Greyhawkery Pause

 

Welcome back Greyfolk, and thank you for continuing to read Greyhawkery. This post is a short announcement that I'm hitting the pause button for March leading into Gary Con 2023. Maybe interacting with some of my favorite people in the community will inspire me to do some new content. I'll still be chatting Greyhawk Wednesdays on Legends & Lore stream and gaming 1d3 times a week. While you are waiting for me to write something clever, please check out some of my friends' Greyhawk blogs:

David Leonard's Greyhawk Musings

Joe Bloch's Greyhawk Grognard

Thomas Kelly's Greyhawk Stories

Fantasy Maps by Anna Meyer

1000th Greyhawkery Post!

Cold iron avail you! Welcome Greyhawkery readers new and old. When I set out to do a Greyhawk themed blog 11 years ago, I was already nearing the end of a long 5-year run doing Greyhawk themed comic strips. The commentary on my comic strips had evolved into such long winded affairs, that I realized a full Greyhawk blog made more sense. In the decade or more of doing Greyhawkery, I've created more comics (Castle Greyhawk), as well as talked about D&D news, nostalgia, the fan community, and my own home campaigns set in places like the Sea Princes and the Greyhawk Wars. One thousand blog posts is a lot of words to pour out onto a screen. I've covered everything imaginable about the World of Greyhawk, from nations to geography to mysterious places, and everything in-between. I had a couple close calls along the way, where I despaired and contemplated ending the blog, but the community has always been there to push me, inspiring me to keep going and write more. I'm grateful for everyone that has read my blog. One thousand blog posts was a milestone I wanted to reach as a challenge to myself, because this time I really am putting the blog on hiatus. 

I am reluctant to say I am ending the blog because there is always more to write about, or new editions of D&D to come out, and perhaps someday when I'm 70, a newly published Greyhawk setting to meticulously pick over. For now though, I really have hit a wall creatively and it seems better to me to press the pause button than to stress myself trying to come up with content twice a week, in order to keep up an arbitrary pace I set a decade ago, back when my ideas were fresh and indeed I had more time and energy. The other dynamic at play, and this is not a bad thing, is that there is a lot more going on in the Greyhawk community. Indeed the most I've seen since the 2000s when Living Greyhawk hit the scene. When I started Greyhawkery, Paizo had already lost their Dragon/Dungeon magazine license, Living Greyhawk was done, and it was more or less just Greyhawk Grognard and me, plus the hold-out fan sites, fan forums and fanzines when it came to dedicated Greyhawk content. Fast forward to 2021 and there is SO MUCH MORE fan content being produced that I feel I can take a sabbatical! 

That's right folks, I'm doing fine and I'm not technically going anywhere. I'm still going to write and draw at my leisure (more Ull?). If something seems particularly good I might even post it on Greyhawkery, or submit it to one of our other excellent fan content outlets. I plan on reading more (I'm terrible at that), continuing to stream (or chat in streams), and hopefully run or play in more Greyhawk rather than just talk about it. I also need to go back through these 1000 posts and fix some dead links, organize my "best of" section, and finish some primer stuff on the home page. One more thing (since this post is written at the tail end of the COVID pandemic), ideally I'd love to get back to a physical convention someday to meet all the Greyhawk friends I've made. 

In the meantime, I'd like to acknowledge and direct you to all the fabulous content creators out there that I follow or collaborate with occasionally. These people will keep us all entertained in the years to come, and who knows someday maybe they'll inspire me to regularly blog again. Enjoy!

Joseph Bloch is my original inspiration to blog and write articles. At his blog Greyhawk Grognard, Joe continues to create content such as maps and gazetteers Beyond the Flanaess, and he even finds time to make fun YouTube videos revisiting classic D&D products. I met and hung out with Joe a couple times at Gary Con, and its been a pleasure. Please follow Greyhawk Grognard if you are new to this community, there is a wealth of content to be found on his blog.

Carlos Lising is always foremost on my mind when I discuss Greyhawk with people. Ever since those long Thursday night Greytalks, I could tell this guy was in a whole different league than me (not the NHL though). Now he runs CaslEntertainment where he has published dozens of modules with an old-school flair, all play tested at conventions so you know they are good (I can attest to his DM skill from meeting at Gary Con). To go with his publishing efforts, Carlos has a stream on Twitch, he does charity events, and he still finds time to collaborate on other Greyhawk projects. You must check out Carlos' work if you haven't already!

