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Eric-
I know alot of the adventures are still incomplete, but how will the "Free City" be used? I mean this, I bought Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins from ebay, but the doggone thing did not have the map booklet. I know there are a few awesome maps available online, but most are not keyed. Should I go through all the trouble of that, or will the adventure itself have keyed maps of the city, and the specific important locations to the adventure? I can print the map of the city, and coordinate this with keyed maps from the module?
Thanks alot,
Patrick.
See if you can find a copy of the Living Greyhawk Journal #2 with the map on ebay or something.
Also, try google--you'll be amazed at what you come up with: http://melkot.com/locations/cogh/cogh.html
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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If it were up to me, the Adventure Path would be firmly set in Greyhawk and there would be a huge City of Greyhawk write-up complete with a great poster map of the city.
It's not up to me, so instead readers will get a fully detailed city block where their PCs live, and will have to fill in the "big city" details with either the City of Greyhawk Boxed Set (now a decade out of print), City of Splendors: Waterdeep, or Sharn: City of Towers.
The "action" in the Free City will be limited to two adventures, one of which will take place almost entirely under the Free City Arena, which will be detailed in full.
--Erik Mona
Erik:
If you are free to respond, I'm curious -- do Greyhawk-specific adventures sell less well than generic scenarios, or scenarios specific to a supported campaign?
Thanks,
Jack
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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All of my experience tells me that when we prominently feature Greyhawk, our sales increase. The "Maure Castle" issue (#112) and the four Greyhawk map issues (#118-121) are the best-selling issues of Dungeon since the first Third Edition issue. Whether that's because of Greyhawk or just because each issue was special in its own right (one adventure, big map) is more difficult to determine.
--Erik Mona
My personal theory is that a lot of gamers from the 80's are rediscovering the game as they head into their 40's and find Greyhawk a reminder of the good old days. When I restarted playing D&D after a 5 year "burn-out" absence, I went to 3.5 and ditched the "Realms"....coming back to Greyhawk was like coming home to an old friend.
My personal theory is that a lot of gamers from the 80's are rediscovering the game as they head into their 40's...
Or 30s :P A lot of us (Erik included) were introduced to D&D in elementary or middle school. We all remember Greyhawk and the look and feel of 'old d&d.'
My personal theory is that a lot of gamers from the 80's are rediscovering the game as they head into their 40's... [/QUOTE
True. But sometimes I wonder if there is not a kind of lack of inspiration at wotc. Just generic rule books or backgrounds, tons of feats and spells, new character races, but nothing compared to the good old stuff, back in the 80s'. So many of us are drawn back to what we had fun with, greyhawk for example. It's not surprising forgotten realms get more and more...forgotten! Warhammer rpg had the ennemy within, call of cthulhu had the masks of nyarlathotep, but what about DD3? Eberron may be different, but it's to early to have a proper opinion. That's why the adventure path is so eagerly waited for! Keep on doing good job and thanks a lot!
Just as a reminder to those of you who are pre-3e gamers, there are those of us who are new to D&D as of 3e and fell in love with Greyhawk by chance. My first experience was as a player running through Monte Cook's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. That module enticed me enough to pick up a copy of the D&D Gazetteer, which in turn had me hungry for more and so I picked up a copy of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Then I stumbled across the Official History of the Greyhawk Wars.
The Living Greyhawk Journals helped me to learn even more about the settings history with articles such as the Vault of the Drow in Dragon #298. The Living Greyhawk web site at Wizards.COM gave me a bit more. I then found myself buying PDFs of old modules and sourcebooks from RPGNow.com.
Finally, I'm a DM of a campaign titled Legacies of the Greyhawk Wars in which I have 4 newcomers to D&D and Greyhawk and one veteran gamer new to Greyhawk all of which have rich character backgrounds developed using the relatively recent Greyhawk Wars.
I buy the issues of Dragon and Dungeon that feature Greyhawk-specific content just so I can add to my personal collection of 3e/v3.5 Greyhawk resources.
I eventually plan on collecting all of these resources into my own personal campaign "book," which will include articles from WotC's LG web site such as Languages of the Flanaess, Mysterious Places, Knights of the Watch and Knights of Dispatch, Dragon's Regional Feats of Oerth, and PrCs and organizations featured in the Living Greyhawk Journal.
Now if Paizo were to produce such a campaign book, you better know I'd be buying it without thinking twice about it.
