Greyhawk Maps

Here are some old maps I made back when I was running my version of Greyhawk.  As with so much I do, these use the Welsh Piper's map templates.

The one above was the map we were going to use to divide up the setting.

This one was my section (Greyhawk and its environs).

Whatever Happened to Greyhawk?

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted a play report or even a musing on Greyhawk and its accompanying castle in about a month (I'm too lazy to check the exact time).  There are several reasons for this, but I'll focus on two of them.

First, my group usually meets on Tuesdays, and while that day has been good for me the majority of the time I'd been with them in recent weeks my Tuesdays had gotten a lot more hectic.  This is due entirely to graduate school concerns, which I will not bore you with.  Since I've been unable to play with them the last few weeks I've turned over my DM responsibilities to one of the players (the one responsible for Verbobonc on our campaign map). I believe he started the Village of Hommlet on Tuesday and I look forward to joining them next week.

So why haven't I talked about Greyhawk while I wasn't playing it?  The chief reason is that it doesn't excite me the way it did when the current campaign started.  While I liked working on some of the city bits, the dungeon just didn't have the same Evan-ness that Nightwick Abbey does.  The Dark Country is the best expression of what I want D&D to be like and while I may occasionally be lured by something more "vanilla" or tongue-in-cheek, it is the setting that has the most traction with my otherwise Gamer ADD addled mind.  Handing off the shield to another player and then setting up for the G+ game has allowed me to avoid smashing the campaign against the rocks.  I heard the sirens' call, and I handed the rudder to someone with wax in their ears.

On a tangentially related note, I haven't posted on my Traveller blog for essentially the same reasons.  I hope to pick it up again in the lull between semesters, but only time will tell if that happens.

Greyhawk Farms Redux

click to embiggen

The above map only shows the settlements the PCs would be vaguely aware of.  This time, I stocked the map using a combination of methods.  First, I used my old standby the Welsh Piper's Hex Based Campaign Design system.  I decided that the major settlements would all be cities while minor settlements will all be towns instead of villages.  I got one major settlement (which was obviously going to be Greyhawk) and two minor ones.  I determined their populations using the system in the Greyhawk folio.

Now I wanted to determine where the farmland was.  It seemed like it would be difficult to wed the Hex Based Campaign Design system with the Welsh Piper's equally excellent Medieval Demographics tool.  Instead, I decided to use Rob Conley's figures for use with the Wilderlands.  Since his numbers were largely based on Judges Guild material, I figured they'd be a better fit for a more fantastic setting like Greyhawk.  I figured out the number of 5 mile hexes needed to feed the populations of each of the above settlements.  Then I just placed that many hexes of farmland around each settlement.  

Now, the overly meticulous regular readers may think to themselves "but Evan, wouldn't the hexes on this map be 6 miles, not 5?"  Right you are!  However, I'm lazy and I figured it was better to skew high and assume that the people of Greyhawk, Wizard's Bridge, and Blackleg sold the excess or used it to feed the men stationed at Portsmouth Castle.  

This method is not precise by any means, but it makes slightly more sense than just having an isolated settlement with no farmland whatsoever.  It also allows me to maintain a certain amount of wildness to the setting, which I enjoy.

Greyhawk Districts: The Thieves' Quarter

The Gem of the Flanaess has few rivals in terms of size, prosperity, or majesty.  To assume that a city possessing such wealth and diversity is homogeneous would be folly.  Its streets are, to a new comer, a incomprehensible maze of taverns, tenements, and temples.  However, to the learned observer there is some order to this chaos.  Natives and citizens of Greyhawk broadly recognize ten districts.  Two of these create what is known as the "Old City."  This is the first in a series of posts that will detail each of these as they develop through play.

The Thieves' Quarter (Old City)

One of the two Old City districts, the other being the Slums, the Thieves' Quarter is only slightly more affluent than its neighbor.  The structures here are constructed with a surprising amount of stone, as is the case with the rest of the Old City.  This was done long ago to prevent the cramped buildings from succumbing to fire.  This construction also has the unfortunate effect of being difficult to rebuild and repair, and as such much of the district is in shambles.  The crowded streets make the treatment of sewage difficult, and the small streets make it almost impossible to work in greats that would allow rainwater to take the waste with it.  This problem has lead the Dung Gatherer's Guild to set up their guild house in the Thieves' Quarter.  That way they can more easily get access to the stagnant crap they can sell as fertilizer.

The Thieves' Guild is, rather obviously, rumored to keep its guildhouse somewhere in this district, though only members know its exact location.

The Green Griffin Inn used to be the primary meeting place for the various skullduggers and ne'er-do-wells seeking employment within Greyhawk's walls; however, the management recently made a deal with a group of adventurers that precludes their renting rooms to others.  The bar is still open, but most self respecting leg-breakers wouldn't be caught dead in the place.  "Those assholes have killed the atmosphere."  Boris the bloated bartender serves drinks and provides bread, meat, and "ain't meat" to patrons.  He is known for occasionally belching mysterious substances onto the already unappealing food on occasion.  Boris also runs the establishment, though no one is sure whether or not he is the actual owner.

The Temple of Kos as lies within the Thieves' Quarter.  While not the only temple here, it is certainly the largest.  Built by the Suloise founders of the city long before the settlement obtained the name Greyhawk, the temple resembles nothing so much as a large, stone mead hall.  Despite its size, the number of worshipers it attracts today is relatively small. Only about seventy attend the sacrifices, though in tough times -- such as war or famine -- many more pay him so that he might be placated and delay whatever doom he has in store for them.  These rituals are done twice a day, once at noon and once at midnight.  Usually only a dove or game bird is sacrificed.  It has been centuries since their sacrificial knife has know the taste of human blood.

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That is it for now.  I'm currently using a modified version of Zak's Urbancrawl system.  I tend to alter the results in order to make each district of the city possess a unique character.  The above is only what has been detailed through the party's travels in the city, and there are many more locations that have yet to be detailed.  Technically, the Temple of Kos has not been seen at the table, but my wife's character is a shieldmaiden of Kos and so I thought it would be necessary to have some idea what the temple is like.

