What didn't people like about Gygax's Greyhawk?

[Ranger REG]

It should only be fair to have such a discussion thread to accompany the other one.

Granted, he did created the setting -- with help from Arneson's Blackmoor -- that helped D&D became popular in the early years. [Yes, diaglo, you can argue about the predecessor Chainmail but that's for another thread.]

But were there things that you did not like along the way (up until his resignation from TSR), be it product material or related articles?

 

[Mycanid]

I think the shoddily thrown together modules were the part I could have done the most without. The Forest Oracle comes to mind immediately. I'd prefer quality over quantity maself. I also did not really like the whole Dragonlance setting.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I also did not really like the whole Dragonlance setting.

HOW COULD YOU!!!!!

*Runs off crying*

 

[Enkhidu]

Names and naming conventions.

 

[dcas]

The campaign was really Gary's work (and Rob Kuntz's), not Arneson's at all. Blackmoor and the Duchy of Tenh were included in Greyhawk as an homage to Arneson's Blackmoor campaign. There really isn't any Blackmoor material in GH other than those two names.

 

[T. Foster]

The fact that despite them being the central features of the setting we never got a detailed treatment of either Greyhawk City or Greyhawk Castle.

That we later learned this wasn't actually Gygax's home campaign-world at all, but rather something he made up more or less from whole cloth at the time of publication.

 

[jdrakeh]

The fact that despite them being the central features of the setting we never got a detailed treatment of either Greyhawk City or Greyhawk Castle.

Ditto.

That we later learned this wasn't actually Gygax's home campaign-world at all, but rather something he made up more or less from whole cloth at the time of publication.

Truth be told, I still get this impression from the Zygag stuff due to its very delayed release schedule and number of apparent pre-production design changes.

 

[dcas]

Truth be told, I still get this impression from the Zygag stuff due to its very delayed release schedule and number of apparent pre-production design changes.

Yggsburgh is probably more akin to the published version of the Greyhawk campaign than it is to Gygax's home campaign. Epic of Aerth claims to be EGG's original campaign world.

 

[jdrakeh]

Yggsburgh is probably more akin to the published version of the Greyhawk campaign than it is to Gygax's home campaign. . .

Maybe, but every now and again, I see it promoted as being his house campaign.

 

[Faraer]

The fact that despite them being the central features of the setting we never got a detailed treatment of either Greyhawk City or Greyhawk Castle.

Great wistful might-have-beens, both.

That we later learned this wasn't actually Gygax's home campaign-world at all, but rather something he made up more or less from whole cloth at the time of publication.

But he did shift the campaign to the published setting as soon as he wrote it.

Epic of Aerth claims to be EGG's original campaign world.

I forget exactly where that claim is (ambiguously) made, but it's misleading. Ærth is only closer to the pre-1980 World of Greyhawk than is the published Oerth in its use of Earth geography and its (explicit) hollowness.