An Interview with Chris Doyle, Original Castle Whiterock Author and Descent of the Ancient Fane 5e Converter
Witch Pleas connected with Chris the moment we had the privilege of creating a tie-in to Castle Whiterock. That connection turned privilege into a true honor.
Chris isn't just a brilliant creative, he's a joy to know. His conversion of our 200+ page mega dungeon tie-in to Castle Whiterock, Descent of the Ancient Fane, is a masterwork weapon. His contributions to Descent of the Ancient Fane's lore, in the form of his original Whiterock NPCs and knowledge, make it a companion volume like no other.
He's now graced us with an interview that reveals the creative origins of the original Castle Whiterock, key NPC connections to his personal campaigns, and his unique scientific approach to monster ecology.
We hope you enjoy it - and hope you follow Descent of the Ancient Fane, launching April 7 on BackerKit. Pre-launch reservations for $5 qualify for an exclusive monster cookbook, Delicious in Whiterock, where you'll find a recipe for that Bladderwort plant Chris mentions below, along with 20 other Whiterock monsters!
Castle Whiterock Interview Questions
1. What inspired you to write such an ambitious dungeon, with over 20 full-fledged levels, as the original Castle Whiterock?
The original plan was NOT to write a 20 level (plus sub-levels) mega-dungeon. The original assignment was a 96-page softcover dungeon, underneath a castle’s ruins (several levels) inspired by Castle Greyhawk. And Joe Goodman wanted a dragon on the lower level. So, I got to work on this project exclusively, setting aside all other freelance assignments. After almost a year of writing and brainstorming, it was clear I had way more content than we originally planned. At GenCon on one fateful Saturday night (after the DCC Tourney wrapped up) I met with Joe and Adrian Pommier (the Tourney Organizer for Goodman Games) at a table in the food court of the mall. This was before GenCon attracted 75,000+ attendees, so the food court was closed-down and there were no one around. After our Tourney debrief, we discussed Castle Whiterock. Joe wanted to release it at next GenCon! I explained how sprawling it had become. Somebody said “Word count be damned!”, and we embraced that as a battle cry and decided to make it a huge boxed set. Twenty levels, plus sublevels, a regional gazetteer, a fully developed city and Inn (as a base of operations for the PCs), and poster maps. And it needed to all be done in about 6 months. I recruited Adrian on the spot to co-design (he also lived in NJ, so it was real easy to meet once a month at a local diner, to discuss progress. Keep in mind this is before Zoom). We split up the remaining levels (and sub-levels), recruited others to write the support material (including Harley Stroh!), and got to work. At the end, there 20 levels, 14 sub-levels, four dragons (including two on the final level) and 768 pages of content!
2. There’s such a rich history in Castle Whiterock, a lot of which we tried to lead to in Descent of the Ancient Fane. For example, what inspired the story of the Company of the Black Osprey?
The Company of the Black Osprey was a high-level adventuring company that explored Castle Whiterock hundreds of years ago. They were responsible for cleaning much of the dungeons out, but they also added several sub-levels, plus left their mark on those hallowed halls in many other ways. For example, 647 years prior to present day, they named the ruins Castle Whiterock, referencing the strange white walls in the courtyard (crafted by cloud giants) and orcish graffiti that mentioned a white roc. Several of the NPCs were based on characters in our home campaign, that ran from 1987 through 1991:
Nimboltin “Nim” Softstep was a male halfling thief run by long-time friend, Devin.
General Korborth was based on an NPC I ran (as the GM) to round out the party. He is based off Kobort, a male mercenary fighter from T1 The Village of Hommlet (area 9, The Inn of the Welcome Wench - go ahead. Pull out your copy and check. I’ll wait.). The heroes defeated his evil monk companion, and the Neutrally-aligned 2nd level fighter joined the party. Over the years (this was first edition), we advanced Kobort up to 10th level , quite a feat when one considers that NPCs only get ½ XP!).
Lythe Abysstalker was a female half-human (?) cleric run by my wife, Lisa (although she was my girl-friend at that time - we got married in 1993). It was a conscious decision to leave Lythe’s fate undetermined, so the GM could use her as needed in a Castle Whiterock campaign. Matt took that cue and boy did he run with it!
Pelltar was a male human wizard, not based off an existing character in our home game. I thought the name Pelltar was original, only to discover years after publication the wizard in Restenford (L1 The Secret of Bone Hill) was named Pelltar. Whoops…
Vallisneria Forestfriend, a female half-elf druid who eventually became a cleric of Ildavir. She was created specifically for Castle Whiterock, and tied into Level 8. Her name was inspired by the Latin scientific name for a freshwater aquatic plant, wild celery (Vallisneria americana). I was working as an aquatic biologist for a lake management firm during the design of Castle Whiterock. There are other aquatics-based inspirations throughout Castle Whiterock, such as the giant bladderwort (scientific name Utricularia vulgaris, later changed to U. macrorhiza) and the giant predaceous diving beetles (family Dytiscidae), also based on a real-world design.
