History TabletopGame / Greyhawk

** The Ancient Suloise and Baklunish Empires, which basically destroyed each other in a magical nuclear war.
** The Great Kingdom of Aerdy, established by Oeridian tribes fleeing the Twin Cataclysms that destroyed the above-mentioned Suel and Baklunish nations. It once spanned most of the Flanaess, although it has since collapsed. It's two successor states, the United Kingdom of Ahlissa and the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdy, are borderline (especially the former) and both are competing to claim the legacy of their parent empire.

** The Scarlet Brotherhood intends to become one, but its internal struggles and rebellions among its conquered territories have prevented it.

* EvilVersusEvil: Evil groups like the Horned Society, Iuz, the Scarlet Brotherhood, the Aerdi kingdoms and Turrosh Mak are just as apt to fight and plot against each other as they are the forces of good.
* EvilVersusOblivion: Almost all of the setting's conventional villains (orc warlords, decadent nobility, secret assassin cults and even full-on demon lords) oppose any effort to wake, free, or aid Tharizdun.

* DeityOfHumanOrigin: This is practically a tradition, and a major reason why Oerth does not have as many epic-level NPC's as the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. Legendary characters frequently ascend to at least demigod status. Notable examples include Zagyg (very recently), Vecna, Wastri, Zuoken and Al'Akbar. Several characters are currently in the process of divine ascension, including Heward, Kelanen, Keoghtom, Kyuss and Muryland. St. Cuthbert was allegedly once a mortal, but is said to have become a deity in ancient times.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Baklunish people are similar to real-world Middle Easterners. The Olmans and the Flan are clearly based on Native Americans - the Flan on northern First Nations (Cree, Sioux, Iroquois, etc.), and the Olman on the southern nations, especially [[{{Mayincatec}} the Maya and Aztecs]]. It's implied that the Rhenee ''are'' Roma, having arrived on Oerth from another place called "Rhop"--possibly Europe. The Great Kingdom of Aerdy had a UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire vibe to it.

* {{Retcon}}: After Gygax and Kuntz both left TSR, in the ''Greyhawk Wars'' storyline, Kuntz's character Lord Robilar betrayed his friends, killing some of them; Kuntz was none too happy. Twenty years later, Wizards of the Coast published ''Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk'', in which it's retconned that Robilar had been replaced by an evil double from a MirrorUniverse.

* WhatMightHaveBeen: Gygax had planned to write a series of expansions covering the rest of the supercontinent Oerik (of which the Flanaess is only the northeastern portion), but his recurring absences from Lake Geneva to work on [[WesternAnimation/{{DungeonsAndDragons}} the animated series]] and [[DevelopmentHell potential movie deals]] in Hollywood forestalled that (and ultimately helped lead to his ouster from TSR at the end of 1985). [[http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Oerik An official map]] of the entire continent was eventually released in ''Dragon Annual #1'' in 1996, and later publications such as the ''Chainmail'' relaunch in 2001 and the Canonfire! fan site added more details.

* CrossoverCosmology: Iuz is the grandson of both [[Myth/RussianMythologyAndTales Baba Yaga]] and (maybe) [[CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]].

* ''Literature/TheKnightsOfTheSilverDragon''

* AssInAmbassador: After the Greyhawk Wars, part of the peace treaty required the creation of embassies in the city of Greyhawk to try and prevent such a massive disaster in the future by making sure each power bloc or great power had at least the ability to negotiate in good faith with each other at all times. Iuz, being an evil half-fiend demigod with a massively expanded empire thanks to said war, showed his contempt for the whole thing by sending as his representative the worst possible candidate: one of his clerics named Pyremiel Alexane, who looks like a mummified corpse and has a bevy of odious features and behaviors (he has wracking coughs that make him spit out black phlegm, smells terrible from his nonexistent hygiene, pick his claw-like nails in public specifically to gross people out, eats like a pig in a through, etc...). And to top it off, the guy is a smug, smarmy {{jerkass}} toward everybody. In his game stats writeup, he actually has a Charisma stat of 3 (the absolute human minimum in D&D).

