Golarionizing World of Greyhawk


3.5/d20/OGL

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The Paizo staff has more than once mentioned Greyhawk as one of their sources of inspiration for Golarion. You can especially see it with the human-centric, multi-nation backdrop. At the same time, Golarion has its own feel. IMO, Golarion is definitely darker, with the monsters more, well, monstrous (hello, Golarion ogres); a ruling class trying to emulate Hell, etc.

So if you had the World of Greyhawk setting, how'd you introduce such elements? What would your Theocracy of the Pale be like? Would the Great Kingdom just be some sorta sleeping giant? What dark deals is the Sultanate of Zeif really engaged in?

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Quite a few of the lands 'palette-swap' pretty readily.

The Ice, Snow and Frost Barbarians could have more of a Linnorm King feel to them, with those elements (jarls having to prove themselves by killing a linnorm or white dragon or whatever, frost giants occasionally being adopted into families, etc.) added in.

In place of devil-Cheliax, the fiend-backed houses of Aerdi/the Great Kingdom serve the same role, more or less. (With Iuz being even more in that vein.) Iuz is pretty strongly associated with demonic activity, and, to better fit the parallel to Golarion, I would make the fiendish ties in the former Great Kingdom explicitly diabolic, so that the region has more of a Cheliax/thrice-damned house of Naelax feel and less of an 'Iuz-light' feel.

The Hold of the Sea Princes *or* the Sea Barons could take on a Shackles Pirates sort of feel. You could even throw the Eye of Abendago into the center of the Azure Sea, to replicate that aspect of Golarion, although you'll have to choose if you want a 'Sodden Lands' or not, and what countries you want to flood (I'd avoid that, myself, as I can't think of any Greyhawk countries I want to flood!).

Hepmonaland and the Amedio could be the center of Mwangi adventures, with Port Toli, in the Hold of the Sea Princes, having a bit of a Sargava edge to it.

Greyhawk is the settings 'Absalom, City at the Center of the World,' without the starstone gods-elevating stuff. (Although, far to the north, the City of the Gods might take on that role.)

The Riftcanyon in the Bandit Kingdoms could serve as a Worldwound, if you want that, but, between Iuz and the fiend-touched houses of Aerdi, I don't really think Oerth is in dire need of another source of demonic infestation...

Across the Dry Steppes, or across the ocean east of the Great Kingdom, would likely be the 'eastern' cultures of Oerth, it's equivalent of Tien Xa (having the maps and boxed set, I'd use the Kara-Tur setting for that, most likely).

Zeif, Ket, Ukbir, Tusmit and / or Ull can be Persian-ed up as much as necessary to serve as the Katapesh, Qadira, 'Greater Kel' of the setting.

The Yeomanry has always felt a bit more egalitarian than some of the other regions, and the sort of place that if an Andoran style democracy movement were to start, it would be centered.

The Vesve Forest/Highfolk and / or Celene, could function as the Kyonin analogues to the setting, while the Uleks, IIRC, are the dwarf dumping ground of the setting, and could be the 'Five Kings Mountains' of Oerth.

Osirion, Nex and Geb don't have clear analogues. Perhaps the remains of Osirion (or Hamunaptra?) could be found in one of the larger deserts, and there's currently a looting spree of the newly discovered tombs. Perhaps one of the more Persian-style lands of Zeif, Ukbir, etc. could be tweaked to be less Persian and more Egyptian. The closest to a Geb analogue might be a temple-town devoted to Wee Jas in the Scarlet Brotherhood, or something in the lands of Iuz.

Anything appropriate to Numeria would likely be set in Blackmoor, way out of the way of everyone else, although if you're married to the idea of the spaceship from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks being the Starmount, Geoff could also be the 'new Numeria.' (Frankly, regardless of the 'Barrier Peaks' being in the name of the module, I'd rather stick 'Fauxmeria' up in Blackmoor anyway, and rename the adventure 'Expedition to the Lands of Black Ice' or something...)


Agreed in most of that, but I'd swap things a bit differently (This is assuming we're talking about the Flannaess circa 59iCY/LGG):

Linnorm Kings > Thrillorian Peninsula Barbarians
Mammoth Lords > perhaps Rovers of the Barrens? I'll have to check, not very familiar with Northern Flannaess...
Cheliax > North Kingdom (deviltry is bad for business, so no-no in Ahlissa, at least not so overt)
Absalom > Greyhawk - No brainer
Galt > Sea Princes? The state of anarchy might fit somewhat...
Sargava > Sasserine/Cauldron methinks
River Kingdoms > Bandit Kingdoms (though I believe Creighton Broadhurst set his Kingmaker campaign in the Bone March)
Andoran > Yeomanry, agreed
Katapesh & Qadira > Baklunish successor states, some with a more "Turkish" feel than Persian IMO
Kyonin > Celene, including haughty isolasionist elves... (bit of a threadjack, but don't they realize that if the Ulek states fall, they'll be next?)
Numeria > Blackmoor/Land of Black Ice fit the glove, especially if you include the Clockwork Fortress from Dungeon...
Lastwall > Shield Lands

Other cultures would fit well on Western Oerik, at least if you're going with the Dragon Annual Map (one of the reasons I eagerly await the supplements for those areas)
Osirion > Erypt
Tian Xia > Celestial Imperium et al
Belkzen > Orcreich/Darak Urtag
Vudra > Zahind

These are just the ones off the top of my head...

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