Can someone sum up Maure Castle in a nutshell?

[UltimaGabe]

I have the 3.5 Dungeon issue with Maure Castle, but in all the years I've owned it I've never sat down and read it, or even gotten a clear idea of what this adventure is. I'm looking for a long, single-location-centric adventure that revolves around a large building (preferably a castle), and I want to know if I should dig out my copy and give it another look.

Can someone describe the overall adventure to me, in a paragraph or two? I would be most appreciative.

[yellowdingo]

Geographical Location: Maure Castle marks a border-crossing between Greyhawk and an eastern land (possible the duchy of Urnst) with Dwarves in the hills to the north (or south) and gnomes in the hills to the south (or north).

[hogarth]

I'm not an expert on it, but you could try the Wikipedia entry for a starting place. It's mostly underground dungeon though, not a castle.

Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, a.k.a. Maure Castle

[BenS]

I haven't read through them, but if you do and like what you see, there's more than the super adventure (4 levels) in Dungeon #112.

Dungeon #124 & #139 have continuation levels, and Oerth Journal #23 (you can get this free online) has yet another.

[Alephtau]

It is basically exactly what you are looking for. Its one HUGE castle with multiple levels. It was built for an evil family that was mostly magic users and they worshiped an evil entity they only ever referred to as "Y".

[Reggie]

The Maure adventures are essentially a high level dungeon crawl set near and under the remains of Maure Castle, near the Free City of Greyhawk. The family was formed by a group of escaping Seloise wizards, who fled the nasty magical destruction of their homelands about a thousand years ago, and set themselves up as Lords of the Manor.
The original leaders left for other places, leaving their apprentices to watch over the house. The family slipped into decay and decadence over the years, and a while ago vanished from local sight altogether.
Under the castle are at least 20 levels of dungeons, of which about 6 are mapped out fully, and there are short notes on the rest.
Running through the adventures that are already written, it becomes obvious that the family was venerating some rather unpleasant, otherworldly powers. It also starts to become apparent that there was a rift within the family, with various scions trying to undermine the mysterious Family Elder, 'Uncle'.
Then one night there was a nasty argument, supporters of various factions came in and attacked the place, and we were left with a large, multi-level dungeon to risk our health in, and a rather large range of mysteries to solve, many of which at this point may never be.

Definitely worth running through as a single site adventure, if you have a high level party of thinkers ready to go.

Reggie

[UltimaGabe]

Alright. Thanks for the info, guys!

If I can ever manage to get a steady work schedule, maybe I can try finding a D&D group in my area- THEN I can consider running this adventure, since it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Can someone sum up Maure Castle in a nutshell?
Your all going to die.

[Reggie]

Jeremy Mac Donald wrote:

Can someone sum up Maure Castle in a nutshell?

Your all going to die.

I knew I'd left something out of my summation!

Reggie

[Lincoln Hills]

In the mid-70s, when Gary and Dave had finished piecing together the basic rules for Dungeons and Dragons, one of the first players to step up to the challenge of becoming a DM was Robert Kuntz (most famed, perhaps, for his PC: Lord Robilar.) Since D&D was still almost entirely taking place inside dungeons (Gary's Castle Greyhawk being the ur-dungeon), Rob decided to run his own campaign in his own dungeon, which he called Maure Castle (note the pun and sigh.) He came up with the earliest versions of a lot of what appeared in Dungeon #112, including the Terrible Iron Golem and Eli Tomorast, although I'm sure the maps probably looked different at first.

Later on, when Gary decided to create a campaign world in which his Castle Greyhawk existed, it was common courtesy (since many PCs had adventured in both dungeons) to also put Maure Castle on the map.

At least these are the events as I've deduced them. You could always ask Rob Kuntz yourself, if you can catch him. But he's like a leprechaun: he's wily. Also he can become invisible.

[Chris Mortika]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Maure Castle (note the pun and sigh.)

Okay, I give. What pun?

[hogarth]

Chris Mortika wrote:

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Maure Castle (note the pun and sigh.)

Okay, I give. What pun?

Maure Castle = "More Castle" = an additional castle after Castle Greyhawk

I presume.