The Lost Greenlands Dungeon

If you've ever read White Dwarf Magazine (sort of the United Kingdom's version of Dragon Magazine), you might have heard of the Greenlands Megadungeon created by Don Turnbull (former editor of White Dwarf as well as the 1st Edition Fiend Folio). A few glimpses of this dungeon were actually published in White Dwarf magazine but (like Castle Greyhawk) it was never published. One of these glimpses appears in issue #4, the title of the article being "Alice in Dungeonland". The article describes a level composed of woodland glades full of strange creatures and encounters based on Humpty Dumpty and Tweedledee and Tweedledum... all inspired and loosely based on Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

It's interesting that Castle Greyhawk also had a level like this (actually published as EX1 Dungeonland and its sequel EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror) in 1983. I can't help but wonder if this is just a case of "great minds think alike" or if Turnbull borrowed the idea from Gary (which is probably more likely). The article in White Dwarf appears about 5 or 6 years prior to the publication of EX1 and EX2. However, Gary mentions his "Alice in Wonderland" level in the 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide which is, perhaps, where Turnbull got the idea. At any rate, the similarity is noteworthy.

Another glimpse of the Greenlands dungeon appears in issue #7 of White Dwarf in the article "Lair of the Demon Queen". This level features tombs, tricks and traps (all the things you would expect from a well designed megadungeon). Pulling candlesticks reveals passageways... magic mouths cast on statues recite poems that give clues to the whereabouts of treasures... the demon queen herself is actually a banshee. Great stuff, I can't help but wish more of these kinds of articles appeared in White Dwarf (or better yet, the entire Greenlands dungeon was printed so we could have all had a chance to own it and use it in our games).

Unfortunately Don Turnbull passed away 6 years ago. His son, Chris Turnbull, has stated that much of his father's gaming material (including the Greenlands Dungeon) is in the possession of his stepmother... apparently tucked away in the attic of her house. Chris mentions that "someday" he will have to get the material back from her and that, if he does, he will make it available to all (not sure if that means he will seek to have it published or if he would make if freely available). This is strictly conjecture since the internet post that Chris made regarding these things goes back to August 2007 (nearly two years ago). Still, it would be nice if someday, out of the blue, the Greenlands dungeon suddenly materialized on the internet for all to see... maybe we'll get lucky.