16 April 2026 Greyhawking (1)

    I had a printed copy made of the 1983 Greyhawk Box Set, which we have an original of, but I wanted one to mark up and carry around. The actual box and its books are now 43 years old, so it's better not to handle them too much (although, in reality...what are we ever going do do with it?) So I have nice bound copy that I am reading through and writing in, reestablishing my connection with this venerable setting. I have also been listening to The Greycast, a podcast about Greyhawk. 

    I don't think I've read through this material since I was an early teenager. I distinctly remember sitting on the porch in Marshfield going through this book with the huge map spread out in front of me, and being a bit numbed by how much of what was being described was related to troops and military powers. Knowing what I know now--that D&D arose initially from miniature wargaming, and that Gygax was a wargamer--I understand why it is like this. War is a feature, not a bug, in this world. Similarly, since this world is so old (relatively speaking), there are far fewer muppets races to be, and to interact with, in Greyhawk. Definite classic feel.

I have a huge map of Greyhawk on the wall in front of me, so I've been locating each place on the map as I read, which has been harder than it sounds! There are a lot of kingdoms, baronies, prelacies, theocracies, brotherhoods, counties, marches, lands, and holds! I'm not onto the "Geographical Marvels, Regions, & Prominent Features" part of the book, which will be fun.

    Thus far, a few places are jumping out at me as far as potential campaign settings:

- The Bone March (overrun by humanoids; humans enslaved)

-Highfolk and Highfolk Valley (elven realm, reminds me of Raymond Feist for some reason)

-The Horned Society (deviltry and humanoids!)

-Irongate and the Iron League (an organization created to oppose Ivid in the Great Kingdom)

-The Scarlet Brotherhood (humancentric nation what hates all demihumans and humanoids)

-The Spindrift Isles (Bone Hill, lands becoming Fey again; elves dominate)

-Country, Principality, and Dutch of Ulek (demihuman nations)

-Valley of the Mage

-The Wild Coast

    My current campaign started in Perrenland, then moved north to Blackmoor. The only reason I did that is I didn't want to learn all of Greyhawk, and wanted someplace smaller and more self-contained to play in. 

12 April 2026 Castles&Crusades and Greyhawk

 12 April 2026

    Not too much going on, gamewise. We are playing Lord of the Rings 5e, which we are all enjoying. Dan is certainly a master of Middle Earth! I am desperately trying to get my Greyhawk/Blackmoor game up and running again, but it's been hard since people--including me--have to keep cancelling. It pisses Ed off to no end, and I don't blame him. He's a social guy, and when he plans to play, then doesn't, he gets cranky. Of all of the players in our group of six, Ed is definitely the most consistent. 

    I am going to sell some stuff to Noble Knight if they offer me a fair price. I am getting rid of things I don't want or need, and I am not buying anything new, even though there are some tasty Kickstarters out there from the Troll Lords. If I am patient, I can get the stuff for 50% off once its in circulation. One thing I learned during Lent: do not impulse buy. But: it is hard. My precioussssss...

    I also told my brother that I am not too into his grand idea of turning this into a business. I love, love, love these games, and I love playing them, but creating content isn't something I really enjoy. I take stuff from all over, chop it up, slap it back together, add my own ideas, then run it. That's what I've always done; that's the joy for me. I love being a game master. Writing modules? Not so much. 

    So I'm kicking around the idea of just running in Greyhawk going forward, and using Castles&Crusades as the ruleset. I do still really like DCC, but it's a bit silly for me, even though it's super fun to play. It's a true beer-and-pretzels game, and all we do is laugh! But I like to run a bit more serious of a game, so C&C in Greyhawk will be my jam. This week. God knows I've changed my mind before. I have been listening to a podcast interviewing a guy who has been running the same campaign for 46 fucking years! Amazing. 

    This guy, Lord Gosumba, has had God knows how many players and does something I find interesting: he sets up a region that evolves in response to what his players do, but also evolves on its own without their influence or input. So I thought a bit about this as I was walking this PM. Identify a region, set up an onion (low level danger, connected to medium level danger, connected to high level danger), advance the timeline, and when when group is done, start the next group in the same place. Ed has done something similar with his DCC game and I like it. I'm thinking this through, but it's an intriguing idea.