At gaming tables everywhere, the future of the Greyhawk setting turns on the rolls of dice and the actions of thousands of Dungeons & Dragons players.
This comprehensive sourcebook contains everything you need to get started in the RPGA Network's exciting Living Greyhawk shared world campaign.
Inside you'll find descriptions of dozens of nations and scores of deities, as well as hundreds of adventure hooks to get heores immersed in the dangers of the world. In the Living Greyhawk campaign, you determine the fate of the Flanaess. It's your world!
Great Resource! This is one of the best DnD resource manuals I have found. Full of great info and written in a way that is enoyable to read!
Still one of the best fantasy gaming worlds. The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (LGG hereafter) is the latest incarnation of one of the very first published roleplaying campaign settings. Initially released in the early 1980s, Greyhawk had its start as the homebrew setting of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator E. Gary Gygax and was the primal stomping ground from which many of the game's most distinctive offbeat tropes emerged.
How does this venerable setting hold up after more than twenty-five years? Remarkably well, all things considered.
Before we proceed any further, however, into what the LGG is, I want to make it very clear what it is not:
1. The LGG is not a "crunchy" book. This alone sets it apart from not only most other D&D products, but most other roleplaying books period. The LGG contains not one single new prestige class, spell, feat, magic item, or monster. In fact, it also doesn't include statistics for any of the various NPCs mentioned throughout the text. Not a one. The writers had only 192 pages to work with and apparently chose to forsake such things entirely in favor of packing the LGG to the gills with details on history, cultures, politics, theology, and geography. Whether this is a strength or a weakness is up to you. Personally, as someone who enjoys D&D-style games without D&D-style rules, I found this virtually systemless format to be ideal for use with other rulesets.
2. The LGG is not a pretty book. Despite beautiful cover art, the LGG is far from pleasing to the eye overall. Moreover, it's softcover, a turn-off for some.
3. While the LGG does present the framework of a great campaign, there is no attempt made to match the sheer level of minute detail present in settings like Forgotten Realms and Kingdoms of Kalamar. Rather, the LGG's focus is on the big picture: Gods, geography and broad national and ethnic divisions. If you want a setting that details every little rut in the backroads, Greyhawk is simply not it. As someone who specifically doesn't want a world with a "canon" answer to everthing and few real mysteries and spaces left to fill-in myself, this aspect appeals to me. In the end, there's no right answer. It all comes down to how much setting detail is not enough for you, how much is too much, and how much is just right.
4. Greyhawk is not "fresh", "new", or "out there." As the original home of most of the classic Gygaxian D&D tropes, Greyhawk doesn't feature the clever (and often more than a little subversive) takes on them that defined such settings as Spelljammer and Planescape. If you still enjoy thoroughly "vanilla" D&D-style gaming, Greyhawk may be the world for you. If you don't, keep looking.
Now that the disclaimers are out of the wat, there's a lot I like about the World of Greyhawk.
Firstly, it has a nice feel to it. While not truly "dark fantasy" like, say, Ravenloft or Midnight, Greyhawk has a very gritty, dangerous tone about it. True strongholds of good are few and far between and there's a real sense that the only reason evil hasn't overwhelmed the entire continent yet is because its various factions don't work together too well.
To borrow an old cliche, there's a lot of "gray" in Greyhawk. The city of Rel Astra is ruled by a reanimated corpse and his advisor, a two-headed demon. The people don't seem to mind, though, because while technically "evil", he's also a damn fine mayor. Greyhawk is just the kind of world where evil guys sometimes make better landlords.
Another good example is the Theocracy of the Pale, a nation run by clerics of the Lawful Good god Pholtus. Sounds like a nice place, right? Wrong. Turns out that Pholtus is a great guy...as long as you happen to believe that his way is the One True Way. Disagree and you'll be handed over to the Inquisition before you know it. Bad times. In fact, the Pale would be much more likely to unite with a band of Lawful Evil Hextorians to wipe out some Chaotic Good elves than vice-versa, as disorder and lack of respect for Law are much more offensive to their stern god than Evil. Overall, only the Planescape setting does a better job supporting the oft-neglected Law-Neutrality-Chaos axis of the D&D alignment system.
All this adds up to a lot of potenial angles a good GM can work. A group with a hankering for a straightforward Tolkien-style "stop the Big Bad Evil Guy" campaign can be pitted against Iuz. One that wants more politics and less "Good versus Evil" can choose beween a number of good or neutral nations that go to war all the time over the very same religious, ethnic, nationalistic, or economic pretenses that abound in our own history. One that just wants to ignore the big picture altogether in favor of rooting around in dungeons is well-provided for, as well.
