Greyhawk

Greyhawk is a fictional world for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. It is one of the earliest of the D&D universes, and much of the rules design occurred 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).

In the Greyhawk universe, the planet Oerth has four continents, but only The Flanaess, the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, is home to "enlightened humanity." However, more recent sourcebooks have explored the enslavement of "less enlightened" natives from outer continents. Several human cultures co-exist, including the Oeridians, Flannae, Bakluni, and Suloise. The latter two cultures sometimes have provided villains, with the Baklunish often resembling Middle-Eastern peoples. The Baklunish and their arch-foes, the Suloise, once fought a devastating war that decimated part of the continent and nearly destroyed both cultures.

Fantasy races also populate the Flanaess, often acting as allies to the good humans 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. Wicked Drow elves often plot mischief against the free world, with other nefarious creatures such as Ogres, Giants and Dragons acting as all-purpose enemies.

At the center of this game world, the Free City of Greyhawk is a free city on the Flanaess, originally under the domination of the 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 evil. Several factions still prevail across the continent, including the undead remnants of Aerdy, the wicked demi-god Iuz (who rules his expanding territory), and the mysterious Scarlet Brotherhood (whose racial purity doctrines and fanatical monasticism invite comparisons with both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan).

Three major Greyhawk campaigns were published in several formats between 1979 and 1987, with the Temple of Elemental Evil series (T 1-4) being the best known. T-1 The Village of Hommlet began players at first level, with successive adventures expanding the campaign beyond the Kron Hills. Another favorite, A 1-4 Against the Slave Lords, developed out of tournament role-playing games centering around 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 herself. All three series have been repackaged as super-modules, while the original folders are prized among collectors.

While the Greyhawk world is primarily serious in its scope, one "joke" module, Castle Greyhawk does include many sly references to 20th-century culture, such as characters named "King Burger" and "General Public," and "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 Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.

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

In 1987, Greyhawk began taking second place to the Forgotten Realms campaign world, with progressively fewer modules and sourcebooks each year. This presaged the second edition of Dungeons and Dragons, along with revisions of Greyhawk campaign material. In 1989, the Free City of Greyhawk received its own campaign setting through several modules and a quality boxed set. In 1992, TSR Hobbies Inc. published From The Ashes, another fine boxed set detailing the epic Greyhawk War against Iuz. Thereafter, the overall quality of Greyhawk material began to wane, with somewhat unpopular modules such as "Rary the Traitor."

Since Wizards of the Coast appropriated the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, their efforts have focused mainly on Forgotten Realms, but some nostalgic interest has become evident with a 2003 Temple of Elemental Evil computer game, and a restatement of the original T 1-4 supermodule by D20 game system designer Monte Cook.

Today, Greyhawk remains popular with hardcore gamers, in spite of the fact other D&D campaign worlds have plundered numerous ideas from Greyhawk. The ever-popular Drow Elves first appeared as villains in several modules set in Oerth, whilst the deities of Greyhawk have become default gods and goddesses in Wizards of the Coast's version of Dungeons and Dragons. Furthermore, Neverwinter Nights features many fan-designed modules set in Greyhawk, or using modules created originally for the first Dungeons & Dragons world.

Major Personages

The Good

• Gord a young rogue from Greyhawk who reluctantly becomes a crusader for good.
• Jallarzi the first woman to join the Circle of Eight, a capable wizard in her own right.
• Melf an elf who violates his queen's isolationist policies to fight wickedness.
• Mordenkainen the Archmage, leader of the Circle of Eight (one of Gygax's early characters)
• Nerof Gasgal the mayor of Greyhawk, a former thief turned politician.
• Tenser another great wizard who actively seeks to rid Oerth of evil.
• Zagyg the mad but benign Arch-Mage who becomes a demi-god. (his name is a play on "Gygax")

The Bad

• Eclavdra, the Drow high priestess fomenting the Giant Rebellion.
• Edralve, another Drow priestess who works with the Slave Lords.
• Obmi, the deranged dwarf assassin who sometimes works for Iuz.
• Rary of Ket, also called Rary the Traitor, former member of the Circle of Eight.
• Robilar, evil warrior allied with Rary, sometimes works with heroes for his own purposes.
• Vecna, Lord of the Spidered Throne, the Whispered One, god of secrets and magic

The Ugly

• Iuz the Old, half-fiend tyrant-god of the land of Iuz.
• Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders, the chief Drow goddess exiled to the Abyss.
• Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungus and Blight, imprisoned in her Temple of Elemental Evil.

See Also

• Deities of Dungeons & Dragons.

Reference

• Gary Gygax, A Guide to the World of Greyhawk (TSR, 1983)
• The City of Greyhawk and From The Ashes and (TSR, 1989, 1992)