David Leonard has the blog Greyhawk Musings where he has been putting out the best deep dives on Greyhawk history. David also has an associated Facebook group, and is also a recurring guest on the Lord Gosumba Twitch streams. His research and commentary is always top-notch, which is why his blog posts are among my favorites.

Tommy Kelly also runs an inspired blog called Greyhawk Stories, where he showcases a variety of fiction for Greyhawk, and does author interviews. His serialized novel the Hateful Wars has been a saga unlike any told in the Greyhawk community. If you have fiction of any kind set in the World of Greyhawk that you want to share with a wider audience, Tommy is the person you should talk to!

Anna B. Meyer should need no introduction. She is of course the pre-eminent cartographer in the Greyhawk community, if not the entire RPG industry. Anna is definitely among the top people who have influenced me to create and share stuff for the community. I've been streaming and hanging out with Anna at conventions for quite a long time now, and she is always gaming, chatting, and developing new projects. Anna never rests. If you are aspiring to make custom maps, or do any sort of content for Greyhawk, talking to Anna will motivate you! Check out her website for downloads of the best maps on the internet, and for updates on her future work. She also has the Flanaess Geographical Society on Facebook.

 

Jay Scott is a relatively recent, but strong influence on me and the entire Greyhawk community. His time put into his campaign, his drive to stream, and his talent at community-building is truly awe-inspiring. Jay does old school 1e/2e AD&D, with elaborate miniature and terrain set-ups, all streamed on his LordGosumba channel on Twitch. Jay is always active online, running games for his home group, or mixing in guest players from the community like Anna. His organizational efforts have now given us an annual Virtual GreyhawkCon, and has lifted up Virtual GaryCon during the pandemic. Jay has an amazing "Gabbin" talk show on his channel with Anna every week where they bring on creative guests from our community and often from the D&D industry (past and present). Jay has incredible sponsors for his channel, and is always hosting prize giveaways to his viewers. That alone is worth looking into his channel if you haven't already. Oh yes, and every Wednesday you can watch Jay, Anna and myself on Legends & Lore yakking about Greyhawk topics until we drop. The content never ends at Lord Gosumba.

Casey Brown incidentally is a huge asset to the Greyhawk community. His (Unofficial Living Greyhawk) Bandit Kingdoms Summary continues to be a legendary publication, the only one of its kind. If only we had more books like his. More recently, Casey has been the go-to contact for former Living Greyhawk writers to be interviewed on the Lord Gosumba channel, thus allowing more fans to reengage with the active Greyhawk fanbase.

Speaking of the community, here is a bunch more of my creative friends!

Bryan Blumklotz is a devoted loremaster and creator of the finest Greyhawk heraldry in the community. I've had the pleasure to meet Bryan at Garycon, and be on a panel with him. I hope to do so again someday. Besides his work on Canonfire! Bryan runs the Facebook group Greyhawk Resources where you can see some of the best discussion and content from the past and present posted on a near daily basis! 

Denis Tetreault is the mad mind behind Maldin's Greyhawk, which I'm positive is the longest running Greyhawk fan site on the internet. You might remember Maldin from his work on Melkot and Irongate, plus the amazing print revision of the City of Greyhawk maps in the pages of Living Greyhawk Journal. You can still find those digital maps, and much much more on his website. Denis is a very good friend of mine, going back to the late night Greytalk chats. More recently Denis has been on our Greyhawk streams, and he has been hosting my old Greyhawk Comic strip for several years now. Oh and he has a Facebook group, Greyhawk Adventures. I'm looking forward to whatever new stuff ol' Maldin will put on his website in the future.

Jason Zavoda of the blog Hall of the Mountain King has put out unique Greyhawk content at a prolific pace. Jason is a very knowledgeable guy that I have enjoyed talking to in chats and on stream, in fact you might know him best from his Greyhawk index.

Scott Casper is a self-published game designer and fiction writer. His Castle Greyhawk graphic novel and webcomic has been the best collaboration of my Greyhawk career. It's unreal to think that for several years I illustrated the adventures of Tenser, Yrag, and Robilar. Scott is above all things an old school gamer who is always involved in running or playing at conventions. To see what Scott is up to check out his blog Scottenkainenland.

Allan Grohe of the blog From Kuroth's Quill, also owns one of the oldest Greyhawk fansites on the web, Grodog's Greyhawk. For longer than I can remember, Allan has been a highly respected member of the Greyhawk community. You can usually find him at game conventions either working a booth or running old school games such as his long running Castle Greyhawk campaign based on Gygax's original maps.

