Caliburn101
Explorer
Greyhawk is a child of the first two editions, and these punished you more for making mistakes, required more advanced planning as things were not balanced and CR didn't exist yet, not to mention it was grittier and less light vs. dark and more grey versus grey with only the very worst things that want to end existence (Tharizdun) or reshape reality into a nightmare (Vecna) forcing the various factions in the world to unite against them.
The most powerful group of wizards in the world are called the Circle of Eight, and are lead by Mordenkainen, the wizard of uber fame and he is NOT like Elminster. Elminster is the philosophical hippy to Mordenkainen's hard -bitten goth.
Greyhawk's post apocalypse (Baklunish vs. Suel) is on a grander, more hateful scale than Forgotten Realms fall of Netheril, and it deals with prejudice on a more adult (aka. Game of Thrones) way. The 'good guys' can ride over the hill to save you one minute, and betray you the next. To put it in FR terms - if you were to list the Factions of Greyhawk, they would be much more morally ambiguous. Also, the issue of feudalism and nobility is much more prevalent too - you don't even qualify for the same treatment as minor nobility in most places unless you have hit at least 9th level as a wizard or cleric for instance.
Greyhawk gave us Mordenkainen, Tenser, Vecna, Kas (and his sword), Tasha (of hideous laughter fame) - not to mention she became Iggwilv and wrote the Demonomicaon quoted in the MM...; the Tomb of Horrors, The Book of Vile Darkness, The Book of Exalted Deeds, The Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, Blackrazor, Whelm etc. - White Plume Mountain ofc, the Drow (before they were Drizzt'ified) and a lot more besides.
It has the odd crackpot name (trip to the Gnarley Forest anyone?), but it was always harder to survive in so the odd strange name didn't register too hard.
On the survivability front, any release for the Greyhawk Campaign should have much more limited healing (the grittiest of healing rules), rather infrequent instances of high level magic (only a few have it, and they are major players in the world - Mordenkainen, Canon Hazen, Iuz etc.) and emphasis on what separates people and keeps them wary of each other socially. Reputation rules and factional stuff should be very important here.
Alternatively (and this would be PURE GOLD), they could set it around 800 years before the original in the time when the survivors of the cataclysm were taking hold of the Flanaess (the area of the 'world map everyone knows) and Vecna leads his evil empire from the Keoland Valley whilst the barbarians and civilisations of the time try to oppose his inexorable rise to power.
An Age of Vecna campaign would require the most work, but would be fantastic!
The most powerful group of wizards in the world are called the Circle of Eight, and are lead by Mordenkainen, the wizard of uber fame and he is NOT like Elminster. Elminster is the philosophical hippy to Mordenkainen's hard -bitten goth.
Greyhawk's post apocalypse (Baklunish vs. Suel) is on a grander, more hateful scale than Forgotten Realms fall of Netheril, and it deals with prejudice on a more adult (aka. Game of Thrones) way. The 'good guys' can ride over the hill to save you one minute, and betray you the next. To put it in FR terms - if you were to list the Factions of Greyhawk, they would be much more morally ambiguous. Also, the issue of feudalism and nobility is much more prevalent too - you don't even qualify for the same treatment as minor nobility in most places unless you have hit at least 9th level as a wizard or cleric for instance.
Greyhawk gave us Mordenkainen, Tenser, Vecna, Kas (and his sword), Tasha (of hideous laughter fame) - not to mention she became Iggwilv and wrote the Demonomicaon quoted in the MM...; the Tomb of Horrors, The Book of Vile Darkness, The Book of Exalted Deeds, The Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, Blackrazor, Whelm etc. - White Plume Mountain ofc, the Drow (before they were Drizzt'ified) and a lot more besides.
It has the odd crackpot name (trip to the Gnarley Forest anyone?), but it was always harder to survive in so the odd strange name didn't register too hard.
On the survivability front, any release for the Greyhawk Campaign should have much more limited healing (the grittiest of healing rules), rather infrequent instances of high level magic (only a few have it, and they are major players in the world - Mordenkainen, Canon Hazen, Iuz etc.) and emphasis on what separates people and keeps them wary of each other socially. Reputation rules and factional stuff should be very important here.
Alternatively (and this would be PURE GOLD), they could set it around 800 years before the original in the time when the survivors of the cataclysm were taking hold of the Flanaess (the area of the 'world map everyone knows) and Vecna leads his evil empire from the Keoland Valley whilst the barbarians and civilisations of the time try to oppose his inexorable rise to power.
An Age of Vecna campaign would require the most work, but would be fantastic!
Last edited: