I'm told that Wizards of the Coast dropped a major hint about this product at Gen Con, but didn't name it outright.
Hmmmm.
--Erik
I'm guessing Expedition to Castle Greyhawk.
God, I hope not...
Unless it's Greyhawk of course!
(Not like 3rd edition, but full blown support!)
God, I hope not...
Unless it's Greyhawk of course!
(Not like 3rd edition, but full blown support!)
The "God, I hope not..." is referring to 4th edition comment, not the Ravenloft comment. Sorry, my network at work is real slow for some reason. Not that I'd be doing this while at work. Of course not. Who could even think about something as blasphemous as geekin' out at work.
I'm guessing Expedition to Castle Greyhawk.I'm told that Wizards of the Coast dropped a major hint about this product at Gen Con, but didn't name it outright.
Hmmmm.
--Erik
All right, I'm a dumb-a$$. I read 'Castle Greyhawk' as 'Castle Ravenloft' which is coming out in a month or two. My bad. I need to go home...
should this be considered a hint? ;)
from Dragon #347, p 8:
"I'm currently at work on a top-secret hardcover adventure book for Wizards of the Coast in which a tavern (well, an inn, really) features prominently."
should this be considered a hint? ;)
from Dragon #347, p 8:
"I'm currently at work on a top-secret hardcover adventure book for Wizards of the Coast in which a tavern (well, an inn, really) features prominently."
I thought about this comment too when I read it. The fact that he took the time to change the word 'tavern' to 'inn' is something I've been thinking about. Famous inns in Greyhawk to be more precise. The Inn between Worlds/Comeback Inn from the old Blackmoor modules (DA1-4 i think?). A certain inn in Hommlet where many a campaign has begun? I don't know...
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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All right, I'm a dumb-a$$. I read 'Castle Greyhawk' as 'Castle Ravenloft' which is coming out in a month or two. My bad. I need to go home...
Either that or become better acquainted with your friend, the edit button. ;-)
(btw - the 4e comment was a complete joke, I didn't mean to stir up that debate again.)
I always forget about that button. I'm more lurker than poster.
Yeah, I tasted the sarcasm in your 4th edition comment and it tasted good...
That's why I responded!
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(btw - the 4e comment was a complete joke, I didn't mean to stir up that debate again.)
Sebastian:
Thanks for not mentioning it in the first place!Eric:
I am playing in the FR because I was too late - when I got to know (A)D&D, FR was new, and the Greyhawk Wars box already sold out. I guess I am part of quite a crowd
... who read that some of the best adventures ever were GH related ones (-> Dungeon),
... who realized that D&D 3.0/ 3.5 contains a lot of hints to a huge campaign world, rich in detail and history, that is yet quite far for "late arrivers" to the hobby and which didn't receive much attention in third edition apart from a few spell names and the core pantheon.
I learned in which way FR was/ is different from traditional GH. I would very much like to experience first hand this old edition feel in 3.5 rule format, preferrably in a comparable form as the FR CS - and yes, it shouldn't dispense with its "historical balast" (it's GH's biggest asset from my point of view!).
I'd also appreciate very much any official setting material that would help to close the gap between GH experts in the know and "newbies"...
Ok, enough ranting. let's hope that the "oracles" in this thread are right about GH... :-)
The others:
Castle Ravenloft and actually one more "Expedition" adventure were already announced (at least on enworld). Therefore these adventures should hardly be considered as being "top secret".
Greetings,
Günther
should this be considered a hint? ;)
from Dragon #347, p 8:
"I'm currently at work on a top-secret hardcover adventure book for Wizards of the Coast in which a tavern (well, an inn, really) features prominently."
Undermountain was the other hint at GenCon. That's my second guess. The inn is a reference to the Yawning Portal.
We will be using the World Serpent Inn extensively in the next Campaign Classics issue of Dragon.
That's not what I was talking about in the editorial, though. :)
--Erik
I'm assuming that even if we guess correctly, you're not going to tell us, right?
Kate Beckinsale
Umm yes she is !
Mr. Mona sure is a tease. If not a hint of what, then how about a hint of when?
i just read this 3 pages in and i HAVE TO KNOW. im crossing my fingers for a nice proper 3.5 greyhawk book. im sure we will get lots more hints (PLEASE!!!!) before its arrival.
Inn of the Welcome Wench! Return to the Return of the Temple of Elemental Evil, or perhaps a prequel to the original? Would be nice. :)
Let's dream that the whole thing is lavishly illustrated by Wayne Renolds.You know, I really like Wayne Reynolds artwork, but in my humble opinion, the greatest D&D artist ever was Elmore.
Gotta give my props to Parkinson (who is no longer with us, sadly).
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Mr. Mona sure is a tease. If not a hint of what, then how about a hint of when?
I am led to believe that the book will debut at next year's Gen Con. Therefore, I conclude that Wizards of the Coast will announce it next time they release a trimester catalog, which should be relatively soon.
I am racing to finish the book right now.
