Questions after Reading the Greyhawk Gazetteer

[Neverwinter Knight]

Hi folks,

I recently bought the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and was surprised about some of the changes that took place after the Greyhawk Wars.

In the book I missed some "behind the scenes" information (which they probably excluded to give us DMs more room for our own stuff), and for some of the questions I am turning to you now:

1. What happened in Rauxes? Is Ivid dead?

2. What is the Egg of Coot that has assumed power in Blackmore?

3. What's the deal with Prince Thrommel? Did the Scarlet Brotherhood catch him (as the book suggests) and sell him to Iuz & the Temple of Elemental Evil or is that just a ruse?

4. Why is Drax of Rel Astra so kind? I thought he was a chaotic evil animus?


So this is just four of them, I'll post more later. I'd appreciate some (official) Living Greyhawk insights, but am also willing to settle for speculation !!!


da kNIgHT

 

[Erik Mona]

>>>
1. What happened in Rauxes? Is Ivid dead?
>>>

This has been left deliberately vague. Priests of Hextor _announced_ that Ivid was dead, which triggered a mad power rush to the capital. That event swallowed the city in magical chaos, trapping such luminaries as Duke Szeffrin, Ivid V (assuming he still lives), Xaene the two-headed lich, Holy Censor Spidasa (late of Medegia), and Emasstus Carcossa (high priest of Pholtus), several of whom probably still languish in a Rauxes dungeon.

>>>
2. What is the Egg of Coot that has assumed power in Blackmore?
>>>

The Egg of Coot was a character in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign. Gygax later added Blackmoor to Greyhawk. When Fred Weining wrote that section, he harvested certain details from Arneson's basic D&D adventures. The Egg of Dave's original Blackmoor campaign (as detailed in the Judges Guild product "First Fantasy Campaign") was many things, the most obvious of which seems to be a pretty harsh parody of E. Gary Gygax. In Living Greyhawk, he's an enigmatic, probably alien creature with several different insanities.

To get a better idea of what Fred was going for in his writeup, you might want to check out an online article he wrote on the subject some years back. A google search for "Blackmoor" and "psychlops" and "Oerth Journal" ought to turn it up.

>>>
3. What's the deal with Prince Thrommel? Did the Scarlet Brotherhood catch him (as the book suggests) and sell him to Iuz & the Temple of Elemental Evil or is that just a ruse?
>>>

This is one of those mysteries that has been a part of the setting since 1983. In hindsight, we should have resolved the issue difinitively in the LGG (I would have probably unified Veluna and Furyondy once and for all). Thrommel was in fact trapped in the Temple of Elemental Evil, and appears there in the original adventure. He also appears, somewhat modified, in Monte Cook's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. The issue of how he got to the temple is not covered in either source, but I suggest that he in part led the forces of weal at the Battle of Emridy Meadows, which made him lots of enemies in the temple. They somehow got their paws into him at a later date (573 CY, I believe, the battle taking place in 569 CY).

>>>
4. Why is Drax of Rel Astra so kind? I thought he was a chaotic evil animus?
>>>

I'd love to do more with Drax in the Journal. He's evil, but his is a calculating, Machiavellian evil. You might think that Drax is acting like a good guy now, but rest assured, he's going to come out winning in the end.

--Erik

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

I must say that there is really nothing quite like a definitive answer!

 

[WizarDru]

This has been left deliberately vague.

[snippings galore]

The Egg of Coot was a character in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor
campaign.

[ye olde snippage]

I'd love to do more with Drax in the Journal. He's evil, but his is a calculating, Machiavellian evil. You might think that Drax is acting like a good guy now, but rest assured, he's going to come out winning in the end.

Always good to hear the straight scoop, Erik. Gracias. Personally, I'm glad such stuff is left vague...it allows me to embelish and customize, but with great starting points.

In my game, the players only just put down the Egg of Coot (though he resembles no previous version at all) in the Land of Black Ice. Rauxes is currently a base for St. Kargoth and one of the chief villians of my campaign (a fellow name Chavram who is collecting the binders of the Suel Empire). Drax hasn't actually appeared in game, but he has made diplomatic advances towards one of the players, in hopes of marrying his daughter to that character. Since that character is a cleric of Pelor, he's more than a little put-off on the idea. Killing your father-in-law during the wedding is considered bad taste in Ahlissa.

But hey, don't take my word for it: follow this shameless plug for our Story-hour. This link takes you to page 5, the beginning of our 'Divine Wrath' storyline, featuring the Egg of Coot, amongst others.

 

[WizarDru]

You might think that Drax is acting like a good guy now, but rest assured, he's going to come out winning in the end.

--Erik

Quick question, Erik: Did you get a chance to see Kenzer's D&D comic 'Company of Dragons'? If so, how did you feel about Drax's appearance therein (i.e. Did you think the character resembled Drax as you envision him)?

