Castle Greyhawk: Ice, Rock and Steel

Welcome back Greyhawk mavens! Well I'm caught up finally in promoting the third chapter of our ongoing Castle Greyhawk graphic novel. Check out page twenty-six plus follow some additional annotation by supreme scribe Scott Casper. On our site you can also check the archives and follow the entire Castle Greyhawk story from the very beginning.

Artist's Commentary: Well this page was special so it just sprung to life in a hurry. It's not often we do a splash page, but the level of detail is heightened and the extreme angles are epic. I love it. The sword hanging off panel was my idea though, trying to pull you into the frame with Yrag. Anyhoo, Scott has something coming up big for the finale of this chapter. Until then I hope you all enjoy the view of the ice cave.

Zuggtmoy Recipe

Here's a short but pleasant bit of Greyhawkery. Continuing with the sudden D&D fame that our favorite fungi demon-queen, Zuggtmoy is enjoying, I have to share this incredibly cool blog post today by Geeky Hostess. Now I want some of these, foul demon curse be damned!

Update 06/09/2021: Someone make these for me dammit!

Place Your Bets: D&D Story Plots

5th Edition certainly has the D&D community buzzing. I myself am still playing in the Tyranny of Dragons storyline and we've just barely scratched Princes of the Apocalypse before Rage of Demons began. Though I always lament these aren't Greyhawk modules (or heavily borrow from them), with the adventure Out of the Abyss hot off the presses, I'm still among those who get excited about every preview and I love reading the speculation of what comes next. It's like a game within a game to guess what's coming up from clues and teases by WotC. For this reason I went to the Wheel of Gold Gambling House in the City of Greyhawk to find out the official odds on Wizard's next few story plots. Enjoy!

G1-2-3: Against the Giants/ Odds 3:1 

A giant-centric story is heavily suspected by the community given plot points laid out in previous adventures. Given Paizo has recently run-down their own giants-themed AP it'll be interesting to see if Wizards follows suit sooner or later.

S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks/ Odds 5:1 

Crashed spaceship is another popular theory given Chris Perkins' recent teaser involving a picture of a Froghemoth and other aberrant monsters. Would Wizards really mashup scifi and fantasy in Faerun though?

The Ruins of Undermountain/ Odds 6:1

A straight up dungeon crawl. This combined with others like Greyhawk Ruins or Maure Castle is a natural option for any long term game. Given the locations of Wizard's last few stories this one cannot be discounted.

The Rod of Seven Parts/ Odds 7:1

This is another idea I've seen mentioned in forums. The epic adventure boxed set has just the right components for a contemporary D&D mega event. It has demons (too soon?) and it has a multipart artifact quest.

Gates of Firestorm Peak/ Odds 7:1

This classic module is by one of Wizards' best authors Bruce Cordell and involves the Far Realms which is always a huge meta-threat in D&D. Firestorm Peak would make a good alternative to borrowing Barrier Peaks. For bizarre monsters and crazy evil NPCs you can't do much better than this.

WGA4: Vecna Lives!/ Odds 8:1

Uber-liches are popular villains in D&D and one like Vecna who wants to supplant existing gods is definitely a Forgotten Realms type plot (Time of Troubles, ahem). This is also one of the last strongest Greyhawk modules out there that hasn't been redone since 2E. 

I6: Ravenloft/ Odds 10:1

Uber-vampires are also a popular monster-villain in fantasy and TV (not to mention hugely popular zombies which you can lump in here). Normally this type of storyline would be the province of the Ravenloft setting, but maybe Wizards can spin a new yarn to rival Strahd Von Zarovich?

I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City or N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God/ Odds 15:1

Scaly evil and jungle ruins is an untapped resource for D&D writers in the last couple editions. Given WotC's tendency to set their adventures in temperate or cold climates though, this type of story is still far off in my opinion.

A1-4: Scourge of the Slave Lords/ 15:1

Human traffickers is an evil organization that can keep adventurers busy across a wide area. This classic series has been revised recently so it may be fresh on Wizard's mind. It can also translate to other settings easily.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Feel free to add your own speculated odds to this list! 

Castle Greyhawk: Two For One

Welcome back Greyhawk patrons! Well this is unusual, I'm two entire pages behind in promoting the third chapter of our ongoing Castle Greyhawk graphic novel. Check out page twenty-four AND twenty-five plus follow some bonus exposition by fantastic fantasist Scott Casper. On our site you can also check the archives and follow the entire Castle Greyhawk story from the very beginning.

Artist's Commentary: Well for those who are familiar with Maure Castle may recognize some scenes presented in these last two pages. I won't reveal more and just say that the party's curiosity will get them into more trouble before long...

From an artistic standpoint I've really enjoyed this interlude and the time for me to draw them really flowed faster than ever. What keeps the dungeon interesting for me is new tunnel and room design and in this case the mysterious mural. Spending too long in one location is a grind artistically, so I like that the party has keep it moving at this pace. Speaking of locations, page 26 coming soon is a doozy. Stay tuned!

Dungeons and...Demons?

I have to admit, I can't get enough of this Fall's D&D event, Rage of Demons. I have a feeling a vast majority of D&D fans can't get enough either. So what is it about demons and demon lords that captures the imaginations of RPG fans (as much as dragons)? It's probably a long and complicated answer, but I can provide a couple concrete reasons to build upon: demons are an unrepentant evil and they look damn cool. Dragons look cool too, but being evil isn't necessarily their whole reason for existence. There can be exceptions. Not so with D&D demon-kind (or Tanar'ri as they were known in the dark times). Demon lords especially are totally, 100% irredeemable in this game so that makes them the best villains. These aren't demons like you'll see on Buffy (except maybe Graz'zt). That means there is no ambiguity or confusion (unless they create it) in defeating them since they certainly won't feel bad taking your character's soul first!