--Erik
Gotta give my props to Parkinson (who is no longer with us, sadly).Let's dream that the whole thing is lavishly illustrated by Wayne Renolds.You know, I really like Wayne Reynolds artwork, but in my humble opinion, the greatest D&D artist ever was Elmore.
I really did love all of their art, but there's a special place in my heart for Erol Otus.
I am racing to finish the book right now.--Erik
A few more hits under your belt and we can officially call your rule a Mona-rchy.
Inn of the Welcome Wench comes to my mind, but odds are I'm totally off base here
Inn of the Welcome Wench comes to my mind, but odds are I'm totally off base here
Unless Hommlet was heavily hinted at the GenCon seminar, I doubt that's it.
I am racing to finish the book right now.
--Erik
If it's not too personal/professional a question, how many words is the Secret Squirrel and how long did it take you to write it?
Sounds like undermountain to me.
1. It is somthing Erik could not refuse to do, and we already have FC1. This leads me to believe that it is based on classic material.
2. An Inn features prominently in it. Its probably not the Shady Dragon Inn. Green Dragon? Welcome Wench?
3. With the Ravenloft supplement on its way and Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, and WotC asking about what classic material the fans want redone,
I would wager that it has to be a classic revamp of Temple of Elemental Evil.
If so: Mr. Mona- could you please include the structural changes made to the Moathouse? Mainly a certain inverted obelisk?
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Hmmm...
Maybe after all Eric's hard work on Diamond Lake, WOTC finally realized the potential of other areas of the Cairn Hills region in 3.5e and we are finally after decades of pent up demand, going to see a highly detailed hardback on Innspa!
(mmmm, or not)
I'd rule out a faithful recreation of original TOEE... (a) it just seems too dungeon intensive for Eric, and a faithful recreation wouldn't really feature the Welcome Wench as much as the hint let's on and (b) if he was doing just Village of Hommlet, he also might find that a bit too mundane... I'd keep guessing.
I do hope if it's an adventure, we can see a little smack-down rivalry between JJ's Red Hand and whatever Eric is working on!
Erik said:
"I'm told that Wizards of the Coast dropped a major hint about this product at Gen Con, but didn't name it outright.
Hmmmm.
--Erik"
With this info, and the info below, and knowing Eric, I would say ToEE. These are some of the questions and answers from the Q&A at Gen Con this year:
-Plans to update older modules like Ravenloft and Demonweb Pits?
-There are more coming and WotC is looking feedback from fans on what they would like.
-Is WotC doing more adventures in a box and short adventures?
-There is a lot more material headed to shelves in the future beyond whats been announced.
-Expedition to Castle Greyhawk coming?
-Already on the list as items being looked at for production.
Hommlet and ToEE are the only classic materials where an inn is prominently detailed and is intended to be the base of operations for the party and contains several clues.
I'd rule out a faithful recreation of original TOEE... (a) it just seems too dungeon intensive for Eric, and a faithful recreation wouldn't really feature the Welcome Wench as much as the hint let's on and (b) if he was doing just Village of Hommlet, he also might find that a bit too mundane... I'd keep guessing.
The Welcome Wench is a huge part of the ToEE. Its supposed to be a place of intrigue and deception. Its the RP part of the whole module. Besides, I get the impression that Mr. Mona is all about the Dungeon. I don't think he finds anything dealing with a classic "mundane." To many Greyhawk is a mundane vanilla setting, yet he would sell his first born to work on it (well maybe not that far but it makes my point). He, like myself is a sucker for classics. I pegged RttToEE and I bet I get this one too.
The Yawning Portal is a major part of the ruins of undermountain
Erik said:
"I'm told that Wizards of the Coast dropped a major hint about this product at Gen Con, but didn't name it outright.
Hmmmm.
--Erik"With this info, and the info below, and knowing Eric, I would say ToEE. These are some of the questions and answers from the Q&A at Gen Con this year:
-Plans to update older modules like Ravenloft and Demonweb Pits?
-There are more coming and WotC is looking feedback from fans on what they would like.-Is WotC doing more adventures in a box and short adventures?
-There is a lot more material headed to shelves in the future beyond whats been announced.-Expedition to Castle Greyhawk coming?
-Already on the list as items being looked at for production.
How do you get ToEE out of those questions and answers? ToEE was never hinted at GenCon, but Undermountain, which features a prominent inn called the Yawning Portal and is the entrance to Undermountain's dungeons, was mentioned.
How do you get ToEE out of those questions and answers? ToEE was never hinted at GenCon, but Undermountain, which features a prominent inn called the Yawning Portal and is the entrance to Undermountain's dungeons, was mentioned.Erik said:
-=snip=-
Where was Undermountain mentioned at GenCon? If anything from the snippets mentioned above, I'm guessing its Castle Greyhawk and the inn is some place in the eponymous City.
I would have said the Flounder Pounder, but that was covered in the DMG2.
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Creative Director
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HA! Huzzah for the Flounder Pounder! Not that it has anything to do with the secret project, just that it happens to be my all-time favorite tavern name that I've come up with.
Ahem. You may now resume your regularly-scheduled musings on the nature of said secret project. And yes, it's still pretty neat.