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Wow, thanks Erik, there's no one better to answer the questions than you !!!

QUOTE]That event swallowed the city in magical chaos, trapping such luminaries as Duke Szeffrin, Ivid V (assuming he still lives), Xaene the two-headed lich, Holy Censor Spidasa (late of Medegia), and Emasstus Carcossa (high priest of Pholtus), several of whom probably still languish in a Rauxes dungeon.[/QUOTE]

What would a character see when approaching Rauxes? Are there many visual effects, like white fire, lightning and stuff or is it just a big city totally in ruins? I cannot seem to get the picture.

I congratulate you on this move, since it has made the Flanaess (especially the Great Kingdom) playable again.

Now that you pointed it out, there will be a great deal of fighting going on, at least in the Rauxes core - if I remember correctly, Spidasa and Emasstus were sentenced to Endless Death and and probably howling mad by now. If they also joined the fight...
I am thinking what a great setting for a high level adventure this would make !!!

-----------------------

Another question: Why did the Brotherhood loose so much of their gained territory? I would have thought them prepared for anything... Was that played out or decided?

-----------------------

AND THANKS FOR THE MAP !!! Nicely detailed and everything.

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

WizarDru,

Meepo, I like the sound of that

There was a story hour I used to read...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

hatschu ***bump ***

 

[Ysgarran]

>>>
3. What's the deal with Prince Thrommel? Did the Scarlet Brotherhood catch him (as the book suggests) and sell him to Iuz & the Temple of Elemental Evil or is that just a ruse?
>>>
Thrommel was in fact trapped in the Temple of Elemental Evil, and appears there in the original adventure. He also appears, somewhat modified, in Monte Cook's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
--Erik

Are you suggesting that the current news in LG may not be up to date? Temple of E seemed to suggest the possibility of one result while LG seemed to end up with another.

Did that make sense?

later,
Ysgarran.

 

[Erik Mona]

I'm going to cut and paste a number of questions into this response. Please forgive me if I don't give everyone's question the fullest attention.

>>>
Quick question, Erik: Did you get a chance to see Kenzer's D&D comic 'Company of Dragons'? If so, how did you feel about Drax's appearance therein (i.e. Did you think the character resembled Drax as you envision him)?
>>>

I was asked to look over some of the earlier scripts for continuity issues. I believe I looked at numbers 2, 3, and 4. At the time, the writer didn't really have a strong grasp of who Drax was--in the first issue (the script for which I saw too late to forward comments), Drax is sort of a generic king figure, who may as well be a good guy. I made sure the authors had the section from Ivid the Undying on Rel Astra, as well as the LGG Rel Astra section. By issue 3 or 4, the comic shows Drax feeding his starving people rotten food from a surplus warehouse.

That's more like it.

>>>
What would a character see when approaching Rauxes? Are there many visual effects, like white fire, lightning and stuff or is it just a big city totally in ruins? I cannot seem to get the picture.
>>>

I honestly haven't decided, yet. I've a strong hankering to write a big adventure set in the city, and will most likely have to decide sooner rather than later. Until then, I suppose my answer would be "whatever's right for your campaign." If you're playing a low fantasy game, maybe you don't want the place lit up like Sea World at night. If your game allows for some high fantasy elements, why not make it look incredibly alien and weird?

>>>
I congratulate you on this move, since it has made the Flanaess (especially the Great Kingdom) playable again.
>>>

The change to Rauxes was Roger Moore's, and debuted in Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins. Credit where it's due, and all that.

>>>
Another question: Why did the Brotherhood loose so much of their gained territory? I would have thought them prepared for anything... Was that played out or decided?
>>>

Mostly decided. Among the biggest complaints about the Greyhawk Wars and From the Ashes was bewliderment over the rapid spread of the Scarlet Brotherhood. We decided to mix things up a bit to pull back some of their gains. Incidentally, I specifically changed the Horned Society to a "hidden" society to make up for the fact that the Brotherhood "outed" themselves so significantly during the Greyhawk Wars. I always liked the idea of secret enemies lurking in courtrooms and back alleys, and the Society now fills that role. (As does the so-called Black Brotherhood mentioned in the Conflicts & Intrigues section of the Scarlet Brotherhood entry--they sort of Scarlet Brotherhooded the Scarlet Brotherhood.)

>>>
Are you suggesting that the current news in LG may not be up to date? Temple of E seemed to suggest the possibility of one result while LG seemed to end up with another.
>>>

Interestingly, I'm currently in an email conversation with the Furyondy triad over their plans for Prince Thrommel. I don't know whether they'd prefer to have him dead or alive, but it's really up to them, insofar as the official Living Greyhawk campaign is concerned. Of course, what's best for your personal campaign should dictate Thrommel's fate at your own game tables.

Thanks for these great questions, guys!

--Erik