I have been running Greyhawk campaigns my whole adult life (past 23 yrs), and I need an infusion of new ideas on the great city itself now. I have both GH boxed sets and the LGH book, but I don't much care for all the LGH junk. Sure, I've developed lotes of my own stuff on NPCs, factions, etc. but I am running dry...I guess I've relied a lot on the old printed stuff.
So I'm asking my fellow GH fanatics to help out with an idea or two to help spice up my current campaign.
I will gladly reciprocate to any who respond with some of my stuff, if desired! :pile:
Second, you should try to get you hands on the LG journal issues #2, 4, and 5 with gives new details about GH city (not to mention a map in issue #2)
The Adventure Begins is also good as it develops the campaign up to 591. However, the graphical presentation cannot compare to the full colour boxed set. As somebody already said, some Living Greyhawk Journals updated the City. However, I haven't read them so I am not sure if they covered the whole city or how good they were.
Finally, you should be aware that all published City of Greyhawk supplements are not faithful to Gary Gygax original concepts. The Gord series of novels describe the city as Gygax imagined it, although I should point out that they are not an easy reading.
What I'd really like is a taste of the color or detail of your campaign's Greyhawk. I'm sure we're not all slaves of the printed stuff, right? I'd love to hear your ideas , y'all being the best, brightest, most devoted of GH devotees. As I said, I'd be happy to share mine in a quid pro quo if desired.
Many Thanks!
Originally posted by Monteblanco
Finally, you should be aware that all published City of Greyhawk supplements are not faithful to Gary Gygax original concepts. The Gord series of novels describe the city as Gygax imagined it, although I should point out that they are not an easy reading.
You make a good point. I would love to see a City of Greyhawk book faithful 100% to the Gord novels.
Originally posted by Bugscuttle
I doubt this is typical of many gamers, but when I got married I gave away or sold almost ALL of my DnD stuff. Most of it was Greyhawk stuff. Then I got divorced a year later. Ah well, lessons of life, eh?
Eh, welcome to the club mate :sad:
Originally posted by Bugscuttle
[...]
What I'd really like is a taste of the color or detail of your campaign's Greyhawk. I'm sure we're not all slaves of the printed stuff, right? I'd love to hear your ideas , y'all being the best, brightest, most devoted of GH devotees. As I said, I'd be happy to share mine in a quid pro quo if desired.
Many Thanks!
My last campaign was based in the City of Greyhawk, where the characters were sort of low life subjects trying to get some status in the crime world. In many aspects was sort of a noir game. I mainly followed The Adventure Begins with very few modifications. One that I implemented was related to the ruling council. The way its read in the sourcebooks, it appears that it is common knowledge that the mayor and some councilmen are criminals. I couldn't suspend my belief in this one and I assumed that they are suspected to be criminals but no one ever proofed this - it is pretty common in many places to have elected representatives that are supported by the organised crime but it is to ask too much to believe that they could openly say so.
The players' characters interacted with many of the NPCs, but they were mostly shop or tavern owners. It wasn't necessary to modify any of them. It was an enjoyable game and still have good memories of it.
OK sorry, I had to put that because I am gonna ask a question about my game that he is part of. I am planning an event in my game in the City of Greyhawk (now im on topic!) where the players will be involved in a large public game of chance. It is a homebrewed event I came up with based on some existing games. But I can't find a festival in the City of Greyhawk Boxed Set that my event would correlate with. It is loosely based on tv game shows in format but has it's own medievil and fantasy twists. If someone could tell me a good festival to hold the game during or maybe help me validate why it would just be happening during a non-festival time in a certain part of the city. I thought about holding it in one of the theatres but this seemed a little far fetched to me.... but maybe I am just being to hard on myself. I want to do this but have it be at least somewhat believable. Thanks ahead of time for your help! :D
BTW, if your game falls on a non-holiday, make it a pre-_____fest Extravaganza .
Good Luck!
J
Are all the GH DMs so "canon"-bound that you follow it slavishly? All I sought was some of your ideas. An exchange of thoughts, you know?
This whole obsession with "canon" bodes ill for the future of the greatest of campaign worlds.
Still, my offer stands of a quid pro quo with anyone who does have something original to contribute.
Thanx,
Joe
Although my last Greyhawk campaign took place in the City of Greyhawk, most of the modifications I made were far more reaching than the City's walls. Some of them include:
- I adjusted the Circle of Eight in order to better express Mordenkainen's neutrality and maintainace of the status quo agenda (I used Yrag, former member of Citadel of Eight to give the party an inside view of Mordy's true character).