* BehemothBattle: On level 5, of the module [=WG7=] ''Castle Greyhawk'', a Players observe a battle between an Apparatus of Kwalish and an iron golem piloted by an orc. It's an AffectionateParody of FASA's ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' game (the orc is even named "Fahzah").

*** By 3rd edition, Vecna was so iconic that he became one of the gods of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' in general, typically holding the post of "God of Secrets, BlackMagic and/or [[TheNecromancer Necromancy]] and [[ThingsManShouldNotKnow Forbidden Lore]]". So did his Hand and Eye.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Baklunish people are similar to real-world Middle Easterners. The Olmans and the Flan are clearly based on Native Americans-the Flan on northern First Nations (Cree, Sioux, Iroquois, etc.), and the Olman on the southern nations, especially [[{{Mayincatec}} the Maya and Aztecs]]. It's implied that the Rhenee ''are'' Roma, having arrived on Oerth from another place called "Rhop"--possibly Europe. The Great Kingdom of Aerdy had a UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire vibe to it.

* GodsHandsAreTied: It's generally accepted that the gods cannot intervene directly on Oerth without starting TheApocalypse, and can only act through their mortal servants. This typically takes the form of granting divine spells, although they can act on a larger scale if their mortal servants meet the right conditions, such as using an ArtifactOfDoom. Exceptions to the rule are gods who actually dwell on the Prime Material Plane such as Iuz and Wastri (who tend to be among the weakest gods (AKA demigods), though still far more powerful than most mortals). St. Cuthbert has also appeared on the material plane on a couple of occasions, although it's implied that the gods of evil may be able to do the same at some point [[YouOweMe to restore the balance.]]

** Perrenland, which was once ruled by the evil sorceress Iggwilv and, while mostly good-alienged still has some evil-aligned clans who support her;

* HiddenElfVillage: The elven kingdom of Celene, which refused to aid its human allies during the Greyhawk Wars. The elven race as a whole tends to subvert this, as while they will help humans and other races in need they're just more comfortable living among their own kind. Even within Celene itself, many elves disagreed with their queen's decision to not help their human neighbors, and work to help the humans anyway.

* {{Irony}}: The toad-like demigod Wastri, whose priests themselves become more toadlike over time, is basically the patron of humanocentric FantasticRacism, amusingly enough. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer'':

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Scarlet Brotherhood, a group of blond, fair-skinned [[FantasticRacism human supremicists]] who practice selective breeding amongst themselves, and are devoted to exterminating certain groups of humanoids (like elves and dwarves) and making slaves of others (like goblins and orcs).

* TakeThat: The bizarre Egg of Coot, a ruler in the Blackmoor area, was a [[http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_anagrams.html jab]] at a certain Gr'''egg''' S'''cott''', who ran a wargames miniatures company and with whom DaveArneson had previously clashed. (It's often mistaken for a jab at '''E. G'''ary '''G'''ygax.)

The setting is named after the great Free City of Greyhawk, a sprawling city of wizards and thieves that lies at the heart of the Flanaess - as well as Castle Greyhawk, a legendary dungeon that lies outside the city. These locations are at the heart of 'the Flanaess' - the northeast end of Oerik, the largest continent on the world of Oerth. Ravaged by centuries of warfare, contested by dozens of races and organizations, the Flanaess is crawling with monsters to slay, ruins to loot, and vile magicians to foil. A very generic [[HeroicFantasy heroic fantasy]] setting, but one which suits the game's needs perfectly. In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' settings, the world of ''Greyhawk'' is part of a [[TheMultiverse larger universe]] that also includes ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Baklunish people are similar to real-world Middle Easterners. The Olmans and the Flan are clearly based on Native Americans-the Flan on northern First Nations (Cree, Sioux, Iroquois, etc.), and the Olman on the southern nations, especially [[{{Mayincatec}} the Maya and Aztecs]]. It's implied that the Rhenee ''are'' Roma, having arrived on Oerth from another place called "Rhop"--possibly Europe. The Great Kingdom of Aerdy had a HolyRomanEmpire vibe to it.

