I play the Forgotton Realms or homebrew (no I don't want this to be a FR vs Greyhawk theread) and don't know much about it. I have never read a Greyhawk sourcebook- I've never even seen a Greyhawk world map. I suspect I'm not familar with it for 2 reasons.
1. I was born in 1978
2. I live in New Zealand- not exactly the RPG centre of the universe.
From what I do know I like. I realize its not as high magic as FR but is still relatively high in magic- lots of artifacts, high level wizards exist, commen people have probably heard of Mordenkainen etc.
Heres whay I do know about Greyhawk (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)
Greyhawk city exist on a world called Oerth. The circle of 8 is a group of powerful wizard of which Rary was a traitor. The Lich Vecna was a Suel wizard who later became a god. Recently there was a big war involving the Demigod Iuz which left the world in a bit of a shambles. Thers also the iconic wizards- Tenser, Otiluke etc.
AKA not much really.
Basically all my information has come from Dragon articles or 2nd ed references in planescape, FR, or Spelljammer.
To answer your question in general. Greyhawk is the first published game setting associated with Dungeons and Dragons. Mystara came a little later. Greyhawk is the realm created by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax.
Greyhawk has a rich history detailed in many supplements and modules. If you name a 1st edition module it's 90% likely to have been set in Greyhawk. The Temple of Elemental Evil, Scourge of the Slave Lords, and The Queen of Spiders super modules are essentially collections of Greyhawk modules that continue one story line.
Your observations about the magic levels in Greyhawk are correct. Consider it a baseline for magical influence. Though if there is a "named" spell in the PHB...ie. Bigby, Mordenkainen, Otto, Tenser, Otiluke, Rary, Melf...and so on. You can be certain that it is an NPC from Greyhawk they're talking about.
Our high level wizards are not as "Powerful" magically as the FR Elminster, certainly they do not become the consorts of the godess of magic. Much of the power of the Circle of Eight is behind the scenes. Thier goal is to balance good and evil and to keep one nation from dominating the contienet. You may encounter them on your side one week, and find them working against you the next....though you probably won't "encounter" them directly.
Greyhawk is not a magic ecology like the FR, but magic and sorcery are not unknown. The city of Verbobonc has magical defenses on the same level as Silverymoon, though that level of magic use is a rarity. Save perhaps a wizards tower or ancient tomb.
If you have any specific questions post them. I'll be happy to help.
Also you may want to visit Canonfire!. This site is a comprehensive fan based site for Greyhawk. There are others, and the good ones have links from this page...as well as links to this page.. It's a good place to get a feel for the setting.
Good Gaming!!
I'd suggest if you can get your hands on them via Ebay or some other auction site the following sourcebooks, which are not all that old:
Living Greyhawk Gazeteer (basically for the LWGH roleplayers, but still useful with LOTS of background information)
Greyhawk The Adventure Begins
Also, try checking USED bookstores that carry roleplaying material, you will probably find the AD&D sourcebook: Greyhawk Adventures. It's a hardbound book with the yellow/orange spine of the 1st Ed. AD&D sourcebooks.
If you're really lucky, you might even find the original 1983 boxed set that included two colorful hex maps of the GH campaign setting, and two sourcebooks that have a ton of information about the GH calendar, deities, flora, background on all the GH Realms, etc. It even places the original AD&D adventures, giving map locations that you can reference to the included maps.
Hope this helps! Also, check the web! Just go to your favorite web browser (IMHO Yahoo is one of the best), and type in Greyhawk (one word) and see what you get. It's well worth it! Tons of GH based websites!
Safe travels!
It'd be a lot easier and cheaper to pick a few of these. Howeve, if you can locate a copy of the above mentioned Living Greyhawk Gazetteer I would highly recommend it.
Good Gaming!!
So instead, I'll just tell you why I like it.
Greyhawk is real. One of the things that defines it, at least the foundations of it, were that it was a homebrew world that was extensively used by not only Gary but his mates such as Rob Kuntz, Dave Arneson, the other Dave (I can't remember his name) and others. It was a world that evolved and grew as they evolved and grew.
Because of that, it has an original and descriptive charm about it. The characters were actually roleplayed, the world was filled with adventure by the adventurers and legends become so during game play.
That sense of adventure was brought alive in the modules that were subsequently published and allowed every one to enjoy the world as the original players of it did.
That become almost a theme of the world, that the PC's were the most important aspect of the world, they were at centre stage in everything, they changed the world and the world was theirs to change. The adventures that set the stage for the worlds major events thus allowed everyone to at least feel as if they were contributing to the settings evolution.
Some of that was lost in later years however what was done was still done in the 'spirit' of the world. At least, I believe it was. The world was a seething pit of rage on the brink of war and so the Greyhawk wars were a natural evolution of the world, even if PC's didn't contribute anything to the change. The same can be said for most of Carl Sargent's contributions. Some believe they were an anathema to the setting, however I believe they are what truly gave life to it. Before Carl, the world was a cardboard cutout, admittedly a very well cut one, but at the same time, it lacked a certain something that Carl managed to give it.
