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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 6419155" data-attributes="member: 3192">Greyhawk has many distinct forms and they are all slightly different. This is my understanding of it, but there are those more in the know.Originally it was a campaign setting for many of Gary Gygax's campaigns in the early 1970s. It is the where Castle Greyhawk was set and the City of Greyhawk. It was based on the North American continent and centered around the northern Chicago and Lake Geneva WI area. I believe his Castle Zagyg products contains some of this setting especially Yggsburgh which contains references to places in that real locale in true Gygaxian form. Talworth is Walorth for example. The setting was much less defined then and fantastical. The usual example is the Wild Coast was largely unpopulated and had dinosaurs roaming around in it. You'll also find subtle references to well known deities, but then never before heard ones too.Next, Gary penned two game products, the 1980 Folio and 1983 Greyhawk Box Set. These incorporated some aspects of the home setting, but defined a great deal more. Several game modules were set or were taken to be set in this Greyhawk and it's the best one known to fans. Besides the folio, box set, and the module material, which makes up a rich and recognizable setting. The original AD&D books and several early Dragon magazines include bits and pieces of the setting making the D&D game feel like Greyhawk was the actual setting for it. This in part goes back to the original Greyhawk supplement and how optional rules for the world/game defined the setting as much as the places in it. TSR after Gary put out WG7 Castle Greyhawk which upset the fans greatly. It was something of a snub, but some fans do like it. To capitalize on the settings popularity more products were scheduled. Greyhawk Ruins was put together and I believe was built in part from rumors of Gary's Castle Greyhawk material the company didn't have. The hardback Greyhawk Adventures was popular including a lot of fan polled rules and additions. In truth however, this new version of the setting was defined by one man, Carl Sargent. Greyhawk was sort of blown up and pieced back together again as a new setting, sort of a post-WWII world. City of Greyhawk, Greyhawk Wars (a wargame and long history of setting changes), and From the Ashes (the new setting box set), make up the majority of this version of the setting. More modules were published too, generally the later WG lettered products. The difference between the two settings and the bad blood between TSR and Gygax split the fan base for Greyhawk in the 1990s. They might better be seen as two alternate realities where each had their own unique tone and mood and even histories. The latter focused more on the very detailed GH area in From the Ashes, while the other was vast in scope, but far less detailed in many ways. Late 2e era Greyhawk and very early 3e products attempted to merge the two settings back into one incorporating everything ever printed for it. The Players Guide to Greyhawk and The Adventure Begins defined yet another new version of the world. It appears like a broad overview, but includes many subtle differences for those who knew their settings. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer then put together perhaps the best encyclopedic coverage of the entire setting nuts to bolts, but also always from this new perspective. With 3e incorporating Greyhawk as its default world everything 3e published as "standard" might be taken as "all in Greyhawk". Many diety lists do this. Mid-decade of 2000 there was a redo of the Greyhawk Ruins module, which included a lot of lore from all the eras. This followed the new, third style of the setting. Reviews were mixed on it, but it did include some interesting bits deeper in. Afterwards, by 2008 and 4e Greyhawk was dropped.---My best suggestion is to work out with your players the version of Greyhawk that they want. Any home campaign material is for the people playing it. So canon material need only be what you all want it to be. I'm curious what's going to happen in 5e, but I know that healing the rift begun with 2e TSR Greyhawk was long felt to be irreparable. But then the Forgotten Realms has had it's challenges too. I'm guessing they will attempt to be all inclusive, while still allowing groups to run in their own era of the setting. Pinning down what was unique about each is difficult, but it gets to the core of the game. The published 1980 material had a huge fanbase just like D&D and is indicative of the mystery game D&D was at the time. Just as much the more literary setting Sargent wrote was indicative of 2e D&D and how players look at D&D then.</blockquote>

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