Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jun 07, 2004 12:44:49	Greetings, Having lost all of my Basic/1e collection (with some 2e stuff) in a fire about 10 years ago, and with a forced absence from the game for about as long a stretch, I was hoping some old school 'hawkers might lend me a hand. What Basic/1e/2e Grehawk products would or should be considered essential for running a Greyhawk campaign, or for learning about the Greyhawk (Oerth) world? Currently I have the boxed Greyhawk set as well as the hardcover book in pdf format, along with a couple old school modules (like GDQ, A1-4, T1-4). I also have the Dragon Magazine cd compilation. Mostly I'm looking for official stuff that was released by TSR. Also, before people suggest it, I do realize that svgames and rpgnow carry other GH stuff on pdf. What I'm looking for are some old schooler's opinions on what they think is essential stuff for running a GH campaign. I honestly used only the boxed set and the hardcover way back in the day, but now would like to expand beyond those and flesh out more of the world. Further, having been gone from D&D so long, I don't recall what other important releases came out back in the day that expanded upon the world. Any suggestions are appreciated in advance.
#2 avalongod Jun 07, 2004 15:28:46	I think the old 1E boxed set is the only "essential" that you necessarily need. Everything else is an update/expansion on that" There are some 3E versions of this if you want to modernize...I believe (working from memory) they are called the Greyhawk Gazetteer (shorter book) and the Players Guide to Greyhawk (or something like that). Most of the Greyhawk accessories, particularly in 2E (like From the Ashes) simply updated the on-going history of the Greyhawk setting. Unless you plan to stick real close to that expanding history, these accessories are probably unnecesary. I do like the (again working from memory) Living Greyhawk book from 2E which spends a lot of time discussing the city itself. You may want to look into that...
#3 avalongod Jun 07, 2004 15:41:23	Sorry, that last should be Greyhawk Adventures, not Living Greyhawk. The Living Greyhawk Gazetter is the new book.
#4 Greyson Jun 08, 2004 1:34:48	Originally posted by Avalongod The Living Greyhawk Gazetter is the new book. But, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000© WotC) is still a fantastic Greyhawk resource. Any campaign can benefit from it - no matter the edition that a particular person plays or DMs. That is one of the great things about the LGG: it is not edition-dependent. The LGG is not a third edition D&D rule book. It is a true campaign source book in the sense that it is a detailed survey of the Flanaess to 590 CY - independent of rules and statistics. You do not need to worry about which set of rule books you have. I strongly recommend it, Gandalf_Istari.
#5 zombiegleemax Jun 08, 2004 4:45:46	I think some of 2nd Edition stuff were quite important. The city of Greyhawk boxed set cannoy be ignored, scenarii, char stats, maps, organisation, the city and the plains of greyhawk are a good place to start! And from the asghes, is not only an update, it details lot of places and add a lot to the game. Excuse me, but today, if i have to choose between the world of greyhawk boxed set and from the ashes i would choose the second. As others wrote the living gazeeter is quite useful also. The greyhawk 1st/2nd harbook by jim ward is not so much important IMHO. In fact you can keep all the materials written by Carl Sargent (markland, iuz the evil, ivid the undying, the book about scarlet brotherhood,FTA, and city of greyhawk). You may add "adventure begins", but it's not indispensable. I wont' say the first boxed set is enough, you can all write yourself etc.... because informations in Sargent books helps a DM a lot. My logic is If you have so much time to write everythings Sargent wrote you can even create your own world...
#6 samwise Jun 08, 2004 11:58:52	It is the "expansion" element that makes the later world setting books so important. Particularly with the LGG, there is so much useful information in there that it is essential Greyhawk now.
#7 lincoln_hills Jun 08, 2004 13:41:45	I hadn't realized it, but Greyson has a good point. Aside from having to modify a very few NPCs to accord with earlier editions (no NG druids, no human Ftr12/Illusionist 3's) you can use the book entirely as is. I don't much like the map that comes with the LGG - I still use my From the Ashes maps, and they're starting to feel the strain of years of continuous use. However, I hear Dungeon #117-120 will be providing us with four quarters of the Flanaess, one in each issue. At last, they have found a way to get me to buy a magazine I have consistently ignored for years! (They also tricked me into buying Dungeon #112 by sneakily including tons of good Greyhawk stuff. The FIENDS!)
