Greyhawk
In the late autumn of 1972, Gary Gygax invited his eleven-year-old son Ernie and nine-year-old daughter Elise to explore a dungeon he had just sketched beneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk. They played their first session around 9 PM, fighting giant centipedes and scorpions in rubble that glinted with coins. The children found an iron chest filled with three thousand copper pieces but could not carry it away. After they went upstairs to bed, Gygax stayed in his study to design a second level for the dungeon. A month later, he created the nearby city of Greyhawk where players could sell treasure and rest. By November or December 1972, Dave Arneson traveled from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to pitch his own fantasy campaign to Gygax. Gygax was immediately intrigued by the concept of individual characters exploring a dungeon setting. He agreed to co-develop rules with Arneson and quickly designed his own castle and dungeon called Castle Greyhawk within his portion of the Great Kingdom map. Two of his children were the first players, followed by friends Don Kaye, Rob Kuntz, and Terry Kuntz about a month after the initial session. Play sessions occurred seven or more times a week, sometimes drawing over twenty gamers into his basement on weekends. Gygax appointed Rob Kuntz as co-Dungeon Master to manage the large player groups while he participated as a player himself. They created characters like Yrag and Mordenkainen during this period. In order to make room for Rob Kuntz's dungeons, Gygax scrapped his bottom level and integrated Rob's work into the expanded complex. By 1985, when the home campaign drew to a close, the castle dungeons encompassed more than fifty levels.
Oerth has an axial tilt of thirty degrees which causes greater seasonal temperature variation than on Earth. Wizardly and divine magic shifts weather patterns to be more favorable to the populace across the planet. The continent of Oerik contains four distinct regions including the Flanaess in its eastern part. This region acts as the setting for dozens of adventures published between the 1970s and 2000s. The map included arctic wastes, desert, temperate forests, tropical jungles, mountainous cordillera, seas and oceans, rivers, archipelagos and volcanoes. A thousand years before the campaign began, the northeast corner of the continent was occupied by peaceful but primitive people called the Flannae. Far to the west of the Flanaess, two peoples were at war: the Bakluni and the Suloise. Both sides used powerful magic to obliterate each other in an event called the Twin Cataclysms. Refugees of these disasters were forced out of their lands, and the Suloise invaded the Flanaess forcing the Flannae to flee to the outer edges of the continent. Several centuries later a new invader appeared, the Oeridians, who forced the Suloise southward. One tribe of the Oeridians, the Aerdi, began to set up an empire that eventually ruled most of the Flanaess. The current state of affairs in the Flanaess is confused indeed with humankind fragmented into isolationist realms, indifferent nations, evil lands, and states striving for good.
Mordenkainen came into being about the first month of 1973 and became Gygax's favorite character. His name was drawn from Finnish mythology after Gygax saw a black-and-white movie done by Russians about Vainomoinen, Leminkainen, and Ilmarinen adventuring to Pojola. Mordenkainen earned his twenty-something levels through cleverness, daring, luck, and dint of trying. Various spells from the first edition bear his name such as Mordenkainen's faithful hound and Mordenkainen's sword. Bigby started life as an evil low-level wizard non-player character in Rob Kuntz's dungeons before Mordenkainen subduing him. After a long time and several adventures, Mordenkainen convinced Bigby to leave his evil ways behind. Thereafter, Gygax developed Bigby into a powerful wizard second only to Mordenkainen. For a time all names of Mordenkainen's future henchmen had to rhyme with Bigby resulting in Zigby the dwarf, Rigby the cleric, Sigby Griggbyson the fighter, Nigby, and Digby. Murlynd was created for the second-ever session beneath Castle Greyhawk in 1972 by Don Kaye. Although gunpowder was not allowed, Murlynd carried two magical wands that made loud noises and delivered small but deadly missiles. Robilar was a fighter belonging to Rob Kuntz who became the secret owner of the Green Dragon Inn in the city of Greyhawk. He was the first to reach the thirteenth level of Gygax's original dungeon and freed nine demi-gods including Iuz, Ralishaz, Trithereon, Erythnul, Olidammara, Heironeous, Celestian, Hextor, and Obad-Hai. Tenser was a wizard played by Ernie who became the second character to reach the bottom level when he noticed Robilar was missing.
