-	-		-	-
-	-	Castle Greyhawk	-	-
Guide	-	Glossography	-	Greyhawk

His Solemn Authority, the Lord Mayor of Greyhawk -- Nerof Gasgal (T10)

POPULATION: 58,000 (city)
    75,000+ (total, including surrounding areas)
RACE: OSfb
DEMI-HUMANS: Some
HUMANOIDS: Some
RESOURCES: silver, electrum, gold, platinum, gems (I-IV) <l>

ALIGNMENT: LG, Any
LANGUAGE: Common

CLIMATE: 35° (temperate)
TERRAIN: Plains, River <l>

Greyhawk was established as a trading post on the
Selintan River during the period of early migrations.
As it flourished, a local warlord built a small keep on
the hills above the village called Greyhawk which had
sprung up around the trading center, extracting taxes
from the trade and occasionally raiding caravans
(particularly those coming with silver ingots found in the burial mounds of the Cairn Hills).
This petty noble soon became quite rich and powerful and assumed the title of
Landgraf of Selintan.

Greyhawk and the power of the new Landgraf grew rapidly thereafter,
and his son and heir, Ganz, was wed to the daughter of the Gynarch (Despotrix) of [Hardby],
a sorceress of no small repute.
Their descendants ruled a growing domain
which rose to considerable heights c. 375 CY
under the rule of Zagig Yragerne (the so-called Mad Archmage).

It was Zagig who built the sprawling Castle Greyhawk (now a ruin) and poured funds into
the City of Greyhawk in order to make it int othe
"Gem of the Flanaess." His reign was bizarre in
many other ways, and it came as no surprise when it
was reported that Zagig Yragerne had mysteriously
vanished after years of rule when no change or aging
could be detected. The castle was abandoned, supposedly
due to a terrible curse placed upon the place, but the
City proper continued to flourish. In 498 CY it was
proclaimed a free and independent city, ruling a territory
from Hardby on the [Woolly Bay] <c> to the [Nyr Dyv],
between the eastern folds of the [Cairn Hills] and the
[Gnarley Forest], including much of what is now the
northern section of the Wild Coast region.

These holdings have been lost over the intervening decades,
and a decline in trade seemed certain to turn the place
into a backwater, save for recent events. Several years
ago a series of treasure <l> troves were <corrected, was was> discovered in or
near Greyhawk Castle <l>. Immense wealth began flowing
into the city, and artisans and mercenaries <l> began
flocking to Greyhawk due to this boom. Local lords
used this influx of hard money to revitalize the city,
claiming all of the land from Nyr Dyv to the Neen <l> in the [Cairn Hills].
The Despotrix of Hardby now pays tribute to Greyhawk to avoid being absorbed in
the growing city state once again.

Greyhawk is ruled by its Lord Mayor<l>; this individual
is chosen by a Directing Oligarchy. The latter body
is composed of the Captain-General of the Watch, <l>
the Constable, <l>
the Guildmaster of Thieves, <l>
the Guildmaster of Assassins, <l>
and various representatives of the Society of Magi,
the Merchants and Traders Union,
Artisans League,
and Clerical leaders.
The total number of the Directors ranges from 12 to 18.

<
25% = encounter with a patrol
border territories = as wilderness, with 10% = encounter with a patrol
>

-	Encounter
01	Demi-humans (01-05 = Dwarf, 06-70 = Elf, 71-80 = Gnome, 81-100 = Hobbit)
02-03	Elves, Sylvan
04	Gnomes
05	Humanoids (01-05 = Gnoll*, 06-10 = Goblin, 11-15 = Hobgoblin, 16-94 = Orc**, 95 = Qullan, 96-100 = Xvart)
06-07	Men, Bandits
08-09	Men, Brigands
10-11	Men, Characters
12-30	Men, Merchants
31-35	Men, Patrol, Medium
36	Men, Pilgrims
37-38	Men, Raiders
39-40	Men, Tribesmen (hill/marshmen) <make notes at UA>
41-00	Use Standard Encounter Tables

* 10% of all gnoll encounters will include flinds.
** 5% of all orc encounters will include ogrillons.
 

