.
Dungeon of Hellish Doom? - Yeah, its going to be tough
Blackwind's Castle? - knowledge (history) check on Blackwind
Dungeon of the Crypt? - Um, not sure the power of that place.
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In 26 years of playing, I've never had a player over the age of 10 reverse their name for their character.
ASEO out
Actually, I've been playing for twenty-SEVEN years, and I do it on a regular basis, particularly in online play-by-post games. I feel it's a nice nod to where the game came from. Arneson participated in some of that, too, in his Blackmoor setting (which came before Greyhawk). I feel like it's a great tradition of the game to work in references to one's friends. I grew up not to far from a tiny town called "Grant's Quarry." My homebrew campaign setting is called "Grand Skwa Ree." It smells like fun to me.
Hmmm, shoutouts to the peeps in the hood...interesting, I hadn't thought of it that way.
Some interesting things about the dungeon that I've noticed in reading it:
There is a glairing type O in the very first sentence. I have also noticed several others ie."($49)".
Nesting Doll Mimics? I've always thought that Mimics just looked like containers on the outside, and were not actually openable as such. I would expect that if the mimic is capable of eating a medium sized creature, that it would have, well guts inside of it. To me it seems like a pretty silly encounter.
Having found these things, only makes me feel the need to more heavily scrutinize the adventure as I read more.
ASEO out
>>>
I have also noticed several others ie."($49)".
>>>Unfortunately, that's not a typo. That's part of the map tag conventions in the Waterdeep: City of Splendors hardcover.
Lame, yes. Mistake, not so much.
--Erik
I stand corrected...strange though.
ASEO out
>>>
I have also noticed several others ie."($49)".
>>>Unfortunately, that's not a typo. That's part of the map tag conventions in the Waterdeep: City of Splendors hardcover.
Lame, yes. Mistake, not so much.
--Erik
I know. City of Splendors: Waterdeep could have come up with a better naming conventions. And, where's the poster map??
WaterdhavianFlapjack
City of Splendors: Waterdeep could have come up with a better naming conventions.
That's been the convention since the release of the City of Splendors boxed set (2e), ten or so years ago. I saw no reason to change the naming convention just to change it.
And, where's the poster map??
Unfortunately, WoTC seems to not do poster maps these days.
--Eric
Hey, at least it wasn't named using the Gygaxian principle of taking all your family members names and spelling them backwards... Otherwise it would have been Dungeon of the Doowneerg...which isn't that bad of a name now that I've written it out...
That was part of what made Gygax's naming convention so cool. A lot of the names did turn out neat backwards.
Htims and Senoj; Yrrah, Kcid and Mot; Nwod and Pu.... Okay, it doesn't work for everything! :P
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Htims and Senoj; Yrrah, Kcid and Mot; Nwod and Pu.... Okay, it doesn't work for everything! :P
Yep, it doesn't. Some reversed names that grace portions of my homebrewed world, Difonix:
Trah (surname); Ogniob (favourite band of that time); Imoan (gf of that time and a hideous name in the game when you're 16 and hormonal); Eiknarf (capital of Ogniob and yes, I was looking at posters on my wall by this point...)
This method was always a case of desperation for naming rivers/forests/countries when I found my creative juices kept spitting out the same sequence of sounds just rearranged from prior naming attempts.
That's been the convention since the release of the City of Splendors boxed set (2e), ten or so years ago. I saw no reason to change the naming convention just to change it.--Eric
My apologies. You are correct. All for continuity!
WaterdhavianFlapjack
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Hey guys.
I used to own a FR product called the Saveage Frontier (cool Elmore cover with an evil army and horseriding orc). If I remember correctly the Dungeon of the Crypt was located near Crypt Garden Forest and that a Vampire Hill Giant and his vampire ogre spawn were the denizens of that place.
Course I could be wrong, any takers?
Reebo
Hey guys.
I used to own a FR product called the Saveage Frontier (cool Elmore cover with an evil army and horseriding orc). If I remember correctly the Dungeon of the Crypt was located near Crypt Garden Forest and that a Vampire Hill Giant and his vampire ogre spawn were the denizens of that place.
Course I could be wrong, any takers?
Reebo
You're thinking of Southkrypt, not the Dungeon of the Crypt. Southkrypt is indeed located near the Kryptgarden Forest and inhabited by a trio of vampire hill giants (one of which was detailed for 2e in Dragon magazine). It has never been detailed other than brief paragraphs in FR5 - The Savage Frontier, FR11 - Dwarves Deep, and The North.
The Dungeon of the Crypt lies under Waterdeep. It is briefly mentioned in the City of Splendors (2e) boxed set and possibly some other obscure products. Most of what we new about it before now came from brief discussions at the FR seminar at GenCon. While my version is not the same as the original (i.e. Ed Greenwood's home campaign), it is as close as I could make it based on Ed's notes.
--Eric