New: Against the Slavelords Hardcover

Wizards of the Coast's recent decision to reprint the collected A-series modules into a hardcover book next June is not news to anyone, but an eagle-eyed colleague of mine directed me to this blurb for the upcoming product on their website. The pertinent news here is that Wizards apparently isn't just going with the original four modules, but has now come up with a new "prequel" to the series:

"Added to the collection is an all-new fifth adventure -- A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry -- that you can use to kick off an AD&D campaign that pits a group of adventurers against the evil Slave Lords! Module A0, designed for levels 1-3, sets the stage for events that unfold throughout the remainder of the "A" series."

Darkshelf Quarry, eh? Great. I was on the fence about buying this book but now I'm too curious to pass it up. Anyhow, no word yet on who the head writer is on this intro-module. I'm personally hoping for Chris Perkins who has shown to have a good knowledge of the setting, having done reworks of the Giants series including a whole new episode for that epic as well.

Stay tuned for more information on this in the near future (Thanks again).

Update 05/08/2021: You can get A0 in this book on DMsGuild.

Trithereon the Summoner

Looking back over the list of Greyhawk deities, I'm still amazed that Trithereon the Summoner was not more popular among fandom. Sure he isn't a C-lister like Jascar or Joramy, but he never was quite good enough for "Core deity" status either. As far as I recall no one I've personally gamed with has ever made a priest or worshipper of the god of retribution. What's worse, back in 3rd edition Wizards folded Trithereon's retribution portfolio into St. Cuthbert, further burying this quite cool god.

Through my old World of Greyhawk Comic I used to explore the facets of many ignored gods like Trithereon. Undoubtedly his most interesting element is his notable animal companions. Trithereon is quite like the Beastmaster in this respect, a ranger-like vigilante bent on taking down evil with his animal cohorts serving useful roles.

Here's another. I'm sure few remember from the 1983 Guide that Trithereon also has his own "prison" demiplanes. The colorful descriptions of these places always grabbed me. Imagine, what sort of villains are so evil that Trithereon and his pack has to go hunting after them? And rather than outright execute them, they are put in their own prison plane. Trithereon's prison planes predate the Ravenloft setting as well, so ponder that. I tried to tackle this issue in a Canonfire article on his demiplanes back in 2006. I consider this article among my best work, especially considering it isn't about Ull.

So there you have it, check out Trithereon sometime when you're making a cleric for your Greyhawk campaign.

Quiz: Greyhawk Location Hunt

Alright Greymaniacs, it's a slow week (and Election Day in the States) so I've got a good time killer for you. It's a simple map search. As most fans should know, the World of Greyhawk maps feature a unique set of coordinates along the top, bottom and sides that aid in finding locations on the hexagonal based map. These coordinates are similar to those found in old school road maps. For younger readers, road maps were from the dark ages before the internet and GPS. Anyhoo, the game goes like this: I supply the coordinates and with your vast knowledge and collection of Greyhawk, you tell me what is at that hex in the comments section. Easy enough, or is it? Good luck!

Find
H-67
V3-131
J6-163
F5-88
B3-44
N2-81

Update 05/08/2021: Strange. No one played and I have no idea what the answers are without looking at a map. This game is still anyone's to win!

New: D&D Adventure Quiz

Attention grognards and Greyhawkers. Over at Wizards of the Coast they have a nifty quiz to test your knowledge of classic module covers. It's got two levels of difficulty too, Heroic and Epic. I got 13/17 on both. Those pesky Slaver modules always confuse me. Try it out, it's pretty fun.

Update 05/08/2021: Sorry folks. Quiz is gone.

Explaining the Unexplained: Carl Sargent

Carl Sargent is best known in gaming circles for being the lead developer of Greyhawk during much of 2nd edition from 1991 to 1997. The timeline advancing From the Ashes and the unpublished Ivid the Undying are among his most ambitious works during that period. Few remember however, that before Sargent worked as a freelancer on RPGs, he had a PHD in experimental parapsychology and taught at Cambridge, where he became a published author on the subject of the paranormal. These impressive credentials must surely contributed to Sargent's quick ascension to TSR and into the fore of Greyhawk.

