Greyhawk: Difference between revisions

Greyhawk is a campaign setting for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and the name of one of the largest cities in the setting. It is one of the earliest of the D&D campaign settings, and much of the rules design occurred in conjunction with game play by Gary Gygax and others in and around Castle Greyhawk and its dungeons. While constructing the milieu, Gygax also incorporated the campaign worlds of his fellow role-players, such as Blackmoor (Dave Arneson's campaign) and the Lendore Isles (a region created by long-time stalwart Len Lakofka).

In the Greyhawk setting, the planet Oerth has four continents, the continent partially detailed in the campaign setting is called Oerik, and the east end of Oerik (which has been developed gradually over the last 30+ years) is known as the Flanaess. Although many home campaigns are set in or around the Free City of Greyhawk, campaigns range all over the Flanaess, most often at slightly varying points in its recent history. The Flanaess can be broken down further as follows: the Baklunish Basin in the northwest, the Lands of Iuz in the north, the Thillonrian Peninsula in the northeast, the Sea of Dust in the far west, the Sheldomar Valley in the west, old Ferrond and its southern frontier (including the City of Greyhawk) at the center of the Flanaess, old Sulm and the Aerdi frontier to the east, the old Great Kingdom to the far east, and the Amedio Jungle to the southwest. Some elements of Greyhawk's geography are fantastic in nature, such as the Sea of Dust and the Land of Black Ice. Other elements are more closely analogous to real-world Europe (such as the Thillonrian Peninsula's resemblance to Scandanavia).

The Flanaess is home to "enlightened humanity," and it is the interplay of the various "sub-races" of humanity -- Oerdians, Flannae, Bakluni, and Suloise in particular -- as they criss-crossed the Flanaess over the last millenium that gives the Greyhawk setting most of its flavor. The exact nature of these sub-races (and their real world analogues, if any) has been subject to critical debate amongst the setting's fans for decades, but generally they can be distinguished by the antagonism between the Bakluni and Suloise (and the ancient war that nearly decimated them both), the relative primitiveness of the indigenous Flannae, and the military conquest of much of the Flanaess by the Oerdians.

Fantasy races also populate Flanaess, often acting as allies to the good humans in the same vein as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Elves and Dwarves of different sorts even have powerful strongholds and nations, with Gnomes and Halflings living in smaller pockets near friendly (and more powerful) neighbors. Wicked Drow elves often plot mischief against the free world, with other nefarious creatures such as Ogres, Giants and Dragons acting as all-purpose enemies.

At the center of this game world, the Free City of Greyhawk is a free city of the Flanaess, originally under the domination of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. The Circle of Eight, a select group of wizards headquartered in Greyhawk, monitor events across the Flanaess, intervening when the balance of power is threatened by extremes of good or evil. Several evil factions still prevail across the sub-continent, including the undead remnants of Aerdy, the wicked demi-god Iuz (who rules his expanding territory, the Empire of Iuz), and the mysterious Scarlet Brotherhood (whose racial purity doctrines and fanatical monasticism invite comparisons with both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan). Among the factions opposing these forces are the major kingdoms of Nyrond, Furyondy and Keoland as well as numerous smaller states, organisations and individuals.

The first Greyhawk product was published in 1975 as supplement booklet to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz. There is no campaign setting information in this booklet, however. It only included game rules that were used in Gygax's Greyhawk campaign. Many of these new rules became standard parts of the AD&D game, including the assassin and paladin classes, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells, classic monsters such as the Beholder, many of the standard magic items, etc.

Three major Greyhawk campaigns were published in several formats between 1978 and 1987, with the Temple of Elemental Evil series (T 1-4) being the best known. T-1 The Village of Hommlet began players at first level, with successive adventures expanding the campaign beyond the Kron Hills. Another favorite, A 1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords, developed out of tournament role-playing games centering around a powerful band of pirates and slavers preying upon The Wild Coast. Gygax's own GDQ series brought high-level adventurers against bands of ruthless Giants, vile underground Kuo-toa, and the Drow themselves, ending with a confrontation with the Spider Queen Lolth. All three series have been repackaged as super-modules, while the original folders are prized among collectors.

In 1980 Greyhawk material was expanded in The World of Greyhawk folio which was replaced by the World of Greyhawk boxed set in 1983

In 1989 The City of Greyhawk boxed set (ISBN 0-88-038731-9) expanded on the detail available for the city and its castle for the second edition D&D rules.

While the World of Greyhawk is primarily serious in its scope, one "joke" module, WG7: Castle Greyhawk does include many sly references to 20th-century culture, such as characters named "King Burger" and "General Public," and "B-Men" monsters that are half-hornet and half-government agent. Other Greyhawk modules, such as Dungeonland and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, borrow themes from Lewis Carroll and Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.

Spurred by the success of Dragonlance novels during the mid 1980s, two separate Greyhawk series appeared, penned by Rose Estes and Gary Gygax himself. The latter author's (and more popular) series, beginning with Saga of Old City and The Artifact of Evil, focuses on Gord, a rogue from Greyhawk. After leaving TSR, Inc. for personal reasons in 1986, Gary Gygax continued the Gord series as an independent publisher for a number of years. Estes took over the TSR series at this point, with new characters, and going in a different direction then Gygax's independent series.

