Sunday, March 31, 2013

Ermahgerd: Queen of the Interwebz Pits

Wizards is already in April mode with a humorous parody article on Lolth (LOLth) and the Queen of the Demonweb Pits titled Queen of the Interwebz Pits. Yeah you'll probably need a sub to read the game content, but that's not as funny as the LOLth meme below. As someone who drew parody comics for several years I can appreciate the work of author Mark Monack and illustrator Jason Thompson. Well done dudes.

Update 05/13/2021: This article is no longer supported on the Wizards site. The pic though is timeless.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Castle Greyhawk: Loot!

Well met Greyhawk readers! It's been a few days since page thirty-one of our Castle Greyhawk graphic novel has hit the news stands, so it's high time I promote it. As the first chapter starts to wind down, follow the link above for bonus content by esteemed author Scott Casper. You can also view the latest episode here, courtesy of Maldin's Greyhawk.
Artist's commentary: It's good to see their short foray into the dungeons already paying off. Drawing chests is always fun for some reason. I think they are as iconic to D&D as wizards and dragons if you think about it. Also, when is the last time you dug your hand into a pile of coins? I did just to get into the mindset of this page. It's rather enjoyable (probably moreso if they're bigger than pennies) and a small amount is VERY heavy, never mind the weight of the container itself. D&D physics may come into play very soon.
One more thing, the last panel is of course an homage to the classic treasure chest image from the Monster Manual by Dave Trampier.  

Monday, March 25, 2013

Dungeon #212: Greyhawk Action!

Wow, okay, so the latest from Wizards is Dungeon #212 and it's the most Greyhawkish issue I've seen since Paizo ran the show. I'll give you a run down, but alas my friends you will need a D&DI subscription to download and read the adventures for yourself...

Editorial: Classic Connections, by Christopher Perkins talks about the upcoming S-series reprint and how it has inspired the three adventures following (all 4th Edition of course). Perkins continues to be the best there is to offer at Wizards when it comes to promoting old Greyhawkian works.

Never Say Die, by Claudio Pozas (who recently did an article on Hochoch) is an intriguing adventure that builds off the classic White Plume Mountain:


"In the shadow of White Plume Mountain lies a smaller, lesser known landmark whose eerie silhouette has earned it the ominous name of Dead Gnoll’s Eye Socket. For years, adventurers determined to unearth the mysteries and treasures of White Plume Mountain sought refuge in the caves beneath this hill, which clearly resembles a supine gnoll with water trickling from its cavelike eye socket. Recently, a small tribe of gnolls has taken over this hill. Their bloodlust and devotion to Yeenoghu drive them to capture and hunt humanoid prey, and the adventurers are their latest victims."
 
Court of the Dark Prince, by John “Ross” Rossomangno is an amazing new outerplanar adventure featuring the demon prince Graz'zt and more:
 

"Within the sacred halls of Kord on Celestia, dark rumors suggest that one of the god’s angels has been corrupted by the demon prince Graz’zt. The adventurers are tasked with entering Graz’zt’s triple realm of Azzagrat to search for the suspected fallen angel, Galewing."
 
As if that isn't enticing enough, what Graz'zt adventure would be complete without the Witch Queen, Iggwilv? Check it out.
 
Finally, the last adventure is a dutiful adaptation of Gary Gygax's The Village of Hommlet, by Andy Collins. Andy writes:
 
"In “The Village of Hommlet,” the player characters are introduced to the denizens of a farm village at the edge of the wilderness. There, they learn of bandits troubling the locals and head to a nearby ruined moathouse to investigate. At the moathouse, the adventurers discover that a band of brigands is the least of the village’s worries. An evil priest is assembling a small army of monsters to help restore the foul glory of the infamous Temple of Elemental Evil!
“The Village of Hommlet” includes details on the village itself as well as a nearby ruined keep and dungeon. Based on the classic adventure of the same name published nearly 30 years ago, this version updates the material for the 4th Edition rules while retaining key elements of the original."

This adaptation includes new cartography and character portraits by a host of artists. Download Dungeon #212 if you can, it's a must have for the Greyhawk-completist.

Update 05/13/2021: Good news, you no longer need a subscription. Link updated to DMsGuild where you can find all 4E era material.




Saturday, March 23, 2013

Hyborean Greyhawk Cultures

There's a cool new blog by Dennis Higgins titled Hyborean Greyhawk. It's essentially a journal for his campaign and I hope he goes far with the project because it's interesting on many levels. His latest post is an incredible exercise in overlaying Howardian-style cultures onto specific peoples and regions of the Flanaess. Dennis not only keeps the essence of Gygax's world, but he enhances its human subraces with gritty Hyborean flavor. My personal favorite of course is his take on the Baklunish land of Ull. I think he captures the mood of Ull better than anyone I've ever seen:
 
"South of the Paynims lies the sinister land of Ull. A dark country of sorcerers and foul creatures, agents of Ull pursue inscrutable objectives in support of unspeakable masters and are the source of many of the negative stereotypes Easterners apply to the Arabyans."

Check out Hyborean Greyhawk and enjoy!

