The Globe of Peril
by Travis HenryFor anyone who's interested, this is my attempt to untangle the specifics of the Holmes BASIC implied setting, and how it relates (or doesn't relate) to Oerth. (Mystara didn't exist in a TSR context in 1977.)
THE GLOBE OF PERIL includes:
- Holmes BASIC Set Rules (people, places, and things), such as Portown, the Green Dragon Inn*, the Tower of Zenopus dungeon**, the sea cliff, the graveyard, the caravan routes to the south, and the pirate-infested Northern Sea, gods mentioned: Crom, Cthulhu, Zeus
*Note about the Green Dragon Inn (aka Green Dragon Tavern in the Tales of Peril). A version of this inn exists in Oerth and in the Globe of Peril. In the Free City of Greyhawk. The outside of the inn is depicted in the 1979 AD&D Coloring Album, which is explicitly set in Oerth. Robilar bought this inn.
In the Globe of Peril, the Portown inn may look the same as the Greyhawk version (as seen in the Coloring Album), but it is located in different world, in a different city, and thus has different clientele.
Also, of course, the original Green Dragon Inn is in the Shire of Middle-earth; a world of which Holmes states: "The imaginary universe of Dungeons & Dragons obviously lies not too far from the Middle Earth of J.R.R. Tolkien's great Lord of the Rings trilogy."
**Note on the ruined Tower of Zenopus. "The ruins of Zenopus Castle" also exists in the ENCHANTED LAND of the D&D comic strips. And in 5E continuity, the Tower of Zenopus exists in the Forgotten Realms as an adventure site in the Saltmarsh on the Azure Sea coast (from Ghosts of Saltmarsh).
- Any book which was packaged in the Holmes BASIC box, namely:
- Dungeon Geomorphs Set One (First & second print)
- Monster & Treasure Assortment Set One (First & second print)
- B1 In Search of the Unknown (First & Second print). Also exists in Oerth and Mystara.
- B2 Keep on the Borderlands (First & Second print). Also exists in Oerth and Mystara.
- Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories, including the Maze of Peril novel and the many short stories.
Places include:
Caladan (the proper name for what is colloquially referred to as "Portown")
Labolinn (elven homeland)
the Cold Mountains (dwarven homeland)
the Meadow Country to the South (hobbit homeland)
the Maze of Peril (a dungeon)
Amazonia (a great island kingdom)
the dungeons of Greyhead Tower
Byrithium (the equivalent of Byzantium)
Jungle Isle
the Sorcerer's Isle
Zamboanga (an Swahili-speaking land, 100 leagues/300 miles from previous adventure)
Lilliput
the Southern Jungle (an African analogue)
the Enchanted Forest
Mother Grillo's Hut
the Desert of Irem
(Also: the dungeon from Holmes' Fantasy Role Playing Games book.)
In Caladan/Portown: Green Dragon Tavern, Magpie Street, Ox-Cart Street. The various locales mentioned in Portown. Devil's Spire (10 miles out of town)
Caladan/Portown on THE GLOBE OF PERIL map is located where the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco would be.
Languages: Common, Latin, Elvish, Swahili. There is a whole sentence of Holmesian Elvish, and also several sentences of Dagonite specech.
Races, Classes, and Cutlures: Old People/Elidel, Dark Elf/Black Elf, Centaur, Serpentmen/Serpent Women, Satyrs, Atlanteans, Fighting Men, Amazons, Magic-Users, Druids, Witch-Doctors, Hobbits/Hobs, Vikings/Norman, (American) Indians, Africans, Witches, Psychics, Sages, Half-Orcs, Lizard Men, Lilliputians, (Wrinkled) Gnomes, Fish-Folk and Frog-Folk Dagonites. Also (by inference): Egyptians, Persians (Mithra), REH-style Gaels (Crom), Arabs (El-Borak).
Monsters and Animals: Were-Shark, Parrot-Hawk, Spawn of Cthulhu, Mi-Go, Mwanga Zombie.
Unique terminology: "unhumans/inhumans" (for demihuman), various oaths and curses ("Mithra's mother's mammaries!"), spell components (such as in Latin), and phrases: "Be ye for Law or be ye for Chaos?"
Also:
- BLUEHOLME RPG (endorsed by JEH's son Chris Holmes, who did art for the game)
So, you see, though of course all these places could be plopped onto the map of Oerth or Mystara, THE GLOBE OF PERIL is really its own implied setting.