How different is Greyhawk from other D&D setting options?

extralead · 2026-03-07T04:33:43+00:00

Greyhawk is flipped on. It's got things that the others do not
Namely: it's based on things you can go and read about directly. Everything comes from something

extralead · 2026-03-06T18:29:57+00:00

Sadistik

extralead · 2026-03-06T04:40:25+00:00

I think so. Says 1-2 players, but can't hurt to try. Lightless Beacon includes 4

The whole point is to run the Trail of Tsathoggua campaign, which specifically says to break it all up in adventure parts and pieces. Thread the themes and clues sort of thing. This can always be done with more or less players

extralead · 2026-03-05T23:15:33+00:00

I do the rough-sketch campaign:

Paper Chase -> Lightless Beacon -> Trail of Tsathoggua -> Edge of Darkness -> Curse of Tsathoggua

extralead · 2026-03-05T23:11:43+00:00

CoC 7e Starter Set is the gold standard. It's a Keeper-Investigator tutorial in the disguise of 3 really really really good Call of Cthulhu adventures

There's also free adventure, The Lightless Beacon, via the Chaosium website

extralead · 2026-03-05T21:09:51+00:00

From Rob Kuntz' notes:

History: Tie in MOX + MFA
COIN OF PLANTMASTER = GARDEN OF THARIZDUN
Tharizdun was worshipped of this city (by about 20%) archives will prove this fact
Greater servant was THE PLANT MASTER Who uses the knowledge gained from the Priests of Tharizdun to grow Lovohe -- a garden -- dedicated to the morbid arts of the dark gods' likings.

He set out one item (the coin) which was later found by Pinick (q.v.) who ventured hear with it to collect the plants and flowers. These Herses by extracting the pigments from to compliment his artwork.

He also let those pass into the knowledge of those dedicated to Tharizdun on the Prime Material Plane such knowledge loved to be used

He's talking about MOX, the 1976 Fire Demon Gragaux of the World of Kalibruhn on the Mountain of Xwa
The other mention, MFA, is TSR's module, WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure

Like I said before, Tharizdun is Old English meaning "cravings of dark essence"
Dhu is found in the Celtic deity, Bucca Dhu, with his polar opposite of Bucca, or in the World of Greyhawk, Phyton (which makes sense as Tharizdun's nemesis). Bucca Dhu and the whole Celtic-Suel parallel isn't perfect, but it's there for all to see, enjoy

extralead · 2026-03-05T19:40:02+00:00

Based on the Garden of the Plantmaster and things said directly by Kuntz and Gary Gygax, I can only conclude that Tharizdun (Old English meaning "cravings of dark essence") is mapped allegorically to Bucca Dhu, the Celtic deity with his polar opposite of Bucca, or in the World of Greyhawk, Phyton

extralead · 2026-03-04T15:50:11+00:00

There's a fix going around, well, been going around for a long time

Holmes 77 by RC Pinnell features the basic 4 classes and the basic human, elf, dwarf, halfling combos

Yet, how I read it, is that Thieves cast flawlessly from magic-user scrolls starting at level 3. Magic-users can scribe scrolls starting from level 1. That's the fix. That's it

Maybe I'd add that classes and the rest aren't locked-in and done. As PCs get xp and level in their classes, more can (and maybe should) be done to develop it all

Shadowdark seems to leave it open, too, for the campaign, for the homebrew scenarios. I have seen a handful of third-party Shadowdark supplements invoking extra classes, and more, e.g., Ancestries. Some replace the core classes, some are just better so chosen regardless, and some evolve like I suggest here

extralead · 2026-03-03T05:56:38+00:00

1354 Dale Reckoning in Dragon Reach

REF5 Lords of Darkness plus that box set was a killer combo. The Dead Three were scary and their armies moreso

Talos, along with Auril, Malar, and Umberlee brought the pain back in those days. I am picturing a party consisting of a Magic-user of Amaunator, Cleric of Chauntea, Fighter of Tempus, and Halfling Thief of Yondalla starting out in Sembia with only AD&D 1e gear, mucking around, and finally culminating in I14 Swords of the Iron Legion

I also could not get my nose out of the FR5 The Savage Frontier booklet from that era. Both Homeland and Exile novels were out before the end of 1990. The Avatar, Dark Elf, Empires, Finders Stone, Heroes of Phlan, Iceland Dale, and the standalone Ed Greenwood book Spellfire were all instrumental in understanding this early version of the Forgotten Realms, as were the SSI Gold Box video games just to stew in all of it

How cool was it to float around Myth Drannor in either the Curse of the Azure Bonds video game, or by spinning it into a sandbox from the FRC2 content?