Greyhawk Session 5

At first I thought I'd lost my co-DM, but apparently he's made arrangements to be able to stay in the group.  As such we had a full group of players so the party consisted of...

Synecdoche -- an unlucky dwarf with a strange accent
Leerc -- a stoic fighting-elf
Nilrem -- a sinister wizard
Slimey -- a mischievous thief
Akzey -- a shieldmaiden of Kos, God of Dooms
as well as their small force of hirelings and henchmen

They began by meeting on an overcast Patchwall day in the Green Griffin Inn.  This was Starday, which was the day they had agreed to go into the dungeon, and so they left the Griffin's smoke-filled chambers and went out into the Thieves' Quarter of the Old City.  Before passing into the Warrens -- the local name for the East Side -- they ran into a group of well dressed men who seemed to be protesting.  They asked what was going on, leading to a few "Occupy Greyhawk" jokes,  and found out that the Dung Gatherers' Guild wanted a place on the ruling council.

The party found it odd that the Dung Gatherers were dressed so nicely, but not missing an opportunity to cause havoc Nilrem and Slimey attempted to coax the protesters to riot.  As they were doing so, a noble and his retinue of toadies and armed thugs appeared on the scene.  His chief sycophant announced that he was the most gracious of all men, and so Synecdoche asked for a small donation.  Taking the patchy-bearded dwarf for a beggar the noble Lord Thirston, gave him a few pieces of silver.

Slimey decided to sling some filth from the street onto the noble lord, prompting the Dung Gatherers to join in.  Soon rocks, shells, and other hard objects were being chucked at the noble and his retinue.  Lord Thirston was knocked on the head, and immediately his own toadies began removing his valuables from his person.  Afterwards they began to battle the Dung Gathers as the party attempted to leave the scene.

They passed by a number of guardsmen heading out of the Warrens and towards the skirmish.  Slimey looked for their guardhouse, and was extremely disappointed to find that 14 guards had stayed to hold down the fort.  With that, they made their way through the Warrens, out of Castlegate, and to Castle Greyhawk.

Very little exploration occurred.  They decided to peak down a tunnel they had not ventured down yet.  They were confronted by a long hallway with several doors.  Slimey kicked one open to find that it was a small, bare alcove.  The party searched this for secret exits but found nothing.  Nilrem, growing impatient with his meandering partners, opened the next door.  Unfortunately for him the room beyond possessed several poisonous centipedes.  These crawled up his cloak and injected him with their terrible poison.  He made all of his saves except the last one, and with his dying breath uttered "Pazuzu... Pazuzu... Pazuzu..."

I rolled to see if the demon prince appeared and got a 10 on a %.  Technically this was too high, but due to it being his dying words I ruled that if I got a 1 on a 1d6 he would appear.  I did.  Soon the 7' demon was staring them in the face and demanding to know who had summoned him.  Akzey and the hirelings and henchmen fled to the exit as quickly as possible.  Synecdoche meekly motioned towards the body of Nilrem, which the demon lord took and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I then checked to see if any monsters came to investigate the noise.  Strangely, four skeletons did so.  The three remaining party members engaged them in a fierce battle, but Synecdoche was hindered by his lack of a blunt weapon.  Leerc was knocked unconscious by one of them, but Slimey and Synecdoche were able to defeat the remaining ones in time to stabilize him and return to town.

I wasn't feeling very well, so we agreed to end it a bit early.  Before we left, I managed to get the players to divide up our Greyhawk map among themselves.  My wife took the North East corner because she wanted to detail a dungeon in Rift Canyon.  My co-DM took Dyvers.  Nilrem's player took the area around Verbobonc, since he wished to run the Temple of Elemental Evil or a homebrewed version thereof.  Finally, Chris of the Polyhedral Dicebag took a section of the Bright Desert.  Slimey's player said that he would only take a section if it could be the Pathfinder or 3.5 section.

This wasn't really my best session, and I think my co-DM was a bit miffed that I allowed the extra chance for Pazuzu to rear his misshapen head.  Slimey's player has also expressed dissatisfaction with the "dungeon" as a concept, preferring a "story;"  however, Chris seems always to want to skip to the dungeon parts each session.  Still, it wasn't a terrible session, and I did have fun.

Greyhawk Session 4

Sadly, it looks like Xel’s player will have to indefinitely leave the group due to his work schedule, but we had a full complement of our other players so this delves roster included:

Akzey, a shieldmaiden of Kos

Leerc, a stoic fighting-elf

Synecdoche, an unlucky fighting-dwarf

Slimey, a thief from a dark and foreign country

Nilrem, magic user of sinister countenance

as well as their bevy of hirelings and Baldric, Nilrem’s bodyguard and stooge

Leerc himself attracted a hench(wo)man.  She was a female fighting elf who looked something like a member of the East German swim team.  They all met at the Green Griffin and planned their expedition into the underworld just as a terrible storm poured torrential rain down the filth-filled streets.  Slimey suggested that the group wait out the storm, with some concordance from Aczey.  Nilrem, on the other hand, suggested that a rainy day is as good a day as any, and convinced the party to set out for Greyhawk Castle.

The soon arrived, but found that Xel had taken their map with him when he left on Gnomish business.   As such, the party decided to map a bit more methodically this time.  Synecdoche suggested that they head south, since his Dwarven nose could determine directions in the dungeons confines, and that they continue south until they could go no further.   This brought them to the magic mouth chamber.  Slimey elected to scout ahead into it, and the party – fearing another encounter like the one from their previous excursion into that room – agreed with his decision.

Slimey, it turns out, was ultimately after mischief.  He waited for the Magic Mouth to begin its message, then seeing that it was on the ceiling he lay on his back and attempted to urinate into its mouth.  Though the odds were against him, Slimey succeeded (I gave him a 1 in six chance).  The magic mouth seemed indifferent to it and continued its welcome, dribbling urine back down onto Slimey in the process.