The setting is named after the great Free City of Greyhawk, a sprawling city of wizards and thieves that lies at the heart of the Flanaess - as well as Castle Greyhawk, a legendary dungeon that lies outside the city. These locations are at the heart of 'the Flanaess' - the northeast end of the largest continent on the world of Oerth. Ravaged by centuries of warfare, contested by dozens of races and organizations, the Flanaess is crawling with monsters to slay, ruins to loot, and vile magicians to foil. A very generic [[HeroicFantasy heroic fantasy]] setting, but one which suits the game's needs perfectly. In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' settings, the world of ''Greyhawk'' is part of a [[TheMultiverse larger universe]] that also includes ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''.

* WhatMightHaveBeen: Gygax had planned to write a series of expansions covering the rest of the continent Oerik (of which the Flanaess is only the northeastern portion), but his recurring absences from Lake Geneva to work on [[WesternAnimation/{{DungeonsAndDragons}} the animated series]] and [[DevelopmentHell potential movie deals]] in Hollywood forestalled that (and ultimately helped lead to his ouster from TSR at the end of 1985). [[http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Oerik An official map]] of the entire continent was eventually released in ''Dragon Annual #1'' in 1996, and later publications such as the ''Chainmail'' relaunch in 2001 and the Canonfire! fan site added more details.

* FaceHeelTurn: Rary and Robilar. This was a bit of a BaseBreaker, since they immediately signaled their new priorities by attempting to sabotage a major peace summit, [[KilledOffForReal going to unusual lengths to kill a few former associates]] while they were at it.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Brian Blume had devised the character of Rary with the intention of leveling him up only to third level. Why third level? In the old [=D&D=] and [=AD&D=] game rules, the different levels had titles: a third-level magic-user was styled "medium." According to [[WordOfGod Gary Gygax]], Blume just wanted to be able to call him the "Medium Rary."
** Has anyone ever killed him by knocking him over a cliff? [[spoiler: "My, that's a long way to tip a Rary."]]
** And the Nyr Dyv, the lake of unknown depths. "Nyr Dyv" is pronounced like "near dive." Get it?
** [[NotSoSafeHarbor The Wild Coast]] lies off of Woolly Bay.

* BlondesAreEvil / EvilRedhead: The ancient, defunct Suel Imperium, whose humans were fair-skinned and -haired, was clearly more wicked than its enemy the Baklunish Empire. Its modern descendants, the Suloise ethnic group, has mostly managed to cast off the attitude and reputation. However, certain [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything secretive racist groups]] continue to plot.

A ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting, your basic MedievalEuropeanFantasy. Originally developed by co-founder Creator/GaryGygax by amalgamating his and his friends' campaign worlds, it's often thought of as the "default", and has been used to flavor the core edition rulebooks more than once.

The setting is named after the great Free City of Greyhawk, a sprawling metropolis that lies at the heart of the Flanaess, the eastern part of the continent of Oerik on the world of Oerth, as well as Castle Greyhawk, a legendary dungeon that lies outside the city. Ravaged by centuries of warfare, contested by dozens of races and organizations, the Flanaess is crawling with monsters to slay, ruins to loot, and vile magicians to foil. A very generic [[HeroicFantasy heroic fantasy]] setting, but one which suits the game's needs perfectly. In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' settings, the world of ''Greyhawk'' is part of a [[TheMultiverse larger universe]] that also includes ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''.