Undermountain would take much longer than the time he has put in the project assuming he is still doing his job at Paizo, which he is. Can't be undermountain because it is too big.
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Gotta give my props to Parkinson (who is no longer with us, sadly).Let's dream that the whole thing is lavishly illustrated by Wayne Renolds.You know, I really like Wayne Reynolds artwork, but in my humble opinion, the greatest D&D artist ever was Elmore.
That's all true. But for freaky styley, NOBODY beats Erol Otus.
Perhaps a prequel to TOEE
Where was Undermountain mentioned at GenCon? If anything from the snippets mentioned above, I'm guessing its Castle Greyhawk and the inn is some place in the eponymous City.
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=9836330&postcount=13
I am still betting on ToEE. First off Mona said it was never mentioned but greatly hinted at. This I would say is the comment about classic adventures. Other things to consider:
First Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain got redone. This tested the waters and showed that "yes virginia there really was a market for old modules converted to the new edition."
Then Ravenloft gets redone.
Then The DQ series gets a redo.
Mona said there was an Inn that featured prominently in the material that he was working on.
So this leaves us with real options. A redo of ToEE and a redo of Undermountain.
The same reason for not doing ToEE can be made for not doing undermountain: The material of both has been touched on in recent years and there is no reason to go back:
For ToEE this is RttToEE and for Undermountain there is the description in the Waterdeep book and the web supplements that are being done by Matthew Sernett.
Going off the "its already been done" logic Undermountain has less of a chance than ToEE. Also, Undermountain is STILL being done. So there is no reason to do it.
I would agree that it was Castle Greyhawk if it was not for the Inn. The Inn is what makes me think that it is ToEE.
Mona admits he is a S U C K E R for classic (read Greyhawk/Gygaxian) material. His hint and the way it is phrased makes me think that in the previous version of what he was working on an Inn was a major part of the project. Castle Greyhawk in any of its incarnations does not fit this bill.
Most likely candidate: The Temple of Elemental Evil.
Further: The Temple is some of D&Ds most remarketable material. We have one Computer Games, two game books, and a novel, three of these products were written post 2000. While the original has never existed in this edition. I am pretty sure that the Temple of Elemental Evil is marketing gold because of its status next to GDQ and Ravenloft as one of THE modules of the shared D&D experience.
I rest my case.
Another item: Mona said that he had thought he was done writing for Wizards, that FC1 was going to be his last book for them, but then they offered this project and he said he couldn't pass up the opportunity to do it. From what I understand writing for the realms sort of annoys Erik. But he will do Classic/Greyhawk material with gusto and zeal. This leads me to think Undermountain is not it.
I will say this: If it is inot ToEE, then it is assuredly Castle Greyhawk. How you get an inn in it, I don't know.
keep in mind also, the number of times Elemental Evil has been mentioned in paizo magazines since Erik took over... he might just be interested in that sort of thing. ;) you might be on to something!
I never had the pleasure of running or playing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. I can't afford to buy the adventure these days as it's prohibitively expensive.
Is the story-arc vastly different than the original T1-T4 series? If so then my suspicion is it's "Expedition to the Temple of Elemental Evil" or "Expedition to Hommlet"... perhaps to give those of us who never ran/played a chance to visit the good old moathouse.
I never had the pleasure of running or playing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. I can't afford to buy the adventure these days as it's prohibitively expensive.
Is the story-arc vastly different than the original T1-T4 series? If so then my suspicion is it's "Expedition to the Temple of Elemental Evil" or "Expedition to Hommlet"... perhaps to give those of us who never ran/played a chance to visit the good old moathouse.
"Return" was in the tradition of the "Return to" modules. Generally they covered the old module area 25 years after the original. That was sort of the theme. The players check out a bigger hommlet, a moathouse that has repopulated, and a few other surprises. The meat is a very big dungeon crawl far away from the "return to" area. I thought this detracted from the adventure. While that dungeon is fun, I don't think it really belonged in the mod and the connections to it felt sort of forced. So I just cut it out. I have the characters run around Nulb, Hommlet, the Moathouse and the ol Temple (I mean comon, its Return to the TEMPLE of ELEMENTAL EVIL not Return to the place we never been to before...)
[mitch hedberg]We don't need to bring a whole new dungeon complex into this...
[/mitch hedberg]
I like to use the original Hommlet with the new Moathouse and the original temple. In any case a redo of the original would be awesome.
One thing I noticed was that Return to wraps up part 1 at page 32, the same length as Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury. It occurs to me that this was the original length, but got turned into a Mega Mod later. Only Monte knows the truth. Still, the "Big Dungeon" cuts out of the module quite nicely if you get rid of the mysterious priests and just move a certain cleric south without a certain weapon.
What about Revenge of Falcon, Flames of Falcon those modules featured a inn ran by a hill giant.
I too hopes it Toee the best module ever.
Are they really revamping the old classics to 3.5 G &D series wow I'm speechless. Although I am still wondering to this day where our the module classics of our time, Where is our tomb of horrors our Lost caverns of Tsojcanth. All these writers all these submissions gotta be some gold in there.