The World of Greyhawk folio edition was released in August 1980 after being originally intended for early 1979. It consisted of a thirty-two-page booklet and a thirty-four-inch by forty-four-inch two-piece color map of the Flanaess. Reviewers were generally impressed but some remarked on the lack of a pantheon of Greyhawk-specific deities as well as any mention of the infamous dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. In 1983 TSR published an expanded boxed set which quadrupled the number of pages from the original edition to one hundred twenty-eight. This edition added significantly greater detail including a pantheon of deities that brought the total count to fifty. Between editions from 1980 to 1983, Gygax used his column From the Sorcerer's Scroll in Dragon Magazine to provide quick overviews of development. The first two articles covering seventeen regions appeared in December 1981 and January 1982 issues while Rob Kuntz covered the remaining forty-three regions in March July and September 1982. In November 1982 through March 1983 a five-part series outlined a pantheon of deities custom-made for humans in the world of Greyhawk. In addition to St. Cuthbert and Pholtus, Gygax added seventeen more deities. Although later versions would assign most of these deities to worship by specific races, at this time they were generally worshiped by all humans of the Flanaess. The setting remained associated with Dungeons & Dragons publications until 2008 when official support was discontinued.
St. Cuthbert was more of a joke than otherwise bringing non-believers around to his point of view with whacks of his cudgel. Pholtus had fanatical followers who refused to believe that any other gods existed. Because both represented aspects of Good, Gygax eventually created evil deities to serve as villains and frustrate the aims of player characters. Mictlantecuhtli was god of death darkness murder and the underworld introduced in the adventure module C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. Tezcatlipoca was god of sun moon night scheming betrayals and lightning while Quetzalcoatl was god of air birds and snakes. This area was further explored in The Scarlet Brotherhood which expanded the Olman pantheon and newly introduced the Touv people including their nine gods. In Chapter 2 of The Gnome Cache a shrine to St. Cuthburt was mentioned as the first published reference to a Greyhawk deity. The development of anything akin to a logical pantheon took a considerable period of time because they seldom dealt with such entities in play. Players called upon Norse or Greek gods such as Odin or Zeus or even Conan's Crom in times of dire need before Gygax codified specific deities.
The World of Greyhawk remained associated with Dungeons & Dragons publications until 2008 when official support ended. RPGA ran a massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000 to 2008 using the setting for many adventures. In 1988, Gygax destroyed Greyhawk's Oerth and replaced it with a new fantasy world of Yarth in his novel Dance of Demons. Game designer Ken Rolston described the Circle of Eight as a powerful and influential local organization of wizards after Carl Sargent and Rik Rose remolded Gygax's old group into a plot device. Wolfgang Baur found the Circle of Eight small but knowledgeable central to the mythos of the Greyhawk setting with all members being important. The original Castle Greyhawk was never officially published outside of Gygax's home campaign despite fan curiosity about its contents. Details of the dungeons were glimpsed in articles written by Gygax for the European fanzine Europa in 1975 describing thirteen levels filled with traps secret passageways hungry monsters and glittering treasure. Only three players ever made it to the bottom level and met Zagyg the insane architect of the dungeons during solo adventures.
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Common questions
When did Gary Gygax create the first session of Castle Greyhawk?
Gary Gygax created the first session of Castle Greyhawk in the late autumn of 1972. The children played their first session around 9 PM fighting giant centipedes and scorpions in rubble that glinted with coins.
Who were the first players to explore Castle Greyhawk besides Gary Gygax's children?
The first players to explore Castle Greyhawk besides Gary Gygax's children included friends Don Kaye, Rob Kuntz, and Terry Kuntz about a month after the initial session. Play sessions occurred seven or more times a week sometimes drawing over twenty gamers into his basement on weekends.
What is the axial tilt of Oerth compared to Earth?
Oerth has an axial tilt of thirty degrees which causes greater seasonal temperature variation than on Earth. Wizardly and divine magic shifts weather patterns to be more favorable to the populace across the planet.
When was the World of Greyhawk folio edition released?
The World of Greyhawk folio edition was released in August 1980 after being originally intended for early 1979. It consisted of a thirty-two-page booklet and a thirty-four-inch by forty-four-inch two-piece color map of the Flanaess.
Which deities were introduced in The Scarlet Brotherhood expansion?
The Scarlet Brotherhood expanded the Olman pantheon and newly introduced the Touv people including their nine gods. This area further explored Mictlantecuhtli Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl as part of the new religious additions.