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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008074" data-attributes="member: 18387">As a long time player and GM of many Greyhawk and Greyhawk based campaigns, this books gets very high marks from me.  Admittedly, I was a little taken aback by the cover price ($26.95), but was pleasantly surprised after reading it.  Overall, I felt it was worth the price.  First, I will cover what I felt were the pros of this campaign supplement, and follow it up with the cons.Pros:1. Organization and layout:  All of the material was presented in a logical, organized fashion that makes finding the information relatively easy.  The books starts out with an overview of the planet, continent, calendar, etc..  It then moves on to descriptions of the various human, demi-human, and humanoid races and the various languages of Oerth.  The book then moves on to a well written four page synopsis of the last 1000 years or so of Oerth’s history.  Chapter Four the presents an approximate 120 pages of details about each of the countries of Oerth.  The countries are presented in alphabetical order and include information about the major cites and towns, the country’s government and leaders, allies and enemies, more details of the history of each country, as well as a few hooks for possible adventures in each country.  The various geographical formation are covered in Chapter 5 (again with possible adventure hooks) The various “power” organizations (such as the Circle of Eight) and gods are the covered in Chapters 6 and 7.  All of the text is well edited to boot.  An index would have been nice, but you can’t have it all.2. Information on countries and territories not previous covered:  There has been a great deal of Greyhawk information publish over the years, but there always seemed to be a few area of Oerth that got little or no attention.  This book provides information on all of the countries and geographical formations.  That alone made it worth while to me.3. No information contradicted earlier source material:  It was clear that the authors worked hard to make this work mesh nicely with all other previously released material.  It covers what has happened before, then builds on it and adds to it.4.  All of the Gods in One Book:  For whatever reason, the gods of Oerth were always handled in a sort of hit-or-miss fashion.  Sure, a few of the major gods would be covered in such-and-such source book, and they have all appeared in Dragon magazine at one time or another, but they have never, to the best of my knowledge, been complied all together.  All I can say is, FINALLY!5.  The original bards are back:  O.K., this might not be something everyone wants to include in their campaign, but for a person like myself who remembers the 1E bard (the original prestige class), then you may appreciate the slight nod they give to them with a little organization known as the Old Lore.  For those you who cringe at the idea, it is easy to leave out of your campaign.Cons:1. Missing a timeline:  The textual historical information is great but it would have been nice to include some sort of timeline.  Perhaps like the one that appeared in the original 1E Greyhawk sourcebook, but more detailed.2. Grouping the Gods by Pantheon:  I know that most of the pantheonic style of worship is supposed to have passed away and that the people generally worship whichever god is most appropriate at the time, but some organizations (like the Scarlet Brotherhood) and remote villages still operate that way.  A little pantheonic information and organization of the gods would have added a lot to this book.  This is a pet peeve of mine, some of you may not care.3.  Some of this information has been covered already:  Some of the information covered in this book was covered in the quasi-recently released 2E Greyhawk products: The Greyhawk Players Guide and The Adventure Begins.  Both of these products mainly dealt with the central Flanaess (which is where the City of Greyhawk, and – some would say – a lot of the “action” is located).  If you are looking for additional source material for this section of the world and already own these products then you may be disappointed.  There isn’t a lot of new information about these areas.  If, in addition, you own the older 2E products: The Marklands and Iuz the Evil, and your campaign never leaves the central Flanaess, I would recommend looking closely at the product before buying.  4.  The Art and The Map of the Flanaess:  The art in the book is O. K., but not great and there is not much of it.  As far as the included map is concerned – and again this just might be me – but I really think that the original 1E maps of the Flanaess are some of the best campaign maps ever done.  They hang on my wall even as I speak.  The maps that came with The Marklands and Iuz the Evil were good too (They hang on my wall as well). While the map included with the sourcebook is probably much more utilitarian and looks O.K., new maps done in the 1E style would have been great.  I would have gladly paid extra money for them.  5. Softcover:  It would have been nice if it was hard bound.  More expensive, but nice.Overall, I give this product a rating of 5.  It is in my opinion what the 2E Players Guide to Greyhawk should have been.  It is a qualified rating of 5, however, so let me explain.  If you are new to Greyhawk, want to run a campaign there, and don’t own any of the previously released 1E and 2E products, then this is a must-have product (rating of 6 – off the scale) .  It is everything you wanted to know about Greyhawk in 190 pages (not counting the two page RPGA plug in the appendix).  If  you own some, but not all of the older source material then this book will probably rank somewhere between 5 and 4.  It will certainly fill the holes in the material you have.  If you are a Greyhawk fanatic and own everything ever printed – even the old articles by Gary Gygax from Dragon magazine –  then this book will probably only rank between 4 and 3.  It will fill some holes, provide some new material, but you already own a lot of the meat in this sourcebook.</blockquote>

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