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.
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