Thank you for showing us the covers too. The visuals help punctuate the information. I'm considering using the 2024 DMG Greyhawk as a flowerbed to plant weird swords & sorcery style adventures (like DCC RPG's Lankhmar in Greyhawk, in addition to Tsojcanth, Whiteplume, and the Barrier Peaks), but was curious what tropes and themes may have inspired the different regions, assuming some were built to really suit certain tones.
Nicely done! We'll be starting a new campaign some time in 2025. My players are currently high level and exploring Baba Yaga's Hut. Once they've completed that (or TPK'd, considering), they'll be starting a new Greyhawk campaign, and we plan on ordering your books!
You forgot the key step... roll a random starting hex! 🙂 We used to do this during our session 0. We'd be reading about the area, making characters suitable for that area, figuring out how they started there, and me trying to come up with a campaign on the spot. They'd roll and suddenly they'd be in the middle of an elven forest, or a hills in Aerdy, or on a ship in the middle of the ocean, or desert mountains, or the middle of frozen plains. Suddenly, players would have to come up with character concepts on the spot -- all elf party, evil-based campaign, pirates on sea-borne campaign, dwarven merchants, or northern barbarians.
Thanks for this video, it was very helpful. Plenty to digest and good to know there's loads of Greyhawk material available. Recently started as a player in a Greyhawk campaign (5E) for the first time in almost 35 years. My DM is a huge Lakofka fan.
We played two long campaigns near or in the City of Greyhawk back in the 1980s and 90s (Tempel, Slavelords, Falcon Trilogy and more), which was fun. Three years ago, I started a campaign in Saltmarsh (south west Keoland) in 576CY. My players are now in the Hold of the Seaprinces. They helped Prince Jeon II (ruler of the Seaprinces) against assassination attempts and plots to dethrone him because of his anti-slavery law. The PCs have uncovered a plot by the Scarlet Brotherhood to overtake the entire Seaprinces (in my version the Scarlet Brotherhood plotted years ahead, because the coupe described in the Greyhawk Wars is a bit rediculous and should have failed imo). Some of my players have PCs who were slaves and plan a slave revolt, one is the daughter of Erasmus Tydan of Port Torvin and she wants to assassinate her evil father, another player has a monk of Zuoken, which in my Greyhawk is a sworn enemy to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Although this campaign was never set in the City of Greyhawk, it feels like the most Greyhawkian campaign I ever played.
Thank you for your channel. I am loving Greyhawk. I am running 5e and have created a homebrewed microclimate region within the Lortmil mountains. Elves from Ulek conquered the mountain valley from the ancient human culture. Dwarves rule the mountain surrounding the valley with lots of goblins, orcs, and giant tribes in the mountains too. I bought most of the 1e books and module pdfs and have had them turned into nice books so when we run out of homebrew material we will dive right into AD&D!!
Any recommendations for learning more about the Pomarj? I have a solo game of Keep on the borderlands set there and I am thinking of linking slavers in from Highport and maybe some savage orcs as well but any more details to flesh it out would be awesome
I have an idea for you, which I've done (3) times now. I actually took a 3E series of adventures set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar game setting and re-set them in the Wild Coast and the Pomarj, actually set before its fall to humanoid hordes -- and actually helping to explain how it happens. The adventures are collectively know as the "Coin of Power" series, and is one of the best story-based adventures I've ever seen set up for 1st level characters. It's actually three different modules ("The Root of All Evil", "Forging Darkness", and "Coin's End"). A synopsis of the adventure is that the party discovers that an evil wizard has forged a powerful magical item and is using it to unite the local hordes of humanoids, bent on conquest of the region. Time-wise, I set this in 513 CY, for a reason: that's when the Pomarj fell to humanoid invaders. But who instigated it? Who organized it? Daresh, the evil wizard, that's who! The adventure actually takes the party around the Flanaess, to the port city of Zoa (later known as "Highport"), across the Azure Seas to the Amedio Jungle, back to Zoa, across the Wooly Bay to the Bright Desert, up and down the Wild Coast, and into the Drachensgrab Mountains for a final confrontation with Daresh. All the while, her armies are sacking city after city, laying waste to the area. Once Daresh is defeated, her progress is halted but the area still remains in the hands of the various tribes she'd previously united, who are all now fighting among themselves for lack of a unifying leader. It's a campaign that took us about a year to complete, based on weekly sessions that averaged one hour. The party started as novices, 1st level, and finished as unsung heroes, around 5th-6th level. So, I'd highly recommend you check out the Coin of Power series, originally set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar but easily transported to the central Flanaess!
Well spoken and nicely presented as always, Your Grogglyness. It's a small thing, but I really dig the map behind you. It's not only a nice aesthetic touch, but it makes highlighting a region quite easy as well. I hope this is a really big video for the channel. Good stuff.
