Greyhawkery Comics: Graz'zt Show #3

Happy Fireseek everyone! I'm starting the new year off with one more from the Lower Planes. If you have never seen the referenced cartoons or 5e adventures, I highly recommend them! Follow the links below for more of the show, until then here's to a year of more comics!

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New Maps: Pre-Wars Flanaess 576 CY

Merry Needfest Greyhawkers! I got one more present for everybody before the end of the year! I've been working on this map project for a few weeks now. There is a map of "Post-Was" Flanaess in the booklet with the Greyhawk Wars boxed set. I always enjoyed how it was a simple B&W map with dotted lines for borders that changed during the story line. I eventually photocopied that map and made additional changes for my campaign's progress into other wars. See Best of Greyhawkery for more on these 2E Greyhawk Wars Campaigns.

The Pre-Wars Flanaess map is the same map but cleaned up a bit and with additional content thrown in that I believe would exist during the start of the 576 CY game setting. This is retroactive canon like Sasserine from Savage Tide, or popular community additions like Melkotia from Maldin's Greyhawk. Lastly, I may have got carried away and did borders/labels for the individual Wild Coast towns, Bandit Kingdom lands, and the various principalities of the Great Kingdom. If this map is well received, I have pondered doing a first level breakdown of the other major kingdoms, but for now this map feels finished. I have thrown in an unlabeled version of the map as well in case someone wants to do a different info-map using these borders. If there are any glaring errors let me know but trust me, I tried my best to research from several different sources when laying this out. Until then, download and enjoy!

Map: Altimira and Ulek

Happy Needfest Greyhawk fans! Well today I'm in a slightly artistic mood so I did one of my hastily drawn maps of a portion of the Flanaess. This time I had a special idea in mind though. The map before you is based on the Principality of Ulek region of Jay "Lord Gosumba" Scott's long-running campaign that you can find weekly on Twitch. I don't know much about the Free City of Altimira or which other parts are Jay's creation (I like the heraldry!), but with the assistance of Anna Meyer's 598 CY map update of Jay's campaign I was able to combine their work with that of Darlene into my own sketchy style. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Needfest Thank You Cards

It's almost the end of the year, which means it's time for me to look over my Needfest bounty of Greyhawk gifts and offer some thanks...

First, I am happy to say thank you to my Legends & Lore co-host Anna Meyer for a successful season on the Greyhawk Channel. We really killed it, averaging 20-30 repeat viewers per show. I made some new friends already through this show and even had great guest-hosts like Joe Bloch from Greyhawk Grognard. Wonderful!

Second, I'd like to thank my friend Scott H for giving me a copy of Hawk & Moor (trilogy 1) by Kent David Kelly. I never heard of this series, but its an amazing study into the life and history of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Dry biographical reading material for a young audience, but for an old grognard like me, the Greyhawk references and origins are eye-popping. I can't wait to see more.

Third, gotta give a Needfest thank you card to DMShane for producing the Greyhawk Channel. The number of shows he now hosts keeps outpacing my blog, but my appreciation goes well beyond that to the community that's rallied around it I the form of a vibrant Discord group for subscribers (see the bottom of the page in the Twitch link above). He is even taking it to IRL as well, with a planned GenCon 2019 meet-up unlike any before. I wish I knew for certain if I were going.

Gotta give a fourth thank you card to the old-schoolers who are really building the community back up in other media. Bryan Blumklotz is a driving force with the Canonfire! Facebook group and I'm happy to see not only my old comic strip re-released, but also Bryan's heraldry back in the limelight. Then there is Greyhawk Online being resurrected by W.K. Nolen. Keep checking back for updates for Greyhawk content on this website!

A fifth Needfest card goes to Lord Gosumba for bringing his quite ancient 1E/2E Knights of Ulek campaign to the present day on Twitch. I'm sure he will be a big name in the community for years to come.

I'd like to thank Wizards with a sixth Needfest card for putting out Art & Arcana by Michael Witwer, Sam Witwer, Kyle, Newman and Jon Peterson (and Joe Manganiello). I've never been hyped about a coffee table book like this before. It pushes all my nostalgia buttons at the same time. I actually want the deluxe copy, that's how much I like this book. I highly recommend this work of art history.

Finally I'd like to give my last Needfest card to Scott Casper, for the Castle Greyhawk comic. For those who still haven't seen our effort, Scott wrote a fully-realized, well-grounded story set in the early Gygaxian Greyhawk setting. There is nothing else like this in Greyhawk fandom. It was a joy illustrating the adventures of Tenser, Yrag and Robilar. Now coming to an end in 2019, the final chapter will come with some bonus material for our loyal readers.

I hope everyone has a warm and fun Needfest this winter. Hopefully soon I'll be able to show off my holiday themed one-shot for my friends next week....stay tuned ;)

Merry Needfest!