Fun Facts: The Company name is a riff off “Greyhawk” (as in color-bird of prey). “Black” plus “Osprey,” a fish hawk bird of prey I often saw while surveying lakes in the Northeast. To stay on theme, I guess I should share its scientific name: Pandion haliaetus. And the species name for the bladderwort inspired the name of the minyad on level 7: Vulgaris. I could keep going on, but I’ll stop now…
3. Many of the original Castle Whiterock levels also have a feeling of a true ecology, like its river level. How does your professional background in aquatic biomes influence your monster and level design?
In short, very much so! See the previous answer where I slipped in Latin jargon for a bit! I’ve always looked to our own real natural world for monster inspirations. I’m a huge proponent of “Dungeon Ecology,” and I’ve even written an essay on it! (Shameless plug for the new edition of How to Write Even Better Adventures coming soon from Goodman Games). Creatures living in an underground (or any, really) setting need access to plentiful food sources, clean fresh water, and somewhere to live. I try not to go overboard with these concepts (as they are often overlooked by the typical player), but I do enjoy the puzzle of how these orcs collect water. Or, what does the dragon eat (so now you know why flocks of wild sheep graze just outside the dungeon entrance)? Or how do the goblins avoid all the pit traps guarding the entrance to their lair?
4. Descent of the Ancient Fane stretches across Castle Whiterock’s full character level advancement. When adapting it to D&D, what approach did you take to ensuring it was challenging and rewarding for D&D players?
Converting Descent from DCC RPG rules into 5E rules was probably one of the biggest conversion challenges I have undertaken as a professional game designer. First of all, it took about 3 months due to the length original manuscript. Matt is a wonderful DCC RPG designer, who really leans into the DCC rules and “gonzo” feel for the setting. 5E tends to be more rigidly-designed and quite frankly “vanilla”. That can be much trickier than converting an old 1E adventure, such as Isle of Dread, to 5E. Obviously, there is no dice chain in 5E, so many of those rules needed to be converted into advantage/disadvantage, although its lazy design to think it’s a one size fits all. Spoiler alert: it’s not. Mathematically, not all dice chain moves are created equally - just ask Terry Olson! These rules translations often need further modifications and tweaks to bring them in line with modern 5E design. There are no Mighty Deeds in 5E, although the Battle Master fighter archetype comes close. So, these instances needed fresh yet robust mechanisms for the conversion. Spellburn and corruption are common tropes in DCC RPG which needed to be addressed on the 5E side. For these, I looked to rules that mimic existing 5E spells, curses, and exhaustion. Finally, I need to create full 5E stat boxes for 90 twisted monster designs that came from Matt’s mind. Several of these were demon lords, full of diabolical Traits, devastating Actions and Legendary Actions.
5. Quite a few magical items in Descent of the Ancient Fane help guide Castle Whiterock players to hard-to-find areas in Whiterock. What are some Whiterock areas that you’re most excited for players to discover and explore?
One of our design philosophies when crafting this mega-dungeon was to include lots of hidden rooms and in some cases entire levels! One of the pillars of 5E D&D is Exploration, and it often gets overlooked with modern design. Back in the 1E days, exploration was the adventure, and the roleplaying was almost exclusively provided by the players at the table.
Finding the hidden library (level 6B) is crucial, as it is literally a storehouse of knowledge and hints on how to uncover much of the forgotten lore of Castle Whiterock. I’ve been running Castle Whiterock on and off for 4 years (the characters are 7th level) and a few sessions ago, they backtracked and finally found the entrance to the library. That was an amazing session, even though we didn’t roll for initiative once!
Good luck finding Pelltar’s Redoubt (level 12A), as there is no actual entrance and powerful magic is required. Although Descent into the Ancient Fane facilitates this process greatly through its plot and a certain magical relic which is very “handy.”
Anything else to Share?
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Matt for letting me play in the Castle Whiterock sandbox one more time. Although a challenge at times, the project has been very rewarding, and I can’t wait to share this adventure with fans interested in expanding their Castle Whiterock experience.
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Convinced that Descent of the Ancient Fane is a necessary companion to the upcoming Castle Whiterock? Head to BackerKit to follow it, and to grab your $5 pre-release copy of Delicious in Whiterock!
Want more 5E Conversions from Chris Doyle? Chris converted When the Stars Cried Despair, the prequel to Descent of the Ancient Fane, available now here at Witch Pleas!