Where can I find out about the terrain of Greyhawk? What about the major cities? Is there a core city? If so, what is it called and where is it described in detail? Are the people of Greyhawk at war a lot of the time, or are they a peaceful people for the most part? I guess what I'm asking is where is the Greyhawk answer to the FR and Eberron campaign setting books? Where is Greyhawk's answer to Waterdeep, Sharn, and other books of the like? Where can I find out the true, in-depth details of Greyhawk (besides what's covered in the rulebooks)?
Thanks in advance
SG
Type "Greyhawk" without the quotes.
Feast.
Then go to Canonfire.com for the most indepth fansite.
Feast again.
Hope that helps and happy gaming.
As far as I know (from all the other treads I've read) Greyhawk is automatically considered the "default" setting for the core rulebooks and other neutral suppliment books (i.e. Complete Warrior). As for maps, I think that Dungeon magazine (by Pazio Publishing) released foldout maps with some of the issues either last year or earlier this year. Look at the back issues opn their website: http://paizo.com/dungeon
Hope that helps and happy gaming.
The thing is that Greyhawk has no material except for the generic books and the gazeteer post-3.0. Greyhawk was the default setting. There is no default setting any more imho.
Well Greyhawk's (Oerth) main city is Greyhawk. Discribed greatly in the box set (The City of Greyhawk). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0880387319/qid=1128739927/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-9424132-8892901?v=glance&s=books
Knowledge can be found here - http://dmoz.org/Games/Roleplaying/Genres/Fantasy/Dungeons_%26_Dragons/Campaign_Settings/Greyhawk/
If I remember right Greyhawks campaign setting was described as Heroic/Medeval this is right before Forgotten Realms came out and the realms if memory serves was Fantasy.
To get anything updated (offically by WoTC or so) would to be in RPGA and playing under the Living Campaigns.
The thing is that Greyhawk has no material except for the generic books and the gazeteer post-3.0. Greyhawk was the default setting. There is no default setting any more imho.
Incorrect. While there were no books fully devoted to GH published post 3.0, there are still a number of spells, PrC, monsters, etc.. specific to GH that have been published in 3.5 accessories. You just have to go fish for them.
Not to mention articles in both Dragon and Dungeon...
But - and I know I repeat myself - people coming to this forum with that kind of question would be well-inspired to read the FAQ first. You know, that ONE AND ONLY sticky post up there which was evidently created for a reason
But - and I know I repeat myself - people coming to this forum with that kind of question would be well-inspired to read the FAQ first. You know, that ONE AND ONLY sticky post up there which was evidently created for a reason
I think this post was moved from D&D General, where it was originally posted. It happens fairly often, since talking about Greyhawk is "off topic" on any other board.
You can buy it on Amazon.com and many other websites.
Where can I find out about the terrain of Greyhawk? What about the major cities?
As other have pointed out, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is the best entry level collection of info on the World of Greyhawk. It pulls together a lot of other published material in one (unfortunately B&W) volume.
Is there a core city? If so, what is it called and where is it described in detail?
That'd be the Free City of Greyhawk.
You'll find a detailed run down of it in:
The City of Greyhawk boxed set
The Adventure Begins
Both, alas, 2nd Ed AD&D and out of print.
You'll find a beautiful map of the city here (it does take a time to load...)
http://melkot.com/locations/cogh/cogh.html
Are the people of Greyhawk at war a lot of the time, or are they a peaceful people for the most part?
Some are and some aren't. Like the real world it depends where you live.
The subcontinent of the Flanaess was convulsed by a major war (The Greyhawk Wars) about 10 years before the most advanced canon date in the setting time line. Since then there's been small localised wars here and there, mostly the result of fallout from the GH Wars.
I guess what I'm asking is where is the Greyhawk answer to the FR and Eberron campaign setting books? Where is Greyhawk's answer to Waterdeep, Sharn, and other books of the like? Where can I find out the true, in-depth details of Greyhawk (besides what's covered in the rulebooks)?
SG
Well that's a question to ask the people in charge of WotC - where are the Greyhawk books?
Sadly all the information there is on GH is in out of print sources. Luckily there is a wide network of GH fan-sites around the net and the Living Greyhawk campaign to keep the flame alive.
P.
The thing is that Greyhawk has no material except for the generic books and the gazeteer post-3.0. Greyhawk was the default setting. There is no default setting any more imho.