Thanks! This one has definitely trended well. You'll see a lot more of the map; I'm experimenting with different things in the videos, and in future videos you'll see it right behind me. Always trying to improve the channel and the videos. Glad you like this one, my friend! Can't wait for your video tonight so the weekend can properly start.
Some great advice here. My next Adventures Dark & Deep campaign will be set in Greyhawk (obviously). I’m likely going to go with the 3rd time period (Let the Adventures Begin).
Sounds fun!! I am getting ready to start a C&C campaign in Greyhawk. I am an old timer (started playing in 1980). But my players will be in their mid to late 20s, and are new to TTRPGs. So... I am going old school. Likely it will be T1, then B1, then part of the A series, then T2-T4, then Gs, Ds, and Qs. The classics shall live again!!
Did you mention the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer? That's what I was recommended in forums instead of the boxed set. Still the boxed set for City of Greyhawk though. I dropped those PDFs in NotebookLM, and I've used those sources for understanding the stake of affairs in The Flanaess CY 591. Post Greyhawk Wars.
Bought 5 of the Goodman Games AD&D modules for 1st and 5th edition adaptations. Can't wait to introduce my kids to Grey hawk via their 5th edition rules.
Love the consistently solid advice. Have Run two sessions now of my new Greyhawk campaign, set in the principality of Ulek and dealing with an orc invasion from the Pomarj. Another great starting location I believe, with lots of low challenge rating monsters for low-level characters! I like your advice of having the onion layers of bad guys, I plan on having the slave lords, of course, being behind it in the end. I might tie it into the eventual rise of the orc empire there as well. Any resources you recommend for running the slavers? I wanted to get the Goodman games book, but I can’t find it at my local store anymore. From what I understand, they are out of print.
Our party is in and around Hommle. A funny thing happened, learnt Gbolls were a raiding and pillaging under the ancient evil...so went looking for the fort in the Goodman Games edition... Now, because the Gnolls are now classed as Fiends,dm rules after turning an undead gnoll that was animated by the shaman/witch doctor my paladin of thunders turning ability worked a little too well. Instead of battling the gnolls they all bolted, leaving the party scratching their heads. Really silly idea turning the gnolls in the looming monster manual into Fiends.... An aside, ordered the City of Greyhawk PoD off of Drivethru, come in handy for Adventures Dark and Deep
See you (I notice a lot do) say the word Geoff as Joff, it is actually pronounced the same as Jeff! (I have an Irish and an American friend both say Joff!) Short for Geoffrey!
For a Greyhawk campaign, you have to ditch the 5x rules. Marvel, like superhero characters have no staying power. When any game is too easy, people lose interest. 💯
I've run the same campaign in 3.x and 5e. It's a fairly easy port. 1e characters got pretty powerful fairly quickly and I don't see that much of a difference in 3e or 5e - those versions just play slower in terms of numbers of combats. You can make 5e a challenge, just by not scaling encounters, putting interesting encounters in it, using the story and setting, modifying the XP to slow down level advancement (try 250xp per session, it dramatically slows advancement significantly at 5th-6th). In my Greyhawk campaigns, it was never the big combats that players remember, but the situations, plot reveals, NPCs, PC actions, etc. 5e has its benefits. It's less work on characters and monsters than 3e, combats are a bit more predictable, you don't have as many goofy builds relying on rules exploits, it's easier to learn, characters (at lower levels) are reasonably balanced vs. 3.x shenanigans, etc.
That's all based on how well the DM manages the game. I've been running a 5E Greyhawk campaign for over three years now (started January 2022). The players are now at levels 14 to 18, and entering their endgame -- the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. They're three sessions into that adventure (with a lot of build up home brew I added to get them there), and they're already intimidated and trying to avoid fights. But they can only avoid them for so long! TPKs CAN happen in 5E, even at high levels. We'll see if we have one soon...
Just started Temple in January with my group. Plan to stay in OG Greyhawk for years to come.
Thank you for showing us the covers too. The visuals help punctuate the information.
I'm considering using the 2024 DMG Greyhawk as a flowerbed to plant weird swords & sorcery style adventures (like DCC RPG's Lankhmar in Greyhawk, in addition to Tsojcanth, Whiteplume, and the Barrier Peaks), but was curious what tropes and themes may have inspired the different regions, assuming some were built to really suit certain tones.
I love using Lankhmar to help supplement my City of Greyhawk. Both the TSR and DCC versions.
Nicely done!
We'll be starting a new campaign some time in 2025. My players are currently high level and exploring Baba Yaga's Hut. Once they've completed that (or TPK'd, considering), they'll be starting a new Greyhawk campaign, and we plan on ordering your books!