Furthermore, Greyhawk has virtually no major NPC heroes in its canon. Most of the good NPCs described in the book are rulers. As politicians, they can't just grab a sword and march off to slay orcs. The closest thing the setting has to "iconic NPCs" are the various mages of the Circle of Eight, but they're far from do-gooders. In fact, thier philosophy of militant neutrality makes them just as likely to oppose a PC group as help one on its way. This is bound to appeal to gamers disillusioned with settings like Forgotten Realms where dozens of esablished crusading superhero NPCs can sometimes make PC heroes feel unneeded. Overall, the abundance of evil and lack of super-competent NPC adventurers combines to paint Greyhawk as a world badly in need of heroes, and not just any heroes, but your PCs. I dig that.
Finally, Greyhawk has a comfy "lived-in" feel that any old D&D veteran can appreciate. Vecna hails from here, as do Mordenkainen, Tenser, and a host of other famous names from the dawn of fantasy roleplaying. Not to mention places like the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Tomb of Horrors, and the Barrier Peaks and legendry artifacts like the Rod of Seven Parts and the Orbs of Dragonkind. More than any other setting I can think of, Greyhawk has a profound sense of glorious history.
Overall, I heartily recommend the LGG. Despite a few nagging problems like poor interior art, the lack of an index, and little attention paid to nonhuman gods, the world itself is a compelling and believable one with a great deal of flexability and character. If "vanilla" D&D is your idea of a good time, this oldie is still a goodie.
Changing the Perception of Our Attitudes, Living the Greyhawk Campaign. A gentleman writes about his concern over Wizards of the West Coast decision to turn over Greyhawk to the RPGA. The major focus of his review was for the most part positive. He cited the authors devotion to detail for each of the countries and expressed his admiration over such detail concerns as Orc populations in a particular region. The Gazateer, to me, represents an ongoing creative impetus began by those wily Wizards of the West Coast, that has caught on so well that many, many, many volumes and texts now exist describing events in the Greyhawk setting. I like the adherance to what the game was all about, campaigning over vast expanses of territory and encountering diverse situations. I also like the idea that if this campaign setting were turned over to the RPGA, the possibilities and potential for growth and expansion in each of the character core classes would be limitless. Having a real world wide organization handle the duties of gathering information and bring in new and prospective players to the Greyhawk setting takes a great deal of the work out of the game for players and Dungeon Masters alike and puts the fun back into role playing. I enjoy reading the Gazette from my own home town. It keeps me in touch with others in the community, as well as informed about events that occur around the world. What a great way to chronicle events in an imaginary world where real individuals and groups participate to play out fictional characters, storylines, and events. Indeed it does happen to be refreshing that Greyhawk has remained true to its principles, even to the point of having minimal room for such classes as ninjas. Great work guys, keep it up! Patrick Driscoll, Admirer of the Greyhawk Lineage.
Highly Recommended! This is an excellent sourcebook for a number of reasons. First of all, it focuses very strongly on the organizations, heroes, and villains that make the wheels in this dynamic campaign setting turn. For that alone, it is an excellent resource for Dungeon Masters. Second, while it centers on stories, it is light on rules, giving the Dungeon Master the uptmost flexibility for running his campaign when deciding what to allow and what not to allow. Finally, it is a quite compelling read. You'll find yourself immersed in the lore of the Ur-Flan, delving into the mysteries that keep the Silent Ones of Keoland so silent, amused by the bickering of the gods, and delighted by the heroic exploits of organizations like the Circle of the Eight and the Knights of the Holy Shielding. This is a must-have for any D&D fan. If you're a long-time fan of Greyhawk, you'll happily reminesce of days gone past while seeing what your favorite heroes and villains have been up to. If you're new to the setting, you'll find yourself in a world full of life, vigor, and rich history the likes of which will leave you thirsting for adventure.
Mona and Holian are spot on. In the long history of the Greyhawk canon there are many books that shine, and this is no exception. The writing duo of Mona and Holian is simply brilliant; they approach the matter of Greyhawk with the utmost care, detailing every aspect of change over the last twenty years and proving what a deeply engrossing world Greyhawk truly is. You'll spend many hours enjoying this book. Let's hope for another Greyhawk release soon.
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