What's so good about Greyhawk? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

What's so good about Greyhawk?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Rhineglade_
Feb 12, 2009 22:57:06 Aside from the fact that it was the first major campaign setting and that others are simply a spin-off, what about Greyhawk do you find interesting?

I love it but I'd like to hear what others have to say on this topic.
#2
pauln6
Feb 13, 2009 3:48:01 I like Greyhawk because it is quite traditionalist and minimalist - heavily influenced by the dynamic of Middle Earth.

In most cases you have human societies engaging in petty rivalries with each other while the non-humans dwelling on the periphery, usually skirmishing with their traditional racial enemies.

I'm not a fan of 'racial' integration - I cannot see why significant numbers of wood elves or eladrin would want to live in smelly, filthy human settlements and I'm happy with the quasi-medieval feel to Greyhawk's settlements, complete with protectionist priesthoods, powerful thieves' guilds, and wizards hiding away in their towers researching mysterious rituals. I'm 'happy' for many half-orcs to be the product of **** in a brutal time where **** and murder are real risks for the average peasant eking a living on fertile lands in dangerous areas. I'm happy for racial/national tensions to be used as role playing tools and plot devices. I like the way that each human nation is similar but slgihtly different in their culture and approach as opposed to the massive shifts in culture that you see in some game worlds just to give the pcs wildly contrasting nations to visit.

Then you have a few fantastical and 'mysterious places' like the great Cities of Greyhwawk, Ekbir, Zeif etc that are infamous centres of magic and learning, or the Causeway of Fiends, the Cauldron of Night, the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Vault of the Drow where exotic and/or dangerous creatures or magic hold sway - places of whispered legend to most people.

Finally, we have our very own Sauron in the form of Iuz, and even he may not be the worst thing lurking throughout the lands of Greyhawk.

I like the new points of light approach to 4e and I like the more fantasy-based to approach to the nature of the Feywild and Shadowfell. If anything I'm inclined to reduce the number of wizards and spellcasters in the world (making spell-caster pcs even more special and awe-inspiring to the peasants and nobility as inspired by LotR and Conan).
#3
BlakeRyan
Feb 13, 2009 20:34:30 I like it for several reasons -

1-There are many locations you can setup home bases from like keoland, veluna, furyondy, urnst, nyrond and of course GH city, where you can travel in multiple directions (including) down in search of adventure/profit/exploration.

2-You don't need heaps of books to run greyhawk games, just the core boxed set or from the ashes or gazetter, and off you go. Room to expand but not lacking in any area.

3-There is a good mix of good guys, bad guys, neutral guys. A good mix of creatures and races. You can play elves from mixed countries or from purely elven realms.

There are frontier rural towns, ruins both recent and ancient, massive cities and mysterious places.

4-Events don't change your game unless you choose it to. You could run through the greyhawk wars with any edition characters, the events happening and that have happened in greyhawk do not require character or monster conversion.

5-Being able to use stuff straight out of the PHB, DMG and MM without additional books, notes and conversion is damned handy. In the case of 4th edition, I really like the race, class and deity mix.

6-The NPCs have motivations, plans, associations and personalities, not just a collection of items and unique powers.

That's my two cents worth.
#4
AtomicPope
Feb 20, 2009 22:31:43 The most important thing about Greyhawk, for me, it's a Roleplaying world. Other popular campaign settings are Novel settings first (FR, DL, etc) and campaign settings second. When I ask someone a regional question about Faerun they'll tell me what Drizzt or Elminster did. The same with DR (except it's Soth, and so on). If I ask someone about anything in Greyhawk they'll be able to tell me the general history, then tell me about their adventures.

The shared experience in Greyhawk is the modules (Against the Giants, Descend into the Depths of the Earth, Slavers, Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, Temple of Elemental Evil, etc, etc, etc...). In FR and DR the shared experience is the novel. The characters in both worlds are shadows of the Mary-Sue, DMPCs. As a result, look at the core settings for each and you'll find the simple fact - if you ain't epic, you ain't $#!+. In GH there are no hard-coded events, not at the same level. The history of GH is peppered with events that were altered "by the deeds of brave adventurers." Those words are found throughout the setting. The same cannot be said for even Eberron, which is largely a Roleplaying Setting first.