Scott McMillan and his Aerdi History blog is one you need to add to your reading list. I've known Scott a long time from forums and chats. I put Scott's research and commentary on Greyhawk lore up there with the best in the community. 

Charles Akins has the blog Dragons Never Forget. (formerly Dyvers) He is a humorous guy that I've interacted with for several years now. Charles is also author of the annual Great Blog Roll Call, so he knows the gaming community quite well.

I haven't mentioned enough Greyhawk streaming and video creators yet, here are some favorites...

John Burchfield runs the incredible Twitch stream Blue Box RPG. John is a master of his DM craft, he runs live game sessions with a very talented squad of players. He also hosts a talk show on his channel called the Loremaster's Arcanum which can often be seen live ahead of my own Legends & Lore. John and the folks at BlueBox have an insanely devoted fan following (shout out Mad Chatters!), which have only added to the growing Greyhawk community. I hope to some day get on BlueBox now that I have the free time. If you haven't watched or heard of BlueBox yet then I only have one question for you, "What Are You Doing?!"

DMWill is one of the hardest working, most fun people in the gaming community. He has a blog called the Greyhawk Companion where he posts original game material for 5E. Of course Will also has a gaming stream WickedStudiosLLC where he does a variety of games. Be sure to follow Will!

WuTangPiglet carries on the tradition of Greyhawk Channel as he brings the action on Greyhawk Tales. Wu is a riveting DM, and has a fun group of players. They are always looking to add someone to the table too, so stop by and have a look!

WilyHobbit is running Greyhawk 5E with his Greyhawk Lives episodes. Wily has always been a devoted fan of the streaming community and now he is actively contributing with his own hosted games. Please give WilyHobbit a follow.

Oronir is all the way from Belgium and he is the creator of the Grey League a unique and educational Youtube series. Oronir really does his research and is only getting better with each episode on his channel. I say it a lot, but if you haven't seen the Grey League yet, go there now.

DMGalger has an up and coming stream on his channel, SorrowsTale. You should check out his ongoing game, it's a 5E Greyhawk campaign called "We of Oerik". 

There is so many people creating and sharing content online, I'm struggling to remember them all!

The folks at the fan site Dragonsfoot have always run with the old school Greyhawk crowd. This top-notch community is where the late Len Lakofka and other fans that I know continue to chat and work on projects such as the Footprints ezine. 

Big Mac is a superfan from the UK, and I know him best from The Piazza forums where one can interact with the Greyhawk, Spelljammer, or just about any D&D fanbase. Big Mac can be found on just about any stream or chat these days. I look forward to discussing more with him in the future.

Dave Guerreri and the Greyhawk Reborn staff have continued to write and DM new Greyhawk adventures at conventions since the end of LG. Check out their Facebook group and website for more info. This group knows their craft and always have a bunch of games offered at each event. I met Dave and some of his co-creators many years ago at Gen Con. They have been carrying the torch for a long time now, so give them some love.

Scott Agnew is an amazing entrant to the content creator club. He has a Patreon for a completely converted 5E Greyhawk Rebooted. Check out this stuff, it's quite amazing. If you see him on Facebook give him some feedback.

Last, but not least!

None, I repeat NONE of my Greyhawk contributions would've been possible without the fansite Canonfire! and the esteemed author Gary Holian. His site is where in 2002, I first started sharing articles, replying to forum posts, and taking part in late night Greytalks. It is here I made dozens and dozens of friends in the Greyhawk community. Time flies! I credit Gary "PluffetSmedger" for keeping Canonfire going for so long, even when it's seemed near dead, but now from what I've seen it's getting vibrant again with a new Post Fest and other popular fan projects. Gary has always been accessible to the community, including to collaborate on content (albeit at a glacial pace), but in the present he is way more active. You can find him on the Canonfire Discord, or on Lord Gosumba stream either trolling us from chat or participating as a guest.

Speaking of Canonfire, there is so many contributors on that site I cannot list them all, you will just have to get involved in sharing Greyhawk content, meet these fellow creators on the forum or discord, then feel welcomed into the greater community. There are a few notable people active on the site that I can praise though. If I miss anyone don't worry I'll thank you in person eventually.

Rasgon aka Ripvanwormer is probably the smartest loremaster in the entire Greyhawk community, but modesty keeps him out of the spotlight. Rasgon can still be found on the forums though ready to answer your questions in extreme detail.