• Saga of Old City (1985) by Gary Gygax
• Artifact of Evil (1986) by Gary Gygax
• City of Hawks (1987) by Gary Gygax
• Master Wolf (1987) by Rose Estes
• The Price of Power (1987) by Rose Estes
• Sea of Death (1987) by Gary Gygax
• Come Endless Darkness (1988) by Gary Gygax
• The Demon Hand (1988) by Rose Estes
• The Name of the Game (1988) by Rose Estes
• Dragon in Amber (1988) by Rose Estes
• The Eyes Have It (1989) by Rose Estes
• Nightwatch (1990) by Robin Wayne Bailey
• Against the Giants (1999) by Ru Emerson
• White Plume Mountain (1999) by Paul Kidd
• Descent into the Depths of the Earth (2000) by Paul Kidd
• Keep on the Borderlands (2001) by Ru Emerson
• Queen of the Demonweb Pits (2001) by Paul Kidd
• The Temple of Elemental Evil (2001) by Thomas M Reid
• The Tomb of Horrors (2002) by Keith Francis Strohm
• Quag Keep 1978 by Andre Norton

In 1987, Greyhawk began taking second place to the Forgotten Realms campaign world, with progressively fewer modules and sourcebooks each year. This presaged the second edition of Dungeons and Dragons, along with revisions of Greyhawk campaign material. In 1989, the Free City of Greyhawk received its own campaign setting through several modules and a quality boxed set. In 1992, TSR, Inc. published From The Ashes, another boxed set detailing the epic Greyhawk Wars between the forces of good and evil in the Flanaess. This was followed by a series of quality sourcebooks and adventures by Carl Sargent including The Marklands (detailing the beleaguered Kingdoms of Furyondy and Nyrond), Iuz the Evil and City of Skulls (both dealing with the Empire of Iuz). Thereafter, the overall quality of Greyhawk material began to wane, with somewhat unpopular modules such as Rary the Traitor.

Since Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR and the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, their efforts have focused mainly on Forgotten Realms. However, in 1998 an attempt was made to relaunch the World of Greyhawk as a setting with the release of The Adventure Begins sourcebook, which advanced the timeline of the World of Greyhawk by six years. The Adventure Begins was followed up by a series of modules and sourcebooks that included The Player's Guide to Greyhawk, Slavers (an update of the original Against the Slave-Lords series), The Scarlet Brotherhood and The Lost Tombs series of modules, which detailed sites close to the Free City of Greyhawk. The relaunch failed to sufficiently revive the World of Greyhawk's commercial fortunes and the series was discontinued. Nonetheless, some nostalgic interest has become evident with a 2003 The Temple of Elemental Evil computer game, and a "supermodule" sequel to the original T1-4 series called Return To the Temple of Elemental Evil (ISBN 0-7869-1843-8), by D20 game system designer Monte Cook.

Today, Greyhawk remains popular with hardcore gamers, despite the fact other D&D campaign worlds have plundered numerous ideas from Greyhawk. The ever-popular Drow Elves first appeared as villains in several modules set in Oerth, whilst the deities of Greyhawk have become default gods and goddesses in Wizards of the Coast's 3E (or third edition) version of Dungeons and Dragons. Furthermore, Neverwinter Nights features many fan-designed modules set in Greyhawk, or using modules created originally for the first Dungeons & Dragons world.

Wizards of the Coast's RPGA organization also features Greyhawk as its most popular campaign setting, known as Living Greyhawk. The Living Greyhawk campaign is far more popular than the current Mark of Heroes campaign set in the new Eberron world, the Legacy of the Green Regent campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, or the Living Force campaign run with d20-edition Star Wars rules and characters.

• Gord a young rogue from Greyhawk who reluctantly becomes a crusader for good.
• Jallarzi the first woman to join the Circle of Eight, a capable wizard in her own right.
• Melf an elf who violates his queen's isolationist policies to fight wickedness.
• Mordenkainen the Archmage, leader of the Circle of Eight (one of Gygax's early characters). Mordenkainen is not actually Good, but a strong force for neutrality.
• Nerof Gasgal the lord mayor of Greyhawk, a former thief turned politician.
• Tenser another great wizard who actively seeks to rid Oerth of evil.
• Zagyg the mad but benign Archmage who becomes a demi-god. (his name is a play on "Gygax")

• Eclavdra, the Drow high priestess fomenting the Giant Rebellion.
• Edralve, another Drow priestess who works with the Slave Lords.
• Iuz the Old, half-fiend tyrant-god of the land of Iuz.
• Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders, the chief Drow goddess exiled to the Abyss.
• Obmi, the deranged dwarf assassin who sometimes works for Iuz.
• Rary of Ket, also called Rary the Traitor, a former member of The Circle of Eight.
• Robilar, an evil warrior allied with Rary who sometimes works with heroes for his own purposes.
• Saint Kargoth the Betrayer, Oerth's first death knight.
• Vecna, Lord of the Spidered Throne, the Whispered One, god of secrets and magic
• Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungus and Blight, imprisoned in her Temple of Elemental Evil.

• Deities of Dungeons & Dragons.

• Gary Gygax, A Guide to the World of Greyhawk (TSR, Inc., 1983)
• The City of Greyhawk and From The Ashes and (TSR, Inc., 1989, 1992)
• The Adventure Begins (Wizards of the Coast, 1998)

• Living Greyhawk / RPGA page on the Wizards of the Coast site.