For these reasons Greyhawk has always been a hot-bed of demonic plots over the years. From the very beginning, Iuz the half-demon son of the demon lord Graz'zt has been the primary evil threatening the Flanaess. And his witch of a mother, Iggwilv is the main authority on demonology with her famous Demonomicon. Then nearby, trapped in the Temple of Elemental Evil lurks Iuz's ally the queen of fungi Zuggtmoy. Beneath the mountains, Lolth causes trouble for Oerth all the way from her Demonweb. That's just for starters.

Fraz-Urb'luu was once trapped beneath Greyhawk Ruins by mad Zagyg, the Prince of Demons Demogorgon tried to wreck the world with his Savage Tide, the Queen of Chaos terrorized Oerth in prehistory against the Rod of Seven Parts, and the foul Kerzit menaced the dungeons of Maure Castle. There was simply so many demons in Greyhawk at one point that the Crook of Rao had to be used to chase off most of them.

So have fun playing Out of Abyss as they tear-up the Forgotten Realms. Or maybe an enterprising DM can adapt the module to Greyhawk. It's not like Oerth can't handle a few pesky Demon Lords.

In Defense of WhimsyHawk

A few days ago ENWorld's Morrus posted an interesting article that talked about the relevancy of whimsy in D&D today in regards to the characters previewed for the upcoming Out of Abyss adventure. He highlighted an old WotC article from 2005 on why humor is downplayed whereas it was more prevalent in editions before that (TSR era essentially). This naturally points a big finger at many Greyhawk products, most of which not considered classics. Sure Greyhawk has had plenty of whimsy, but I have a hunch Forgotten Realms hasn't had as much (in my limited experience) even compared to other settings like Planescape or Spelljammer.

To go along with this is a poll asking if you like whimsy mixed with a "grimdark" setting like the Underdark with all these demon-lords running around in it. I for one have no problem with whimsy mixing with serious if it is handled with care. Currently the poll stands at almost 2/3 in favor of mixing the two elements, with the rest either against or not caring. This shows that there's just enough confidence in D&D's writers to try anything. If those results were like Fantastic Four's rating on Rotten Tomatoes then I'm sure there'd be damage control going on right now.

Of course It's still left to be seen how much the dark and whimsy we are talking about here. Here's a quick analysis and a summary of how I think Out of Abyss will differ from "WhimsyHawk":

Let me tell you about WhimsyHawk!

When people think of humor in Greyhawk the first shoe thrown is Castle Greyhawk, the infamous joke module. It's intentionally full of parody, puns and worse atrocities. The art (Jim Holloway on interiors) is especially supportive of this whimsical adventure. To wit, demon-lord Graz'zt is in this module as well which must make him some sort of object of dark comedy (I should know).

When comparing the cast of Out of Abyss to previous D&D the next whimsy duo brought up is Greyhawk's Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror. It is no coincidence that these two modules also have their setting within the realm of "Castle Greyhawk" though they predate the joke module's publication by five years and have no more direct connection than that. That Greyhawk took on a dark and dangerous Alice parody back in 1983 is remarkable since Alice is presented as more dark than whimsy these days in movies and graphic novels.

I could go on and talk about other silly aspects like those found in Greyhawk Ruins (see a pattern here?), Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (debatable), or heck, Zagyg the demigod of humor, but the bottom line is that none of these things present a serious threat to the World of Greyhawk setting. Castle Greyhawk never instigated the Greyhawk Wars and Dungeonland never threatened to change the face of the Flanaess if the heroes lose. Out of the Abyss wisely starts in the Underdark yet I believe the premise is that if the demons win there, they will spill out and ruin the Sword Coast next. I'm not sure its the demon-lords; I think some people are more worried the whimsy is going to break loose and infect Faerun! 

So yes, I like a mix of dark and humorous, but I don't think the D&D team is in danger of spreading too much whimsy to their future products either. After two heavy world-saving storylines like Tyranny of Dragons and Princes of the Apocalypse why not have a little light-hearted stuff to set up what will inevitably be another Realms-shaking event anyhow?

GamersTable Podcast

I don't promote Gamerstable, the podcast I am part of, quite near enough to do it justice. So today I am here to point out the incredible things you'll hear if you listen to our weekly show:

228 Episodes and Counting: We of course talk about a variety of gamer topics, mostly in the table top arena. Given our backgrounds we are heavy on D&D but we tend to try just about any game system or genre out there. Go back through the archives and there's bound to be a topic of interest to you.

Actual Play/Role Play Dramas: This is our strongest feature. A lot of podcasts do actual play recorded sessions of their games, but @GamerstableEric and @Gamerstable_Dan take it up a notch with our game group. These dramas will astound you with their post-production, narration, sound effects and guest voice acting. We change to different games for each one, our last was Call of Cthulhu, and the next is Shadowrun. Check it out, you will find nothing like them anywhere else!

Patrons and Fan Interaction: Gamerstable is very loyal to its listeners, providing extra perks and content to those who become patrons through the show or just following us daily on social media such as Twitter. (I am @GamersTableMike) We have even met many of our listeners at GenCon each year and the gaming community grows more close because of it.

That is not all! Browsing the site you'll find links to comics, short stories and links to our other projects such as the new podcast Titansgrave Diggers which follows Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave online show. Join in on Gamerstable, drop us some comments or even recommend some topics if you feel inclined. Heck, I may even talk some Greyhawk who knows?