The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is excellent.
I'll also recommend this book - very excellent source.
The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is your best bet.
The LGG probably has as much or more info on Greyhawk than any of the other campaign setting books have on their respective setting despite having a lower pagecount, because it has nothing but info. No extra classes or PrCs, no new feats or spells, no new races, no crunch whatsoever. Just a wealth of info about the setting: history, religion, geography, etc. And because it's black&white in a softcover, it's only $27 instead of the usual $40 for the other campaign settings.
Where would I find info as to Greyhawk's geography, history, politics, etc? I know the PHB and such has the info on the gods but I can't seem to find any info beyond this.
Let me chime in for "Living Greyhawk"- there is a lot of good stuff in there.
In addition, search ebay and used bookstores for some of the older products. They won't have 3e stats, but they'll have the info you want.
I have the following, and find them to be a great source of Greyhawk info:
Greyhawk Adventures hardback
The World of Greyhawk boxed set
Also, you might want to check out the "Castle Zagyg" series by Trolllord games. It's sort of a compilation and rewriting of Gary Gygax's old campaign notes on a certain very important dungeon. (Greyhawk was originally Gary Gygax's home campaign setting).
Canon Fire is great. Gord the Rogue, amazing.
I have to say: Living Greyhawk is the ABSOLUTELY best single-book for you my friend.
Canon Fire is great. Gord the Rogue, amazing.
Yes, it is and the smaller book is good to give your players as well as a primer. Both books can be found very cheaply at Amazon.
Would the Gazeteer be similar in scope to say ECS, DCS, or the *cring* FRCS?
I would say no to this question if we are comparing the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (LGG) to contemporary third edition campaign setting books.
While the LGG is not a campaign setting book in this sense, it is still a fantastic resource for the World of Greyhawk. Note that the LGG is a gazetteer - more like a journal or travel guide that indices the Flanaess. While it does not have Prestige Classes, Feats, spells, magic items or new monsters, it is a great survey of the World of Greyhawk. There are tons of adventure hooks and just enough regional information for GMs to tailor a Greyhawk campaign to his or her own standard and direction. It is a must have for anyone interested in the Dungeons & Dragons game, let alone the World of Greyhawk.
Now, let me make a discalimer before I get flamed by the old schoolers: I am comparing the LGG with third edition campaign setting book standards. There is a reason why the LGG reads Gazetteer on the cover and not Campaign Setting. If we compare the LGG to early TSR campaign setting products, then it surely is a setting book under early standards. For example, Moore's 1998 The Adventure Begins and Gygax's 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set to name a couple.
Happy gaming.
There is a reason why the LGG reads Gazetteer on the cover and not Campaign Setting.
I don't think there is, actually. Note that the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was the first setting book to come out in 3rd edition - at the time, there was nothing but 2nd edition setting books to compare it to. They called it a Gazetteer because that sounded like a good, colorful name - I don't think there's anything more to it than that.
It doesn't have prestige classes or rules because it was written before the 3e rules were complete - when it was being written, prestige classes hadn't been invented yet. So it doesn't describe any setting-specific rules, but it certainly does describe the setting. There are plenty of Greyhawk prestige classes and feats elsewhere anyway, not that you need them.
...it was written before the 3e rules were complete - when it was being written, prestige classes hadn't been invented yet.
The v.3.0 core rule books were released in August and September 2000 - months before the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was released. It is crazy to think that third edition was not "invented" by November 2000 when the LGG was available on store shelves. The core rules were on sale months before. Granted, Mona and company had finished their LGG copy in April or May of 2000. But, I think we can safely assume that third edition Dungeons & Dragons was into print and probably approaching distribution by the time Team Greyhawk was crunching out text for the LGG. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting came out only six months after the LGG. I'm sure it was well on its way to print, too. Now if the LGG authors were operating without knowledge of the new rules, I am sure that was an effort by Wizards of the Coast to preserve those rules for the new standard of setting books that were forthcoming.
And, the LGG does not fit the branding strategy employed with the campaign setting books. The LGG is a trade paperback, not a hardcover like all of the other modern campaign setting books. And let's not forget the RPGA's ubiquitous Living Greyhawk reference. The LGG certainly served as a primer for the Living Greyhawk Campaign, which did not have its campaign standards document out yet.
The use of the term gazetteer was certainly purposeful and was part of the strategy to delineate the RPGA's Living Greyhawk campaign from the new setting books. It was important to keep the RPGA campaigns accommodated because they would be an avenue to market and sale the deluge of books that were forthcoming.
Anyway, I appreciate your comments, Rasgon. But, they just don't resonate. I certainly am not detracting from the LGG. It is an awesome resource and I support it and the setting it defines. I'm just trying to indicate that in these days of third edition many meanings have changed along with the rules.
Now I am kicking myself for posting to this thread at all.
The v.3.0 core rule books were released in August and September 2000 - months before the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was released.
It was being written at the same time as 3.0 was still being designed and revised, and the designers - who were mostly freelance - didn't really know any of the 3.0 rules at all, at least according to Gary Holian. The gods section was written by Sean K. Reynolds, who did know the rules, but even there you can see how the rules changed - some of the gods don't have the alignment domains that they're automatically supposed to get because of their alignments.
The use of the term gazetteer was certainly purposeful and was part of the strategy to delineate the RPGA's Living Greyhawk campaign from the new setting books.
Possibly, but I don't think it's likely. The FR setting book wouldn't come out for almost a year later. I think the word "Gazetteer" is part of a long tradition in Greyhawk - the 1983 boxed set contained a "Guide" and a "Glossography." This wasn't either of those things, but it was the same sort of thing. But I don't actually know - I'm not remotely privy to any of that sort of info.
I'll move this to the Greyhawk board.
There is a Greyhawk board???
It was being written at the same time as 3.0 was still being designed and revised, and the designers - who were mostly freelance - didn't really know any of the 3.0 rules at all, at least according to Gary Holian. The gods section was written by Sean K. Reynolds, who did know the rules, but even there you can see how the rules changed - some of the gods don't have the alignment domains that they're automatically supposed to get because of their alignments.
Reynolds posted an article on his personal Web site to fix this.
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/we/greyhawkdeities.html
Also, the Living Greyhawk Deities PDF from the Living Greyhawk homepage covers includes the domains, too.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/welcome