Greyhawk is staple fantasy but far from generic fantasy.

Greyhawk is full of detail but open to interpretation.

Greyhawk has wonderful NPCs but they need your help.

Greyhawk is D&D.
#5
pauln6
Feb 22, 2009 2:15:55 Ooooh - well said!
#6
Vatras
Feb 22, 2009 8:31:12 I liked the diversity and size of the world, which was described well enough for everyone to imagine how it looks, and left open enough to fill in whatever I like as DM.

My first campaign, which lasted 6 years, was set in Greyhawk, and the first climax was the death of Iuz (whom I never liked anyway ;) ), which involved the theft of the rod of Orcus. The players finally conquered themselves a kingdom and died as famous heroes after many exploits. We even played on with their descendants after a Rolemaster campaign in between.

So much of the attraction to Greyhawk stems from our fond memories of this campaign and all the things which happened for the first time.
#7
rob_douglas
Feb 24, 2009 22:18:37 I like the history of it. When I have time to dig into Greyhawk, I feel like an archaeologist. Whenever I look back at my 1E DMG, I find some kernel that leads me to a never noticed truth (or hypothesis) about what has gone on in the past of the world. Today, there is a strong effort to separate the game rules from the "world" rules. But because so many of them used to be integrated in the old days, you can use that information to discern facts about the world of Greyhawk as a whole.

I love that researching an artifact touches on all kinds of geographical and metaphysical aspects of Greyhawk to explain.

And I love that there are still serious, unanswered questions. For example: Greyhawk is the center of a war - the war between demons and devils, and angels and demons - everyone wants a piece. Why? Why this world? There are clues scattered throughout, but no real conclusive answer.

Keep looking...

Oh, and I love it because it was my 2nd world - right after a home made one I somehow named Gaul before I knew there really was a Gaul (6th grade - musta heard the word somewhere, but I loved the name...)

