Greyhawk

Template:Infobox RPG Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The World of Greyhawk includes the Free City of Greyhawk, from which the name was taken. As one of the earliest of the D&D campaign settings, many of the rules for the game itself were developed in conjunction with game play by Gary Gygax and others in and around Castle Greyhawk and its dungeons. While constructing the milieu, Gygax also incorporated the campaign worlds of his fellow role-players, such as Blackmoor (Dave Arneson's campaign) and the Lendore Isles (a region created by long-time stalwart Len Lakofka).

Dungeons & Dragons has always had a tenuous connection between the core rules and any particular, well-defined setting. Through all editions of the game however, Greyhawk has had a strong influence over the core rules, including providing names for many well-known spells and magic items. The current rules contain deities and many other elements that define a general setting which is called the "Core Setting." The Core Setting is, in turn, largely based on Greyhawk, containing many of the same deities and geography. Indeed, a small map of the continent of Oerik, in relief as if sculpted out of a metal sphere, is in the center of the cover art for the Dungeon Master's Guide, 3.5th edition.

Geography and population

In the Greyhawk setting, the planet Oerth has four continents. Only one of these continents, Oerik, has been officially described in various D&D publications over the past 30+ years, and in fact detailed information is available only for its eastern end, known as the Flanaess.

Although home D&D campaigns can be set in or around the Free City of Greyhawk itself, there are no restrictions with respect to time period or location. The Flanaess can be broken down geographically as follows: the Baklunish Basin in the northwest, the Empire of Iuz in the north, the Thillonrian Peninsula in the northeast, the Sea of Dust in the far west, the Sheldomar Valley in the west, old Ferrond and its southern frontier (including the City of Greyhawk) at the center of the Flanaess, Old Sulm and the Aerdy frontier to the east, the old Great Kingdom to the far east, and the Amedio Jungle to the southwest.

Certain elements of Greyhawk's geography are fantastic in nature, such as the Sea of Dust and the Land of Black Ice. Other elements are more closely analogous to real-world Europe, such as the Thillonrian Peninsula's geographical resemblance to Scandinavia.

The Flanaess is home to Oerth's "enlightened humanity," and much of the flavor of the Greyhawk setting arises from the interplay of the various "sub-races" of humanity -- Baklunish, Flannae, Oeridians, Olman, Rhennee, Suloise, and Touv in particular -- as they have criss-crossed the Flanaess over the last millennium. The setting's fans have debated the exact nature of these sub-races (and their real world analogues, if any) over the years, but key distinguishing features include antagonism between the Bakluni and Suloise (and the ancient war that nearly annihilated them both), the relative primitiveness of the indigenous Flan, and the Oerdians' military conquest of much of the Flanaess.

Various fantasy races also populate the Flanaess, sometimes acting as allies to humanity in the same vein as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Elves and dwarves of different sorts even have powerful strongholds and nations, with gnomes and halflings living in smaller pockets near friendly (and more powerful) neighbors. Even where these races are politically advanced, such as in Celene or the Ulek States, isolationist policies often limit their power to the regions they inhabit. Wicked drow elves often plot mischief against the free world, with other nefarious creatures such as orcs, ogres, giants, and dragons acting as all-purpose enemies. When viewed as a whole, however, the Flanaess appears anthropocentric (or more specifically, humanocentric) despite the presence of so many fantastic species.

Political powers

At the center of this game world stands the Free City of Greyhawk, a city-state once under the domination of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. The Circle of Eight, a select group of wizards, monitor events across the Flanaess, intervening when the balance of power is threatened by extremes of good or evil. Several evil factions still prevail across the sub-continent, including the undead remnants of Aerdy, the wicked demi-god Iuz (who rules his expanding territory, the Empire of Iuz), and the mysterious Scarlet Brotherhood (whose racial purity doctrines and fanatical monasticism invite comparisons with both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan). The orcs and other humanoids of the Pomarj, led by chieftain Turrosh Mak, threaten the Wild Coast and the Ulek states. Among the factions opposing these forces of evil are the major kingdoms of Nyrond, Furyondy, and Keoland as well as numerous smaller states, organizations and individuals.

