We all know that Erik Mona is a huge Greyhawk afficionado (and one of the best writers the setting ever had, imho). I think it's a tragedy that he can no longer write official Greyhawk material.
Now, if I think that's a shame, I'm pretty sure that Erik must feel similar - after all it's reasonable to assume that he feels a closer connection to his work than I do.
In light of that, let's look at some tidbits we know about Golarion:
It's got more than one moon - so does Greyhawk.
You can travel there - something that (frequently) happens on Greyhawk.
The Golarion-verse has a "Mars" and a "Venus" - so does Greyhawk (or, rather EGG's campaign).
The Gipsy-like Varisians are reminiscent of the Rhenee. Is Varisia = Rhop?
Shelyn, the Eternal Rose, a NG goddess of beauty, art and love... = Myhriss, a NG goddess of beauty, art and love who has a rose as her holy symbol?
And, as robbastard has pointed out here: http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic& amp;t=2734
The pathfinders are basically the Seekers, and Molaho Kem is a Greyhawk character;
the "Land of the Linnorm Kings" could stand in for the "Dragon Empire of Lynn";
and Varisia fits nicely on the western coast of the old apocryphal Greyhawk map - just south of the Dragon Empire of Lynn/Land of the Linnorm Kings...
Now, obviously, these ties won't be official - but Western Oerik isn't exactly canon, anyways. It is my impression, however, that Golarion is designed to fit into that spot without much hassle.
Just wanted to point that out... maybe you guys find some other ties to Greyhawk, as well?
While I cannot point out any further ties to Greyhawk, the idea is intriguing. The old map of western Oerik is no more official than the map presented in the even older D&D Companion Set (or was it the Master Set), which was invalidated by Bruce Heards Voyage of the Princess Ark in Dragon (now these were days...). So from general geographics, Golarion would surely fit to the area you mentioned, give or take a few islands - old maps are notoriously inaccurate ;-). So, as I won´t leave Greyhawk as my main setting anytime soon, I will set pathfinder there if I ever get a chance to play them...
Stefan
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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This is interesting.
The Molaho Kem thing was a throw-away reference to a mythical character. I was surprised anyone even caught that I'd used the name before.
The northern continent of Avistan, upon which Varisia is situated, has a western coastline and extends into a supercontinent on the eastern side, but this wasn't done intentionally to make it work as western Oerik.
Golarion is its own planet. You could use it as an extension of another existing world, but it wouldn't be a perfect fit.
--Erik
While I cannot point out any further ties to Greyhawk, the idea is intriguing. The old map of western Oerik is no more official than the map presented in the even older D&D Companion Set (or was it the Master Set), which was invalidated by Bruce Heards Voyage of the Princess Ark in Dragon (now these were days...). So from general geographics, Golarion would surely fit to the area you mentioned, give or take a few islands - old maps are notoriously inaccurate ;-). So, as I won´t leave Greyhawk as my main setting anytime soon, I will set pathfinder there if I ever get a chance to play them...
Stefan
Sorry, but I can't really catch the link between Mystara, which was originally the "Known World" of the Dugeons & Dragons classic game (I quite don't line the "OD&D" definition) and the World of Greyhawk, which I've always believed was totally unrelated with that setting.
Greyhawk was the original setting for EGG own campaign, while the Known World was introduced with the D&D Expert Set and later developed in the Gazeteer series - nothing to do with Oerik, Oerth, ad so on...Maybe you could give me some advice on this. You know, I *still* run a campaign set in the "Known World", so if I could join Varisia to that continent, it would be just great!
Thanks.
Sorry, Aidan, I was less than clear on that. I meant to say that the western Greyhawk map was as official as the old Mystara map - and thus, equally easily changed. I did not want to imply that there was any correlation between Mystara and Greyhawk, as there is no connection AFAIK.
If you want to make a connection, here is an idea for it: mystearth.
Sorry for any confusion I caused.
I don´t have any idea how to link Mystara to Varisia, though...
Stefan
Sorry, Aidan, I was less than clear on that. I meant to say that the western Greyhawk map was as official as the old Mystara map - and thus, equally easily changed. I did not want to imply that there was any correlation between Mystara and Greyhawk, as there is no connection AFAIK.
If you want to make a connection, here is an idea for it: mystearth.
Sorry for any confusion I caused.
I don´t have any idea how to link Mystara to Varisia, though...
Stefan
OK, thank you very much Stefan!
This is interesting.
The Molaho Kem thing was a throw-away reference to a mythical character. I was surprised anyone even caught that I'd used the name before.
The northern continent of Avistan, upon which Varisia is situated, has a western coastline and extends into a supercontinent on the eastern side, but this wasn't done intentionally to make it work as western Oerik.
Golarion is its own planet. You could use it as an extension of another existing world, but it wouldn't be a perfect fit.
--Erik
Thanks for chiming in, Erik!
I, for one, would appreciate it if there was some way of linking the Flanaess to Golarion.I checked a couple of the other deities and couldn't find any other obvious parallels. (Except for Abadar=Zilchus, but somehow I'm getting a different vibe from Abadar)
However that would only be logical, for different ethnicities have different panthea in Greyhawk. The only thing that's really needed would be some place that can be designated as the ancestral homeland of the Oeridians. The Suel and Bakluni Emprires could be assumed to be buried beneath the Dry steppes and the Sea of Dust.
I found some more tentative links:
Golarion has a "fantasy egypt"; the Erypt of the Dragon annual map might be a good fit for that.
And there's apparently a "fantasy Japan" in Golarion, as well... just like there's a region called "Nippon" on the Greyhawk map.
It is worth pointing out, that in the Flanaess itself there's no country remotely like Egypt or Japan.
I like where this is going... :)
(And, yes, I noticed that you said that there were no links between Western Oerik and Golarion, but after comparing all the detites for more than an hour I just can't stop thinking about this now :)
Well, if you want a connection between Golarion and Oerth, just make it work. That´s what western Oerik is for, after all - placing what you want.
Hmm... might be worth a thread for placing Golarion on other worlds, as well. We assume that the game worlds are placed on the northern hemisphere automatically (at least I do), but what about placing it on the southern hemisphere? This might work for Mystara, for example. The southern continent has enough unexplored space for this.
Stefan
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This is interesting.
The Molaho Kem thing was a throw-away reference to a mythical character. I was surprised anyone even caught that I'd used the name before.
Heh...well, Erik, the Bandit Kingdoms region from the Living Greyhawk campaign went and made a whole plot arc that ended up revolving around that little throwaway reference from your Year 1 LG scenario...so quite a few folks in Texas and Oklahoma will recognize the name :)
Rob Little