#8 erik_mona Jun 08, 2004 15:18:57	That's "fiend" singular, Mr. Hills. ;) --Erik
#9 omote Jun 09, 2004 11:46:15	Nice. May the fiend, keep fiending then. .............................Omote
#10 protonik_dup Jun 10, 2004 20:52:30	I think it is very simple personally... the Dungeons & Dragons Gazetteer... all you really need if you like to build it as your own world and has a great map and is very short... cheap too. If you want more information though the LGG is awesome. Skip the City of Greyhawk, you can get almost the same information in the GH98 material for 2e at a cheaper price, these are The Adventure Begins and Player's Guide to Greyhawk. They cover the city of Greyhawk and the surrounding area quite nicely and are essential to my Greyhawk campaigns personally. It also updates the information the From the Ashes boxed set quite well but they have flaws. If you are running a 2e campaign you need to get ahold of either the FtA set (40-50 bucks) or the Greyhawk Adventures Hardcover for the deity sphere information and a description of the deities. The books do not even tell you what each deity is like, just providing a lame as heck chart that lists their areas of influence, divine rank and alignment. If you are running 2e, well either Gaz works. Outside of that though, it is pretty open territory as far as what you want to make up yourself or want to add from published products. I for one think when they tried to FR the world with SBs like the FR series, they ruined the flavour of GH, some of them (unless they have SARGENT on the cover) sucked serious canal water or were lackluster. GH is one of those worlds that THRIVED on published Adventures and made excellent use of adventures to flesh out the world enough for the DM to get idea but make the campaign his own... SO, I would say either Gaz and the Player's Guide and Adventure Begins is all you need. Jason
#11 redwizard Jun 10, 2004 23:23:30	Ok, I am an old dinosaur who is organizing a new campaign after years of inactivity. In college we had a blast playing in the Basic set Gazateer lands. My question is are those lands created for Basic back in the late 80 and early 90's the same as this Gazateer book for Greyhawk?
#12 protonik_dup Jun 10, 2004 23:32:50	Nope, that is Mystara, a very different setting... Check out the Rules Cyclopedia and the Mystara boards for more information... Jason
#13 jackhammer_john Jun 16, 2004 3:30:55	Hmm, a boxed set. Now there is an idea that I have expressed in the DnD minis board. Since they are coming out with a basic set with minis, I suggest to continue the trend with modules like the Adventure Path series. Expanding this idea, I would love to see boxed sets again of Greyhawk. Now that would be a kick in the axe.
#14 despotrix Jun 16, 2004 3:47:48	Originally posted by RedWizard My question is are those lands created for Basic back in the late 80 and early 90's the same as this Gazateer book for Greyhawk? Those lands, as you put it , were collectively known as the Known World, Basic & Expert D&D's loosely developed campaign setting. They later became the world of Mystara, updated and expanded for 2e AD&D. There are no Basic D&D products specifically set in Greyhawk.
#15 scoti_garbidis Jun 24, 2004 11:50:02	Got my City of Greyhawk Boxed Set today. It might be 15 years old but it has tons of info and maps and oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Ohhhhhhhh! Yeah, I was really excited. Just want to say thanks to Max Writer, the guy who introduced me to Greyhawk. I may only have started playing and running in Greyhawk in the last 5 years but it has filled a small hole in my heart that nothing could fill. Um, wait a second, that sounded slightly psychotic, oh well. Just want to say that I am one happy Greyhawker today and that if you are a DM and don't have this Greyhawk product that it is worth the buy! Time to go drool over my new info and figure out how i can use it against my players. Almost forgot to mention the adventures that came with it, they are awesome too.... i have reading and drooling to do.... oh boy!
#16 max_writer Jun 25, 2004 13:18:51	Excellent. Now maybe you'll let us live past the Nightfang Spire (or whatever the hell it's called) so we can do some shopping in Greyhawk. Falstaff Company of the Copper Card
#17 scoti_garbidis Jun 28, 2004 17:11:35	Yeah, you guys are gonna run characters past Nightfang Spire, oh wait you said live. Your character's living after visiting Nightfang Spire, um, No guarantees buddy boy. Gulthias might need some new blood in his gang if ya know what I mean! mwahahahaha!