Castle Xyntillan is a haunted castle in the classical vein, a vast and deadly
labyrinth built by eccentric noblemen, and populated with
things which are at once deadly and wondrous. It makes no claim to either realism or narra-
tive consistency: it is a storehouse of the macabre and the whimsical, founded on dream logic
and loose association, and striving to be confounding and entertaining above all else. And
yet, it is not formless. You may note places where its elements form apparent patterns, or at
least seem to rhyme – but it will be up to you to make the connections, and interpret them
according to your ideas, as well as the needs of your campaign.
Like many scenarios based on the principles of old-school gaming (specifically, 1970s-style
megadungeons), there is no single way to play this module. Castle Xyntillan is a loose
framework meant to accommodate many approaches and strategies. Whether you would
prefer to use it for one-off expeditions, convention play, or as a complex dungeon-crawling
campaign taking characters from first to about 6th or 7th level, it is my hope that you will
find it suitable for your needs. It can be played as a mostly hack-and-slash affair, but there
is also enough background complexity to let the players devise complex schemes in the
context of a fantastic, not entirely serious dungeon. Finally, it has been devised with the
original rules in mind (as replicated in Swords & Wizardry), but adaptation should be a
snap to other old-school systems of your preference. The choice is yours!