Update 05/13/2021: Sadly, this blog is gone. I wish I had excerpted more. It's perhaps out there somewhere in an archive.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

Over at Wizards, they are still excerpting parts of the Dungeons of Dread "S series" modules in anticipation of their reprinting. The latest snippet (yes you'll need a sub) is on the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and Lawrence Shick's foreword actually revealed an interesting tidbit that I personally didn't know:

"S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth marked the end of the S series—and rightly so, because despite being based on a gilded-hole dungeon originally designed for a tournament in 1976, its updated version really belonged more to the '80s campaign-setting school of design than to the wild-and-woolly '70s. S1 through S3 were standalone modules that could be easily dropped into any DM's campaign, but Tsojcanth is firmly based in Gary's World of Greyhawk. Indeed, there’s evidence that Gary considered Tsojcanth part of a longer Greyhawk campaign, placing the adventure between T1–T4 The Temple of Elemental Evil and WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. (By this reckoning, The Village of Hommlet, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Tsojcanth are thus the "lost" WG1 through WG3 modules.) So, Tsojcanth was published in the S series because it got completed out of order, but was too good to delay."

It may have been obvious to others, but in retrospect, yeah Lost Caverns is so much more Greyhawk setting appropriate than the vague Tomb of Horrors or White Plume Mountain for instance. Way back when I never understood (or cared) how these S-series mods got lumped together and now reading this it's definitely wasn't because they formed a cohesive story like in the Slave Lord series or the Giants-Drow saga. Temple of Elemental Evil-Lost Caverns-Forgotten Temple does make alot more sense!

Update 05/13/2021: Link changed. Head over to DMsGuild to find this reprint.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

New Article: Greyhawk Atlas Part 11

Welcome readers, today I'm promoting the newest in Braggi's epic PDF article series, The Greyhawk Adventurer’s Atlas Part 11 - Lands of the Azure and Aerdy. If you haven't downloaded the last ten installments follow the link on his name to the listings. In Lands of the Azure and Aerdy, Braggi writes:

"Herein the lands of the Amedio and the Olmans, Hepmonaland, the Scarlet Brotherhood, Lendore Isle, the Sea of dust, the ancient Suel Basin and the far-flung Oeridian colony of Aquaria are examined. Special thanks go to Frank Mentzer for his kind permission to include Aquaria in the atlas."

Braggi's maps and resources are invaluable when it comes to researching a Greyhawk campaign and part 11 holds many of Oerth's greatest geographical mysteries. Check it out now.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

GamersTable 100th Episode

Here at Greyhawkery, I don't promote the gaming podcast Gamerstable near enough (unless it has been about Greyhawk of course). In case you're new to this podcast, my Wednesday game group branched out into podcasting a few years ago and it's been a wild ride ever since, now up to our 100th episode. We've given out swag, we've had contests, we've rubbed elbows with other podcasters, we've gone to conventions, we've done actual-play records of our games and we have even expanded the cast with the fairly recent addition of Shannon.

So check out the episode above and learn a little about me and the gang. If you got any comments or topic ideas for the show, I'm sure we'd like to hear them and maybe even discuss them on mic!

Update 05/13/2021: While I have not been an active part of this podcast in years, I am still close friends with all the cast, and many fans. Head over to the site, GT is still doing a variety of gaming shows, even if none are Greyhawk with out me. ;)

Monday, March 11, 2013

Castle Greyhawk: The Best Part

Welcome again Greyhawk aficionados! I've been hard at work lately and haven't had time to keep up with things which sucks because I need to promote the milestone THIRTIETH page of our long-running Castle Greyhawk graphic novel. Follow the link above for extra scribblings by the inestimable Scott Casper. You can also view the latest episode here, courtesy of Maldin's Greyhawk.
 
Artist's Commentary: Poor Sammy Eiger, he just wanted some bigger friends to play with. I was pleased with the poses, textures and angles in this page, especially the kneeling Yrag and his dented shield. Fire is still a tricky thing to illustrate, but I won't dwell on it. Now on to the best part of a dungeon crawl, loot!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Wizards Excerpts: Dungeons of Dread

Over at Wizards of the Coast they have posted a couple excerpt articles in advance of their reprint of the S-series Dungeons of Dread collection. First up was one on the Tomb of Horrors, this week is a short bit on White Plume Mountain. You will need a D&DI subscription to read the entire excerpt but really, who hasn't read these mods before? You aren't missing anything. In the least, the forwards to these excerpts are a nice quick read. Enjoy!
Update 05/13/2021: Fixed link, you can find this reprint at DMsGuild.

Monday, March 4, 2013

New Greyhawk Articles

Well met Greyhawkers! Today I'm catching us up on a few new articles over at Canonfire! First up is another short fiction piece by prolific author Richard Di Ioia, aka longetalos titled Omnipotent view - Bad news at home. Longetalos sums up the tale nicely in his blurb:

"In this omnipotent view, a priest returns home to find his temple ruined."

You can read Bad news at home HERE.

Next is the latest in Braggi's long running map and informational series, The Greyhawk Adventurer's Atlas. Part 10 covers the Lands of the Iron League:

"Examined in this installment are the Free State of Onnwal, the Free City of Irongate, the County of Idee and the County of Sunndi."

Donwload this essential atlas entry HERE.

You can read the previous installments by clicking on the link above. Braggi's epic work still has two more parts to release before it is complete!

Lastly, I have an intriguing article by a rookie author at Canonfire going by the name of akavir. His debut effort, Dawn of a New Age - 706 CY is an impressive topic to say the least as he tackles what the Flanaess would be like a little over a hundred years in the future. Akavir elaborates:

"129 years have passed since the end of the Greyhawk Wars. The realms of the Flanaess have changed much in the generations since, as the great battles and terrible tragedies, the acts of heroism and cruel betrayals that shaped the land had passed into history and legend. Yet their effects and consequences are still being felt to this day. And now, as the realms of the Flanaess stand on the edge of a new age, ancient conflicts and hatred continue to make themselves known."

Go on and read Dawn of a New Age - 706 CY HERE.