What Mathieu said has me thinking about this: the 'Good Old Days' of D&D (which included WoG) were characterized by there being more adventure modules than supplements and sourcebooks. While sourcebooks are good, TSR was as into adventures as the players.
It just doesn't seem that way anymore.
And, of course, that's why Dungeon (and AP2) is so great -- it's all about adventures.
Regards all,
Jack
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I don't think it's a coincidence that those Dungeon magazines are selling well.
When I heard about Maure Castle, I got off my arse and bought the first issue of Dungeon since 1992. At the time, I figured I was just buying that issue as a fluke.
Then the Greyhawk maps came out, and I admitted to myself I'd be making a trip to the local store to buy 4 more issues.
Then I started reading the message boards and saw Erik suggesting much more Greyhawk was to come.
I immediately subscribed for a year and eagerly look forward to each issue.
Hoping to start running AOW in a couple of months once the group reaches a few milestones in Slavelords. They are just about to encounter Markessa, and I'm quite excited. :)
I'm also a Greyhawker from way back -- I went *far* out of my way to get the Dungeon issues with the four maps; I also ordered the Hardby and Bright Desert back issues. Now AP2/AoW is going to get me to subscribe; this is all because of Greyhawk content.
It's not irrelevant that, as an older customer, I have more cash to spend on magazines and (expensive) products -- WotC should think about that, methinks.
I'm trying to understand what WotC wants out of Dungeon. Do FR or Eberron adventures increases Dungeon sales?
Perhaps more importantly, is there reason to believe (market research or whatever) that FR or Eberron content in Dungeon increases sales in the D&D line?
Later,
Jack
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I am probably just as old, if not moreso. I will buy any Greyhawk or FR, but I am completely disinterested in Ebberon. All of my campaigns since 3.0 came out have been homebrews. This is the first set in GH. Our alternate GM, we each do a 3 week stretch or so, always runs FR, so FR interests me, I alos read the books, which i have liked.
"Just as a reminder to those of you who are pre-3e gamers, there are those of us who are new to D&D as of 3e and fell in love with Greyhawk by chance."
There are also ones like me who started playing in 1991 (Rules Cyclopedia, baby!) and didn't read a word about Greyhawk until picking up the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer in 2002 due to the way TSR had marginalized the setting in the dying days. Before that I had played in Mystara, which I still love very much, too.
"Perhaps more importantly, is there reason to believe (market research or whatever) that FR or Eberron content in Dungeon increases sales in the D&D line?"
Very good question. My personal intuition is that if WotC would only support Greyhawk in the same quantity and the same fashion (with regular hardcover game books) as it supports Forgotten Realms and Eberron, it would sell much more than either of them.
My hunch is that they're scared of doing so because of old sales figures from TSR's Greyhawk stuff in the 90s, but the bottom line there is that TSR supported Greyhawk extremely poorly after Gygax left. Do it right, and it will sell and sell and sell.
I am probably just as old, if not moreso. I will buy any Greyhawk or FR, but I am completely disinterested in Ebberon. All of my campaigns since 3.0 came out have been homebrews. This is the first set in GH. Our alternate GM, we each do a 3 week stretch or so, always runs FR, so FR interests me, I alos read the books, which i have liked.
I agree. I'm an old fan of Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms, but I dislike something about Eberron that I just can't explain. Of course, both Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms also have some things to work around (especially if there are a few high-powered and firmly embedded characters that you don't like); so the prior history of any world can be difficult to "fix" by eliminating or replacing a historically-important NPC... and you end up with an "alternate world" (which players can really dislike if they're into canon history from the paperback books), or a world completely of your own devising. The latter is really quite time-consuming, though the most personally rewarding for a DM, but I usually go with FR over Greyhawk just because we tend to like the NPCs and history so much better in FR than in Greyhawk.
I have the luxury of being a huge D&D fan from 1981 onwards. I have almost every Greyhawk product ever produced (even the aweful Puppets and Childs play modules.
While I enjoy Forgotten Realms and ran the Night Below supplement in that world, nothing compares to the gritiness of Greyhawk.
I mean, there is no Elminister around to save your ass if you get in trouble. For that matter, if you are above 10th lvl in Greyhawk you are someone to be reckoned with, whereas in FR you are Average Joe.
So I love seeing more Greyhawk set in 3rd Edition, since it feels more anchored and character actions seem to have more meaning. My two cents.
...While I enjoy Forgotten Realms and ran the Night Below supplement in that world, nothing compares to the gritiness of Greyhawk.