TEMPERATE CIVILIZED Plains and Scrub (MM2)
 

2	Lammasu, Greater
3	Ghost
4	Lycanthrope, Wererat
5	Castle
6	Ankheg
7	Owl
8	Man, Pilgrim
9	Man, Bandit
10	Cattle, Wild
11	Man, Merchant
12	Falcon, Small
13	Man, Patrol
14	Character Party (RG)
15	Bugbear
16	Hobbit
17	Man, Dervish
18	Goblin
19	Oliphant
20	Quasi-elemental, Lightning

<this is the start of a d000 version of the same table>

01-250	Men, Patrol, Medium
001	Demi-humans
020	Elves, Sylvan
040	Gnomes
050	Humanoids
060	Men, Bandits
080	Men, Brigands
100	Men, [Characters]
120	Men, Merchants
310	Men, [Patrol, Medium]
360	Men, [Pilgrims]
370	Men, [Raiders]
390	Men, [Tribesmen] (hill/marshmen) <make notes at UA>
41-00	Use Standard Encounter Tables
01-15	Beaver, Giant*
16-30	Crocodile**
31-40	Hippopotamus**
41-60	Lizard Man
61-65	Nixie
66-70	Nymph
71-85	Otter, Giant
86-98	Turtle, snapping, giant
99-00	Water weird

* Result possible only in cool waters, otherwise roll again.
** Result possible only in warm waters, otherwise roll again.
<if it does not change things, mathematically, perhaps just delete these from the tables, and adjust the numbers>

Fresh Water
Encounter occurs 1 in 20, check morning, evening, and midnight.
Unintelligent monsters will be 75% likely to be driven off by flaming oil nearby,
90% if actually burned by it.
Large amounts of food will be 50% likely to end encounters.
 

standard=
temperate & subtropical / inhabited & or patrolled / plain (FF.116)
    tem / civil / plain (FF.116)
standard

Julian Grimm wrote:
A couple of quick questions for you:

1. Did you have any imput on the D&D toy line that came out?

2. Concerning the climate of Yggsburgh and Greyhawk; I was wondering if this was done to facilitate adventuring easier or if the idea came about some other way?
 

The head of the bendy toy project was Duke Seifried. Duke reported to Brian Blume.

The climate in the Yggsburgh region was meant to make the place more interesting for all sorts of reasons, including the environment for human inhabitants, regional flora and fauna, as well as facilitating adventures in the outdoors.

Cheers,
Gary
 
 

Quote:
Originally posted by ScottGLXIX
I notice that there are no thieves of note in the who's who of Greyhawk. I can't think of one well known thief PC. How did the early PCs go about finding and removing traps and opening locks?
Scott
Well, some of the less caring PCs had orcs who were sent forth to take care of such things. Others of the PCs had henchmen who were of the thire class. There were also such things as wands of secret door & trap detection ann knock spells for the m-us.

As an aside, and pertaining to the question of treasure division, there was an unwritten understanding that any thief who made off with a reasonably smalll amount of the loot, that including monor magic items, was "unnoticed" and the spoils and XPs that went with them were that PCs. Thieves that were too greedy didn't last long, though...

Cheers,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by T. Foster
Hi Gary,

First off I've been remiss in thanking you for your kind (and extensive) answers to my previous questions, so I offer my sincere, if belated, thanks now and hope you didn't think I wasn't appreciative of your answers.
 

Howdy TF 

No need to thank me, and I do not assume that lack of a special note doing that after I have replied to someone is a lack of gratitude. Appreciate your thoughtfulness, though!