After this, the party continued on their way.  They ignored several doors and side passages instead seeking to determine how far the one passage led.  It turns out this was quite far, but they eventually found a dead end.  Suddenly, they one of their porters was struck with an arrow.  He fell dead as more of the wicked things shot through the parties ranks.  Turning, they were confronted with a number of orcs blocking the exit. 

The party elected to duck into a nearby door.  This they spiked shut and after doing so the party split their time studying the room’s contents and negotiating with the orcs.  The orcs pounded heavily on the door with their leader belching “Milk man!”  Synecdoche , as the only one who could speak to them, informed them they didn’t need any milk and insulted the speaker’s intelligence.  Another orc laughed at this jest, infuriating the orc who had spoken.  Soon the orcs were stabbing and beating each other.

The room itself contained a fountain decorated with images of frogs “playing leap frog.”  Its water was cool and clear, and Slimey through caution to the wind and decided to drink from it.  He found that the hangover he possessed, or that he claimed to possess when he defecated at the entrance of the dungeon – a separate incident from the magic mouth – disappeared.  The fountain immediately emptied like a flushing toilet.

At this point, the battle outside quieted down.  Synecdoche and Slimey removed the spike from the door and peered out into the hall.  They saw what seemed to be the only three survivors.  Two were carrying a third, wounded one down the hall while snorting and squealing with glee.  The party gave chase, killing two with ranged weapons, but decided to let the other one escape when it became clear they would wander off track.

Since there was no obvious exit further south, they decided to search through the nearby rooms.  They found most of these served some sort of storage purpose, but several of them had already been looted by someone in the recent past.  At first they thought this must have been themselves, but they soon realized that none of them remembered the particulars of these rooms and so began to expect some other power. Exploring down a side passage, they found some similar rooms.  

This caused them to become a bit reckless, and one of the rooms they opened without checking contained six gnolls.  Unfortunately for the gnolls, the party won initiative and soon were tossing bottles of flaming oil into their ranks.  After one round, only two survived.  They, being of a cowardly and opportunistic race, decided to surrender rather than fight.  The gnolls showed the party the location of a hidden treasure before asking to be released.  Nilrem and baldric set upon the surrendering creatures, killing both of them before Synecdoche and Aczey could stop them.

With these creatures slain and their new treasure gained, the party returned to the surface and the session ended.  They were rather surprised when I gave them full experience for the orcs, but they were (indirectly) responsible for those creatures’ deaths.  All in all it was a good session.

Another Map Experiment

I think it's fairly clear that the rather famous Greyhawk map doesn't show but a small portion of the total settlements in Greyhawk.  Otherwise, Furyondy is a barren wasteland, as is most of the rest of the World of Greyhawk.  As such, I felt I should develop the settlements around my campaign area.  For the most part, the players have yet to go outside the two hexes containing Greyhawk and the infamous castle.

Assuming we go with my plan, here is what the countryside around Greyhawk might look like:

click to embiggen

I somewhat followed the Welsh Piper's automated system, but I halved the amount of farmland in accordance with a post by Rob Conley I can't seem to find.  I also fudged a bit so that I'd have to detail slightly fewer towns.  The area on the Greyhawk side of the Nyr Dyv relies on farming feeholders rather than a manorial system.  As such, It would have significantly fewer villages than the Furyondy side.

I'm not entirely happy with it, but I can't quite put my finger on why.

Folio Project: Peoples and Pantheons

I want to stress that the Folio Project has little to do with the version I'm currently running. Still, I thought I'd continue developing it in anticipation of the day that I run Greyhawk without a co-DM.

When I first started this project, I decided to tie the various ethnic groups of the Flanaess to pantheons from Deities and Demigods.  This action served two purposes.  First and foremost, it acted as a historical short-hand for the various cultures.  Second, it helped me define the major gods of the setting.  My initial ideas looked something like this:

Oeridians: Greek (possibly mixed with Norse)
Baklunish: Indian
Flanae: Finnish

I imagine that the Baklunish is the weird one on the above list.  I see them as various Turkic peoples, but my decision to associate them with the Indian Mythos was based on the Karaks from the 3.5 version of the Wilderlands.  I put the Flanae with the Finnish Mythos because according to the map on page six of the Folio they exist in tiny, disconnected pockets across the Flanaess.  This made me think of the Finno-Ugric language group in Europe.  I'd probably mix in some Slavic stuff, which I imagine would offend both parties, but I know far more about early Russia than I do about Finland.  The Oeridians I think are fairly easy to figure out.  I thought about making the Great Kingdom be the home of the Greek Pantheon, and the further you get away from there the more Norse the pantheon becomes.

Most Greyhawk fans probably noticed the absence of the Suloise from the above list.  They have been the great enigma of the Folio Project.  I had based most of my treatment of them off of their desert origins.  Perhaps the would be similar to the Phoenicians, and possibly use the Babylonian or Sumerian Mythos so that I could still use DDG.  This becomes complicated when one notices that the southern banks of the Nyr Dyv, i.e. Greyhawk, are heavily Suloise.  I want Greyhawk and its neighbors to be pseudo-medieval in character.  Some may find that a bit boring, but I'm a fan.

It was only when I met with my co-DM that I became aware that their supposed to be pseudo-Norse.  This seems to contradict their origins, but it makes sense with their current situation, especially in the case of the Snow Barbarians.  I suppose I'll go with that, though it does rob me of the ability to have the Scarlet Brotherhood be Ziggurat building sorcerers obsessed with human sacrifice.  More is the pity.

Greyhawk Session 3 Part 2

Part 1

Upon arriving in the dungeon's entry hall, they realized that their previous mapper had the East and West directions on the map flipped.  They decided they'd tell everyone they did it on purpose in order to confuse anyone who stole their map.  They decided to head south this time, and eventually wound up in a colonnaded chamber so large that they could not see it's end with their torches.

They decided to send Xel ahead to investigate, since he was already in the front of the party and could see without the aid of a torch.*  As he entered the chamber, a loud voice from the ceiling proclaimed "WELCOME TO CASTLE GREYHAWK!"  A giant lizard, attracted by the noise, came into the chamber looking for an easy meal.  While it did not spot Xel, the party's torches attracted the creature.

