and I have some thing I want to know about Greyhawk.
History
Barbarian areas
and really just a general over view
thank you
Canonfire!
Just search for the topic your interested in and read till your content.
I would also add, as many of us have to other Greyhawk novices/newbies, the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer. Get a new or used copy from Amazon, or your local game shop.
And ask speific question here or at the Canonfire! Forums.
Have fun. And Gnarley, don't forget the salt... ;)
Originally posted by Argon
Greyson is right! Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is a must especially for a newbie to the setting. If you use Kazaa you can find some greyhawk specific downloads. That's were I picked up a copy of the 83' boxed set. If you can pick up From the Ashes box set then you have a great start.
And of course you paid for all of those, right?
Please do not suggest illegal downloads in direct manner. If you feel you must then send a private email, or be extremely circumspect. That way we won't get our threads locked down, or be banned.
Good Gaming! :D
I ask because most people who 'grew up' with GH seem to revile FtA, whereas those who come to the setting now, love it.
I personally think it's one of the best supplements ever written, with perhaps the exception of Ivid the Undying (Marklands is up there for me too).
I'll second the above recommendations; with the downloads at svgames, the LGG, and canonfire, one will do well.
Originally posted by Aeolius
I'll second the above recommendations; with the downloads at svgames, the LGG, and canonfire, one will do well.
The biggest drawback about being new to Greyhawk is the sheer amount of stuff you have to read in order to familiarize yourself with the setting.
If you just want something concise and to the point, I suggest the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (the long one... the short one is too expensive to be worth it) above all others.
Originally posted by Alterwind
History
The planet is called Oerth, the continent on which 99% of Greyhawk literature is focused is Oerik and the part of the continent on which 90% of that 99% is focused, is the Flanaess.
Before the Flanaess was occupied by the current races, there were two dominant empires which struggled against each other. These were the Bakluni and the Suel.
The two empires clashed in a catastrophic display of magic-use, the power of which is lost to modern mages because of said catostrophies, which resulted in the creation of two desert realms. The Sea of Dust, once the Suel Imperium, and the Dry Steppes.
These apocolyptic actions forced the survivors, as well as many people who fled before these events to escape the conflict, to migrate across the mountain ranges and northwards.
This created many conflicts and introduced many new power bases as tribes and peoples tried to gather their resources, claim new territories and fight the native inhabitants of the new lands.
To the north, the Bakluni pretty much dominated and settled without much of a fuss, having already had influence in those areas. But to the south, there were constant wars for dominance as the races of humans struggled against non-humans and humanoids and themselves.
In the end, two major Kingdoms were forged, Keoland and The Great Kingdom. Of the two, the Great Kingdom spanned the most area, claiming nearly all of the eastern Flanaess under its banner. The Great Kingdom was the result of Oeridian tribes banding together and being led by one dominant one, the Aerdi. This state evolved from a Byzantine-like era to a medieval one almost intact and has, by far, had the greatest influence on the Flanaess of all nations and peoples.
But time brought decay and eventually the Great Kingdom lost territories and lands to independance movements. They lost the lands of Nyrond, Tenh, the Pale, Furyondy, Veluna, Perrenland and more to such influences. Furyondy and Nyrond were strong enough to form Kingdoms of their own which last until the current day. Keoland, though younger and paler than the Great Kingdom, and smaller now than at its height, still stands also.
In the last few hundred years, other powers have arisen as well. Fell powers such as Iuz and the humanoid infested lands of the Pomarj, not to mention the broken lands of the Bandit Kingdoms. A great war, now known as the Greyhawk wars, changed the landscape significantly and was the last dying breath of the Great Kingdom. In truth, the Greyhawk wars not only had very little to do with Greyhawk, but were more a collection of struggles which simply happened during the same period. They left some lands in the hands of new rulers and other lands bereft of power and toppled some dynasties of power and supplented yet others. One of the only real defining factors that connect all the wars was the introduction of the Scarlet Brotherhood, who revealed themselves by mass assassination throughout almost all lands and the involvement of their thrall armies to the south.
In essence, the world is still at war, despite the treaties signed in the great city of hawks. There are numerous tensions throughout the lands and nobody can claim to travel in safety, especially across borders. Political battles are rife, even between former allies, and trust is a premium afforded to only the closest and most proven of friends. The world is far from shattered, but it is far from whole as well.
Originally posted by Alterwind
Barbarian areas
During the migrations, one of the earliest to migrate were a collection of families from the Suel Imperium. They were the furthest to travel and instead of warring with the native peoples, the Flan, they simply travelled until they could go no further. Isolating themselves from the rest of the world, they began to lose their culture and heritage and develop anew, based on the more primitive gods of the Suel pantheon. Worshiping, above others, gods like Kord and Vatun, these originally suel peoples became the barbarians of the Thillonrian, a vast peninsula that is mostly mountain and icy seas. They raid the south-eastern coastlines and sometimes south into the occupied lands of Tenh, the Pale, Ratik and North Kingdom.
Of the tribes, there are three dominant ones and one that has branched off to become a nation unto itself. They are the Frost (fruztii), snow (schnai) and cold (cruskii) barbarians. The other branch is a nation known as Stonehold, which is an evil, vicious nation of marauders who are currently occupying Tenh, and were once the dupes of Iuz.
There are other barbarian areas, or areas where barbarians can come from, however these are the main and 'traditional' barbarian areas.
Originally posted by Alterwind
and really just a general over view
For the most part, race doesn't matter, but for roleplaying purposes, race is fairly important. Imagine it to be much like the social differences between the French, Spanish and English. All of whom thought they were superior to each other and as such manifested such distaste in the way they dealt with each other. Of course, not everyone cares, but for the most part, they'll still have derogatory names for each other like 'Frog' for Frenchmen.