I mean, there is no Elminister around to save your ass if you get in trouble. For that matter, if you are above 10th lvl in Greyhawk you are someone to be reckoned with, whereas in FR you are Average Joe.
So I love seeing more Greyhawk set in 3rd Edition, since it feels more anchored and character actions seem to have more meaning. My two cents.
I have that same sense. Even the epic personalities of Greyhawk remain in the background, never taking center stage.
I like to think that Greyhawk is about the PCs. The pivotal events of the world are adventures we play -- Robilar didn't sack the Temple of Elemental Evil, we did! :)
Just a copper or two more...
Regards,
Jack
Eric-
I know alot of the adventures are still incomplete, but how will the "Free City" be used? I mean this, I bought Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins from ebay, but the doggone thing did not have the map booklet. I know there are a few awesome maps available online, but most are not keyed. Should I go through all the trouble of that, or will the adventure itself have keyed maps of the city, and the specific important locations to the adventure? I can print the map of the city, and coordinate this with keyed maps from the module?Thanks alot,
Patrick.
If you're interested RPGnow has a pdf of Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins that includes all the maps.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1479&
...While I enjoy Forgotten Realms and ran the Night Below supplement in that world, nothing compares to the gritiness of Greyhawk. I mean, there is no Elminister around to save your ass if you get in trouble. For that matter, if you are above 10th lvl in Greyhawk you are someone to be reckoned with, whereas in FR you are Average Joe.
It's strange, but I suppose I've never quite thought of Greyhawk in exactly that way. With FR, I've never actually had my players interact with "big names" like Elminster, but it really is the case that the high-powered folks are still there, perhaps just in case the players accidentally bust the Abyss wide open. The feel of FR is sometimes that Elminster, or the Harpers, or the War Wizards, might be there to help out in a real pinch... because your characters could theoretically visit them. But not so with Greyhawk... their Epic NPCs are far more distant.
Maybe it's that feeling that has kept me distant from Greyhawk materials, for more than 15 years. So maybe it's time for a change. Out of curiosity, what Greyhawk background materials would you and others recommend as really important? (I have the Greyhawk Gazetteer, and Deities and Demigods, but that's about it... some of my 1st edition stuff is Greyhawk, but I switched over to FR for all the 2nd and 3rd edition materials I bought). What are the really good things needed for a new Greyhawk campaign?
What are the really good things needed for a new Greyhawk campaign?
Humm, there is no easy answer to this one. Basically, what was nice about 1st/2nd edition D&D was that there was so many modules out you could pretty much construct a huge epic campaign out of various sources and hardly have to do much work. I started a capaign in Lendore Island in the CY570's and after finishing the L series they moved onto Hepoland for I1 and Idee for I2 and then moved the action to Hardy where they started the A series. Subsequent to that they moved to the City of Greyhawk to try their luck in Castle Greyhawk..where a time trap subsequently moved them into Cy584 and the close of the wars.
For a capaign starting with 3rd edition, I would still recommend begging/borrowing/stealing the City of greyhawk boxed set..it is very good. The later From the ashes update from Carl Sargent was very good and the Roger Moores "The Adventure Begins" was just awesome. It perfectly updated previous material and threw in stuff from Gygax's original camapign that hadn't been seen before.
My other favourite is the U series, starting with secret of saltmarsh. Seeing as how Wizards has detailed saltmarsh in detail in the new dungeon masters guide 2 it is tempting to start a campaign there and then maybe move to the amedio where some elements of the first adventure path could be incorporated.
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Maybe it's that feeling that has kept me distant from Greyhawk materials, for more than 15 years. So maybe it's time for a change. Out of curiosity, what Greyhawk background materials would you and others recommend as really important? (I have the Greyhawk Gazetteer, and Deities and Demigods, but that's about it... some of my 1st edition stuff is Greyhawk, but I switched over to FR for all the 2nd and 3rd edition materials I bought). What are the really good things needed for a new Greyhawk campaign?
More than any other campaign, Greyhawk is about the adventures. It seems simple, but other settings out there think that sourcebooks are better. Can you run your players through a sourcebook? Check out the classic adventures. Queen of Spiders and The Temple of Elemental Evil are mega-expensive, so I would recommend ones that you could get for a little less money--try The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, White Plume Mountain, and the Maure Castle stuff from Dungeon issues 112 and 124. Therein lies what Dungeons and Dragons is all about.