* GrimUpNorth: The northern Flanaess contains the {{Evil Empire}}s of the Horned Society and Iuz, the Bandit Kingdoms, which are a series of {{Wretched Hive}}s each held by {{Bandit Clan}}s; the {{Barbarian Tribe}}s of the Frost, Ice and Snow Barbarians who constantly fight and raid each other and the humanoids of the mountains; the Hold of Stonefist, whose residents are {{Barbarian Tribe}}s like the Frost, Ice and Snow Barbarians but are also AxCrazy psychopaths that [[EveryoneHasStandards even disgust the other barbarians]]; {{The Horde}}s of the Tiger and Wolf Nomads, who aren't known for being friendly to outsiders; the Theocracy of the Pale, a nation of {{Knight Templar}}s who persecute any religion except that of Pholtus; the Rovers of the Barrens, who are a DyingRace struggling to survive while fighting against their hostile neighbors; the land of Blackmoor, which is TheRemnant of a proud land that's been overrun by the bizarre [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Egg of Coot]] and struggles to survive under its despotic tyrant; Perrenland, which was once ruled by the evil sorceress Iggwilv and still has some evil-aligned clans who support her; and the Duchy of Tenh and the Archbarony of Ratik, which are both surrounded by hostile neighbors on almost all sides and struggle to survive.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: [[WordOfGod According to Gygax himself]], the name of the planet Oerth is pronounced "Oyth" [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents (as if with a Brooklyn accent)]].

* CrossoverCosmology: Iuz is the grandson of both [[RussianMythologyAndTales Baba Yaga]] and (maybe) [[CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]].

The setting is named after the great Free City of Greyhawk, a sprawling metropolis that lies at the heart of the Flanaess, a continent on the world of Oerth, as well as Castle Greyhawk, a legendary dungeon that lies outside the city. Ravaged by centuries of warfare, contested by dozens of races and organizations, the Flanaess is crawling with monsters to slay, ruins to loot, and vile magicians to foil. A very generic [[HeroicFantasy heroic fantasy]] setting, but one which suits the game's needs perfectly. In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' settings, the world of ''Greyhawk'' is part of a [[TheMultiverse larger universe]] that also includes ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''.

* ArtifactTitle: Gary Gygax's original Greyhawk campaign in the early 1970s was set on a parallel Earth ([[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness hence the references in the original]] ''[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Monster Manual]]'' to real-life locations such as [[OurDemonsAreDifferent India]], [[{{Youkai}} Japan]], and [[RodentsOfUnusualSize Sumatra]]) and [[CreatorProvincialism centered on the Great Lakes region of North America]]. The Free City of Greyhawk was an analog of {{UsefulNotes/Chicago}}, and its name may have been a reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War Black Hawk War]] of 1832 that took place nearby. When the setting was revised for commercial release, the existing cities and landmarks were relocated onto a brand-new map (the Flanaess) along with many others, but some hints of their origins remained; for one example, [[http://rolesrules.blogspot.com/2013/10/north-american-greyhawk.html compare the Nyr Dyv to Lake Superior]].

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: [[WordOfGod According to Gygax himself]], the name of the planet Oerth is pronounced "Oyth" [[AmericanAccents (as if with a Brooklyn accent)]].

A ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting, your basic MedievalEuropeanFantasy. Originally developed by co-founder Creator/GaryGygax by amalgamating his and his friends' campaign worlds, it's often thought of as the "default", and has been used to flavour the core edition rulebooks more than once.

* MirrorUniverse: Oerth has several parallel worlds, including Aerth, Yarth, and Earth (and possibly TabletopGame/{{Mystara}} and [[TabletopGame/PointsOfLight Nerath]]). The most notable, though, is Uerth, where everyone's alignment is switched (most notably Bilarro, the evil double of Robilar).

** TrueNeutral: [[invoked]] In earlier Greyhawk stories and adventures, a lot of emphasis was placed on some characters' obsession with preserving the balance, especially the archmage Mordenkainen. To truly understand Mordenkainen's dedication to neutrality and balance, consider this: Mordenkainen released a sealed evil demigod from beneath Castle Greyhawk, simply because good was "too powerful". [[WhatTheHellHero Thanks, Mordenkainen.]]

