There’s a lot of history behind Greyhawk and I’m pretty sure I and my players missed most of it. I’m thinking of taking advantage of the new edition to start from the beginning with a Greyhawk Season 1 campaign.
The Elemental Evil Slavers of the Giant Demonweb Pits sounds like a great campaign, but I wanted to touch bases with some real Greyhawk fans about some of your favorite not-to-be-missed Greyhawk moments.
When cutting and pasting encounters from these supermodules, what should I be sure to include and what would you recommend I leave out?
I’m also considering a campaign of other Greyhawk material that would allow me to use the non-super-related adventures such as Saltmarsh and the Tomb of Horrors. If you were putting together a campaign of those miscellaneous modules, what would you want to see included? What are the iconic Greyhawk modules I should make an effort to include? Is any of the later 2e stuff good? The Falconmaster Series, Fate of Istus, and the Howl from the North prelude to War modules seem interesting and world shaping, are they any good?
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh series (3 modules)
Ghost Tower of Inverness
White Plume Mountain
Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
Lost Cavarns of Tsjocanth
Tomb of Horrors
These are my favorites, all from 1st edition.
Edit: I knew I was missing one, it's Against the Giants.
You might also want to check out the Expid. version of Castle Greyhawk or Ruins of Castle Greyhawk if you can find it.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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For the lowest levels, it's hard to beat the Saltmarsh trilogy. I'd also think about working in the Sentinel and Gauntlet modules (UK2 and UK3), they're close together in the world. Kusnir is in the southern Sea Princes, Saltmarsh is about 2 week's travel to the northwest in southern Keoland.
From there, if you want to have them travel, White Plume Mountain (S2) is a classic if a bit silly. I'm inclined to skip Lost Caverns myself, so sticking with the travel theme I'd swing them down to Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan (C1) and Dwellers in the Forbidden City (I1), tweaking up challenges a bit and making Dwellers a longer mod. Note they're on opposite sides of the continent, even though both are tropical.
That should bring you up the Paragon tier, if you're still going at that point I'd recommend Barrier Peaks for the wild factor and having a look at Maure Castle in Dungeon magazine.
If you could slow down advancement enough, it might look like this. You would need to tweak the modules a bit where the level matches aren't quite right:
1-3 Saltmarsh
4-6 Gauntlet, Sentinel
7 White Plume Mountain
8 Hidden Shrine
9-10 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Heh heh....I'm almost done with U1 and they're almost 4th level.
I added a few things, though.
Stock 3E and 4E advance a lot faster than classic D&D, so one of my assumptions is that you'd have to roughly halve the xp rate to keep the feel right. And adjust treasure to match that rate, of course, but you're already adjusting treasure anyway.
Keep on the Borderlands
White Plume Mountain
Against the Giants series (G1-3, D1-3, Q1)
Though much of my absolute favorite Greyhawk moments have been home-brewed adventures.
I didn't care for Fate of Istus. I could be wrong here, but at the time it was released, I thought it was just a way of using story to explain the deletion of certain core classes (assassin, monk, perhaps others) from the coming edition. I didn't run players through it because I didn't think they'd enjoy being a part of that.
As for favorites... I had memorable moments with almost all Greyhawk modules. I was a tweenage kid at the time, and my table was full of lively contributors. You could have given us a script to ALF to play and we would have made it funny and worthwhile.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Keep on the Borderlands
Keep on the Borderland isn't 'hawk, especially not the "Return to the Keep" product (despite the Greyhawk logo). However, if you want advice on converting Return to the Keep to Greyhawk, try the extensive notes on said task on my website.
Yep, plugging my own work. Shameless!
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I too would really like to go back and hit a bunch of the iconic Greyhawk adventures I missed out on as a result of getting involved in the mid-90's. So I don't have much advice for the OP on what mods should definitely be considered.
However, I saw that you mentioned Howl from the North, which you might actually want to avoid. Erik Mona has referred to it as a piece of crap, and noted that "[the author]'s name on the cover of a TSR product is like a Mr. Yuck sticker on a can of poison." I believe he cites it as evidence that TSR was trying to kill the setting during that period.
Yep, plugging my own work. Shamless!
Oh no... not shamless. The sham is in plain sight, my friend. I've got my eye on you. ;)
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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I didn't care for Fate of Istus. I could be wrong here, but at the time it was released, I thought it was just a way of using story to explain the deletion of certain core classes (assassin, monk, perhaps others) from the coming edition. I didn't run players through it because I didn't think they'd enjoy being a part of that.
Fate of Istus isn't very good. Of the ones the OP listed, I wouldn't bother with the Falcon series or Howl from the North either, although the first mod in the Blades of Corusk Series (Five Shall Be One) is pretty good.