It rushed up immediately.  It then grabbed Synecdoche in its terrible jaws and shook him like a dog with a chew toy. This left Synechdoche terribly wounded and he immediately passed out.  Xel moved in to backstab the creature; however, he was unable to score a hit.  Nilrem managed to pelt it with a few darts, and Slimey similarly tried to use his sling.  Unfortunately, Slimey botched and hit the hireling in front of him square in the back of the head, killing him instantly.  When all seemed lost, Baldric -- Nilrem's hideous henchmen -- moved to the front of the formation with his two-handed sword and sliced the top of the lizard's head off (from the upper jaw up).  He made this into a grim, and huge, trophy necklace.

Realizing that they would need to get Synecdoche to a cleric soon, they immediately dragged him out of the dungeon and headed towards town.  At Castlegate they were stopped by an tax collector in a poofy hat.  They were able to get by him without wasting too much time, but the only temple near enough to service them was dedicated to Garl Glittergold.  They healed him, but due to the severity of his wounds he would need to rest for the rest of Brewfest.

The rest of the party either spent the rest of the festival doing foul deeds (Nilrem and Baldric) or at Synecdoche's bedside (Xel and Slimey).  Once that week was over, the players each payed upkeep, to represent the cost of their Rock'n'Roll lifestyle, and I rolled to see if any of them would suffer from some hideous disease.  It turns out Synecdoche had contracted scabies.  This caused his beard to fall out, and due to this humiliation he went to get it healed at the temple of Moradin in the Bad Food District.

After this, the party once again met at the Green Dragon to organize another outing.  Nilrem told Baldric to give a speech to motivate the hirelings in order to compensate for the fact that Slimey killed one of them on the last expedition.  His "speech" consisted of berating and spitting on them through his hair lip.

They then made their way back to the castle, once again with four light infantry and two porters.  This time, they decided to explore the system of hallways that had contained a strange demon and a chest filled with fake gold coins.  They found a large room containing a stagnant pool.  Disturbing the pool caused three killer frogs to emerge, but these were quickly slain.  Investigating the pool revealed that their were a number of silver coins at the bottom, and the party ordered the men-at-arms to get in it and fill some sacks with coins.  They then left the dungeon with their new booty.

That's where the session ended.  We forgot to ask them whether or not they plan to explore the dungeon more next week or if they want to go out into the wilderness.  I've tried to mix the mechanical information in a bit more with the text this time.

It was a tremendously fun session, and I'm glad I was able to inject a bit more flavor into the city itself.

* I typically rule that the presence of torches dulls this sense since it doesn't allow their eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Greyhawk Session 3 Part 1

Only four of the normal gang of six players could make it, so this session saw...

Xel -- a mysterious Gnome Fighter/Thief
Slimey -- a similarly mysterious Thief from a far off land
Synecdoche -- a Dwarf danger magnet
Nilrem -- Sinister wizard

lead an two delves into the dungeons beneath Greyhawk Castle.  The events of the session began on the first day of Brewfest, and Greyhawk was filled with various drunken activities.  The party met at the Green Griffin to plan their expeditions, but the tavern had filled to capacity.  Outside was a crowed of drunken revelers carousing in the typical fashion for the holiday.

Seeing that some of them were ignorant farm girls, Slimey tried to get lucky.  He found one who seemed interested, but when he asked her if her two friends could join them they all turned away in disgust.  I used a heavily handwaved version of the AD&D henchman hiring rules for this exchanged, and the entire table thanked me for not roleplaying that out.

While Slimey was so engaged, the party noticed a strange procession coming down the street.  It consisted of a few priests supporting a statue resembling this:

Behind them were a number of farmers carrying baskets filled with turnips, cabbages, and other produce.  Several of the revelers approached the priests and placed coins in various slots at the base of the statue.  Doing so caused a dark-ish liquid to shoot out of one of its breasts, corresponding to which slot was used.  The party pretty much unanimously agreed this was the best invention ever, and each set upon the priests so that they might partake of the alcoholic drink that lay within the statue.  Even Xel was able to get some, after a nearby farmer raised him up to the statue.  To their surprise, it was not beer but instead a delicious mead.

After this the party more or less split up.  Synecdoche and Slimey engaged in a drinking contest, which ended quickly as Slimey passed out after a single drink.  Their contest was decided with a save vs. poison by each player, and Slimey's botched the first roll.  Nilrem gave a coin to Baldric, his hideous henchmen, so that he might use the statue.  "Avail yourself of the contents of one tit," Nilrem told him.  Misunderstanding this, Baldric rushed immediately to the nearest brothel.  Nilrem then muscled his way inside the Green Griffin to speak to Boris the Bloated Bartender.  He managed to cut a deal with Boris that would secure the entirety of the Griffin's rooms for the party and their retainers.  My co-DM and I decided that the cost of this should be rolled into the monthly upkeep of the characters, since we are using that rule from AD&D.

Xel, realizing he would not be able to sleep in the inn until after brewfest was over -- the Griffin was booked full for the festival -- headed to the park of pleasures to find a place to squat for awhile.  In the park where a number of troupes performing plays with odd masks and in strange dialects.  Xel also bumped into the park creeper that Slimey had met while looking for the Dryads who supposedly perform sexual favors.  The Gnome tailed him awhile, and saw the man duck into a secret door concealed in an ancient oak tree.

The next day, Synecdoche hid his gold under the floorboards of his room at the Griffin before meeting with the rest of the party.  They hired two somewhat-sober men to act as porters, and marshaled four of the fourteen men-at-arms they had picked up last session.  With that, they cut their way through the Thieves Quarter of the Old City into the Warrens and eventually out of Castlegate and towards the tumbled pile of Castle Greyhawk.

Continued in Part 2

Greyhawk Session 2

The adventures who descended into the dungeons beneath Greyhawk Castle this week included...