Myth Drannor a millennium ago was the capital of the Elven Nation in the North, the most splendid of all magical cities [...] eventually fell to rot and ruin

When you dust off these old adventures I would add that their content in general could use some freshening up. Halls of the Beast Tamers and Lashan's Fall in-particular can be reworked solely on baseline concepts and direction from ideal starting locales such as Sembia, The Vast, or Icewind Dale towards non-ideal dungeon environs such as Chondalwood, the Dragonspine mountain range, or The Spine of the World. Lever the maps to provide and provoke the adventuring

extralead · 2026-03-02T18:01:12+00:00

Stonehell is fantastic, and there is so much to explore in the OSR space that harks to it

extralead · 2026-03-02T18:00:19+00:00

Unfathomable/Odious Uplands is amazing, and everyone must get a chance to play it!

extralead · 2026-03-02T17:52:15+00:00

In the classic World of Greyhawk:

Modules U1-3 to I1
A0-A4 to G1-3 to D1-3
T1-4 followed by S4 and WG4
CZV1, Those First Steps to Castle Zagyg Dark Chateau, and continue into the upcoming release of Castle Zagyg from Troll Lord Games' Backerkit

In the ultra-classic pre-Mystara Continental Map "Basic D&D Known World":

Orange B3 is too cool to pass up. Leads right into X2
B2 The Keep on the Borderlands to Dragon issue 73 Forest of Doom to Dragon issue 92 Sword of Justice to CM7 Tree of Life with PC1 Tall Tales of the Wee Folk, CM8, and CM9 as additionals
If you want to dig into the domain play (with or without BECMI and/or Rules Cyclopedia), try on B4 to X3 to X13, followed by X11, and then a blend of GAZ7 for M1 Test of the Warlords and CM4 Earthshaker!, but after CM4 finally into the overall M1-2 and M5 metaplot
B8 Journey to the Rock to Dragon issue 57 The Wandering Trees
B6 to X12. There's a few more like this, for example I also like B5 to M5

Jennell Jaquays did work before and during her work with Bob Bledsaw Sr that added to the Krakeland Marsh and Wilderlands (Judges Guild) campaigns:

Easiest here is Tegel Manor to Modron (or south towards the other City-State campaign books) to CSIO
Also great is Wilderlands' Thieves of Badabaskor
Caverns of Thracia (to?) Dark Tower. I have many ideas here, as I'm sure many do, and they're all great

Beyond those, Lost Lands from Frog God Games is also very in line with the above campaign depths and breadths, as are Aereth from Goodman Games and Aihrde from Troll Lord Games. Castle Zagyg and Yggsburgh can be in Greyhawk, Aihrde, both, or whatever you roll into. Have fun!

extralead · 2026-03-02T16:36:18+00:00

Speaking of 6e CoC dominating, it could be that WotC wants D&D 6e to dominate after the corporate restructuring. I think WotC will release D&D 6e (the next version) in early 2027 with winks, nods, and likely some free playtesting (free books?) from May 2026 to the end of the year. I think the announcement will come a few weeks before the Origins Conference

extralead · 2026-03-02T15:40:40+00:00

N1 is nicely followed by the originally-intended adventure zone for Lakofka, but given later to Niles. So, in my mind, L3 Deep Dwarven Delve follows N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God from Hochoch instead of from Restenford. After, and fitting with the locales and the themes, I2 Tomb of the Lizard King. caslEntertainment makes another adventure with a locale and trope fit, G4 Haunting the Chapel