So of the human races there are the Bakluni (depending on your interpretation, these are arabic/persian/indian), the suel (mainly scattered throughout the flanaess, the only parts that are 'true' suel, are now the barbarians and the Scarlet Brotherhood, these are blue-eyed blondes basically), oeridians (probably the most dominant race, having spawned the Great Kingdom, olive-skinned), flan (the native inhabitants of the Flanaess, the name Flanaess being derived from them, essentially it's the collective name for a host of different tribes that once dominated the Flanaess), olman (only really found in southern areas near the jungles, imagine a mix of aztec, inca and mayan people) and Rhennee (rumoured to be from another prime, they are gypsies and are mostly found around the Nyr Dyv and central Flanaess).
Every other race is standard. High elves usually come from either Celene (the only real nation of elves) or the Vesve (Highfolk) but do live elsewhere around the Flanaess, like in Verbobonc (with humans) and the Adri Forest (almost xenophobic). Dwarves occupy several areas with humans, like the Principality of Ulek and Irongate (specifically the Iron Hills). Gnomes are scattered throughout the various hills. Halflings live in human areas and have no area of their own that I can recall (unless you count the mystical realm of... err... can't remember the name).
Essentially, Greyhawk is your standard D&D fantasy gaming world. However it tends to focus on the PC's rather than NPC's. The levels of rulers usually don't make PC's useless and although there are definitely uber-NPC's, they are there to facilitate the PC's adventures, rather than have them for them. It's a highly politically charged setting, with warfare as a constant throughout the realms, regardless of the alignment of rulers and nations (ie. good people fight good people almost as much as they fight evil and evil, as always, fights everyone). It has been said that this is what makes Greyhawk 'grey'. There is no (well, there is... but not as pronounced as in other settings, with the exception of Iuz and the Pomarj) black and white, good vs. evil. It's everything for themselves. Although, the Greyhawk wars did change this to some extent, the From the Ashes changed it back a bit and the Adventure Begins and Living Greyhawk Gazetteer changed it back further.
So... what else do you want to know?
I am an old timer, and I grew up on Greyhawk. Been playing the game in Greyhawk for 20+ years. I guess that makes me unique, considering the way the lines fell. Most "Old timers" rejecting FtA and so forth. However, I do not fear change! I like you Delglath, like to form my own opinion on things. Most of the material in the FtA is just a logical progression of the material presented in the '83 boxed set. The "Snapshot" that was the the '83 boxed set had every one of the rising conflicts that became the GH wars. FtA just takes off where the "Official" outcome stops.
For me the argument between those who don't like FtA and those who do is analagous of those who are arguing about AD&D and 3e/3.5. It's poitless to argue. Use it, or don't. Or do what I did. Take the best of both. Though in the case of 3.5 I have fully adopted the rules into my campaign.
As far as your overview....all I can say is Damn!!! I didn't want to type that much. My posts are usually long winded as it is!
Good JOB!! :D
The biggest drawback about being new to Greyhawk is the sheer amount of stuff you have to read in order to familiarize yourself with the setting.
I'd have to say there is less to read than the Forgotten Realms (primary example)overall. Though I have to say that the Greyhawk material doesn't lead you by the nose either......
Good gaming!!
Of the tribes, there are three dominant ones and one that has branched off to become a nation unto itself. They are the Frost (fruztii), snow (schnai) and cold (cruskii) barbarians. The other branch is a nation known as Stonehold, which is an evil, vicious nation of marauders who are currently occupying Tenh, and were once the dupes of Iuz.
The Barbarians of Stonehold are Flan, not Suel. I don't recall the original settler's name, but I do remember he was forced out of his tribe among the Rovers of the Barrens and took his followers from among their ranks. Their descendants would be the last healthy population of pure-blooded Flan left after the wars.
I think you got the "barbarians" Alterwind was interested in, but some mention of the Wolf and Tiger nomads could also be made. Alterwind, I will refer you to Living Gazetter or let Delgath write it up for you.
Originally posted by rostoff
The Barbarians of Stonehold are Flan, not Suel. I don't recall the original settler's name, but I do remember he was forced out of his tribe among the Rovers of the Barrens and took his followers from among their ranks. Their descendants would be the last healthy population of pure-blooded Flan left after the wars.
Oops.
Originally posted by Delglath
Just out of curiosity, Gnarley, are you an old time gamer who's 'grown up' with Greyhawk or are you new to the setting (not necessarily new to gaming, though)?
I ask because most people who 'grew up' with GH seem to revile FtA, whereas those who come to the setting now, love it.
Just to chime in as another old timer, I like a fair bit of FtA. I'm just not too keen on the whole animii running the Great Kingdom. I'll nitpick other developments---the presence of so many demons in Iuz's camp that required a deus ex machina Flight of Fiends in the first place; Baalzy; the wholesale rewrite of some GH NPCs (though I like some of the alternative ideas for why Rary and Robilar could have gone bad), etc.
It's not exactly what I would have done to follow-up on the 1983 box + Dragon columns developing the looming wars, but it's pretty good.
And like Gnarley, I'll pick and choose my poison from among FtA's offerings :D
Nice to see I'm not the only one. :D
As for FtA, the problem wasn't with the writing, but with the changes in the setting from Greyhawk Wars. Get past that, and you can see FtA for the superior work that it is.
Originally posted by grodog
I'm just not too keen on the whole animii running the Great Kingdom.
You don't like me?
Originally posted by grodog
...Baalzy...
In all fairness to Carl, I think this was just his shorthand version of Baalzephon. It was, after all, an unfinished manuscript.