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Greyhawk: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Common questions
When did Gary Gygax create the first level of Castle Greyhawk?
Gary Gygax created the first level of Castle Greyhawk in the late autumn of 1972. He invited his children Ernie and Elise to explore the dungeon he had just drawn on a piece of paper during a family game night.
What is the difference between the original Greyhawk map and the World of Greyhawk?
The original Greyhawk map was a direct overlay on the real-world map of North America with the city of Greyhawk placed near Chicago. The World of Greyhawk was a completely new world called Oerth that Gygax decided to develop from scratch in 1978.
Who were the members of the Circle of Eight in the Greyhawk setting?
The Circle of Eight included Mordenkainen, Yrag, Bigby, Rigby, Zigby, Felnorith, Vram, and Vin. These eight characters pooled their resources to construct the Obsidian Citadel in the middle of an evil land.
Which deities were the first to be published in the Greyhawk campaign?
Saint Cuthbert and Pholtus were the first deities to be published in the Greyhawk campaign. A shrine to Saint Cuthbert appeared in Chapter 2 of The Gnome Cache in the second issue of The Dragon.
What happened to Robilar after he conquered the Temple of Elemental Evil?
Robilar freed the demoness Zuggtmoy from her prison at the center of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Gygax punished him by having an army pursue Robilar back to his castle, which he had to abandon.
When was the Living Greyhawk campaign active?
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 drawn on a piece of paper, unaware that this family game night would birth the most influential role-playing setting in history. The children, playing as Tenser and Ahlissa, ventured into the first level of what would become Castle Greyhawk, encountering a nest of scorpions in the rubble of the very first room. Elise's character used a dagger to poke around, spotting the creatures, and when one stung her, she made her poison saving throw. They found a chest of 3,000 copper coins that was too heavy to carry, a disappointment that Gygax recalled with amusement. After the children went to bed, Gygax immediately began working on a second level, and within a month, the dungeon had expanded to include thirteen levels filled with devious traps, secret passageways, and monsters like giant centipedes and hordes of kobolds. The bottom level, number thirteen, contained an inescapable slide that transported players to the far side of the world, a feature that only three players ever reached: Rob Kuntz playing Robilar, Ernie playing Tenser, and Terry Kuntz playing Terik. These three adventurers faced a long solo trek back to the city of Greyhawk, a journey that became the stuff of legend among the dozen players who crowded Gygax's basement every night. The dungeon was not just a game; it was a living, breathing entity that Gygax and his co-Dungeon Master Rob Kuntz expanded to over fifty levels, integrating Rob's work into the original design and creating a labyrinth that would never be fully published but would inspire generations of gamers.
From North America To Oerth
The geography of the original Greyhawk campaign was not a fantasy world but a direct overlay on the real-world map of North America, with the city of Greyhawk placed near Chicago and the rival city of Dyvers located where Milwaukee would be. Gygax envisioned his world as a parallel Earth, with the West Coast of North America serving as a Pleistocene region inhabited by savage cavemen and their contemporary fauna. This initial map was a rough sketch, drawn over a map of North America, and it was not until 1978 that Gygax decided to redevelop Oerth from scratch, creating an entirely new world that would become the foundation of the World of Greyhawk. The new world, Oerth, had an axial tilt of 30 degrees, causing greater seasonal temperature variation than on Earth, and was controlled by wizardly and divine magic that shifted weather patterns to be more favorable to the populace. Gygax decided to concentrate his first efforts on the continent of Oerik, and he asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle; the answer was 34 by 22 inches. He found that, using the scale he desired, he could fit only the northeast corner of Oerik on two of the sheets, a limitation that led to the creation of the Flanaess, the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, which would become the setting for dozens of adventures published between the 1970s and 2000s. The Flanaess was named after the peaceful people known as the Flannae who had once lived there, and Gygax added many more new regions, countries, and cities, bringing the number of political states to 60. He sometimes resorted to wordplay based on the names of friends and acquaintances, such as Perrenland named after Jeff Perren, Urnst a homophone of Ernst, and Sunndi a near-homophone of Cindy. The original Castle Greyhawk was never published for public play, instead with many of the elements of Gygax's original campaign becoming the seed for other adventures, and the world itself was used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000 to 2008.
The Living Greyhawk campaign was active from 2000 to 2008. It was a massively shared campaign that used the World of Greyhawk setting for many adventures published in support of the game.
When the characters in Gygax's home campaign had accumulated enough wealth to construct a stronghold and a standing army that rivalled most nations' forces, he gathered all eight of the characters together as the Circle of Eight. The group included Mordenkainen, a wizard; Yrag, a fighter; Bigby, a wizard; Rigby, a cleric; Zigby, a dwarf; Felnorith, a fighter; Vram, an elf; and Vin, an elf. Pooling their resources, Gygax had the Eight construct a stronghold in the middle of an evil land so they would not have to travel far to find adventure. After three years of game time, the result was the Obsidian Citadel, an octagonal castle which housed the Circle of Eight and their armies. The Obsidian Citadel was indeed Gygax's personal creation as a player, an octagonal castle with eight wall towers and a central keep with much space between the outer wall and the inner works because of the number of troops housed in this fortress. After Gygax was ousted from TSR, Carl Sargent and Rik Rose remolded Gygax's old Circle of Eight in The City of Greyhawk boxed set into a new plot device. Instead of a group of eight companions belonging to Gygax, who sallied forth from an impregnable bastion to fight evil, the Circle became eight wizards brought together by Gygax's own creation now owned by TSR, Mordenkainen. Game designer Ken Rolston described this new Circle of Eight as a powerful and influential local organization of wizards, and Wolfgang Baur found the Circle of Eight a small but knowledgeable organization, central to the mythos of the Greyhawk setting, with all its members being important. The Circle of Eight was a testament to the power of the characters Gygax had created, and their legacy continued to influence the game long after the original campaign had ended.