Akzey -- Shield maiden of Kos, God of Dooms (cleric)
Leerc -- Laconic Elf fighter
Nilrem -- Evil wizard in training
Slimey -- a mysterious thief from foreign lands
Synecdoche -- Dwarven fighter and the newest member of the group

After meeting up in the Green Griffin in, they decided to hire a few linkmen and porters to replace those men who died in the expedition on the 8th of Harvester.  Four men, Ahlpa, Xofrot, Elarch, and Ovarb, offered their services in exchange for 10 silver a day.  After hiring these men, they decided to head immediately to the dungeon rather than waiting for Xel, who was no doubt out on Gnomish buisness.

The wound their way through the streets of the Thieves quarter into the slummier sections of Greyhawk's East Side.  Exiting through Castlegate they made their way up the hill towards the tumbled pile of the old fortress.  Entering once again, they attempted to return to the chamber that held the strange statue with the coin slot.  Unfortunately, they were intercepted by a giant lizard who terribly wounded Synecdoche.  This was made worse when slimey hurled a flask of oil onto the beast, despite the fact that Akzey and Synecdoche were in melee with it.  Both were wounded, and Synecdoche fell unconscious.  Akzey quickly healed him, and the party continued onward.

They managed to move the lizard's carcass out of the way and push onward into the room without further incident.  This time, Akzey decided to place a gold coin in the slot.  After whirring around and playing strange music once again, Akzey was treated with information on the true nature of the cosmos (500xp).  This time, the statues face became that of a smiling, disheveled man, lacking the sinister teeth it did previously.

The same runes appeared on the dais as did last time, but Nilrem had prepared read magic in order to analyze them.  After casting it he was able to interpret the strange glyphs.  "OUT OF ORDER: CONTACT ADMINISTRATOR."  A bit bemused by this, the party explored a passage beyopnd this chamber.

Due to an error on my part, I had accidentally described a nearby room (since they had indicated a different door than I thought they had).  In reality it was a hallway, but I had already rolled their search for secret doors checks for the room, so I decided to keep the rolls.  The hallway did in fact have a secret door containing a chest bursting with treasure.   Greatly pleased with this, the party changed their formation to allow two of the porters to carry the chest and for them to be surrounded by the more combat capable members of the group.

On their way out they encountered a large number of kobolds.  Neither side seemed to want to engage in hostilities, and talking to them revealed that they were merely trying to get to the statue room.  When jokingly encouraged to go in, the kobolds revealed they simply wished to repair the statue for further use.  These seem to be the the "administrators."

Once back in town, Akzey and Slimey spent most of their money on training costs, which I am using because my co-DM is more or less a by the book AD&D sort of fellow.  Meanwhile, the others decided to find more men at arms and possibly a few henchmen to employ with their copious amount of gold.  Nilrem managed to attract a hideous fighting man named Baldric to be his body guard.  It was decided that he would keep Baldric's morale up with a copious supply of doxies, courtesans, and other such working women.  Meanwhile, Synecdoche managed to hire 14 light footmen to aid in their dungeon expeditions.  He and Nilrem contributed to their equipment and prepared for a dungeon delve for the two of them and their servants.  Leerc placed a notice for a henchman, but as yet has received no applicants.  It is likely this will change next week.

Nilrem and Synecdoche decided to take their small army on a raid into Greyhawk Castle while the other party members were busying themselves about the city.  They explored a bit down a new corridor, finding a large chest of treasure guarded by a strange, bloated humanoid with glowing white eyes.  One of the light footmen popped him with his spear and he dissipated into a fine mist.  They took the chest back to the surface, only to discover the coins it contained were merely copper pieces painted gold.  


This is where we more or less ended the session.  I believe the party is going to attempt to find a house or other building to act as a hq for their expanding operation.  I'm not quite sure how to price such property as yet.  I do like the idea, if only because it will prevent them from dragging twenty retainers into the dungeon each session.


Inconsistencies with other versions of the Free City of Greyhawk are to be expected.  I've been using Zak's urbancrawl system to make the city.

Guest Report: Greyhawk Session 1

As I discussed in the last session report for Nightwick Abbey, I was going to have one of my players (my wife) do the recap to break up the monotony of my droning.  I also hoped to both get and give an account of what the players' experience at my table.  What follows is her recap, which includes some lovely pictures she drew.  Since she was rather vague about it, I'll state that she played the cleric and move on to the report.

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Evan asked me to do a write up of Tuesday’s session, which I accepted but was reluctant to do. Mostly because I find it difficult to express myself verbally, but also because I’m not part of the Old School Gaming community,  and really, I’m not too familiar with D&D aside from just being a casual player. But I guess that’s the point of this, to take a peek at the game from a player’s point of view. Since so many of us players were not familiar with the AD&D rules we spent the previous session making our characters and discussing the mechanics. That made this our first session in the City of Greyhawk and its nearby castle.

We found ourselves at the Green Griffin Inn, where one of our Fighters, Brevian, our Magic User, Nilrem, and our Gnome, Xel were engaged in a game of darts as our other Fighter, Leerk, and our Cleric, Aczey, watched on. We were all pretty sure that Nilrem would win, because he was trained with darts, but when the game was done Brevian was the victor and received the grand prize of three whole gold! Eventually we decided the party was drunk enough to brave the Castle Greyhawk and we set off to recover our Thief, the creepy park lurker, Slimey.

From what I understood there is a large park in the city proper, filled with trees and uppity people strolling about. Apparently some rumors were floating around that some Dryads were giving away their, um, goodies to men who could catch them. Silmey just so happened to hear that rumor, so that’s where he was, and had been for nearly a week straight. I’m pretty sure he smelled lovely to all those Lords and Ladies strolling around. He was actually reluctant to leave with us, but we eventually were able to convince him he would be getting all the treasures he needed, to impress any kind of woman he could dream of, in the Castle.

The Castle itself was pretty interesting!  We found a trap door that lead to a section that seemed to be all storage. The two men we hired were killed by what I think were fire beetles, but I got the impression they were large lightning bug types with pincers. 