Publishing history

See also: Greyhawk sources

TSR, Inc. published the first Greyhawk product by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz in 1975 as a supplement booklet to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. There is no significant campaign setting information in this booklet, however. Instead, the supplement focused on game rules that were used in Gygax's Greyhawk campaign. Many of these new rules became standard parts of the AD&D game, including the thief and paladin classes, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells, classic monsters such as the Beholder, many of the standard magic items, etc.

In 1980 the Greyhawk campaign setting was first publicly detailed in The World of Greyhawk folio, which was superseded by the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting boxed set in 1983.

Beginning in Dragon #30 (October 1979), Gygax began writing a periodic column called "From the Sorcerer's Scroll." This series provided additional background for the Greyhawk setting, focusing on the politics of various countries, the individuals who lived there, and other things which brought life to his world.

Between 1978 and 1987, TSR published approximately 30 adventure modules set in the World of Greyhawk. These included three major Greyhawk campaigns, with the Temple of Elemental Evil series (T1-4) being the best known. The Village of Hommlet began players at first level, with successive adventures of increasing difficulty eventually culminating within the temple itself. This campaign would later provide the inspiration for the 2003 Atari PC video game The Temple of Elemental Evil.

Another favorite campaign, A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords, developed out of tournament roleplaying games centering around the Slave Lords, a powerful band of pirates and slavers preying upon the Wild Coast. Gygax's own "GDQ" series brought high-level adventurers against bands of ruthless giants, vile underground kuo-toa, and the drow themselves, ending with a confrontation with the Spider Queen, Lolth. All three series have been repackaged as super-modules, while the originals are prized among collectors.

Other notable offerings include the 1988 Greyhawk Adventures hardback book and The City of Greyhawk boxed set from 1989, which expanded on the detail available for the city for the second edition D&D rules, supplementing the World of Greyhawk boxed set.

While the World of Greyhawk is primarily serious in its scope, one "joke" module, WG7 - Castle Greyhawk includes many references to 20th-century culture, such as characters named "King Burger" and "General Public," as well as "B-Men" monsters that are half-hornet and half-government agent. Other Greyhawk modules such as Dungeonland and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks borrow themes from Lewis Carroll and science fiction respectively.

The Greyhawk Wars period

In 1987, TSR began to emphasize the Forgotten Realms setting, with progressively fewer modules and sourcebooks for Greyhawk - this was regarded by critics as an effort to undermine Greyhawk in order to reduce royalty payments to Gary Gygax. In 1991, however, TSR published the Greyhawk Wars boxed set, followed up by From The Ashes in 1992. These boxed sets detailed the epic Greyhawk Wars between the forces of good and evil in the Flanaess and have a darker tone than previous publications for the setting. These were followed by a series of sourcebooks and adventures by Carl Sargent including The Marklands (detailing the beleaguered Kingdoms of Furyondy and Nyrond), Iuz the Evil and City of Skulls (the latter two dealing with the Empire of Iuz).

This series was soon halted, however, when in 1993 TSR cancelled Sargent's sourcebook on the Great Kingdom, Ivid the Undying, prior to publication. Greyhawk would not return to publication thereafter until 1998 (see "Wizards of the Coast," below).

Fiction

Spurred on by the success of the Dragonlance novels during the mid 1980s, two separate Greyhawk series appeared, penned by Rose Estes and Gary Gygax himself. The latter author's more popular series, beginning with Saga of Old City and Artifact of Evil, focuses on Gord, a rogue from Greyhawk. After leaving TSR in 1986, Gygax continued the Gord series with an independent publisher for a number of years.

Estes took over the TSR series at this point, introducing new characters and going in a different direction than Gygax's independent series. Estes' novels were not completely consistent with the game rules in force at the time, featuring such disallowed combinations as dwarven wizards. The Estes novels also diverged from the setting storyline presented in adventure modules and game sourcebooks. For example, Iuz is slain early on in the Estes series of novels, whereas he remains a primary political force in other TSR products from the period such as Howl from the North and Greyhawk Wars.