Fate of Istus isn't very good. Of the ones the OP listed, I wouldn't both with the Falcon series or Howl from the North either, although the first mod in the Blades of Corusk Series (Five Shall Be One) is pretty good.
Thanks for confirming, Russ. I have trouble trusting my reads on things from younger years.
I didn't know the UK mods were set in Greyhawk. I'll have to look into those.
When y'all list your favorite mods, would you mind adding a comment or two about what was so memorable about it? Was there an iconic or especially fun memory that's stuck with you?
I lost my soul in the Ghost Tower of Inverness. That was fun.
Againt the Giants is a great blood bath/hack and slash once you get into it. It is nice to see the PCs squirm under such great odds.
Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun starts out great, after that you might want to help it along some. Massive fight using an assortment of humanoid monsters, trolls, and giants. Very hard for the PCs to even get in.
Lost Cavarns of Tsjocanth was a great cavarn crawl with an assortment of magic thrown in. The teleport rooms really throw the PCs off for awhile. Its great to DM because you know what is happening, but the PCs well....their expressions are great.
White Plume Mountain has a few silly encounters but once you get to the wooden plank over the lava pit area, it's great. Nice riddle with the sphinx as well. Just don't let the PCs have Blackrazor in the long run. players seem to obsesse over the damn sword.
Most of these modules are easily adaptable to dropping a room or changing the way an encounter works if you don't like it as is.
I didn't know the UK mods were set in Greyhawk. I'll have to look into those.
When y'all list your favorite mods, would you mind adding a comment or two about what was so memorable about it? Was there an iconic or especially fun memory that's stuck with you?
C1 Hidden shrine had a native warrior ally with a stone toothed sword... and gibbering mouthers...
B2 (basic--if converted to GH) Borderlands had Caves of Chaos (anyone who insists on buying and then bringing along a mirror definitely knows about the medusa), and the Castellan and his hawk.
S2? White plume had a really cool arena inside a fake volcano created by an eversmoking bottle.
Q1 Demonweb was just bent.
D1-2... Statue of Blibdoolpoop. The greedy players will try to cart it.
D3... an encounter atop a plateau citadel... the first I ever read that said something to the effect of, "After this many rounds... the drow armies march upon this structure and the heroes will definitely fall. I was reminded of that scene when a villainous Jet Li alter ego takes on all comers when sent to a prison world at the end of The One.
Just a few for now. Must dash.
Isle of the Ape.
And Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure.
They're the two I'd run back into a burning building to retrieve.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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I didn't know the UK mods were set in Greyhawk. I'll have to look into those.
When y'all list your favorite mods, would you mind adding a comment or two about what was so memorable about it? Was there an iconic or especially fun memory that's stuck with you?
South coast of Keoland, man.
The "U" you're thinking of is probably U1-3, Saltmarsh. The code stands for "Underwater" on them. Saltmarsh is on the south coast of Keoland. The UK mods, for United Kingdom, are in Greyhawk too in some cases:
UK1 - Beyond the Crystal Caves was set in the Hold of the Sea Princes, on Syberate Isle. I don't consider it to be much of a GH adventure thouhg.
UK2 and UK3, Sentinel and Gauntlet, were set in and near Kusnir, also in the Hold of the Sea Princes.
The other UK mods don't have any Greyhawk connection that I know of.
Sentinel and Gauntlet - what I remember most fondly about them is being introduce to the idea of being led around by powerful beings (in this case a minor artifact) at considerable risk to my own hide :) Being a catspaw is something of a GH tradition.
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I DMed Dwellers of the Forbidden City (The first module I ever DMed.)
I DMed Against the Cult of the Reptile God
I DMed Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure
I DMed White Plume Mountain after I played and survived it.
I survived The Village of Hommlet!
I survived the first two adventures in the The Slaver's Series. I never got the chance to play the last one.
I survived Against the Giants
I survived The Ghost Tower of Inverness!
I survived the Tomb of Horrors!
I survived both The Sentinel and The Gauntlet. (Two of my favorite modules of all time.)
I didn't Survive the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks...&#$@ing Intellect Devourer!
I didn't care for Fate of Istus. I could be wrong here, but at the time it was released, I thought it was just a way of using story to explain the deletion of certain core classes (assassin, monk, perhaps others) from the coming edition. I didn't run players through it because I didn't think they'd enjoy being a part of that.
For my 2 cp, MOST of it wasn't very good, but SOME of it was quite good - especially if you didn't try to run the whole thing as an AP, and if you ignored the nonsense about deleting classes. I've run the "Hextor slave pits" and the "giants robbing the warehouse" adventures in at least 2 campaigns each, and they were a big hit with the players in both groups. The Jurnre adventure we had a lot of fun with, too, but partly because of the ways in which the rogue's player reacted to everything ("He's a bad guy? I swim out to his boat in the middle of the night and torch it!")
