D&D General [+] Tell me about Greyhawk

[Voadam]

I enjoyed the 2e From the Ashes era too.

The timeline advanced a little from 1e and the Greyhawk Wars happened with conflicts erupting across the continent. Potential threats like the Scarlet Brotherhood acted and caused damage and now openly ruled a bunch of areas. Many kingdoms were conquered or hit hard. Evil was on the rise. Iuz conquered lots and had summoned up huge amounts of fiends and they were now actively in the world. Great Kingdom splintered but lots of former GK regional rulers are now Hextorian death knight like undead rulers of smaller kingdoms.

The Wars concluded with a truce but the peace is uneasy and the forces of good in the world have definitely fallen behind, meaning more for individual heroes to step up to.

A more actively dark swords and sorcery D&D setting.

Also it has the more in-depth 2e god descriptions.

 

[overgeeked]

Thankfully, I got better. These days, so do I. DCC RPG is probably my favorite retroclone. But back then I absolutely scoffed at combining the two.

Yeah, DCC RPG is fantastic. I wish it were more popular. So much fun.

 

[haakon1]

Am I right to infer that Golarion has a lot in common with GH? Because a lot of these descriptions sound like Golarion.

I think so.

Erik Mona was a huge Greyhawk fan - even before he was a pro game designer, he was active on AOL’s Greyhawk group..

And Paizo began by running Dungeon in the era of PaizoHawk.

So I would say yes.

 

[Hussar]

Depending on how deeply you want to dive into GH lore, the Oerth Journal series: The Oerth Journal is about as deep as you can get. Not exactly canon, but, then again, very, VERY little about GH is actually canon.

 

[Distracted DM]

Depending on how deeply you want to dive into GH lore, the Oerth Journal series: The Oerth Journal is about as deep as you can get. Not exactly canon, but, then again, very, VERY little about GH is actually canon.

Can you elaborate on The Oerth Journal site a little? I checked it out but I'm not really sure what its deal is. I see it has some kind of printed journal issues as well.

 

[Hussar]

Can you elaborate on The Oerth Journal site a little? I checked it out but I'm not really sure what its deal is. I see it has some kind of printed journal issues as well.

The Oerth journal is a series of semi-prozines dating back to I believe the late 90’s which have published numerous magazines detailing and delving into Greyhawk.

It’s certainly not canon but is typically very canon adjacent and tends to be very well researched. Some bigger names contributors like Eric Mona in many of the issues.

Between those and Anna Meyer’s Greyhawk map, there’s a freaking mountain of material is you are in the mood.

 

[Distracted DM]

The Oerth journal is a series of semi-prozines dating back to I believe the late 90’s which have published numerous magazines detailing and delving into Greyhawk.

It’s certainly not canon but is typically very canon adjacent and tends to be very well researched. Some bigger names contributors like Eric Mona in many of the issues.

Between those and Anna Meyer’s Greyhawk map, there’s a freaking mountain of material is you are in the mood.

Very cool and VERY informative, thank you! Although the links for the physical and support pages throw up huge warnings on mobile and won't let me load them
Not your problem, I know

 

[pemerton]

Here's my take on GH:

The centre of the GH map has the following:

*Two cities (Dyvers, Greyhawk) plus various towns for Conan-esque or Lankhmar-esque stuff (Hardby, Stoink, etc);
*An ancient desert with mysterious nomads (the Bright Desert);
*An Elven queendom (Celene) that blends into Elven forests that are also full of ranger and woodfolk types (Gnarley forest etc);
*Dwarves in the Lortmils, and Gnomes in the Kron Hills;
*Pirates sailing on the Wooly bay and docking at the Wild Coast ports;
*Orcs fighting against Dwarves and human knights in the Pomarj;
*A knightly realm and associated order (the Shield Lands);
*A great lake full of Loch Ness monsters and sunken islands (the Nyr Dyv).

If I was going to use GH as a model for FRPG setting design, this is what I would be focusing on. All the classic fantasy and S&S tropes are there.

What GH has, that you don't mention, is tropes: it has ancient empires, demon-ruled kingdoms, thief-ruled cities, Dwarven fastnesses in the mountains, Elven kingdoms, pirates, etc - and all in the middle of the map! It supports classic FRPGing right out of the box: I mean, all you have to do is look at the map, read a sentence or two entry on each of the things there (the Free City of GH, the Bright Desert, the Lake of Unknown Depths, Celene and its Queen and its Prince Melf Brightblade, etc, etc) and then you're good to go!

There's other stuff too: rivalries among the provinces of a collapsing empire (in the Great Kingdom); noble knights doing knightly things (in Furyondy); exploration and colonisation, if you're into that (the Azure Sea, Amedio Jungle, etc); steppes nomads, and Vikings, and the like.

For classic FRPGing it has all the stuff you need!

 

[pemerton]

Roger E Moore worked at TSR from May 1983 until it was acquired by Wizards in 1997; he left Wizards in late 2000.

He was very prominent as the editor of Dragon Magazine for many years.

Cheers,
Merric

He also wrote the Point of View articles the established the canonical demi-human and Orcish pantheons; and oversaw the Adventure Begins GH revival in the latter days of TSR.

 

[deganawida]

He also wrote the Point of View articles the established the canonical demi-human and Orcish pantheons; and oversaw the Adventure Begins GH revival in the latter days of TSR.

He also gave Raistlin his distinctive voice, and apparently conquered Cerilia in Birthright testing, at least from what his special thanks looks like.