- I took a hint from the Adventure Begins and made the drow to be much more secretive. They are unkwon to the non-elven population and even among the elves they are considered more a myth than a real threat.
- I've initially ruled that all monks are, one way or the other, related to the Scarlet Brotherhood. As such, I helped one of the players to flesh out a small monk tradition created by a renegade SB monk. Latter, I decided to create a Blakunish monk tradition, but it never came up.
- I ruled out all magical shops, although I created a black market of magical items in the City.
There are many others little things, but I've to give a look in my old notes. I also changed some important NPCs in Keoland and Verbobonc to take in account our own run of the Giants-Drow and the Temple series.
Originally posted by Bugscuttle
I've gotta tell you folks... I'm pretty disappointed. Except for Monteblanco, I didn't see ANY original thoughts...
Are all the GH DMs so "canon"-bound that you follow it slavishly? All I sought was some of your ideas. An exchange of thoughts, you know?
This whole obsession with "canon" bodes ill for the future of the greatest of campaign worlds.
Still, my offer stands of a quid pro quo with anyone who does have something original to contribute.
Thanx,
Joe
You know, as hard as it is to imagine, some of us haven't used the City of GH in our scenarii yet. My players, for instance, have yet to step foot west of the Duchy of Urnst. Somehow, I prefer to avoid the Free City and concentrate on the "Splintered Sun" region.
I can assure you I am not "hiding" any original idea. I simply didn't develop any for that particular location. That's all.
Originally posted by Mortepierre
First, beware of calling anything "junk". LG has its fans even on this board. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's worthless.
However, when enough people start sharing the opinion that it's not good, some of us start to accept it as fact.
Morte P, that's exactly the kinda thing I was talkin' 'bout!!!
The drow thing? Brilliant---I think drow are way overused by most. If a race that mean & evil were really so active, every race would be hunting them to extinction. Also, racially limiting monks is a good 'un too!.
My players were recently doublecrossed by a trusted rogue from the GHC Guild. All the warnings about the City of Thieves went unheeded I guess! Most of them are from Blackmoor, so the Big City is absolutely blowing their minds.:OMG!
In my current campaign, mysticism takes a large part. The gods do keep a proper distance, but their intermediaries do interfere, for better or worse...Needless to say, character piety is an issue, cursing and blasphemy are taken seriously, etc. It also lends more shine to the rare paladin and more fear and loathing of the evil priest. My players are a good lot of roleplayers, tho, and they enjoy flavor a bit more than canon.
BTW, I like to keep the monks almost exclusively Suel, but for a covert army of them in the backwoods of the Baklun West.
As for Elves! , I'm afraid I'm waaaayyyy of canon here. I have gotten my players used to the olven. They are a cross between Tolkien's noble Noldor and R.E. Howard's Hyperborians - an arrogant and fey lot, rather careless of human lives.
Anyhoo...thanx for your ideas !
Jay
Originally posted by Bugscuttle
I loved the Gord novels, tough as they were to endure. I wish to God I still had them!!
You should be able to find them at used book stores pretty easily. I know several around here have them in stock regularly....
Originally posted by chatdemon
However, when enough people start sharing the opinion that it's not good, some of us start to accept it as fact.
...... and whilst 15,000 people play in the campaign your opinion will remain the minority as the rest of us play the game and enjoy GH.
some see the cup half full......
some see the cup half empty.......
and only they can change their perception!
[email]Dragonsbane1970@yahoo.com[/email]
First, beware of calling anything "junk". LG has its fans even on this board. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's worthless.
Second, you should try to get you hands on the LG journal issues #2, 4, and 5 with gives new details about GH city (not to mention a map in issue #2)
Check out the LGJ index on canonfire for which issue contains which articles.
Also Maldin`s Greyhawk has some additional material.
Does anyone know if the City of Greyhawk articles were (or will be) continued? It was mentioned in one of the LGJ I believe...
Oh and for the Gord novels, only the last one is a little harder to find and the others go for quite cheap on ebay if you can`t find them ni a sed book store.
For a Gord/Gygax City of Greyhawk check out Chris Siren`s Gord`s Greyhawk site.
I'm currently running a campaign in and around Greyhawk city and here some stuff I've done and ideas I have for my campaign. I use a lot of other material and improvise many times during sessions, so my versions clases much with the "canon Greyhawk", which is IMHO the best way to use Greyhawk (my players are mostly ignorant of the background material so I can tell them about everything, the only problem I have is that I tend to forget what I've told them).
-The WGA1-3 modules are set in the city of Greyhawk and IMHO are quite good.