We spent a lot of time combing through boxes, trying to see if they contained anything interesting or useful. They didn’t. One room we came across was filled with crates of rotting foods, and since it was a larger room some of us really wanted to get into it and check the place out. Some of us didn’t, because of the huge, disgusting grubs feeding on the meaty sludge. To determine whether the carrion eaters proved a threat we threw the body of one of our slain hired men into the room. He was quickly covered in the things and we decided to just burn it all! Once the fire died down and the room was relatively safe we were rewarded with a secret door that took us to something, well, new.

The room we wound up in was like any other room in the Castle, only it contained a silly faceless statue with a coin slot on its chest. Brevian stuck a copper piece into the slot, which activated the thing. Its hands started whirling about while it played circus music and its face started to appear.  It pointed a finger at our poor fighter and he was instantly zapped to dust. Glowing magical runes scrolled over the pedestal and its face settled on one screwed up in anger. We couldn’t read the runes, but terrified and fascinated by the thing our Cleric, Aczey, tried to shove a few gold pieces in, which just seemed to get stuck.

We checked another room, it had a few more of those fire beetles, which we lobbed some flaming oils at until we could get away. By then, with three of those we came in with dead, we decided it was time to leave, and also call it an evening well spent.

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So there you have it.  I hope you found it enlightening.

Stocking Castle Greyhawk

As of yesterday, I have completed the maps for the first three levels of Castle Greyhawk, ignoring sublevels and the surface ruins.  I thought I'd go over my stocking process since it's a bit different than the one I used for Nightwick Abbey.  It primarily comes from reverse engineering random dungeon generation charts in the DMG, with a bit more standardization.

First, I fill up a hole punched 8x11" piece of graph paper (about 5 lines to 1") with dungeon, trying to squeeze in as many rooms and corridors as possible.  This will usually constitute one level.  I've based this on Gary's maps, seen below:

click to embiggen

While it's entirely possible that more than one of these make up a level, I decided to stick to the one sheet = 1 level rule that I used for Nightwick Abbey simply because in 25 sessions the party never even came close to mapping all of the first level, let alone the ones beneath it.  I figure that if I need more, I can add it later and explain it away fairly easily.

Unlike Gary's maps, I tended to use straight corridors and square or rectangular rooms.  As Jeff noted in an earlier post, odd shaped rooms are usually more of a headache than they're worth.  This isn't to say there are no oddly shaped rooms in the dungeons beneath Castle Greyhawk, just that the majority of the rooms are easier to describe to a mapper.

But enough about mapping, this post is about stocking.  First, I guesstimate a sheet of graph paper to be able to hold c. 100 rooms.  I have no idea how accurate this is, and I don't really care.  I've broken down the stocking chart (Table V. F. on page 171 of the DMG) into the following:

• 25 rooms will have monsters
• 5 rooms will have "specials"
• 5 rooms will have traps (I include "tricks" as specials)
• 5 rooms will only have treasure.

I generate the monsters randomly using the charts in the DMG and a few monsters from the FF to spruse things up a bit.  I will say that by and large Castle Greyhawk relies much more on the MM than Nightwick Abbey did.  I want this to feel appreciably different, and so I've decided to go to a bit more into traditional D&D territory.  I'll still be sticking in some gorbels and grells though, don't you worry.

After generating the monsters, I generate treasure.  To do this I ignore the treasure "per individual" -- only using that for wandering monsters -- and instead always generate treasure as if the monster were in its lair.  For an example, a group of 6 elves would generate G, S, and T type treasure.  This treasure is not assigned to specific monsters yet.  Instead I tally it all up together, generating magic items, gems, and jewelry accordingly. After the incident with the Staff of Power in the previous campaign, I've been a bit more selective with magic items.  I've more or less stolen this system from Scott and use it for more or less the same reason.  I hope that it will help keep advancement at a smooth pace despite the amount of death typically seen in my dungeons.

Finally, I place the specials I've developed.  These include weird things like the Talking Tomb from Nightwick Abbey or complexes controlled by dungeon factions.  If new monsters are required, their hp and treasure are generated now.  These treasures are added to the total pool.  I then distribute these first, placing in them an amount of treasure that is proportional to their difficulty.

Next I distribute the monsters in a way that makes sense to my deranged brain.  This is usually done by just eyeing the map and trying to make sure rival monsters don't live too close together.  This will have increased importance in Castle Greyhawk because I plan to place considerably more emphasis on dungeon factions than I did with Nightwick Abbey.  I then distribute the treasure among these monsters in a way that makes sense, leaving a little to be put into trapped and empty rooms.  Next I place traps in places that make sense, followed by the treasure that goes with it.   Then I place the remaining treasure.

That's more or less it.  I do sublevels a bit differently (a bit more like regular lairs), but this is how I do the vast majority of the dungeon.  I may do a post on the different factions in the dungeon, or at least the first three levels of it, shortly.

Greyhawk Campaign and the Folio Project

I thought I'd do a post on the relationship between my upcoming co-DMed Greyhawk Campaign and the Folio Project.  The short answer is that the campaign will take place in a Greyhawk that is more familiar to my co-DM.  There will be some changes to the standard canon (notably in the deities and at least one of the cultures) but for the most part it's the Greyhawk one imagines when one hears the word Greyhawk.

I should note that I don't know how true that last statement is.  As I mentioned when I first started that project, prior to purchasing the original Folio I had no experience with Greyhawk.  I've come to enjoy the setting and to view it as a land of "shining kingdoms."

My version of Castle Greyhawk is definitely going to be my version of Castle Greyhawk.  Notably, I'm changing the creator of the dungeon from Zagig to Vennax Nalk's Kin (or Vennax the Mad).  I had originally developed this toad god worshipping madman for my entry on the Great Kingdom.  He'll obviously be changed quite a bit.

I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue the Folio project.  I'll obviously be more immersed in Greyhawk in the coming months, but it is definitely not the Greyhawk I envisioned when I started the feature.  Only time will tell.

