greyhawk.

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

zombiegleemax

Jun 02, 2005 14:11:36		how many of you think it would be nice to have a GREYHAWK campaign hardcover.... with loads of fluff on Oerth, its pantheon, it's people, and for Pelor's sake Mordenkainen - i know that GREYHAWK is the generic backdrop for bread and butter D&D, but i still think it deserves a hardcover (or three) eventhough i usually just use such material to harvest inspirado.... just a thought.

p.s. that LIVING GREYHAWK and GAZETTEER were weak. the maps were cool.
#2

Arcane_Guyver

Jun 02, 2005 17:02:05 		Couldn't agree more.
#3

zombiegleemax

Jun 02, 2005 17:45:43
how many of you think it would be nice to have a GREYHAWK campaign hardcover.... with loads of fluff on Oerth, its pantheon, it's people, and for Pelor's sake Mordenkainen - i know that GREYHAWK is the generic backdrop for bread and butter D&D, but i still think it deserves a hardcover (or three) eventhough i usually just use such material to harvest inspirado.... just a thought.

p.s. that LIVING GREYHAWK and GAZETEER were weak. the maps were cool.

As cool as that would be, Wizards just isn't listening anymore. They seem to think that crap like battlefield adventures and environment books are what people want. It's sad, really; I've bought only one book in the last six months because the rest of it is just a hyped up superfluous money grab. And frankly, I don't care; I've already got all the material I need on Greyhawk.

If you really want Greyhawk, go to Dungeon magazine. Erik Mona (current editor) is the last great hope for the setting and is starting a campaign arc that will stretch over the next twelve issues.
#4

Amaril

Jun 02, 2005 17:49:38
how many of you think it would be nice to have a GREYHAWK campaign hardcover.... with loads of fluff on Oerth, its pantheon, it's people, and for Pelor's sake Mordenkainen - i know that GREYHAWK is the generic backdrop for bread and butter D&D, but i still think it deserves a hardcover (or three) eventhough i usually just use such material to harvest inspirado.... just a thought.

p.s. that LIVING GREYHAWK and GAZETEER were weak. the maps were cool.

Actually, the Living Greyhawk Gazatteer was everything anyone needed to run a Greyhawk campaign. It had plenty of fluff on Oerth, covered its entire pantheon, and discusses all of the races including human subraces (Mordenkainen is in he Epic Level Handbook).

This isn't to say that I wouldn't be appreciative of a hardcover book that featured Greyhawk PrCs, feats, organizations, cities, and various borderlands. I would be extremely happy if they did. One of the reasons why I recently started purchasing Eberron books was because of the hope that I'll have a fully supported campaign setting with new print publications instead of having to browse through poor quality PDFs of old publications.
#5

zombiegleemax

Jun 02, 2005 18:09:19
p.s. that LIVING GREYHAWK and GAZETEER were weak. the maps were cool.

While not as pretty as the later-published campaign settings, the LGG is IMO much better than both the FR and DL setting books when it comes to content. And to me, that's what matters.
#6

zombiegleemax

Jun 02, 2005 18:15:36 		I would like to see a hardcover book for Oerth as well, in the vein of a player's guide (or frankly, anything). The Gazetteer was good and all, but in the five years since it was printed, things have changed.

1- a new edition (which does not effect the usefulness of the LGG).
2- two rounds of splatbooks.
3- the sheer fact that a couple of years have gone by in the setting (for example, the king of Keoland is dead).

What I'd like to see would be a Player's Guide to Oerth, with a map (like that was found in Dungeon), a description of the various kingdoms and marches and baronies (though that could be quibbled over), as well as a list of permissable material in the Living Greyhawk Campaign and how to incorporate those PrCs into the world (for those who don't play LG).
#7

zombiegleemax

Jun 02, 2005 19:32:16 		While emperor norton fully supports the notion of a new hardcover sourcebook, he alternately suggests looking at the upcoming Greyhawk hardcover for the shackled city campaign available from Paizo publishing.
#8

sweetmeats

Jun 03, 2005 11:38:51 		While I'd certainly be up for a nice HC Greyhawk setting rulebook, the Living Greyhawk Gaz is good enough for anyone wanting to use the setting.

Unlike FR or DL, Greyhawk was meant to be generic in feel and so there really is no need for anything more than what appears in the Greyhawk Gaz.

I've only recently come round to looking at the setting, and the LG Gaz is just right without throwing too much into the mix.
#9

caeruleus

Jun 03, 2005 16:23:44 		I used to want WotC to publish more Greyhawk material, but the more I think about it, I'm quite happy that they've largely left it alone. I like it the way it is, and there's plenty of material (even if it is out of print) to run a good campaign. I don't want to see Greyhawk lose its flavor just to generate sales.

While I like much of what WotC is doing with D&D now, they can mess things up when they try to redo older material (like how Planescape material was ruined in the Planar Handbook).
#10

zombiegleemax

Jun 03, 2005 16:44:47 		Something would be nice. Being the default setting is nice and all, but what does that really mean when you stop to think about it? Everything yet nothing is really included in the default setting.
#11

zombiegleemax

Jun 03, 2005 18:46:22 		wanted only to hear a few opinions. i don't use any campaign settings, but like to use them as springboards for world-building ideas. i actually in all honesty would much prefer a vast and fluffy tome devoted to the GREYHAWK pantheon. i think it would be really cool if they got really into detail w/ the gods from the core setting, with prestige classes and feats and spells used by the devout of each deity - i didn't get so into COMPLETE DIVINE.
#12

zombiegleemax

Jun 04, 2005 4:27:24 		Check the Living Greyhawk portion of this site, mjolnir - there's a comprehensive list of all the greyhawk deities.
#13

chatdemon

Jun 04, 2005 12:58:36
how many of you think it would be nice to have a GREYHAWK campaign hardcover.... with loads of fluff on Oerth, its pantheon, it's people, and for Pelor's sake Mordenkainen - i know that GREYHAWK is the generic backdrop for bread and butter D&D, but i still think it deserves a hardcover (or three) eventhough i usually just use such material to harvest inspirado.... just a thought.

p.s. that LIVING GREYHAWK and GAZETTEER were weak. the maps were cool.