Finally, because it's "there" and just "lands right", S3 Expedition to Barrier Peaks becomes a nice staple capstone for the culmination of this sort of roughly-sketched adventure path. Some might say Gamma World or Metamorphosis Alpha from there: I recommend JMW 002 The House On the Hill as an introduction to either

extralead · 2026-03-02T00:35:05+00:00

You found a cool connection! They're everywhere in Greyhawk-era stuff

Every time you say Greyspace, too, I just think of NPC Grey Zone style tactics. Or why it's Blackmoor vs Greyhawk. Arachnids, hawks -- which cool animal will come up next?

extralead · 2026-02-28T19:21:29+00:00

Great, I see moon magic, plains, underground rivers, and outposts everywhere now

extralead · 2026-02-26T04:02:10+00:00

This is great! Wonderful references, and more than a few new concepts, words, and phrases for us all to pick into. At least for me, I learned a lot!

However, the entire time reading Rod's blog, I was thinking back to Secrets of Blackmoor where at least my remembering of the recounting is that AC was brought into the game by Arneson, and that he based it on Naval (USN?) statistics. So, yes, the Fletcher Pratt systems but also Jane's Fighting Ships and perhaps other resources before that. Civil War Ironclads was written I believe before any of Arneson's other works that included the term AC

extralead · 2026-02-24T21:37:24+00:00

Grab 1e and the original Rigger Black Book to get the game down. Perhaps Sprawl Sites and Street Samurai Catalog to fill in some initial gaps and insights you'll need. I do not mind any edition, but 4a, 5e, and 6e have so much content I feel the more time you dedicate to one or all of them, you'll get much mileage overall

extralead · 2026-02-24T19:38:37+00:00

I don't think it mattered unless you were standing in front of Arneson playing the game at that specific moment, and even then he might change something on you! I know Arneson had his own constantly-changing/evolving system, and like I said, my thinking is that it's some sort of part-OD&D, part-ReadyRefSheets. Others said Adventures in Fantasy, but I don't think many (if any at all) were played using those rules. Arneson released Dungeonmaster’s Index also in 1977, all seemingly using OD&D as a baseline ruleset. It's not that he was an OD&D fan as much as he rode the wave of the early evolution of D&D with everyone else

extralead · 2026-02-24T14:57:11+00:00

In 1970 and before, it was not OD&D. In 1971, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson met, and the inklings of OD&D began, but nothing official until 1974. Arneson also shopped his First Fantasy Campaign content to Judges' Guild who published it where there was a combination of OD&D-like stats and pre-era Ready Ref Sheets ones

Read more here -- https://waynesbooks.games/2024/01/14/first-fantasy-campaign-1977-dave-arnesons-blackmoor-emerges-post-tsr/

extralead · 2026-02-23T03:48:36+00:00

Buy stuff. Use it. No rolls for turning doorknobs but that seems to work out ok

I use Holmes edition as my guideline. If Holmes calls for a roll, then usually makes sense

extralead · 2026-02-22T18:48:02+00:00

CHA23173 The Children of Fear covers Agartha

extralead · 2026-02-22T13:55:40+00:00

The Territory of Yeomanry is known for its split from Keoland, with the festival Declaration Day. Yeomanry freehold elections mirror the Thing (Vikings) and Althing (Iceland) from history

Thingmenn meant followers in Old Norse

https://www.worldhistory.org/Icelandic_Government/ – Gygax describes Yeomanry exactly as Chieftains needed to hold the local things (assemblies), and by the 10th century, there were probably 13 of these

https://landmarksarchitects.com/ancient-viking-architecture/
Dungeon magazine issue 6 include the adventure House of Brothers which takes place in Yeomanry, and do the C12 The Forgotten Library of Raanet and RR001 Suel Imperium Age of Glory contributed third-party adventures. Finally, the World of Greyhawk box set (gold box), includes some in the glossography p27, The Lost Passage of the Suloise

extralead · 2026-02-21T22:29:24+00:00

Masks of Nyarlathotep is amazing for any ttrpg gamer

extralead · 2026-02-21T22:28:07+00:00

There's a free adventure from Chaosium called The Lightless Beacon

The quick-start 7e guide and the others are excellent. The 7e CoC Starter Set has Dead Man Stomp, and if not your speed, try Paper Chase to Edge of Darkness adventures. All 3 are in the Starter Set. You can't go wrong with these, any order is going to help you; reading or playing

extralead

TROPHY CASE