Need Greyhawk Information

[ChampaignSupernova]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Greyhawk was based more or less on Europe. If this is true, what are the European counterparts for the Greyhawk nations? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

 

[qstor]

Some of the countries are based on the Middle East like Ket and Zeif. So not all of the nations are European.
I'm not sure of exact parallels but the former Great Kingdom might be similar to the Roman Empire.

Mike

 

[francisca]

I suggest going to www.canonfire.com and digging around a bit.

 

[ChampaignSupernova]

Some of the countries are based on the Middle East like Ket and Zeif. So not all of the nations are European.
I'm not sure of exact parallels but the former Great Kingdom might be similar to the Roman Empire.

Mike

I always thought Ket and Zeif were more like Turkey than straight Mid East, but that was just my intepretation.

The Tiger Nomads, they always reminded me of the Mongols.

What's really frustrating for me is trying to work the Far East in, because despite what some think, I like the monk class (as well as others with a more asian flavor like samurai, ninja, etc)

It just seems hard to work those in to Greyhawk because there does (whether intentional or not) seem to be a heavy European slant.

 

[ChampaignSupernova]

I suggest going to www.canonfire.com and digging around a bit.

I thought about that, but wouldn't begin to know where to start looking or what serch terms to use.

 

[Keoki]

Greyhawk may have been based on Europe when it was originally conceived 30 years ago, but it's since developed along very different lines. Now the racial types more or less correspond to real-world counterparts (about which there was a recent thread at the aforementioned canonfire.com), but not much else. The Forgotten Realms setting has much more obvious allegories to the real world, sometimes even to the point of irrationality.

 

[johnsemlak]

I've never really heard of Greyhawk nations being based on medieval european nations, though the Aerdi Empire/Kingdom certainly seems to be a possible reference to the Romans. The Flan could be the celts, but a similar token.

I believe, however, that the City of Greyhawk was loosely inspired by Chicago, EGG's hometown.

 

[Wraith Form]

The Forgotten Realms setting has much more obvious allegories to the real world, sometimes even to the point of irrationality.

*cough TheSwordCoast=Europe/Maztica=theUS cough* Sorry, you were saying?

 

[BOZ]

I believe, however, that the City of Greyhawk was loosely inspired by Chicago, EGG's hometown.

woohoo! i live in greyhawk!

 

[DMScott]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Greyhawk was based more or less on Europe. If this is true, what are the European counterparts for the Greyhawk nations? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

In terms of geography, it's kinda flipped east/west (Barrier Peaks/Hellfurnaces/etc. are the Urals, proceed east from there). In terms of culture, most of the nations have evolved far beyond their analogues. Some are still obvious - for example, the Frost/Ice/Snow barbarians are vikings - but most are far enough from their roots that you can add in whatever flavour you like to spice 'em up for your campaign.

Of course, there are also a lot of non-European influences - the Flan are often depicted as something close to native Americans, the Scarlet Brotherhood are sort of pulp-oriental.