-Adventurers guild: In my current GH-city campaign my players have helped to start an adventurers guild sponsored by a crippled ex-adventurer who was an uncle of one of the PC's. This guild provided, apart from the mercenary adventure types, an insight in the politics of GH-city. The sponsor (Gregorius van Hopen tot Scheffer) is, as adventurers-guild leader, a player in the town politics. Some adventures are based around helping (or avoiding friction with) other guilds in order to advance the status of the guild (and get some tax-base or other benefits).
-Political power and danger: Some high-political players have hobbies that are dangerous for the city like collecting monsters, magical experimentation and the likes.
-Guildwar (This is an idea I've been playing with recently, I see the guilds as the most important feature of GH-city.): A political struggle in the upper (guild) regions of GH-city can have concequenses on the artisan level. In this scenario it is of the most importance for guilds to back the eventual winner. While press-gangs of weaponsmith or merchant apprentices might not be a big challenge for mid to high level paties, the consequences when those individuals are severely hurt or killed are high.
-Ambassadors (another important feature of GH-city): The political game of the ambassadors is played on another level compaired to the guilds. As GH-city is neutral any perceived advantage in influence or alliances will be countered by other ambassadors.
-Dyvers and other city-states: Normally the idea and existance of a (secular, non aristrocratic ruled) citystate is a direct challenge to the status of surrounding kingdoms and theocraties. More politics.
-And for a real drastic change: The sewers of GH-city have been infiltrated by a drow , duergar and mindflawer force. The city is attacked from below. All sewer openening spew fort a sunblokking smoke and gates are gating troops to the sewers to conquer the city above. I've DMed this scenario once with the players dogfighting throughout the city to get some archmages anti-gate notes and have them close gates afterwards. This might be a good adventure when you want to change the political structure of GH-city midgame (the sessions themselves were great when I did them).
Hope this helps,
Arjen
Boy, I'm sorry for my poor choice of words....I shoulda said 'stuff' and not 'junk'. LG just isn't my cuppa tea, but perhaps i just haven't met the right group for it yet.
In fact, I subscribe to a LG yahoo group in which people debate minutiae endlessly, to wring every drop of fun out of the game...but that's just for my twisted sense of amusement.
Guildwars are a great concept...my party recently ran afoul of the Jewelers and Gemcutters Guild, and as I have tied Glodreddi Bakkunin to the guild, they are in serious trouble indeed. Funnily enough, the whole trouble was accidental, but is also very hard for them to explain.
The abovementioned party has entered the Ruins of Greyhawk Castle (until things cool down
) And let me tell you, if you want to pull your hair out, try converting this epic module to 3.5...Has anyone explored the conflicts between GHCity and Dyvers?
And how about Blackmoor....how does Dave Arneson's latest opus fit in? Is it the prehistory of the North? I mean, he's the games real creator, how did his campaign world get relegated to the sketchy bit of info we now have?
I'd love to hear your opinions...or better yet, the truth...
Gygax and Arneson were partners at first, and the first two supplements for the original D&D games were called Greyhawk and Blackmoor. Then Dave and TSR/Gary had a falling out. Dave then released Blackmoor as the First Fantasy Campaign in the late 70s, and the Greyhawk folio was released in 81.
Then later in the 80s Dave brought Blackmoor back to TSR. Instead of starting a new campaign world line, Blackmoor was placed in Mystara. Since it didn't mesh with the setting as is, the story about it being thousands of years in the past was created.
Given the current 3.5E incarnation of that setting, I would say all ties to GH have been sundered. It feels more like Mystara's prehistory than anything linked to Oerth.
Dead Oerth - War has spread across the Flanaess and with it an army of the undead. Nerull's power is at its height. It is said that the Reaper himself stalks the land, while the power of all other gawds has been greatly diminished.
My players wanted something like survival horror. They start the game recovering from a plague which has swept through the City of Greyhawk. From there they must find clothes, weapons, magic and a way out of the city which is crawling with tens of thousands of undead. We had a pretty good time with this campaign.
Mirror Oerth - Greyhawk Cesspool of the Flanaess. The players open the wrong door in an alley-way and find themselves transported to a world where everything they know is wrong.
Siege of Greyhawk - The armies of Iuz have swept aside all resistance. Now they are outside the walls of the city. Inside the streets are packed with refuges. While the Circle contends with Iuz and the Boneheart the remnants of armies, the Watch and the Greyhawk militia, swelled with volunteers, stands guard upon the walls.
These were some change of pace campaigns... as for smaller adventures that take place in or around the city, there are almost endless possibilities. Name a subject and an adventure springs to mind.
I also DMed GH campaigns for the last 21 years. I have some campaigns taking part in the direct vicinity of the Greyhawk City. Here are a very brief description of some of them, and characters that may be interesting to use:
Greyhawk Underground: In this campaign, everyone played a character part of the lowlife of Greyhawk. One was a CG Drow Elf beggar information seller. Another one was a LN (E) Baklunish blind assassin named Afhez Kahlua. He turned blind during the assassination of a priest of Incabulos. The central stage of this campaign was the Hanged Man Inn. When someone wanted to sell infos there, then he lighted a candle on the table, and then put it beside him. The info buyer then took the candle back to the center of the table, and snuff it out.
Mage Chronicle: In this campaign, everyone is playing some kind of mage. One was a Grey Elven Magus from the Spindrfit Isles named Ap'Daoine Sidhe Dunhaheoim (the magus, in my campaign, is a special "class". It is a cleric/M-U double class, with the Magic Force (not a god) as the cleric "specialty". In fact, these guys have a lot of spells to choose at...). He have a brownie familiar called Rhool that is friend to Edwina (the familiar of Jallarzi). Rhool is a dangerous comic relief. He is a reincarnated familiar of another mage, so he fears death and Gods (was killed by a priest). He also have found the goal of is life: find true love. And he fall in love to every beauties of Greyhawk city (only to forget about one when he found another). The second is a half Baklunish astrologer-mage (from the Shair handbook) from Elredd called Rath Dimagio. He created an Astrologer school out of Greyhawk, in the Cairn Hills. He is quite hated from the traditional astrologer guild of Greyhawk (they are scholar, not mages...). The last is a Neutral dual class Psion (Spiritualist) / Necromancer (philosopher) human from Molag. He have a disciple, a NG Drow Elf female, saved from villager wanting to burn her (burn that witch!!!). He have constructed a tower in the southern part of the Cairn Hills, and have this tower (and the area surrounding it) passed to the Shadow Plane. He is a true scholar about death and undeath, and want to understand what is really Death (in all its meanings...). He don't want to be a lich or any undead. He goes adventuring to find old records or powerful necromantic items. He also helped some other adventurers, but always at a cost (for example, he taught to some how to destroy a demi-lich, but asked them to bring back the remains and any necro stuff they'll find...)
Faery Fun: This campaign was set in Fern Grove (Gnarley Forest). The heroes are two forest gnomes cousins. One, Uskä, is a fighter/Thief (hunter). The second, Ukhäro, is a priest of Ehlonna. Both are CG and 2' tall. They don't know anything about money (they used barter in their village), but find cool to collect one of each different coinage existing... They don't bother about earthly possession... In fact, they are child in "adult" body. This campaign is really fun to DM. One time, they sat down and talked about the link between being big and strength. Everything was right in their mind ("A human is bigger than us, and he is stronger. An ogre is bigger than a human, and he is stronger. A giant is still bigger, and stronger... And dragons... WOW!!! But wait, what's for the dwarves? They are smaller than humans, but are generally stronger... Well, they are the exception confirming this rule!!!")
Other funny NPCs created in my campaigns included:
A gnomish Thief, expert at picking lock, always having the "key" to a locked door, or chest, or... He is CG, and like to taunt everyone calling himself the leader of the group (calling him or her Majesty, Supreme Leader, Great Manitou, ect. or simply boss...)
A senile wizard, Theodorus, always changing his title between conversation. So the first conversation you have with him, he may want you to call him "The Arch-Magus Theodorus", and the second time you see him: "No don't call me Arch-Magus. I'm the Protector Theodorus". He think he have a frog familiar, but it is not, so he must have it chained on him to prevent its escape. He also have a normal gnarled staff with glowing lichen on it, but he is sure it is a staff of great power...
Another funny NPC is Dempsey, a CN thief from the Bandit Kingdom. He is afraid of everything. He is so coward that he taught his horse to "make dead" and "crawl" to avoid being seen. But he knows every rumors around, and don't know how to hold his tongue. For example, one time, he was acting as scout for a group composed of a LG monk, a LG paladin and LG ramger. They saw a caravan. He said to them, after getting his horse "dead": "Be quiet!!! This is no ordinary caravan. They are slavers!! If we are seen, we will be taken like those poor villagers, and tortured, and sold to the humanoid, and... Why do you guys are you looking at me with these eyes?"... He is quite a comic relief.
Well, I've got many more, but will stop here. Hope this will help fuel a couple of games...
Fearghal
"It shed blood, it can be killed!"