On the other hand, the dungeon crawls and the high-level adventures in Fate of Istus we found to be utterly unplayable.
Many of the other adventures mentioned were really great.
But my all-time favorite:
Not much more to add on lots of great 1st edition stuff here, but I'm also partial to the Carl Sargent work in 2nd (?) edition, from the "From the Ashes" boxed set on (and including the fantastic "Ivid the Undying" pdf). I know other grognards found Carl's work to be divisive, but I quite liked it myself. (Obligatory YMMV)
We really enjoyed Return of the Eight.
We really enjoyed Return of the Eight.
So did I. Gave a whole new meaning to "Tenser's Transformation" though =:0
Vecna Lives
So did I. Gave a whole new meaning to "Tenser's Transformation" though =:0
Serves him right.
Me and my players always felt Tenser was a manipulative, narrow-minded, egotistical, morally-superior bully. To some degree, I continue to portray him that way when we play.
Of course, Mordenkainen is also a manipulative, egotistical, morally-superior bully (he only lacks the narrow-mindedness, and is perhaps less of a bully). But he's cool, so we let it slide :)
Vecna Lives
Oh yeah? I would like to include the Vecna mods not only because he's such an iconic character that I'm sure my players would love to face him, but also as an introduction to Ravenloft and Planescape (which the last adventure, Die Vecna Die, reportedly crosses into).
However, I've read some glum reviews about Vecna lives. What's the appeal to you?
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I didn't know the UK mods were set in Greyhawk. I'll have to look into those.
When y'all list your favorite mods, would you mind adding a comment or two about what was so memorable about it? Was there an iconic or especially fun memory that's stuck with you?
South coast of Keoland, man.
Have you got the Greyhawk Gazetteer with the chapter on Keoland?
It's got an exterior view of a certain house, on a certain cliff, near a certain town, near the Salinmoor...might just be of interest to a certain warwoof, with a certain group of players, running a certain PbP, on a certain company's boards...:)
I didn't care for Fate of Istus. I could be wrong here, but at the time it was released, I thought it was just a way of using story to explain the deletion of certain core classes (assassin, monk, perhaps others) from the coming edition. I didn't run players through it because I didn't think they'd enjoy being a part of that.For my 2 cp, MOST of it wasn't very good, but SOME of it was quite good - especially if you didn't try to run the whole thing as an AP, and if you ignored the nonsense about deleting classes. I've run the "Hextor slave pits" and the "giants robbing the warehouse" adventures in at least 2 campaigns each, and they were a big hit with the players in both groups. The Jurnre adventure we had a lot of fun with, too, but partly because of the ways in which the rogue's player reacted to everything ("He's a bad guy? I swim out to his boat in the middle of the night and torch it!")
On the other hand, the dungeon crawls and the high-level adventures in Fate of Istus we found to be utterly unplayable.
Thanks for the detailed and well-rounded explanation, Kirth. Now you've got me curious to pull it off the shelf and peruse dem pages.
BTW this year is the 25th anniversary of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting -- not the first Greyhawk product, but the boxed set which introduced us to so much of the setting's detail.
FYI :)
BTW this year is the 25th anniversary of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting -- not the first Greyhawk product, but the boxed set which introduced us to so much of the setting's detail.
Are we in the time of Puffet Smedger yet?
Are we in the time of Puffet Smedger yet?
Which one -- the Younger or the Elder?
I've been running a classic module campaign in Greyhawk for several years. We originally started it to put the 3.0 rules through their paces and have taken a leisurely pace since.
I started with Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. Changed Nergal to Nerull, and set it on the fringe of Veluna and the Lortmils, along a track used mainly by dwarves for supply of their mountain strongholds. It's not particularly Greyhawk, but the Keep is a classic and, despite not being GH and having the label, Return is actually a nice mod with a lot of good hooks and NPCs.
Used the merchant/slaver as a hook to draw the characters out to the Wild Coast and the Slavelords campaign - adding a few Dragon mods on the way, particularly Wedding Bells, which I modified up a bit so that one of the PC's parents was getting married. Also ran a little adventure in Verbobonc, Thirds of Purloined Vellum (adapted from FR to incorporate elements of a growing trade war between Greyhawk and Dyvers, with Verbobonc in the middle).
The Scourge of the Slavelords minicampaign was a lot of fun, with characters eventually leading a column of refugees out of the Drachensgrabs and to Jewell Bend in the Principality of Ulek, where they were just in time for the tournament that accompanied Brewfest.
After wintering in Safeton, they followed plot hooks to White Plume Mountain and then farther up into the Bandit Kingdoms, where I placed a small domain called Barovia and the original Ravenloft module.
From there, they have gone to Geoff and then Sterich for the Giant series and are currently halfway through the Jarl's domain on the glacial rift.
