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Greyhawk’s importance cannot be understated: Without Greyhawk, there would be noDungeons & Dragons.Greyhawk was long known as the inspiration behind Third Edition’s main setting and was appreciated for its status as the location of Gary Gygax’s original campaign. Because of this, many magic items that players see in their games originated from the Greyhawk setting, alongside spells with which fans have become familiar.
It may come as no surprise that the world of Greyhawk is seeing a long-awaited return in the 2024 Monster Manual. With the return of the classic setting comes no small number of changes to the game as players know it.
What Is Greyhawk’s Origin?
Gary Gygax, the creator of D&D,developed Greyhawk as a series of dungeons under a castle.As his adventure with his children and friends progressed, he layered on floors to the dungeon to extend their adventure. Upon their exit, Gygax was forced to expand and had tocreate a settlement and city for his players to explore.
Eventually, Gygax would create an entire world.
An amateur historian, Gygax was fascinated by the Indigenous American war chief and leader of the Sauk tribe, Black Hawk. As an homage,he would name this castle (and then the city and setting) ‘Greyhawk.’
Greyhawk was designed on the heels of the preexisting Blackmoor. These two campaigns were some of the first settings for Dungeons & Dragons, and Gygax merged the two as a collaborative effort.
The world received a name,Oerth(pronounced ‘Oith’ by Gygax), and Greyhawk finally became a proper location. The setting remained his personal project and the site of his home game but ultimatelywould make its way into the canon around 1979.
Geography Of Greyhawk
Greyhawk’s lore is centralized around theFlaeness, the eastern area ofOerik, the main continent within Greyhawk.Because most stories in Greyhawk focus on Oerik and the Flanaess, the other regions and continents are relatively unknown.
The Flaeness
Named after the original inhabitants, ‘the Flan,‘the Flaeness stretches across the east of Oerik.This is because the eastern portion was all that would fit the dimensions for publishing, so Gygax developed as much of the region as he could.
The Flaeness is divided up like so:
Empire of Iuz
A large empire run by Iuz, the demigod son of Iggwilv.
A mountainous, cold, Scandinavian-inspired land.
Sheldomar Valley
A large expanse of farmland. One of Oerth’s more famous kingdoms, the Kingdom of Keoland, is located here.
Sea of Dust
A desert of ash and dust swathed by a few mountain ranges.
The most powerful city-state in the Flaeness.
Ferrond
An administrative district ruled by a viceroy. A popular area called the Perrenlands is within it.
Amedio Jungle
A large jungle located in the southwest.
The world of Greyhawk was originally drawn on a map of North America, but was reworked for publishing in 1979.
Greyhawk was built to be more about traversing a classic, fantastic realm than traversing a realm that made geographic sense, and nothing shows this more than the fields of black ice and seas made of ash within Oerth.
While Greyhawk has many species and subspecies that live alongside one another,the Flaeness was often depicted as a majority-human setting in its early days.
Still, Greyhawk houses kingdoms such asCelene, a primarily elven state, or the Ulek States, which boast a diverse population that each adheres to their own political systems.
Famous NPCs From Greyhawk
The Non-Playable Characters of Greyhawk are prominent throughout the multiverse, eitherbecoming Planeswalkersor through reputation.
Iconic Characters Of Greyhawk
Some of the more recognizable names range from powerful wizards such asMelfandTenser(who were originally player characters played by Gygax’s sons), to members of the Circle of Eight, such asBigbyandOtto,to villains likeVecnaandthe many-titled Kas.
Two of the Wizards Three,Mordenkainen and Tasha, are from Oerth and feature prominently in the adventureVecna: Eve of Ruin, as well asCurse of StrahdandThe Wild Beyond the Witchlight, respectively.
Deities In Greyhawk
Though Gygax was reluctant to deal with religion in his home campaign, he eventually provided a pantheon for wider play. Soon, more deities were added for non-human species. As a result,a good many deities come from this settingas well!
Gods such as theevil spider-goddess Lolth, Pelor, Yondalla, Iuz, Moradin, Corellon Larethian, and Garl Glittergold all come from Greyhawk, and now enjoy places at tables worldwide.