Quote:
But now, onto another question  Following up on the answer above (re: Greyhawk City), were the details of the city (including both the map and other sundry details -- street names, building locations, description of the city's walls and gates, sewer system, etc.) provided in the novel City of Hawks (and to a lesser extent in the other Gord books) drawn from your actual game version of the city or were they newly invented (re-invented?) for the purposes of that novel alone? I spent a lot of time and effort combing through those books back in the day gleaning details for use in my own games set in Greyhawk City (as an antidote to the bland bland bland version published by TSR -- talk about disappointment!).

Gratitude and regards,

T. Foster
 

the city material I included in the Gord novels was either from my notes, memory, or created to fill in gaps.
The latter material was meant to be true to my vision of the City of Greyhawk, its infrastructure, places, and persons.

Your combing the books and gleaning details means you are following my template, but don't let that constrain your own addition to the setting.
Rob was always addint material, and I used to have to consilt with him about what he had brought into the mix after he had run a city adventure.

What I am embarassed to admit is that such research likely makes you more expert than I am in regards to city details, most of which I have forgotten in the decades elapsed snce I write the stories, the memories replaced by later stories, adventures and urban settings.

Cheers,
Gary


Gold piece 
[exact size]
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Melan
Greetings!

Gary, how do you feel about city adventuring? Were cities a central feature in your campaigns, or were they more like places to rest&shop between adventures?
Also, did you ever do a writeup of Greyhawk City... And if yes, is there a chance to see it under some other name - like "Dunfalcon City" or such?
About one adventure in 10 was run in a city--Greyhawk or some other. If the PCs were not seeking adventure when there for R&R, bringing it to them was no problem 
 

The original map of Greyhawk city was one sheet of graph paper with colored boxes indicating various places where PC would go--inns & taverns, armorers, money changers & banks, gemners & jewelers, city buildings, guilds, etc.
That was expanded to two, then four map sheets, with the thieves' quarter and Rob's Green Dragon Inn shown.
I was working on a very large version some 20 years back, but I abandoned it as far too detailed.

No version of the city that I designed has ever been published.

Cheers,
Gary

James M: 2. Were you a participant in the original Greyhawk campaign refereed by Gary and Rob Kuntz and, if so, which characters did you play?

Skip Williams: Ah, you're giving me a chance to split hairs here.

Gary ran the very first Greyhawk campaign using the map from the Outdoor Survival game and his notes for the future D&D Game (the very first D&D suggests getting Outdoor Survival and using it for your campaign map). After TSR published D&D, Gary drew a campaign map of his own and that became the Greyhawk setting everyone knows. I was involved in that campaign pretty much from the start, having seen the map laid out on Gary's dining room table.

In "New Greyhawk," I had several characters. The most famous of these was Rufus of Hommlet (or Rufus of Skipperton as Gary named him in one of his novels). Rufus explored the Temple of Elemental Evil and eventually became a bigwig in Hommlet. He's mentioned in the modules Gary wrote about the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign.

I also had a halfling thief (these days D&D players would call him a rogue) called Phalangas, or "Fingers," who ran around the City of Greyhawk causing as much trouble as he could, and picking pockets on the way. I only ever played Phalangas when Rob Kuntz, Gary's co-DM decided to run a pickup game, so no one has heard of him until now.

My longest-running character in the Greyhawk campaign was a human fighter named Boaric. Boaric was no great shakes, but he rubbed elbows with the big boys in the campaign (Tenser, Erac's Cousin, and Robilar to name a few) and was involved on some famous adventures. He was involved in an aborted expedition into the Tomb of Horrors. His biggest accomplishment there was dragging various bits and pieces of his former comrades back out. He also hacked and slashed his way through Against the Giants until coming toe to toe with Snurre Ironbelly. That episode ended badly for all, and it took a wish to get us back on our feet. Boaric also made a few trips to The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, and briefly owned the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd.

Boaric was the only character I played under both Greyhawk DMs, Gary and Rob Kuntz.

- Grognardia (Interview: Skip Williams)

<edit>