So far, we've had a lot of fun. In the early levels and adventures, you really do have to rein in the amount of XP given out or the PCs will level out of anything with a substantial number of humanoid grunts. I ended up focusing on giving a story award up through about level 9. Now that they are 12th level and dealing with giants, the leveling is a bit more appropriate, though still much faster than 1e. They're getting about 1 level per half of the giants locations, which I can plan for easily enough.
That’s a great campaign outline, Bill. I confess I’m saving Keep on the Boarderlands for my revival of Mystara, but the idea of opening up non-Greyhawk but still-classic D&D mods is a really good one. Ravenloft, Beyond the Magic Mirror, and Desert of Desolation (for example) are top considerations.
I also like the idea of being able to insert the single adventures between the big supermods. Maybe start at Saltmarsh and then send them to Hommlet. White Plume Mountain and/or Barrier Peaks could presage the Giant series.
Thanks for the inspiring post, BD.
U1-3 were also written by TSR UK, as well as the UK series.
U1-3 were also written by TSR UK, as well as the UK series.
They were still good :P
Come to think of it, WG12: Vale of the Mage was a cool supplement packed full of potential.
U1-3 were also written by TSR UK, as well as the UK series.They were still good :P
We of the UK are bloody excellent. I loved the Saltmarsh trilogy.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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BTW this year is the 25th anniversary of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting -- not the first Greyhawk product, but the boxed set which introduced us to so much of the setting's detail.
FYI :)
Sigh. Nice thought, but it's actually the 28th anniversary of the Greyhawk FOLIO, which was the first Greyhawk campaign setting (maps and all!).
Sigh. Nice thought, but it's actually the 28th anniversary of the Greyhawk FOLIO, which was the first Greyhawk campaign setting (maps and all!).
Yeah, but 25 is a cooler anniversary -- so I picked the boxed set to recognize :)
U1-3 were also written by TSR UK, as well as the UK series.
They were still good :P
We of the UK are bloody excellent. I loved the Saltmarsh trilogy.
Agreed. Saltmarsh is one of D&D's best. And I suppose you Brits are OK, too. Now, if we can just get you to speak standard English... :P
I’ve been an avid lurker on many sections of these boards for more than a year, but the only threads I can’t resist posting on are the Greyhawk campaign threads. I suppose I enjoy the setting just a little bit. :) Oh well, I’ll have at it again. Here are my choices, otherwise known as highlights of the 3.0/3.5 Greyhawk campaign I’ve been running since 2001:
U1-3, the Saltmarsh series. Outstanding modules. (I’m enjoying Heathensson’s pbp a lot.) Hommlet and Temple of Elemental Evil can be a lot of fun, but give me Saltmarsh any day.
UK2-3, The Sentinel and The Gauntlet. I’m with Russ Taylor and S.Baldrick on these.
A1-4, Scourge of the Slave Lords. I ran this after UK2-3 in our current campaign. I think it runs more smoothly if you change Safeton (Wild Coast) to Seaton (Keoland) so it’s not very far to travel.
Side note:
Good things about the modules:
UK6, All That Glitters… I’m pretty sure this module was added to official Greyhawk canon – I’m sure somebody on this thread knows the details.
S1, Tomb of Horrors.
I3-5, Desert of Desolation series.
After that, I’ve got too many modules I want to run and not enough PC levels to run them in:
UK7, Dark Clouds Gather. Another UK gem, although it’s not Greyhawk.
WG4, Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.
Ravenloft.
G1-3 / D1-3 / Q1 Against the Giants series. It has to be done, of course!
Although the purists would probably have my hide, I dealt with rapid level advancement by keeping about 1/4 to 1/3 of the encounters that I liked best in each module and deleting the rest, then redrawing the maps to suit. Whatever works for you, though.
Have fun!
Doug
The Greyhawk Canonfire site gives great GH background for UK6, and this adventure worked well in my own GH campaign years ago...
http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article& sid=776
The module has a 'secret' and magical gate/tunnel through a huge mountain range, leading from a jungle wilderness to an ancient desert.... fits perfectly into GH if the jungle is the Amedio and the desert is the Sea of Dust... the back story makes me think it was written for GH, then changed later to be world neutral.
Anyway, worked well for us... and a great little adventure...
I GM'ed a variant/homebrewed Greyhawk for 20 some years. My fondest memories are of exploring the people, places, and things.
Of the published modules my various groups always had fun with the Against the Giants trilogy -- I don't think we ever progressed into Descent Into the Depths or those that followed.
We played a lot of Village of Hommlet in the days before Temple of Elemental Evil was available.
We had a killer time in Barrier Peaks, even if it was entirely silly.
More recently First Year LIVING GREYHAWK kicked butt!! But I might be biased.
CJ