ROB

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Rhineglade_ Feb 12, 2009 22:57:06	Aside from the fact that it was the first major campaign setting and that others are simply a spin-off, what about Greyhawk do you find interesting? I love it but I'd like to hear what others have to say on this topic.
#2 pauln6 Feb 13, 2009 3:48:01	I like Greyhawk because it is quite traditionalist and minimalist - heavily influenced by the dynamic of Middle Earth. In most cases you have human societies engaging in petty rivalries with each other while the non-humans dwelling on the periphery, usually skirmishing with their traditional racial enemies. I'm not a fan of 'racial' integration - I cannot see why significant numbers of wood elves or eladrin would want to live in smelly, filthy human settlements and I'm happy with the quasi-medieval feel to Greyhawk's settlements, complete with protectionist priesthoods, powerful thieves' guilds, and wizards hiding away in their towers researching mysterious rituals. I'm 'happy' for many half-orcs to be the product of ** in a brutal time where ** and murder are real risks for the average peasant eking a living on fertile lands in dangerous areas. I'm happy for racial/national tensions to be used as role playing tools and plot devices. I like the way that each human nation is similar but slgihtly different in their culture and approach as opposed to the massive shifts in culture that you see in some game worlds just to give the pcs wildly contrasting nations to visit. Then you have a few fantastical and 'mysterious places' like the great Cities of Greyhwawk, Ekbir, Zeif etc that are infamous centres of magic and learning, or the Causeway of Fiends, the Cauldron of Night, the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Vault of the Drow where exotic and/or dangerous creatures or magic hold sway - places of whispered legend to most people. Finally, we have our very own Sauron in the form of Iuz, and even he may not be the worst thing lurking throughout the lands of Greyhawk. I like the new points of light approach to 4e and I like the more fantasy-based to approach to the nature of the Feywild and Shadowfell. If anything I'm inclined to reduce the number of wizards and spellcasters in the world (making spell-caster pcs even more special and awe-inspiring to the peasants and nobility as inspired by LotR and Conan).
#3 BlakeRyan Feb 13, 2009 20:34:30	I like it for several reasons - 1-There are many locations you can setup home bases from like keoland, veluna, furyondy, urnst, nyrond and of course GH city, where you can travel in multiple directions (including) down in search of adventure/profit/exploration. 2-You don't need heaps of books to run greyhawk games, just the core boxed set or from the ashes or gazetter, and off you go. Room to expand but not lacking in any area. 3-There is a good mix of good guys, bad guys, neutral guys. A good mix of creatures and races. You can play elves from mixed countries or from purely elven realms. There are frontier rural towns, ruins both recent and ancient, massive cities and mysterious places. 4-Events don't change your game unless you choose it to. You could run through the greyhawk wars with any edition characters, the events happening and that have happened in greyhawk do not require character or monster conversion. 5-Being able to use stuff straight out of the PHB, DMG and MM without additional books, notes and conversion is damned handy. In the case of 4th edition, I really like the race, class and deity mix. 6-The NPCs have motivations, plans, associations and personalities, not just a collection of items and unique powers. That's my two cents worth.
#4 AtomicPope Feb 20, 2009 22:31:43	The most important thing about Greyhawk, for me, it's a Roleplaying world. Other popular campaign settings are Novel settings first (FR, DL, etc) and campaign settings second. When I ask someone a regional question about Faerun they'll tell me what Drizzt or Elminster did. The same with DR (except it's Soth, and so on). If I ask someone about anything in Greyhawk they'll be able to tell me the general history, then tell me about their adventures. The shared experience in Greyhawk is the modules (Against the Giants, Descend into the Depths of the Earth, Slavers, Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, Temple of Elemental Evil, etc, etc, etc...). In FR and DR the shared experience is the novel. The characters in both worlds are shadows of the Mary-Sue, DMPCs. As a result, look at the core settings for each and you'll find the simple fact - if you ain't epic, you ain't $#!+. In GH there are no hard-coded events, not at the same level. The history of GH is peppered with events that were altered "by the deeds of brave adventurers." Those words are found throughout the setting. The same cannot be said for even Eberron, which is largely a Roleplaying Setting first. Greyhawk is staple fantasy but far from generic fantasy. Greyhawk is full of detail but open to interpretation. Greyhawk has wonderful NPCs but they need your help. Greyhawk is D&D.
#5 pauln6 Feb 22, 2009 2:15:55	Ooooh - well said!
#6 Vatras Feb 22, 2009 8:31:12	I liked the diversity and size of the world, which was described well enough for everyone to imagine how it looks, and left open enough to fill in whatever I like as DM. My first campaign, which lasted 6 years, was set in Greyhawk, and the first climax was the death of Iuz (whom I never liked anyway ;) ), which involved the theft of the rod of Orcus. The players finally conquered themselves a kingdom and died as famous heroes after many exploits. We even played on with their descendants after a Rolemaster campaign in between. So much of the attraction to Greyhawk stems from our fond memories of this campaign and all the things which happened for the first time.
#7 rob_douglas Feb 24, 2009 22:18:37	I like the history of it. When I have time to dig into Greyhawk, I feel like an archaeologist. Whenever I look back at my 1E DMG, I find some kernel that leads me to a never noticed truth (or hypothesis) about what has gone on in the past of the world. Today, there is a strong effort to separate the game rules from the "world" rules. But because so many of them used to be integrated in the old days, you can use that information to discern facts about the world of Greyhawk as a whole. I love that researching an artifact touches on all kinds of geographical and metaphysical aspects of Greyhawk to explain. And I love that there are still serious, unanswered questions. For example: Greyhawk is the center of a war - the war between demons and devils, and angels and demons - everyone wants a piece. Why? Why this world? There are clues scattered throughout, but no real conclusive answer. Keep looking... Oh, and I love it because it was my 2nd world - right after a home made one I somehow named Gaul before I knew there really was a Gaul (6th grade - musta heard the word somewhere, but I loved the name...) ROB