Recently a friend of mine obtained one of his books, Explaining the Unexplained, Mysteries of the Paranormal (co-written by Hans J. Eysenck) and I must say it sheds a new light on Sargent's vision of Greyhawk. Eysenck I must add is a psychologist with over 70 books under his belt, so I assume he did a greater share of the writing. With that in mind, a large part of Sargent's contribution, being the parapsychologist was likely on the methods of testing the phenomenon of psychic abilities. The book is quite interesting, covering subjects like psychics, ESP, dreams, mind over matter, life after death and so on.

Not surprisingly then, the Explaining the Unexplained has a section (in mind over matter) about testing PK (psychokinetic ability) with cards, dice and even RPGs:

"...certain environments create strong desires and wishes through incentive motivation of much subtler kinds than bribery. Human beings are extremely curious and many psychology experiments show that the simple prospect of learning how well one has done in some test or other is a powerful motivator. If the test is presented in an appealing and attention-grabbing way, curiosity becomes a powerful motivator. External factors very definitely affect how internal motivations are strengthened and expressed."

"There are obvious ways in which this line of testing might be carried forward....Very relevant here are 'fantasy roleplaying' computer games, such as those based on the world best selling Dungeons and Dragons game..."

"In these games youngsters play the roles of...warriors, wizards, witches, and rogues. Confronted with deadly puzzles, riddles, and traps, and mighty enemies and monsters..."

"The games are addictive and are constructed to help...develop problem solving skills of many kinds. The powerful intrinsic motivation is that of solving riddles and puzzles."

"And because the game commands intense concentration, the player would soon forget that he was being tested at all. Further, these games take place in 'worlds' (not unlike Tolkien's famour Middle Earth) in which magic exists and is real...Why should PK effects not exist too? If belief is an important factor, these games certainly aid in suspension of disbelief."

That leads us back to Greyhawk and the psychology of Sargent himself. Given his body of work, the way some elements found their way into "Sargenthawk" make more sense. Several notable examples out of From the Ashes:

Spinning Helix of the Archmages (a paranormal phenomenon that aids in divinatory powers)
Lyzandred's Tomb (a lich who favors testing heroes not with monsters but puzzles, traps and games)
Doomgrinder (another divinatory mystery)
Zendreldra's Tower (crazy psychic crone who predicts a great flood)
Philidor (mysterious blue skinned wizard who curiously has among other topics, sagely knowledge in astrology, metaphysics and sociology)

I could go on, but it's evident Sargent was a good fit for developing a fantasy world. I wonder if he got tired of testing the paranormal in favor of writing RPGs (or was he combining both?). We'll never know for sure. All I know is Greyhawk was lucky to have drawn such a talented mind to the setting.

Castle Greyhawk: Breaking and Entering

The weather is colder and I'm slacking as usual. Time to plug our twenty-first episode of the Castle Greyhawk graphic novel. Follow the link to read the entire quest from the beginning plus additional written content by author Scott Casper or you read the current page compliments of Maldin's Greyhawk.

Artist's commentary: This page was tricky for reasons I can't pin down. Perhaps it was the perspective of the circular stairs or the crashing through a door. You never realize how complex drawing a rectangular door is until you need it to open or be damaged. I'm still experimenting as I go with different methods of depicting light in the dark. As they are going into an old tower I'm sure I'll get a good workout of those skills.

New: Greyhawk Adventurer's Atlas Part 2

Welcome back Greyhawkers, it's time for a new installment of Braggi's blockbuster mapping project, the Greyhawk Adventurer's Atlas. Last time we debuted part one The Baklunish West and the Atlas' corresponding Appendices. This time up Braggi focuses on the cold northern Flanaess:

"This installment details the northern lands of the Flanaess including the Tiger Nomads, the Archbarony of Blackmoor, the Rovers of the Barrens, the Thillonrian barbarian lands of Stonefist, Fruztii, Cruski and Schnai."

The GAA is an incredibly useful resource for any Greyhawk player or dungeonmaster - combining published material and even some suitable fan works into their distinct regional areas. There's many more issues to come so give it a look, you won't be disappointed.

DOWNLOAD THE ATLAS PART 2