Upcoming Greyhawk Campaign

click to embiggen

It looks like the Nightwick campaign is slowly drawing to a close.  One of my players who used to DM for the group I'm currently in has expressed interest in co-DMing a Greyhawk campaign, and I'm happy to oblige.  The above map is a microscale (six miles to a small hex) version of the area around Greyhawk city itself.  It's likely that for the foreseeable future the campaign won't leave those environs.

We've decided to split up campaign responsibilities.  I'll be making a a version of Castle Greyhawk using a combination of new things and unused Nightwick Abbey stuff.  My fellow DM will more or less be running adventures in the wilderness around the city.  We're free to switch that if need be, but I think the division will help us to better organize things.

At the end of each session I hope to be able to ascertain what the group plans on doing for the next session.  That way we can decide who needs to get ready for next time.

Nightwick Abbey isn't permanently shelved, but I do look forward to this project as both a needed change of pace and a chance to be a player (sometimes).

Folio Project: The Great Kingdom

Even in those kingdoms who never saw occupation by the Aerdians, the Great Kingdom occupies much of the legendry and myths of the nobility.  To them it represents the shining ideals of civilization and what a just king should truly be.  Of course this varies wildly from country to country, and the image of them in the Shield Lands is different from the image of them in the Yeomanry but both are exceedingly positive.  The truth of the history of the Great Kingdom is actually little known, despite the claims of some scholars.  Today it is more the province of bard's songs than scholarly works.

Still there is a general sense of the thrust of Aerdian history.  Once they were noble and just.  They rescued the land from the barbarism of the Flanae and erected a civilization in stone atop it.  This is even the belief in those countries that are predominately Flan in character.  The nobility in these regions often have fictive genealogies that "reveal" that they are truly the descendants of this or that Overking.  Cynically, what is truly important about the Great Kingdom is its precedent.  It gives voice to the ambitions of greedy kings on their sullen thrones.

Most tales say that the kingdom began its terrible descent into decadence with the reign of Vennax of Nalks, also known as Vennax the Mad.  His reign saw the construction of Stonehell -- that terrible prison which lies on the border between the Bandit Kingdoms and the Shield Lands -- and the constructions of the squat temples to the great toad demon that served as his seal.  He was known for his capricious nature and bizarre perversions, which are far to dark to retell here.

The Kin of Nalks still hold the title of Overking.  Ivid V is a fitting heir to his ancient ancestor.  While the power of Aerdy has waned in recent decades, Ivid is unfortunately not shackled with the weakness of his forefathers.  While mercenaries have traditionally served in the armies of the Great Kingdom since the beginning of the downfall, Ivid has forced more peasants into imperial levies and made more nobles regain the practice of arms.  He wants Vennax's empire once again.  Still the hold of the mercenaries will not be something easily shaken.  They have considerable clout with many of the Aerdian nobles and clerics.  If they're going to go they will not do it without a fight.

Noble dress for Aerdians is quite exquisite.  They wear beautifully crafted golden and silver jewelry that is often imported from the holds of the finest craftsdwarfs.  They favor dark and vivid colors in dress, particularly greens, oranges, blacks and reds.  Only those of the house of Nalks are allowed to wear the deep, royal purple that so many associate with Aerdy.  Oddly, while this color is associated with even the just kings who once may have ruled, it was actually introduced by one of Vennax's strange decrees.  Most Flanae, and even other Oredians, find modern Aerdy clothing and habits to be a symbol of their decadence and effeminacy.

The architecture of the Great Kingdom is usually very large.  It's often domed and always columned and arched.  They usually decorate these with mosaics of precious stones or frescoes in gaudy colors.  This of course ignores the buildings and clothing of the peasants which are the thatched huts and colored linen one is likely to find anywhere in the Flanaess.  They putter about their fields and hide in their homes when the nobles go by just as one might expect them to do in Furyondy or Urnst.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate

Anyone else ever thought about combining the Keep from Keep on the Borderlands with Stonehell?  All you'd have to do is switch out the box canyons.  Just sayin'.

Hold of the Sea Princes Encounters

All tables are 1d8 + 1d12.
General
2 -- Lycanthrope, Wererat
3 -- Gnoll
4 --  Hobgoblin
5 --  Goblin
6 --  Falcon, Large
7 --  Character Party
8 --  Bandit
9 --  Cattle, Wild
10 --  Merchant
11 --  Boar, Wild
12 --  Wolf
13 --  Falcon, Small
14 --  Pilgrim
15 --  Ogre
16 --  Bugbear
17 --  Troll
18 --  Oliphant
19 --  Snake, Giant Constrictor
20 --  Quaggoth

The Hellfurnaces
2 --  Hydra, Pyro
3 --  Lizard, Fire
4 --  Dragon, Red
5 --  Firenewt
6 --  Bandit
7 --  Manticore
8 --  Ogre
9 --  Orc
10 --  Small Prehistoric Reptiles
11 --  Gnoll
12 --  Spider, Large
13 --  Raven, Normal
14 --  Giant, Fire
15 --  Herd Animal
16 --  Gorilla Bear
17 --  Harpy
18 --  Quaggoth
19 --  Hellhound
20 --  Magmen

Hool Marshes
2 -- Dragon, Black
3 -- Kelpie
4 -- Norker
5 -- Ghoul, pseudo-undead
6 -- Hobgoblin
7 -- Buccaneer
8 -- Bandit
9 -- Centipede, Giant
10 --  Spider, Large
11 -- Rat, Giant
12 -- Toad, Giant
13 -- Vulture, Normal
14 -- Gnoll
15 -- Troll
16 -- Merchant
17 -- Goblin
18 -- Cattle, Wild
19 -- Bugbear
20 -- Anhkheg

The Sea Princes

The gilded domes and spires of Monmurg are a testament to the Sea Princes one time profession: piracy.  The ancestors of the current princes ranged as far as Relmor Bay, taking ships, maidens, and other forms of plunder whenever they could find it.  Especially bold captains might even land near an isolated town and attempt to sack it, carting away wonderful treasures and many slaves.