Funny thing is, this is either a recent change or all the writers haven't got the memo. Magic of Incarnum included the very phase "For the core setting of Greyhawk" in its description of how to include the book's new elements in an existing campaign. Right along with Eberron and FR.
http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=6
The FAQ thread at the top of this forum, while incomplete, lists some supplements. Which is only missing James Ward's 1988 Greyhawk Adventures hardcover.
Happy gaming.
P.S. - For the record, as a Greyhawker, I really like Eberron. I think it is an awesome campaign setting. And, the warforged are just one of the unique creations of House Cannith.
It seems to me Greyhawk players (including myself), prefere greyhawk, but respect Forgotten Rhelms, and to a lesser extent DL, RL and DS, but we 100% dislike Ebberron, where you get such sillyness as Andriods (Warforged),.
Not necessarily. I'm an avid Greyhawker, and I hate FR and respect Eberron a lot. DS I enjoy but find restrictive, and I've no interest in DL or RL.
It seems to me Greyhawk players (including myself), prefere greyhawk, but respect Forgotten Rhelms, and to a lesser extent DL, RL and DS, but we 100% dislike Ebberron, where you get such sillyness as Andriods (Warforged),.
I respect Eberron - which is at least imaginative and self-consistent - but don't feel much respect toward the Forgotten Realms at all, which got horribly mangled by far too many novels and divine cataclysms (and anyway I don't like the Realms' geography).
I like the warforged - they'd make good minions for the Egg of Coot in the Archbarony of Blackmoor.
"Hi, I'm Amaril, a Greyhawker, and I like Eberron."
"Hi, Amaril."
"Umm... I also dislike Forgotten Realms."
Is that a prestige class requirement?
There is a general grouchiness toward both Eberron and FR on this forum due to the support they are receiving from WotC.
By the way, sign me up for that card
My interest in Greyhawk and Eberron came as a direct result of timing. Greyhawk was easy to get into because it's the core setting. Everything in 3e D&D worked as is. DMing Greyhawk for a new players is even easier since they wouldn't need much more than the Core Rulebooks.
Eberron was easy for me to gain an interest in since I was able to follow it from the start. I have yet to play in the setting or run an Eberron campaign, but I have maintained a steady aquisition of the books and have archived all of the Eberron-related articles on WotC's site.
Do all card-carrying Greyhawkers are automatically Realms-haters?
Is that a prestige class requirement?
Greyhawker is a base class - it has no requirements. "Realms-hater" is a required feat before you can take the "Greyhawk Grognard" PrC. The class is somewhat paradoxical, since I believe some of the other requirements include not accepting the existence of either prestige classes or feats.
Alas, I myself don't remotely qualify.
My disinterest (hate is to strong) in FR comes from its overdevelopment. I'm new to D&D as of 3e, and I found it far too daunting to even try to get into Forgotten Realms.
And I find it hard to get into GH when there is lack of baseline information.
Yeah, I never get around to acquiring LGG for the simple fact that I'm not a card-carrying member of RPGA. Yet this FR fan still hopes for a GH hardcover campaign setting treatment in the near future... Still hopes.
My interest in Greyhawk and Eberron came as a direct result of timing. Greyhawk was easy to get into because it's the core setting. Everything in 3e D&D worked as is. DMing Greyhawk for a new players is even easier since they wouldn't need much more than the Core Rulebooks.
Eberron was easy for me to gain an interest in since I was able to follow it from the start. I have yet to play in the setting or run an Eberron campaign, but I have maintained a steady aquisition of the books and have archived all of the Eberron-related articles on WotC's site.
That's funny, because I was able to get into and follow FR from the start ... back in 1987. While I'm sure Eberron will gain a following (I'm sure there is a 17-year-old D&D geek fresh out of high school with enough money will find interest in a brand-spanking new product from WotC), I probably won't since I'm so into my comfort level with FR.
So why would I be interested in GH? I may like Pepsi but I still do enjoy the ocassional Classic Coca-Cola. GH is still one of the original, although I am still quite confused by the setting's dual personalities (Gygax vs. Sargent).
And I find it hard to get into GH when there is lack of baseline information.
Yeah, I never get around to acquiring LGG for the simple fact that I'm not a card-carrying member of RPGA. Yet this FR fan still hopes for a GH hardcover campaign setting treatment in the near future... Still hopes.
