You'd mentioned a beholder. Is there an illustration of it, or just a mention? If there is only a mention, that is not too terrible to deal with; a "new version" can be written and called a beholder, as it is the depiction/trade dress (artistic representation and combination of abilities) stuff that is owned, and not the name... but, if there is a depiction of it, then that particular one would need to either be changed somewhat (to not be the same as a "normal beholder") or dropped. Sucks, but them's the breaks. I also hear, at least when I last contacted WotC that they were not interested in licensing their IP (though I bet if you threw enough money at them they'd listen.) Of course, I last asked them like 6 years ago... and they were very cordial (even gave me permission to do a bunch of stuff that then fell through.)

I am thrilled to see all of the interest in this "work of art", as the design & maps of this set are truly magnificent. I wanted to insert some images to show you all, but it appears that I have to upload these photos to a site that stores them for public viewing. Any suggestions for this would be appreciated.

As for the history, I had managed to locate Jay's ex-wife and she was kind enough to point me to Jay's current common law wife. I left a message and she called me back to say that Jay had passed a few years ago. I told her that I was terribly sorry to hear that and went on to explain the reason for my call. She told me that Jay was a brilliant man who had worked as an engineer, even having had a hand in the design of the lunar rover. Having access to the large printing & plotting devices at his work, he used them to create the maps he designed for the Halls of the Mountain King. Apparently, the project was supposed to be bigger than it is (description will follow), but he started with five (5) levels (A-E) and had about 100 (do not recall exactly) sets made, which he sold in the local area or gave to friends. Interestingly, he colored one set, which he gave to a close friend, who has not been in touch since his passing. It would be amazing to see these maps & illustrations in color

Over a period of several months, Jay's common law wife sent me the booklets, maps, & other material she had, basically everything she had kept, as well as a book that Jay had written, which was a good read. She was very interested to see his work come to fruition, so I began contacting potential developers, but upon recognizing the scope of the project, they all passed. Only JG was interested, as Bill Owen was very helpful in finding an economical solution to re-producing these large maps and he put me in touch with Bob Bledsaw, Jr. I was about to get the project started with them, when Bob had a family situation arise and had to pass on the project. So, I am back to square one, but armed with many new ideas and ways to develop this material, such as shrinking the maps to accomodate them more easily into a boxed set for the non-mini crowd and allowing the true diehard mini fans to order maps from a company that will reproduce them at will, so people can get what they want. In addition, any other sizing, folded or tubed, can be developed.

In relation to what as been mentioned in other threads, it is true that this "game" does not contain any monsters or stats. Basically, the Halls of the Mountain King (HMK) are an incredibly beautiful & highly detailed shell that needs to be fleshed out with a storyline and populated with "nasties". Here is what is stated in the first booklet - Introduction:
"The dungeon "Halls of the Mountain King" is a 25mm scale representation of an underground dwarven city carved from the upper levels of a mine complex. The dungeon is separated into 5 "levels" labeled A-E. Each individual level is packaged separately. Each package contains the room maps for that level, as well as a booklet of room descriptions for the maps.
Included with the level-A package are the two overall maps (1/10 scale) *aside - I have not seen these in the material I have* of the "Halls of the Mountain King" and this introduction to the dungeon is included with the room descriptions of Level A. The complete dungeon, as represented by the two overall maps, has a total of 59 maps (22" x 34") and contains 257 rooms. Amplified room descriptions to be included at the Game Master's discretion are underlined. Editorial instructions to the Game Master, descriptions, traps, etc., are in italics.
Level A is a dwarven manufacturing area for ore refining, metalworking, lapidary, carpentry, printing, etc. and has 9 maps displaying a total of 16 rooms. Levels B, C & D contain various rooms generic to any human habitation. Level B has 11 maps - 3 of which are to be used three times for a total of 86 rooms. Level C has 14 maps, 3 of which are to be used three times, for a total of 67 rooms. Level D had 12 maps, 2 of which are to be used 2 times, for a total of 88 rooms. Level E has a contiguous series of river caverns, a mining area and the dwarven treasury contained on 11 maps for a total of 19 rooms."

Basically, I want to see this material become available to all who would enjoy it and I know that Jay's family would like to see the same thing happen. If anyone, especially Frank (Ex-TSR), would like to contact me, please email me at: [email protected] and we can then discuss this more. My weeks are busy with work & taking care of my parents, so I am only available on the weekends or after 10pm EST. I hope with all my heart that with the efforts of those on this forum, we can get this project off the ground.

Thank you all,

Thanks for posting this. I hope this comes to fruition, and count me in as interested, too.

This sounds very exciting. A masterwork and a legacy. I'm not sure what if anything I could do to help this along but I would certainly like to be included as one wanting a copy and willing to pay in advance for the privilage.

It seems like, to do justice to this work, it should be produced with an eye toward general availability, but is there any reason a limited number of 1st print (or 1st reprinted) copies couldn't be made available?

I hope that color copy survived.

Excellent work PM-Knight

Wonderfull stuff. Very interesting!

My four brothers will be by shortly to accept their fate. Good thing we look the same...

personally think this is AMAZING. i would love to see this become available to purchase. i can only hope you guys can sort something out!

awesome work PM-K

anything i can do to help, am always willing, though i cant do squat really

a kinda statless booklet isnt without its advantages either really. if i was DMing that, it wouldnt phase me at all and its real easy to format into something usable, for instance, to like what frank and tim use at con's, which i think is a superb format.

Al

ExTSR wrote:Sorry, can't comment, as I'm still unconscious from falling out of my chair after reading the post above Al's.

Hey, you've got talent.  It is stunning to me today how fewer and fewer young people have quality command of the English language.  

mbassoc2003 wrote:Hell, I had to go look up 'curmudgeon'.

A grumpy hobgoblin in faerie lore.