Gods And Demons
One facet of culture that Gygax did not address during the first few years of his home campaign was organized religion, and since his campaign was largely built around the needs of lower-level characters, he did not think specific deities were necessary. Some of his players took matters into their own hands, calling upon Norse or Greek gods such as Odin or Zeus, or even Conan's Crom in times of dire need. Gygax jokingly created two gods: Saint Cuthbert, who brought non-believers around to his point of view with whacks of his cudgel, and Pholtus, whose fanatical followers refused to believe that any other gods existed. Because both of these deities represented aspects of Good, Gygax eventually created a few evil deities to provide some villainy. In Chapter 2 of The Gnome Cache, which appeared in the second issue of The Dragon, a shrine to St. Cuthbert was mentioned, which was the first published reference to a Greyhawk deity. In the August 1982 issue of Dragon, Gygax gave advice on how to adapt deities from the previously published Deities and Demigods for worship by non-human races in the Greyhawk world. A few months later, he published a five-part series of articles in the November 1982 through March 1983 issues of Dragon that outlined a pantheon of deities custom-made for humans in the world of Greyhawk. In addition to his original Greyhawk deities, St. Cuthbert and Pholtus, Gygax added seventeen more deities. Although later versions of the campaign setting would assign most of these deities to worship by specific races of humans, at this time they were generally worshiped by all humans of the Flanaess. The pantheon of deities was a crucial part of the Greyhawk setting, and it provided a framework for the players to interact with the world in a meaningful way. The deities were not just abstract concepts; they were active participants in the world, and their influence could be felt in every aspect of the game.
The Temple Of Elemental Evil
Robilar, a fighter belonging to Rob Kuntz, was the first to enter Gygax's Temple of Elemental Evil, and he conquered it completely. Robilar also freed the demoness Zuggtmoy from her prison at the centre of the Temple, an act that Gygax was very dismayed about. Kuntz later related that Gygax was very dismayed that his masterpiece dungeon had been destroyed by a single adventurer, and as punishment, Gygax had an army pursue Robilar back to his castle, which he had to abandon. Robilar also lost possession of the Green Dragon Inn, and the city, at the instigation of those Good forces, especially Tenser, had the Green Dragon confiscated. The Temple of Elemental Evil was a testament to the power of the players, and it was a reminder that the world of Greyhawk was not just a game but a living, breathing entity that could be shaped by the actions of the players. The temple was a place of great danger, and it was a place where the players could test their skills and their courage. The temple was also a place where the players could make a difference, and it was a place where the players could change the world. The temple was a place where the players could make a name for themselves, and it was a place where the players could make a legacy.
The World Of Greyhawk Folio
In 1980, TSR published The World of Greyhawk folio, a 32-page booklet that contained no material about the Greyhawk campaign world other than two brief references. The folio was an expansion of the Dungeon & Dragons rules that contained no material about the Greyhawk campaign world other than two brief references, and it was an expansion of the rules for Dungeons & Dragons based on their play experiences in the Greyhawk campaign. Although it detailed new spells and character classes that had been developed in the dungeons of Greyhawk, it did not contain any details of their Greyhawk campaign world. The only two references to Greyhawk were an illustration of a large stone head in a dungeon corridor titled The Great Stone Face, Enigma of Greyhawk and mention of a fountain on the second level of the dungeons that continuously issued an endless number of snakes. The 2004 publication 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons suggested that details of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign were published in this booklet, but Gygax had no plans in 1975 to publish details of the Greyhawk world, since he believed that new players of Dungeons & Dragons would rather create their own worlds than use someone else's. Gygax was surprised when he found out that players wanted to use Greyhawk as their campaign world, and he was taken aback when he was asked by TSR to do his World of Greyhawk as a commercial product. He had assumed most DMs would far prefer to use their own world settings, and he did not want to publish all the material he had created for his players. He thought he would be unlikely to recoup a fair investment for the thousands of hours he had spent on it, and since his secrets would be revealed to his players, he would be forced to recreate a new world for them afterward. The folio was a testament to the power of the players, and it was a reminder that the world of Greyhawk was not just a game but a living, breathing entity that could be shaped by the actions of the players.
The Legacy Of Greyhawk
The World of Greyhawk was used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000 to 2008. The setting was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, and it was a testament to the power of the players. The setting was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, and it was a reminder that the world of Greyhawk was not just a game but a living, breathing entity that could be shaped by the actions of the players. The setting was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, and it was a legacy that would continue to influence the game long after the original campaign had ended. The setting was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, and it was a legacy that would continue to influence the game long after the original campaign had ended. The setting was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, and it was a legacy that would continue to influence the game long after the original campaign had ended.