If I had come to the setting before Carl's work, during the 'PC Years', I probably wouldn't have liked it. It was 'unfinished' in my eyes. But having come to the setting due mainly to coming back to 3rd ed, and thus seeing it through the eyes of fans like Gary Holian and Erik Mona and all who contributed to the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, as well as other online friends, it had an undeniable appeal as a very rich, very 'real', fully fledged and mature gaming world with loads of potential for ROLE playing adventure.
In my eyes, other settings just don't compare. FR is too... candy-like. Dark Sun is too... radical. Planescape is too... off world. Ravenloft too gothic, Glorantha too silly, Melnibone too dark, etc. etc. Whereas, admittedly with a few bumps and bruises that need mending, Greyhawk is just right. It has just the right amount of everything for my liking. Just the right amount of history, politics, magic and fantasy and, most importantly, conflict. Nothing is overdone and yet everything has had enough treatment to give me all that I need, as a DM, in a setting.
Well... even that wasn't very well explained, but it is at least a glimpse into a fan's reasons for liking the setting. Hope it helps
P.S. I probably shouldn't have written this whilst ****** but hey, what the Hell :D
Originally posted by Delglath
Some of that was lost in later years however what was done was still done in the 'spirit' of the world. At least, I believe it was. The world was a seething pit of rage on the brink of war and so the Greyhawk wars were a natural evolution of the world, even if PC's didn't contribute anything to the change. The same can be said for most of Carl Sargent's contributions. Some believe they were an anathema to the setting, however I believe they are what truly gave life to it. Before Carl, the world was a cardboard cutout, admittedly a very well cut one, but at the same time, it lacked a certain something that Carl managed to give it.
Slightly off topic, and in defense of Sargent:
Actually Gygax was writing a series of Greyhawk articles in Dragon magazine that definately would lead you to the conclusion that the Greyhawk wars were about to happen...but then TSR and Gygax split. So I think not only did Sargent detail the world wonderfully, he also was following precedence.
More support for the Greyhawk wars, they actually did happen in the Gord books after TSR, though they ended in total world destruction, probably because of copywrights Gygax couldn't do much more with it...not good for a campaign setting.
Halber
Good bad guys are important to me as a GM. The players' job is to supply the protagonists. The antagonists are largely my responsability.
Here are some awesome, awesome things that GH has that Brand X (you know who you are!) doesn't:
a) Iuz. Sauron-style Dark Lord evil!
b) Tharidzun. Cthulhu-style mind-rending, cosmic evil!
c) The Pomarj. Savage hoards of evil! Can you imagine "lowly" humanoids gaining and keeping an empire in the world of [censored]?
d) Just like in the real world, "good" guys go to war with each from time to time. Vicious, bloody war with no right or wrong.
e) The drive for balance is as powerful a force as either side of the good/evil struggle.
f) Powerful good guys that stay put in the background and don't come with two-page stat listings in every chapter of the worldbook chronicling the many ways they're superior to your players' so-called "heroes."
g) Wizards that don't live under every other cobblestone and put their skills to use tending bar and making arrows +1 assembly-line style.
This setting can accomplish more than any other no matter how rare and limited content is.
It's timeline, even through to the future, is riddled with more than just your average story book.
There's really no way to sum the Greyhawk setting up in a post. There's simply too much content and story behind it.
Also, Bigby, Rary, Mordenkainen, Robilar, and even Acerak (Tomb of Horrors) etc... were the characters of the creators.
I'm fully aware of the fact that you can't persuade a person over a message board post to switch campaign settings, but I've been in this game since 90'. (I'm sure some people longer) I've been thru every campaign setting in some form or another and heavily into the Realms and Spelljamming. Heh, I remember pre-Spelljammer, looking for Waterdeep on a map of the Flanaess in our earlier days.
anyway...
Greyhawk is truly a "LIVING" Campaign.
Abysslin
Originally posted by Halberkill
Slightly off topic, and in defense of Sargent:
Actually Gygax was writing a series of Greyhawk articles in Dragon magazine that definately would lead you to the conclusion that the Greyhawk wars were about to happen...but then TSR and Gygax split. So I think not only did Sargent detail the world wonderfully, he also was following precedence.
More support for the Greyhawk wars, they actually did happen in the Gord books after TSR, though they ended in total world destruction, probably because of copywrights Gygax couldn't do much more with it...not good for a campaign setting.
Halber
Also Sargent didn't write the Greyhawk Wars, he wrote the aftermath. Dave Cook wrote the Greyhawk Wars material and "game".
I do like Tharizdun and Iuz though. My current campaign is also using bits of FR and Melinbone to. I've stolen the FR elemental gods for my world and use alot of FR feats from a variety of books (I draw the line at Red Wizards and Shadow Adepts though). If someone wanted the miltia feat for example from the FRCS I'd let them have it. I've also got a handful of a Melinbonean type race which has been revived from stasis start to appear on my world.
From what I understand Greyhawk was cobbled togather as well influenced bu Tolkein,Vance, and Lieber correct?