CruelSummerLord is one of the most prolific writers of articles and fiction on CF. CSL is the example for those who have a lot of content they want to share and how to serialize it over a long span. He's a legend.

 

Rich DiIoia has been a huge contributor to CF for a long time as well. Known as "Longetalos" he currently is very involved in the community, heading projects on Canonfire like Touring the Flanaess. He is a fixture in chats and on discords. Rich is also a helluva DM I hear. ;)

Cebrion has been an author, editor, and forum moderator on Canonfire for many years. Though I would say I'm not actively staff on CF anymore, I have always valued spending time with LordCeb the most on the Greyhawk forums and the old Thursday night chats. Waaaagh!

Brian Dougherty is another amazing author who has graced Canonfire and my blog. "Braggi" on the forums, Brian went as far as to do an insanely cool conversion of my Wonders of Ull: Old Skool Edition. He is also a master at heraldry and much more. I hope Brian keeps producing more Greyhawk content!

Finally, and just as important, much of our Greyhawk community is tied together and curated by the skillful dedication of Kristoph Nolen. He runs the resurgent Greyhawk Online. which has been around for years, but now it facilitates even more online Greyhawk content than ever. GHO hosts not only my first Greyhawk Comic, but many other classic fan websites, and archived Living Greyhawk websites. GHO also hosts a Discord, and has the BEST Greyhawk Wiki you'll ever find (kudos to the Wiki team, I know you guys and appreciate your work). Kristoph of course is the editor in chief Oerth Journal our longest running and most important fan project, now almost on its 35th issue as of this post. Under Kristoph he has brought the OJ to print with the help of Patreon. I was fortunate enough to have met him (and many other Greyhawkers mentioned above) and contributed to the first print issue ever, given out at GaryCon XI. The Oerth Journal team is always looking for more authors, artists, and editors. If you want to get involved in the Greyhawk community and make a name for yourself, this is your opportunity. Kudos to all those authors and artists, too many to name, that have been instrumental in creating the Oerth Journal.

That's enough I think. Now let me see what Greyhawk stuff you can create. I can't wait to read, comment and discuss more Greyhawk content in the future. Until next time!

Greyhawk Novel: Siege of the Tower

Howdy Greyhawkers! It's a busy weekend and I don't have any new content to share, but I do have some new old content to show off, that I should've promoted a long while back. My good pal, Thomas Kelly at the blog Greyhawk Stories had an amazing interview back in July with Kem Antilles, author of the Greyhawk Adventures Endless Quest novel, Siege of the Tower. I was bowled over by this interview. Published in 1994, I had no idea there was a Greyhawk Endless Quest book.

Given the cover is the From the Ashes boxed set by Jeff Easley, this story is set during the war between Furyondy and Iuz. You play a 17-year old fighter named Corlen. As you would expect from a "choose your own" story, Corlen has some hard choices to make as forces of Iuz are coming to siege Dragon's Eye Tower (I wonder if its on Anna's map?). To make matters worse, Corlen, who I remind you is a fighter, was cursed by an evil wizard and now cannot touch metal without it causing pain. Needless to say, I somehow successfully led Corlen to victory in my first read-through of the book.

My main reflection on this book was how well it fit with Greyhawk published sources. This enjoyable story adds and does not detract from any RPG sources. It felt like a nice one-shot D&D session involving a couple players. The book has great interior illustrations by Terry Dykstra, but lacks a map of any kind, sadly. Then again, the story does not technically need a map. It references Crockport, Whyestil Lake and the Dulsi River for instance, but all of this is just to set the scene. At any rate, Siege of the Tower made me feel young again. I really wish there had been more Greyhawk novels like this and less like Master Wolf or the Eyes Have It by Rose Estes who did indeed write Endless Quest books, I'm just not sure for Greyhawk specifically.

The other cool thing about this is the author signed my copy! Thanks Kem! Thank Thomas! I will forever cherish this little novel among my Greyhawk collection. Again, go read his interview with Kem Antilles if you haven't already! Until next time, enjoy!

New at Greyhawk Stories: The Road of Skulls

Hail Greyhawk readers! I'm taking it slow this weekend, working on more war reports. So in the meantime head over to Thomas Kelly's blog, Greyhawk Stories. His latest post is about Iuz's infamous Road of Skulls and how this fictional feature in the World of Greyhawk draws inspiration from real world lore. This is the most uniquely informative thing I've read all month! Well done TK.

Check it out and enjoy!