You have to be a member of the RPGA to buy a book? Wow! Now that's what I call projection of power! :D
You don't actually need to be an RPGA cadre, card carrying or otherwise, to buy, read or enjoy the LGG (though you won't have the decoder ring, so won't be able to access to super secret material). ;P
All kidding aside, if you want a baseline for the setting, it's the best all-in-one, one-stop place to get a handle on the setting.
although I am still quite confused by the setting's dual personalities (Gygax vs. Sargent).
Well - in summary - things in the Flanaess were pretty stable (though deteriorating) up to 583 CY. The bad guys were bad, the good guys were good, the neutral guys were as inscrutable as ever. Men were men, women were grateful and a dungeon door repair men made a killing.
Then came the Greyhawk Wars - and everything went to hell in a handbasket, (or to be more exact - everything in hell came to the Oerth in a handbasket), nations fell, cities were levelled, and people were too busy either emigrating to Greyhawk City or fighting for their lives to worry too much about kicking in dungeon doors anymore.
Then the Wars and a lot of the cool Sargentian plot threads went away with a wave of the Broom of Moore (or was it the Crook of Rao?) and things are now reasonably stable, though no way near as sunny and bright as they were in the Age of EGG. Now people can kick in doors AND engage in convoluted political campaigns to shape the future of the Oerth and/or tidy up the fallout from the Wars that the Broom of Moore missed.
And so balance was restored to the force.
Or something... ;D
That's the respect I have for Forgotten rhelms, simply because there's nothing for me to disrespect it for.
Greyhawk however has no sillyness and it has an appropriate ammount of magic, not too much, not too little, just right. Not only that it's a living breathing world with aches and pains of war and stuff, and it doesn't borrow too much from other stuff.
FR is overrated, but it's not bad, but Greyhawk rules!
Greyhawk however has no sillyness...
I dunno, Greyhawk has its share of sillyness.
I dunno, Greyhawk has its share of sillyness.
That is sure true:
Egg of Coot
WG7 Castle Greyhawk
WG9 Gargoyle
WG10 Child's Play
WG11 Puppets
Zagyg/Zagig
Philidor
Living Greyhawk's Etheral Threat story arc
As venerable as Greyhawk is, and as many cooks as have been in the kitchen, the campaign setting is bound to have some ridiculous notions creep in.
It seems to me Greyhawk players (including myself), prefere greyhawk, but respect Forgotten Rhelms, and to a lesser extent DL, RL and DS, but we 100% dislike Ebberron, where you get such sillyness as Andriods (Warforged),.
Let's not head down that road again, shall we?
The last such thread (started by an Eberron die-hard, if you remember) was closed by WizO.
The bottom line is that we [GH fans] prefer GH to all other settings, period. No hatred or scorn involved. We just prefer GH. No need to antagonize others and start a new flame war.
Speaking of silliness, you forgot Paul Kidd's novels. There's something wrong when Lolth is used as comic relief....
Well, that's just a fault of Paul Kidd's writing style, not Greyhawk. :P
The few novels we were allowed to enjoy, and he wrote that trash. Can you tell I'm not a fan of a certain furry comics writer? I'm still trying to figure out why WotC felt he would do the Greyhawk line of novels any justice.
Yeah, I never get around to acquiring LGG for the simple fact that I'm not a card-carrying member of RPGA.
Despite its name, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer has very little to do with the RPGA. It describes the Living Greyhawk campaign briefly, in about two pages in the back. Besides that, it's just a gazetteer of the Flanaess, like the Forgotten Realms setting book is a gazetteer of Faerun (except the LGG has no prestige classes, feats, or monsters).
Also, why won't WotC financially help RPGA since they turned over the development of GH line to them? After LGG release, the fund was cut off and RPGA can no longer make printed GH supplements.
Whether you're for or against Erik Mona's management of GH through magazines, why didn't Paizo offer to take over development and make printed supplements? They already expanded their business to include print publishing.
Well, that's just a fault of Paul Kidd's writing style, not Greyhawk. :P
The few novels we were allowed to enjoy, and he wrote that trash. Can you tell I'm not a fan of a certain furry comics writer? I'm still trying to figure out why WotC felt he would do the Greyhawk line of novels any justice.
Yes, there's no reason to include Kidd's stuff as official, but then I suppose the same goes for WG7.