You forgot the key step... roll a random starting hex! 🙂 We used to do this during our session 0. We'd be reading about the area, making characters suitable for that area, figuring out how they started there, and me trying to come up with a campaign on the spot. They'd roll and suddenly they'd be in the middle of an elven forest, or a hills in Aerdy, or on a ship in the middle of the ocean, or desert mountains, or the middle of frozen plains. Suddenly, players would have to come up with character concepts on the spot -- all elf party, evil-based campaign, pirates on sea-borne campaign, dwarven merchants, or northern barbarians.
Thanks for this video, it was very helpful. Plenty to digest and good to know there's loads of Greyhawk material available. Recently started as a player in a Greyhawk campaign (5E) for the first time in almost 35 years. My DM is a huge Lakofka fan.
We played two long campaigns near or in the City of Greyhawk back in the 1980s and 90s (Tempel, Slavelords, Falcon Trilogy and more), which was fun.
Three years ago, I started a campaign in Saltmarsh (south west Keoland) in 576CY. My players are now in the Hold of the Seaprinces. They helped Prince Jeon II (ruler of the Seaprinces) against assassination attempts and plots to dethrone him because of his anti-slavery law. The PCs have uncovered a plot by the Scarlet Brotherhood to overtake the entire Seaprinces (in my version the Scarlet Brotherhood plotted years ahead, because the coupe described in the Greyhawk Wars is a bit rediculous and should have failed imo). Some of my players have PCs who were slaves and plan a slave revolt, one is the daughter of Erasmus Tydan of Port Torvin and she wants to assassinate her evil father, another player has a monk of Zuoken, which in my Greyhawk is a sworn enemy to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Although this campaign was never set in the City of Greyhawk, it feels like the most Greyhawkian campaign I ever played.
The video I have been waiting for ! Thank you grognard!
Thank you for your channel. I am loving Greyhawk.
I am running 5e and have created a homebrewed microclimate region within the Lortmil mountains. Elves from Ulek conquered the mountain valley from the ancient human culture. Dwarves rule the mountain surrounding the valley with lots of goblins, orcs, and giant tribes in the mountains too.
I bought most of the 1e books and module pdfs and have had them turned into nice books so when we run out of homebrew material we will dive right into AD&D!!
Great video.
Nice! im about to start ghosts of saltmarsh using the info in the 2024 DMG
Any recommendations for learning more about the Pomarj? I have a solo game of Keep on the borderlands set there and I am thinking of linking slavers in from Highport and maybe some savage orcs as well but any more details to flesh it out would be awesome
I have an idea for you, which I've done (3) times now. I actually took a 3E series of adventures set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar game setting and re-set them in the Wild Coast and the Pomarj, actually set before its fall to humanoid hordes -- and actually helping to explain how it happens.
The adventures are collectively know as the "Coin of Power" series, and is one of the best story-based adventures I've ever seen set up for 1st level characters. It's actually three different modules ("The Root of All Evil", "Forging Darkness", and "Coin's End").
A synopsis of the adventure is that the party discovers that an evil wizard has forged a powerful magical item and is using it to unite the local hordes of humanoids, bent on conquest of the region. Time-wise, I set this in 513 CY, for a reason: that's when the Pomarj fell to humanoid invaders. But who instigated it? Who organized it? Daresh, the evil wizard, that's who!
The adventure actually takes the party around the Flanaess, to the port city of Zoa (later known as "Highport"), across the Azure Seas to the Amedio Jungle, back to Zoa, across the Wooly Bay to the Bright Desert, up and down the Wild Coast, and into the Drachensgrab Mountains for a final confrontation with Daresh. All the while, her armies are sacking city after city, laying waste to the area. Once Daresh is defeated, her progress is halted but the area still remains in the hands of the various tribes she'd previously united, who are all now fighting among themselves for lack of a unifying leader.
It's a campaign that took us about a year to complete, based on weekly sessions that averaged one hour. The party started as novices, 1st level, and finished as unsung heroes, around 5th-6th level.
So, I'd highly recommend you check out the Coin of Power series, originally set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar but easily transported to the central Flanaess!
@sfrink1425 Thank you I will definitely check it out!
Well spoken and nicely presented as always, Your Grogglyness. It's a small thing, but I really dig the map behind you. It's not only a nice aesthetic touch, but it makes highlighting a region quite easy as well.
I hope this is a really big video for the channel. Good stuff.
Thanks! This one has definitely trended well. You'll see a lot more of the map; I'm experimenting with different things in the videos, and in future videos you'll see it right behind me. Always trying to improve the channel and the videos. Glad you like this one, my friend! Can't wait for your video tonight so the weekend can properly start.
The Rift with the basic D&D was my introduction to rpgs.
Ah, Ratik. I was a Triad member for LG for a time in Ratik in Hawaii back in the day. Good times!