A Few Greyhawk Items

Heya Greyhawkers! March is fast approaching, so let's quickly run over a few Greyhawk items on the interwebs.

First, registration already started for higher badge categories, but standard registration for Gary Con XII starts any day now. This is because the company handling Gary Con's events has had server issues, so there registration page is down currently. Keep checking, it should be back any day now. If you are attending, be sure to check out some of the cool seminars the community is hosting this year!

If seminars isn't incentive enough to attend Gary Con, Greyhawk Online will be debuting copies of Oerth Journal #32 there. The theme is "Infinite Oerths". I cannot wait to see what our line up is this year.

Speaking of Greyhawk Online, on the front page is a new 5E adventure by guest author Nathan Doyle titled, Owner of a Broken Hart. Mr. Doyle's module is a sequel to Who Watches the Watchers from Oerth Journal #30. Go there now and download his new adventure for levels 6-9!

Lastly, be sure to keep up with the latest chapters of Thomas Kelly's epic story, The Hateful Wars: The Saga of Kristryd Olinsdotter. Check back weekly for more chapters and other contributed works. Greyhawk Stories is your number one location for Greyhawk themed fiction. Enjoy!

New Greyhawk Posts

Hail Greyhawkers! Today I promoting a few things out there in the Greyhawk community. Ready?

First off, sorry to those who showed up yesterday to see Legends & Lore on the Greyhawk Channel, we had to push the last episode of the season back a week due to real life, but hopefully that will give us time to get a guest on with Anna Meyer and me!

Second, Blake Ryan is at it again with his Greyhawk series on Tribality. Mr. Ryan writes easy to use articles, packed with adventure hooks for whatever town or geographical area he is focused on. This article is titled Greyhawk-Forestscape: Fellreev. The forest-scape presented is a 20x20 mile area of encounters and quests that can be used in any cold-temperate forest. Specifically for Greyhawk, he writes:

"Notes about the region : In Greyhawk this forest area would be in the south west Fellreev forest in the Horned Society lands. During the Greyhawk Wars much of this area was explored and trashed by the various humanoids and fiends who serve the demi god Iuz."

Be sure to check it out.

Lastly, if you haven't already seen the blog Greyhawk Stories then you're missing out on an excellent republishing of Kirt Wackford's campaign classic adaptation, It Started in Saltmarsh. Follow the link and read the entire story from the beginning, though beware: spoilers for anyone who has never ran or played through the original 1E module Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh!

Until next time!

Greyhawk Stories: Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn

Greetings Greyhawkers! If you are looking for some Greyhawk fiction, you need to check out the fansite, Greyhawk Stories. One of their current ongoing tales is about the famous Baklunish spellcaster Daoud, he of  the magical lanthorn fame. Indeed, the story now on chapter 4 is titled Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn. Daoud is an exiled pasha and this story tells of how he came to own the artifact and how it ultimately falls into the hands of the Witch Queen Iggwilv as seen in the AD&D module, in the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

Here is an excellent run down of the chapters so far. I'm particularly proud of chapter 4, Alhazred and the Path of Shadows, where Daoud ventures to Ull and gets a royal welcome from the locals, then spends some time in the Khur Razjin, "Path of Shadows" as written in my various Ull scribings. Enjoy!

New Blog: Greyhawk Stories

Welcome World of Greyhawk fans. Today I'm promoting a new Greyhawk themed blog called Greyhawk Stories! What is the mission of Greyhawk Stories? Obviously to share some of the best lore and fiction about the setting we all love. And there will definitely be a healthy dose of new works by the site as well. Check out this intro for more.

In the meantime the first few articles posted cover some juicy subjects. First off is The Making of Turrosh Mak by Jeff Mckillop. Turrosh is the most famous half-orc in the Flanaess and rules over an empire of humanoids in the Pomarj. Check out this blast from the past.

The next is some original fiction by Greyhawk Stories titled Iggwilv in the Hut of Baba Yaga. What more do I need to say there? Two of the best witches in all of D&D fandom. In part one we get a wonderful tale of how a VERY young girl comes to meet Baba Yaga and charms her way into becoming her daughter.

Lastly is the expanded account of the Battle of Emridy Meadows, the most famous battle in the World of Greyhawk, researched and analyzed by yours truly back in 2008. Greyhawk Stories, with my permission, did a amazing job cleaning up this article and making it a presentable PDF download. Check it out!

Keep checking in on this new blog, they have a lot of enthusiasm and good tales to share in the future. The Greyhawk fan community has never been stronger!