I know I'll be criticized for this, but I'm gonna say it anyway. While I did not enjoy Paul Kidd's novels overall, I did like the fairy... not enough to remember her name at the moment, but I liked her anyway. But then, I like mischevious fey.
The bottom line is that we [GH fans] prefer GH to all other settings, period. No hatred or scorn involved. We just prefer GH. No need to antagonize others and start a new flame war.
Well, I'm a Greyhawk fan, but I don't prefer Greyhawk to Al-Qadim. I don't prefer Al-Qadim to Greyhawk either, I like them both equally. ;)
Nitpicking aside, you make a good point.
Its hard to make material without it being either junk or recycled.
Whether you're for or against Erik Mona's management of GH through magazines, why didn't Paizo offer to take over development and make printed supplements? They already expanded their business to include print publishing.
I think Paizo has been trying, but WotC won't give them the rights for one reason or another.
well, part of the problem is also that just about everything that needs to be written about greyhawk, has already been done so, over the past 3 and a half editions of AD&D / D&D.
Its hard to make material without it being either junk or recycled.
Really? Well if you have new material for a detailed look at Chathold and Almor aside from the general statement of "They're destroyed," please share, because I've been greatly interested in detailed descriptions and possibly an adventure set in these locations for a long time. All I can find is general information about badlands (not even detailed enough to know what they entail) and Chathold has undead crawling around (most of the fiends were sent back to their planar homes).
Greyhawk leaves a lot of things to the DM to use as he sees appropriate. A good campaign does not /need/ to spell out every inch of ground, IMO.
When I first started playing D&D back in the mid to late 70s, I played in GH. I then moved to FR when it came out and ran it until The Scarred Lands (Sword and Sorcery) came out with 3.0 edition.
I have since rediscovered Dungeon Magazine and the new Adventure Age of Worms. Well, my love of GH has been rekindled and that is where I will run my game from now on.
I totally agree witht he above quote. In fact, I intend to ignore anything else published about GH (Dungeon Magazine Adventures not included) and make it truely my GH.
Aberron, well lets just say there are some pros and cons. In my opinion there are more cans than pros so I will not use it. That of course does not rule out the occasionally theft of an idea, converting it and making it a GH thing.
Despite its name, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer has very little to do with the RPGA. It describes the Living Greyhawk campaign briefly, in about two pages in the back. Besides that, it's just a gazetteer of the Flanaess, like the Forgotten Realms setting book is a gazetteer of Faerun (except the LGG has no prestige classes, feats, or monsters).
which is 100% excelent, we don't need new PrC classes, feats or Monsters.
Well, with all due respect, I try to avoid RPGA labeled products. Why can't it be just like any product like FR and not be determined by the results from RPGA tournaments?
Because, they wanted to try this so they choose a Campaign Setting to be flushed down the drain and they chose greyhawk.
Also, why won't WotC financially help RPGA since they turned over the development of GH line to them? After LGG release, the fund was cut off and RPGA can no longer make printed GH supplements.
Whether you're for or against Erik Mona's management of GH through magazines, why didn't Paizo offer to take over development and make printed supplements? They already expanded their business to include print publishing.
I'm not sure, it looks like they are denying responsibility.
Well, with all due respect, I try to avoid RPGA labeled products. Why can't it be just like any product like FR and not be determined by the results from RPGA tournaments?
It is "just any product" like FR. Really. The RPGA tournaments determine its future history, but they don't affect the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer itself one whit. And the "official" timeline doesn't move forward.
Except for the two pages in the back (pages 191 and 192), it's exactly like any other WotC supplement.
why didn't Paizo offer to take over development and make printed supplements?
I'm sure they did. WotC is against it.
I can tell you this though, between paizo publishing and the fanbased material on canonfire.com, you really don't miss out on much. Besides one of the best products ever published was indeed the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It basically gives you all the information post the start up of the Living Greyhawk campaign. It reads more like a journal or history book than an actual box set, yet contains the spirit and actual history of all past greyhawk publish materials as well.
Happy Hawking!
new gh fan added
I think this post was moved from D&D General, where it was originally posted. It happens fairly often, since talking about Greyhawk is "off topic" on any other board.
Ironic since it was supposed to be regarded as the default setting for DnD. We get no respect.
My Realms boxed set, however... well... I forgot where it went... :D