Tell me about Greyhawk

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Speaking of deity's, is there a more comprhensive list than the Living greyhawk gazetteer. There are quite a few deities listed in there with no descriptions, do they not have descriptions?

There is the Living Greyhawk Deities document. It is currently at 2.0 and has been due for update to 2.1 "in a few a days" for a couple years now. Many deities are covered there, but many others like the Olman or Tuov deities only get the placeholder stat entry. Details on Olman or Tuov deities are in the Scarlet Brotherhood accessory. It is the most comprehensive single document on Greyhawk deities. Googling for it should find it for you.

 

[kenobi65]

Speaking of deity's, is there a more comprhensive list than the Living greyhawk gazetteer. There are quite a few deities listed in there with no descriptions, do they not have descriptions?

There's a much longer list for the Living Greyhawk campaign...you can download a PDF from this page:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/welcome
(from the navigation bar on the right side, click on "Living Greyhawk Deities v.2.0")

Yes, the cover says that version 2.1 (which would have had more complete descripions of the less-common deities) will be available "in a few days", and, yes, that's 2 years old. But, it's what we've got.

 

[Erik Mona]

There is a fairly complete listing, with domains, in the third issue of the Living Greyhawk Journal. I believe this resource was expanded into a large downloadable reference for LG players that I see pop up from time to time. I don't know what it's called, though.

--Erik

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I'm surprised History of the Greyhawk Wars Wars hasn't been mentioned. It's a great resource for fairly recent history. I used this document as a means for my players, none of whom knew anything about Greyhawk, to connect to the setting.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I'm surprised History of the Greyhawk Wars Wars hasn't been mentioned.

Looks like someone is violating WotC's copyright by reprinting the entire article. Likely without permission. They are also reprinting official logos, also likely without permission.

*sigh*

 

[Erik Mona]

The Greyhawk Wars file was a free download on WotC (and I think even TSR before it) for years, and is probably still accessible that way.

--Erik

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

It sure was, I have a copy of it on my hard drive even though I own Greyhawk Wars (blech!). It looks like the document or file is no longer available on their site though. I couldn't locate it.

 

[CruelSummerLord]

All this is my personal spin on Greyhawk. Make of it what you will.

Why are dragon shamans and genasi too exotic?

A dragon shaman, being a guy with a spear who can heal with a touch and breath fire, doesn't seem more outlandish to me than a druid, which is a guy with a spear who can heal with a touch and throw little balls of fire and shoot lightning and shapechange into animals.

Fire genasi as they're drawn in the FRCS, with hair of flames, might be a bit weird, but genasi and aasimar and tieflings as they (IMO) should be, near-humans with a trace of planar ancestry which could be mistaken for exotic but normal humans on sight, don't seem to me to be more exotic than, say, gnomes.?

Gnomes are a race that humans deal with all the time. A genasi would have to always conceal their true natures, lest they suffer death by public stoning or some similar fate, except in more exotic locales, or among creatures like janns. Even then, they are extremely rare and rarely, if ever, show up in GH.

A dragon shaman is not necessarily a separate class, just a druid with some different weapon and armor restrictions, and different abilities, much like the variant classes in the DMG. Marsh-druids, druids dedicated to the sea, or to birds might all exist-the dragon shaman is just one of many variants.

Say what!? Is this just your impression, or is this from some Greyhawk book? It doesn't sound like shades of gray to me, it sounds like simple evil!?

Not when they're orcs or goblins, it isn't. In my version of Greyhawk, dwarven clerics would suffer experience penalties, and end up committing evil acts (by their religions' standards) if they let such trash live.

In a way, it is an evil act to let orcs, goblins and other humanoid races live. Killing them is actually a good deed.

Didn't Murlynd use guns? And isn't there a certain crashed spaceship with lasers and robots and stuff somewhere in the Barrier Peaks?

Murlynd's bizarre aura somehow managed to get them to work. They wouldn't work for anyone else. As for that crashed spaceship, most Greyhawk fans prefer to pretend that never happened.

 

[Doug McCrae]

*deleted*

 

[GVDammerung]

All this is my personal spin on Greyhawk. . . .

In a way, it is an evil act to let orcs, goblins and other humanoid races live. Killing them is actually a good deed.

Murlynd's bizarre aura somehow managed to get them to work. They wouldn't work for anyone else. As for that crashed spaceship, most Greyhawk fans prefer to pretend that never happened.

I have the greatest respect for CSL's CF work; our views on some of the more exotic elements of GH differ markedly, however.

Per GH canon, Murlynd's clerics/paladins are capable of creating and using gunpowder weapons similar to Murlynd's, though less advanced.

IME, "most" GH fans readily acknowledge Expedition to the Barrier Peaks from whence spaceships and blackholes come, but most do not choose to run GH campaigns where that is involved. A difference and a distinction from pretending "that never happened."

More generally, GH does not anywhere state or imply that letting orcs, goblins and other humanoids live would be an evil act. In fact, the mini-adventure "The Born Again Ogres of the Blinding Light" in the City of Greyhawk Boxed set presents evidence that humanoids can be "redeemed" to be more or less solid citizens. I think there is one other adventure like this too, but its name escapes me at the moment. IMO, orcs more generally are D&D's Klingons waiting to happen - the "bad guys" who become "cool" not "so bad guys."

Anyhoo . . .