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3 years ago ::
Aug 11, 2010 - 6:02PM
#1
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I started gaming as a DM with AD&D 2nd edition in '96 with my campaign spanning the Outlands (Didnt really understand settings when I was 12 so we thought this was the setting), Dark Sun, and briefly Greyhawk for Return to the Tomb of Horrors. Once 3rd came out Forgotten Realms was life (novels and rpg stuff) and I have played that up until now in its ravaged 4th edition form  . I have recently come across all my old 2nd edition books and have vowed to return to my roots when it was more fun and less of a hassle. I'm thinking about starting a campaign in Greyhawk since it seems to be very close to the flavor of sword and sorcery I enjoy. What 2nd edition Greyhawk material is suitable to start with?? I found the box set but it sounds like it just details the city of Greyhawk and its immediate surroundings. I would want something that at least tells me a little about the rest of the world. I alsofound the Player's guide to Greyhawk and that seems a little more descriptive of more locations and organizations. Which materials should I get to get started?? Or should I get the 2nd edition Forgotten Realms Dalelands accessory and stick with the Realms I know so well, but before they were destroyed and defiled by WOTC? Thoughts??
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3 years ago ::
Aug 11, 2010 - 6:49PM
#2
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I also have come across the From the Ashes boxed set and Greyhawk: The Adventure begins?!?! Now there's four possible starting pts! I'm just really not sure on what one greyhawk title will be the best primer for me to get into the setting?
Greyhawk: From the Ashes
Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins!
The Player's Guide to Greyhawk
Greyhawk: City of Adventure (with the Griffon and rider in the clouds)
What's the winner?
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3 years ago ::
Aug 14, 2010 - 1:42PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jan 22, 2009
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What are the dates on The Adventure Begins and PG to Greyhawk? It seems to me they go somewhat together, but I might be confusing the titles.
I rather liked the Greyhawk: City of Adventure box myself, but I might be in the minority on that one.
In the end, each one is a pile of ingredients that you and your players will turn into soup.
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3 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2010 - 4:17PM
#4
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I also have come across the From the Ashes boxed set and Greyhawk: The Adventure begins?!?! Now there's four possible starting pts! I'm just really not sure on what one greyhawk title will be the best primer for me to get into the setting?
Greyhawk: From the Ashes
Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins!
The Player's Guide to Greyhawk
Greyhawk: City of Adventure (with the Griffon and rider in the clouds)
What's the winner?
Greyhawk: From the Ashes is one of the more recent campaign setting boxed sets for Greyhawk and will give you the wider world info you need. It is also worth finding a copy of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer as well if you can as this gives some more detail albeit a few years in the timeline than the boxed set.
Greyhawk: City of Adventure is IMHO one of the best RPG products ever made and worth making as much use of as possible. There is enough material in the set for a long campaign in and around the Free City of Greyhawk so if you want a starting point, then you have it. You could also grab the Marklands sourcebook and Iuz the Evil for more background of other parts of the setting.
And finally..... I'd recommend picking up the free download of Ivid the Undying at this link:
www.acaeum.com/library/ividundying.pdf
This was never published but Wizards kindly made it available for free so that all Greyhawk fans can make use of it.
Enjoy 
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3 years ago ::
Sep 08, 2010 - 1:57AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Apr 26, 2009
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There is a metric **** ton of Greyhawk modules for all levels in the old Living Greyhawk campaign books. Personally, I'd go over to Maldin's Greyhawk and look them up as that's the best website for finding all things Greyhawk. Failing that you could use the old 1st edition Greyhawk modules though they tend to be big on the hack'n slash and not so big on the role playing.
Lastly, I'd suggest using the old 2nd ed roles because 3rd always sucked while 4th seems to be completely unD&Dish to me (I played a little bit of 3rd and no 4th though so you can ignore my opinion if you want). I honestly haven't played much AD&D in the last 15 years but still have fond memories of playing 1st edition and early 2nd edition stuff. The concensus among my group at the time was that 2nd edition felt like exactly the same game with the rules just cleaned up which you can't even remotely say about 3rd or 4th editions.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 12, 2010 - 3:14AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jan 21, 2004
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2e was fun but completely cocked up clerics and druids spheres e.g. with clerics having access to raise dead AND reincarnation and druids getting neither. Fighters were very bland.