Ah yes, it's the time of the year when I look back on Needfest comics. One of these years I really should write something new like a Needfest Carol, or the Nightmare Before Needfest, or perhaps an action comic like, Die Vecna Die Hard! Well until the right inspiration hits me I'll have to replay the Greyhawk classics like they do on TV every year.

My favorite of course is a Needfest Story. The true untold story of those secret times.

Another labor of Needfest love is How the Gruumsh Stole Needfest. Read this and you'll never look at orcs and elves the same way.

Lastly, I recommend my first Needfest Musical Extravaganza. Parodying music lyrics is quite a challenge, but with Lydia's help I got through it three years in a row!

Enjoy and Merry Needfest, Greyhawkers!

Needfest Comics!

Happy Needfest, Greyhawkers. This is the first time in several years that I don't have a Needfest Special comic to throw out there. Maybe next year...Until then, here is a review of my Greyhawk holiday classics for those who have never seen them, or for those who might enjoy re-reading them.






A Needfest Story

How the Gruumsh Stole Needfest

Twas the Night Before Needfest

Raxi the Bald Blue Rat God

1st Annual Musical Extravaganza

2nd Annual Musical Extravaganza

3rd Annual Musical Extravaganza

 

 

Greyhawk Comic #314: Needfest Special 2011

Praise Pelor! Just in the time for the holidays, it's the seventh (and hopefully last) installment of my traditional Needfest Specials. Over the years it's been fun writing and putting these lengthy comics together, and every year I swear I have nothing left, but then the holiday spirit inspires me at the last minute to entertain the Greyhawk masses. If you are not familiar with the Needfest Specials try the Greyhawk Comics link at the top of the page or check out a couple of my personal favorites here:

A Needfest Story (Where Kas obsesses over getting a new magic sword for Needfest)

How the Gruumsh Stole Needfest (A classic tale of jealousy and revenge)

Lastly, I'd like to give a special Needfest thanks to Maldin's Greyhawk for hosting the entire Greyhawk Comic collection. Now without further ado....here is this year's Needfest Special! Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO READ

Greyhawk Comic #301: Merry Needfest!

Pictured: Graz'zt's package.

Merry Needfest, Greyhawk friends! Ol' Mortellan has come through at the last hour yet again to slip down your internet chimney and put a new Greyhawk comic under your virtual tree. This year's Needfest Special continues the tradition of evil-themed holiday fun. Yes, the denizens of the Underdark and the Lower Planes know how to celebrate too! Have fun reading, and everyone enjoy the weekend!

Needfest Primer

Just to get you warmed up for this Greyhawk holiday season here is last year's Greyhawk Comic: Needfest Special.

What is Needfest? Well Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins says:

"This frigid seven-day period marks the transition from one calendar year to another, and is usually accounted as the start of the new year."
"All seven days of Needfest are public holidays in Greyhawk; this is a time to celebrate life when the weather is most miserable. Food stored away after harvest is brought out for grand dinners and all entertainment establishments are full to bursting. Each noble of Greyhawk invites his vassals and servants to dinner one night during this week, and charitable gifts of food and drink are common at such parties. The news and gossip of the year is reviewed and rehashed, and plans are laid for the coming year. Overindulgence and merrymaking are the rule. Some middle-class and noble citizens have a tradition of decorating their homes with yellow candles, boughs of evergreen branches (symbolizing the triumph of life through hard times), and even magical lights and ornaments. Daytime displays of harmless illusion/phantasm spells are held at the High and Low Markets in the Free City, drawing many spectators."

"Needfest is not a religious celebration per se, but local religions take note of it nonetheless. Special services are held at many churches and temples, complete with singing, music, sermons, and feasts to which the priests and their helpers invite all parishioners. The religions of Rao, Pelor, and St. Cuthbert banded together after the Greyhawk Wars to feed the refugees that flooded the city; this began a new practice that seems to have caught on."

"The evening of Needfest Godsday is also known as Midwinter Night. On this night, Needfest 4th, only aquamarine Celene is visible in the sky, as Luna is new. For this reason, Midwinter Night is also called Handmaiden's Glory or the Dim Night. This is a holy night for priests of Celestian, who conduct allnight services of moonwatching and stargazing on the grounds around the Grey College Observatory. Magical adjustments to the weather are sometimes made to ensure good viewing, though the temperature is always left cold enough to prevent widespread melting of snow and thus flooding. This tinkering with weather angers the few local druids, who consider this night holy and gather at the StoneRing outside the city's Druid's Gate for chanting, prayer, and other services."

Sorry about all the reading. I left out some of the boring parts in fact. As you can see it's a fairly close Christmas analogue and one that I run with each year. Expect more on Needfest from me in the next day or so.