RPG UPDATE — A Tale of Two Tombs
Scott's latest design projects for Wizards of the Coast are two different reimagings of the Tomb of Horrors — the deadliest dungeon crawl in the history of the D&D game. The first version (written with the excellent Ari Marmell) is the second D&D 4th Edition hardcover super-adventure, built around the plots of the demilich Acererak, continuing the story shaped in Bruce Cordell's Return to the Tomb of Horrors for 2nd Edition AD&D, and encompassing the final fate of the most legendary dungeon in the world.
(The dark power of Acererak cuts down adventurers and adventure designers with equal ease. A bit of an addendum to cover text that went missing from Chapter Two of the adventure can be found here. As well, thumbnail updates to some of the maps in the Shadow Tomb can be found here.)
The second version of the Tomb of Horrors is Scott's straight-ahead update and revision of the original AD&D adventure module by Gary Gygax. This special adventure was available only to DM Rewards members of the RPGA, with copies initially selling for $50 and up on eBay.
(For a sense of why this translation of the original Tomb for a new generation of players was a dream job for Scott, read the author's note.)
Projects
General Interest
- You've never heard of D&D? Seriously?
- So why would anybody actually play this game?
- But I heard gamers are kind of crazy.
- Okay, fine, but you're all, like, total satanists, right?
Get Your Geek On
- The history of Dungeons & Dragons.
- Wired's memorial to Gary Gygax.
- Braunstein — The most important RPG you've never heard of.
- Ex-gamer failing your save vs. domesticity?
- Everything you wanted to know about gaming but were too dead to ask.
Scott Fitzgerald Gray (9th-level layabout, vindictive neutral) started gaming in high school and has worked as a writer and editor much of the time since then. After belatedly realizing he could combine both vocations in 2004, he’s been making up for lost time as a freelance RPG editor and designer, thus finally giving him the job he really wanted when he was 16. He lives in the Canadian hinterland with a schoolteacher, two daughters, and a large number of animal companions.
So says the bio accompanying Scott's RPG work, most of which has been for Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast, and some highlights of which can be found at the links to the left.
If you came to this page thinking that RPG stood for rocket-propelled grenade launcher, rebounds per game, or the Rassemblement du Peuple de Guinée political party, check out the links to the left to learn a bit about the significance and importance of roleplaying games. (If you're ever trapped in an elevator at ComicCon, this information could save your life. You're welcome.)