Today the princes have mostly exchanged piracy for more "legitimate" enterprises.  Their ships still reach the same ports and even head to those beyond the Flanaess but rather than swordsmen they are filled with exotic goods and shrewed merchants.  This change occurred after the famed battle of Jetsom island, though one should not think that this put an end to piracy in the region.  The princes support privateers, issuing letters of mark to any who promise not to attack ships bearing the princes' coat of arms.  Many ships from the other nations of the Flanaess will often hang the Sea Princes' colors in order to avoid such attacks.  On rare occasions a Sea Prince might lead his personal fleet out on a raid if he believes some particularly lucrative prize might be won.

Though most of the princes' trade is fairly conventional, they are also the largest exporter of slaves in the whole of the Flanaess.  Most of these are taken in raids across the Hool Marshes into the Yeomanry, and sometimes even Keoland.  This has made the Sea Princes wildly unpopular in those areas, but their mercenary armies and massive fortifications are more than enough to stop most invaders.  Couple that with the fact that their fleet could easily prevent any sea based invasion, and the inhospitable nature of the Hool marches and it's easy to see why the Sea Princes still exist as a separate entity despite their nefarious nature.

Their capital of Monmurg is truly a sight to behold.  Despite it's small size when compared with cities such as Greyhawk, Monmurg's splendor may be without equal on the continent.  It possesses great onion domed palaces covered in turquoise and precious metals, many spired temples to the various gods whose cults the sailors brought with them after their many excursions, and slaves and citizens from all the four corners of the world.  Mahogany from the southern continent and precious metals from beyond the Sea of Dust fill its markets.  It is no wonder that so many adventurers make it here to find work or plunder.

Natives of the Hold dress in an ostentatious manner that is often made sport of by those from other kingdoms, especially Keoland and the Yeomanry.  Layers of silk, bejeweled turbans, jade masks, peacock feathers, and other even more bizarre wares find there way into these outfits, often all in the same one.  Still, the Sea Princes are fierce warriors, even if the bulk of their armies is composed of mercenary fighters.  This is solely due to the low population of natives rather than an inability to fight.  Some of the finest swordsmen in the world are from the Hold, and a person who forgets this is likely to lose a limb or two.

The Hold of the Sea Princes is ruled by Prince Medardo of Monmurg, Captain of all Fleets and Ruler of the Azure Sea.  He demands that the other magnates of the Hold spend most of the year within their palaces in the capital so that he might keep a close watch on them.  Most obey, but the Plar of Hool often ignores this command.  He spends his time in a fortress on the southern side of the Hool Marshes where he oversees the slave trade.  Some rumor that Prince Medardo would like to end slavery in the Hold, but that Plar Enrico is violently opposed to it.  There are even those who say the Plar is responsible for the recent attempts on Medardo's life, but this is utter nonsense.  Surely the Prince would have retaliated by now if this were the case.

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And thus I present one of the other candidates for the PC's home base.  I don't really have much more to say about this entry, but I do wonder how closely this and my interpretation of Shield Lands mirrors the official one.

The Shield Lands

The Shield Lands are a fairly recent development, politically speaking.  To the outside world, there was no difference between this tract of land and the Bandit Kingdoms, and both terms were used interchangeably.  That was until the "Earl" of Walworth signed on with Furyondy as a mercenary.  He helped that kingdom fend off his own neighbors, and gained much of their land in the process.

He also, according to legend, received a vision from the god Mithras before a great battle with a number of bandit princes.  Mithras, the god of the new religion which was only then beginning to take hold of Furyondy, told him that he could unite all of the Bandit Kingdoms under his rule if he would accept Mithras as the Highest God and spread his worship among the heathens.

He then returned with newfound military experience to his island earldom.  So he started a policy of expansion, bringing several of the neighboring bandit princes under his sway.  He did this mostly through conversion, as the new henotheistic religion provided an ideology that helped to unify the area.  When this did not work, the Earl of Walworth would back up his ambitions with his army.  He utilized heavy cavalry, i.e. knights, in a way heretofore unseen outside the armies of the Great Kingdom and Furyondy, and few of the bandit lords could stand against him.  Still, he could not expand forever.  Eventually his supply lines ran too thin and the rough borders of the Shield Lands were set.

The current Knight Commander, king in all but title, is the son of this conqueror.  He spent most of his life consolidating the land his father gained, helping the Mithraian cult penetrate more deeply into the Shield Lands and making sure the local lords payed proper deference to him.  He is now growing old, and his son will, hopefully, take the throne.  Unfortunately his child is still in his minority, and the lords of the Shield Lands hunger for the times when they were more independent.  Add to that the ever increasing threats from the Bandit Kingdoms and the Horned Society, and one can see that the fate of this small earldom hangs by a thread.

Still, there is hope.  Many of the lords do have an ideological connection Adumnfort through their new religion.  Even more importantly, Furyondy enjoys having the Shield Lands as a buffer state, and will do much to prop it up.  During the reign of the current Knight Commander, Furyondy has provided troops for many attempted expeditions into the Bandit Kingdoms, and while none were too terribly successful they have helped to maintain stability within the Shield Lands itself.

Long before all this though, the Shield Lands and the Bandit Kingdoms were backwards within the Great Kingdom.  Chroniclers tell that it was here that Overking Vennax the Mad had prisoners construct the terrible dungeons of Stonehell.  Some say it was these prisoners who provided the stock that currently populates the area, though most within the Shield Lands would dismiss this.

Gods other than Mithras are worshiped openly within the earldom, but their cults are increasingly marginalized.  The new religion, at least as practiced within the Shield Lands, is more interesting in collecting converts than murdering unbelievers.  In this way they are quite different from the Theocracy of the Pale.

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I'm not sure if the Shield Lands will be the focal point of a campaign within my version of Greyhawk, but I had a fairly clear idea of the area and wanted to put it down on (digital) paper.  The Hold of the Sea Princes and the City of Greyhawk will possibly get some similar entries soon, unless I for some reason just become smitten with this area.

I'm still not sure what to call the Knight Commanders, but I'm thinking Almaric might be a good name as would Drogo, both of which are medieval names that sound like goofy fantasy names.