Some great advice here. My next Adventures Dark & Deep campaign will be set in Greyhawk (obviously). I’m likely going to go with the 3rd time period (Let the Adventures Begin).
Sounds fun!! I am getting ready to start a C&C campaign in Greyhawk. I am an old timer (started playing in 1980). But my players will be in their mid to late 20s, and are new to TTRPGs. So... I am going old school. Likely it will be T1, then B1, then part of the A series, then T2-T4, then Gs, Ds, and Qs. The classics shall live again!!
I want to start a campaign with Kargoth as the BBEG...
Did you mention the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer? That's what I was recommended in forums instead of the boxed set. Still the boxed set for City of Greyhawk though. I dropped those PDFs in NotebookLM, and I've used those sources for understanding the stake of affairs in The Flanaess CY 591. Post Greyhawk Wars.
CY 585 'After the Ashes' was our favored time period.
Greyhawk is the only setting. Prove me wrong. Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!
Bought 5 of the Goodman Games AD&D modules for 1st and 5th edition adaptations. Can't wait to introduce my kids to Grey hawk via their 5th edition rules.
Pity they are now OOP. I have the Greyhawk ones, and they did a wonderful job.
Thank you for your videos.
Glad you're enjoying them!
Love the consistently solid advice. Have Run two sessions now of my new Greyhawk campaign, set in the principality of Ulek and dealing with an orc invasion from the Pomarj. Another great starting location I believe, with lots of low challenge rating monsters for low-level characters! I like your advice of having the onion layers of bad guys, I plan on having the slave lords, of course, being behind it in the end. I might tie it into the eventual rise of the orc empire there as well. Any resources you recommend for running the slavers? I wanted to get the Goodman games book, but I can’t find it at my local store anymore. From what I understand, they are out of print.
Love the video! What do you think about the Valley of the Mage? It’s my absolute favorite area of Greyhawk!
TBH I was a little disappointed by the published Vale of the Mage module. I prefer it to stay mysterious for each DM to detail for themselves.
With all the new 2024/25 books foing back to Greyhawk im thinking of drawing from obscure Greyhawk stuff...
Malifleur, Kyuss, etc.
When and where can I get the print version of your Greyhawk campaign guide? Thanks.
On DMs Guild: tinyurl.com/cb66auw6
Good stuff man
The '83 boxed set is the way to go
@GreyhawkGrognard is "the hero the Flanaess deserves, AND the one it needs right now." - Jim Gordon (paladin).
Our party is in and around Hommle. A funny thing happened, learnt Gbolls were a raiding and pillaging under the ancient evil...so went looking for the fort in the Goodman Games edition...
Now, because the Gnolls are now classed as Fiends,dm rules after turning an undead gnoll that was animated by the shaman/witch doctor my paladin of thunders turning ability worked a little too well.
Instead of battling the gnolls they all bolted, leaving the party scratching their heads. Really silly idea turning the gnolls in the looming monster manual into Fiends....
An aside, ordered the City of Greyhawk PoD off of Drivethru, come in handy for Adventures Dark and Deep
See you (I notice a lot do) say the word Geoff as Joff, it is actually pronounced the same as Jeff! (I have an Irish and an American friend both say Joff!) Short for Geoffrey!
That's my Oeridian accent.
For a Greyhawk campaign, you have to ditch the 5x rules. Marvel, like superhero characters have no staying power. When any game is too easy, people lose interest. 💯
5x is very easy to modify in any direction. Something like Runehammer’s “5e Hardcore Mode” would more than suffice.
I've run the same campaign in 3.x and 5e. It's a fairly easy port. 1e characters got pretty powerful fairly quickly and I don't see that much of a difference in 3e or 5e - those versions just play slower in terms of numbers of combats. You can make 5e a challenge, just by not scaling encounters, putting interesting encounters in it, using the story and setting, modifying the XP to slow down level advancement (try 250xp per session, it dramatically slows advancement significantly at 5th-6th).
In my Greyhawk campaigns, it was never the big combats that players remember, but the situations, plot reveals, NPCs, PC actions, etc. 5e has its benefits. It's less work on characters and monsters than 3e, combats are a bit more predictable, you don't have as many goofy builds relying on rules exploits, it's easier to learn, characters (at lower levels) are reasonably balanced vs. 3.x shenanigans, etc.
That's all based on how well the DM manages the game. I've been running a 5E Greyhawk campaign for over three years now (started January 2022). The players are now at levels 14 to 18, and entering their endgame -- the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. They're three sessions into that adventure (with a lot of build up home brew I added to get them there), and they're already intimidated and trying to avoid fights.
But they can only avoid them for so long! TPKs CAN happen in 5E, even at high levels. We'll see if we have one soon...