Aside from being a softcover book, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was everything you just asked for (including, even, a section on Mordenkainen and the circle of 8!).

So how is that "weak"?
#14

chatdemon

Jun 04, 2005 13:03:55
i think it would be really cool if they got really into detail w/ the gods from the core setting, with prestige classes and feats and spells used by the devout of each deity - i didn't get so into COMPLETE DIVINE.

Now you're talking about crunch, not fluff. In that case, ok, the LGG wasn't what you're looking for, I'll concede that. But, a lot of us, especially those like me and some others I see around here and Canonfire! that do not use 3e/3.5e D&D, do not want all the crunch you're asking for. An encyclopedia style tome, like the LGG, is ideal in that it is useful to all Greyhawk fans regardless of game edition preference.
#15

chatdemon

Jun 04, 2005 13:07:59
Something would be nice. Being the default setting is nice and all, but what does that really mean when you stop to think about it? Everything yet nothing is really included in the default setting.

That means that everything WotC publishes for 3.5e D&D is readily useful in Greyhawk (Unless it's wearing a Eberron or Forgotten Realms logo, of course).

Sometimes, that requires some tweaking and storycraft to accomplish, I'll cite GVD's recent musings on the god Zarus from Races of Destiny.

Other times, that means WotC includes Greyhawk stuff ready to use right out of the book. DMG2 is now credibly rumored to be including a fairly detailed write up of Saltmarsh, as it's sample town.

That's a lot more than "nothing" when it comes to Greyhawk, as anyone can see.
#16

chatdemon

Jun 04, 2005 13:10:27
3- the sheer fact that a couple of years have gone by in the setting (for example, the king of Keoland is dead).

Only in Living Greyhawk. I queried Erik Mona about Kimbertos's fate in published Greyhawk material, and he confirmed that for now at least, the king is alive and well.
#17

ciaran

Jun 04, 2005 16:51:25 		I've been a Greyhawk fan for years. I still get some use out of my 1st ed. boxset. its really a very large setting, with the "civilized" world it details being only a small part of Oerth. The gazetteer was quite good.
#18

gv_dammerung

Jun 04, 2005 23:24:13
As cool as that would be, Wizards just isn't listening anymore. . . .

If you really want Greyhawk, go to Dungeon magazine. Erik Mona (current editor) is the last great hope for the setting and is starting a campaign arc that will stretch over the next twelve issues.

Right now, Wizards are not listening. Give it time. GH's real history was not written in a day or even a year. GH will be back, of this I am certain (but not the timing or publisher), though I have only my formidable gut to rely upon. ;)

As for the stalwart efforts, of Dungeon. Please. The "Cauldron" adventure path was GH only by cutting off toes to make the shoe fit. The "Age of Worms" adventure path is schizo - it can't say the word "Greyhawk," refering instead to the "Free City," but otherwise attempts to name drop the Hawk.

"Last great hope?" Not hardly.

"Last" supposes that no other Greyhawker will amount to a hill of beans, emerge or reveal him or her self to be a Greyhawker. James Jacobs, anyone? This guy writes great Greyhawk and is, IMO, at least as good as Bruce Cordell as a designer.

"Great" imagines that the epimonyous Mr. Mona has somehow done other than see to it that Greyhawk is not completely shunted aside. He has done that but see pre-Mona issues of Dungeon; they arguably had MORE GH than the present incarnation. While the 1st Worms adventure was nicely done with some cool flourishes, the jury is still out as to whether Mr. Mona is a great designer, more than a editor who happens to be a Greyhawker.

PS - Of course, I must add my tag line whenever the topic of Mr. Mona comes up - no offense intended. :D
#19

klytus

Jun 07, 2005 18:19:41 		Personally, I rather like the fact that the available Greyhawk material is as limited as it is. This means I can run adventures in my campaign world, have there be changes in the political landscape, and not have to wory about new novels or future source materials create continuity problems. For example, in my WoG setting, the characters have laid to rest the evil plaguing the March of Sterish, and one of the characters became one of six new viscounts.

Yeah, yeah, I know... you can always ignore that stuff, but its easier said than done when you have players who actually follow the history and such of established worlds, like the Forgotten Realms, or people (like me) who try to honor cannon as much as possible. So unless you are playing in an adventure that will be written into a story or the cannon, it is almost impossible for the PCs to have any real, long-term impact on the world they are in, which makes no sense to me.
#20

zombiegleemax

Jun 08, 2005 9:33:32 		I have just started to run a Greyhawk campaign in the last year. The group I play with had our own world before that. I have purchased the LGG and after losing the map in a move have just found the Gazetteer for the map. I love the setting and have found the lack of information a boon to our roleplaying fun. I can now change the politics of a certain region while the characters do not have to worry about offending a the 20th level millar in a remote village. I have found it tough to find some area information such as some neat little tidbits on the NyrDyv but im sure there is some out there. Any info would be appreciated.

Our swords are many your shields few :P