I've converted our 1e campaign every time the rules are updated although after 20 years this year, 4e may be the last time I do that. Each edition has good and bad points. With 4e the bad is an obsession with mechanics that leads to stats being numbers on a page rather than reflective of a character and magic items that feel like they have no flavour. However, my 2e shadow mage has never felt as cool as she does being a 4e shadar-kai infernal warlock with rogue multiclass and a mage's rapier. The group mechanic that comes out of 4e is also a joy as the players cooperate instead of trying to hog the glory and stripping rituals out of combat seems to work really well.
I'm finding that the LG modules are short enough to be fun and not too hard to convert as long as you get to grips with how to set up encounter in 4e, preferably with different monsters (possibly same species) with different roles.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 16, 2010 - 11:56PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Dec 22, 2004
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Thanks for the plug, Oerdin! But I should clear up something. First, I agree that the City of Greyhawk boxed set contains wonderful material. Cowritten by the great Carl Sargeant, no less! Except for the city map. It sucks. Replace that map with my redrawn City of Greyhawk map. Thats what WotC did! My map became the official CoG map for all of the Living Greyhawk campaign, and for the Expedition to Greyhawk Ruins hardcover. My website contains only all-original material, however, and does not have any of the Living Greyhawk adventures from the LG campaign. I don't even have an index of them. You may be able to find other interesting material on my website for your campaign, though! Denis, aka "Maldin" Maldin's Greyhawk melkot.comLoads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more! Including Greyhawk's Underdark!
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3 years ago ::
Nov 21, 2010 - 11:30AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Apr 26, 2009
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2e was fun but completely cocked up clerics and druids spheres e.g. with clerics having access to raise dead AND reincarnation and druids getting neither. Fighters were very bland.
Naw, it was just that they specialized in different areas and that you didn't use some of the optional spheres found in the specialist books. Also fighters, like all classes, were wide open for making them unique depending on which proficiencies you chose and how you wanted to actually role play your character. Now if you're saying they didn't automatically get a bunch of stupid special abilities I agree but if you were interested in role playing and being creative instead of just pure munchkinism then 2nd ed was great.
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2 years ago ::
Jan 04, 2011 - 12:51AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Feb 24, 2010
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To heck with all the other D&D abortions created over the years. Greayhawk was where it all started.... It is where I prefer to play ...and I hoping to again here soon. At least it helps when generating my new 4ed Charcaters... Dark Sun... Forgotten realms ( Drizzt is the sound a hot dog makes when cooked too long in the mircorwave) ....
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2 years ago ::
Feb 16, 2011 - 5:00PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Feb 16, 2011
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Here's a not-so-secret-secret for you... if you already have a bunch of the old, 1st edition modules, like the Giants series, and Drow series, and others from the late 1970's and early 1980's... you have the makings of a Greyhawk campign. BUT before you spend a ton of money on ebay, I can tell you what is most useful for a campaign. Living Greyhawk gazeteer (3rd ed.) has up to date material post-wars (year591). The temple of elemental evil (1st edition) is set before the wars but can be useful. From the Ashes is good, gives material set between 585 and 591, with great NPC's hero and villain alike.
DON'T WASTE MONEY ON GREYHAWK WARS. I spent months trying to win it on ebay, finally got a copy... it is about 12 pages of booklet, some markers for a sort-of mass combat game, and a box. I'll give you the only worthwhile thing in it for free... the battle of Celene Pass involved about 300 troops from Principality of Ulek against the army of the Pomarj (1000's of humanoids) and only 33 Ulek troops survived. They held the pass and are heroes. There, I just saved you some money... unless you already bought it.
Iuz the Evil, City of Skulls, Return of the Eight, Slavers, Against the Giants and The Marklands are extremely useful.
You can make a long-term campaign on just the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer, Slavers!, and Against the Giants books. Slavers! is the return of the old slavelords, a couple of the original survived from the original module series. Against the Giants is the original 3 modules PLUS a mini-campaign trying to free Geoff and some surrounding areas from evil giants.
The Scarlett Brotherhood has never been much use for me, mainly because of where they are set... but it does give some NPC's, including the identity of some spies in other countries!
Oh, and some of the old basic/expert modules are actually set in Greyhawk. Keep on the Borderlands, Blackmoor, City of the Gods, The Lost City and others.
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