''Greyhawk'' was published as an optional supplement, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhawk_%28supplement%29 Supplement 1: GREYHAWK]]'', by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz, in 1975. Unlike later setting material, ''Supplement 1: GREYHAWK'' focused on optional rules as opposed to towns, monsters, etc. The rules introduced for ''Greyhawk'' evolved into ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', and ''Greyhawk'' has remained an influence on the core setting ever since. Numerous setting supplements, magazine articles, and adventure booklets have been released, including ''TabletopGame/TempleOfElementalEvil'' and ''TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors''.

* ''TabletopGame/TempleOfElementalEvil''

* ''VideoGame/TombOfHorrors''

** Vecna: The ultimate evil sorcerer made good. Er, evil. Star of a series of popular adventures (including the awesomely named ''Die, Vecna, Die!''), Vecna ultimately achieved [[AGodAmI actual godhood]] as Oerth's God of Secrets. How powerful is this guy? Two artefact tier items are his gouged-out eye and his hacked-off hand, left behind due to his near-fatal confrontation with Kas.

** Abi-Dalzim, whose name means "Father of Droughts" in his native Baklunish, worshipper of [[GodOfEvil Incabulos the Black Rider]] and inventor of another fuzzy-wuzzy spell, Horrid Wilting (which sucks the water from enemies, leaving them withered husks).

** The Flan are a bit peculiar about this- they once had thriving, advanced kingdoms about two millenia ago or more, from which extremely powerful spellcasters like Vecna and Acererak came; by the time of the the Twin Cataclysms and the Great Migrations a little over a thousand years ago, however, they had reverted to "primitive" tribal enclaves for unknown reasons (although giving rise to at least two of the setting's greatest {{evil sorcerer}}s could be related to said reasons...). Also, several of the more successful Flan groups quickly integrated in or adopted the newcomers' hierarchy, meaning that sizeable flan-blooded populations are rather common, and a few nations are dominated by this ethnic group.

* GoodIsNotNice, verging into LightIsNotGood: The church of ostensibly LawfulGood god Pholtus, who commonly start prayers with the worryingly appropriate "O Blinding Light"; they have a strong streak of intolerance towards any other religion, even other good and lawful ones, considering non-Pholtus worshippers to be misguided, heathens or heretics, and advance a form of proto-monotheism with Pholtus as the sole god worthy of worship; taken UpToEleven in the Theocracy of the Pale, where martial law and TheInquisition have been active for 200 years, who considers all other nations to be {{wretched hive}}s for not worshipping Pholtus exclusively, and which has territorial and religious imperialistic designs on all its neighbours. Their [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is pretty much being {{Knight Templar}}s. Consequently, they're considered LawfulNeutral as a whole rather than LawfulGood.
* HiddenElfVillage: The elven kingdom of Celene, which refused to aid its human allies during the Greyhawk Wars. The elven race as a whole tends to subvert this, as while they will help humans and other races in need they're just more comfortable living among their own kind. Even within Celene itself, many elves disagreed with their queen's decision to not help their human neighbours, and work to help the humans anyway.

** In many areas religions based on evil deities are officially forbidden because of the death and destruction their worshippers tend to cause.
* IncrediblyLamePun: Brian Blume had devised the character of Rary with the intention of levelling him up only to third level. Why third level? In the old [=D&D=] and [=AD&D=] game rules, the different levels had titles. a third-level magic-user was styled "medium." According to [[WordOfGod Gary Gygax]], Blume just wanted to be able to call him the "Medium Rary."

** There ''is'' a notable exception to this rule, though; the sultanate of Zeif has a sizeable population (10%, or about 140-150,000) of integrated orcs, descendants of mercenaries hired by the ancient Baklunish empire who mostly assimilated into the culture of the survivors over the last thousand years.

** Melf (of ''Melf's acid arrow''), a male elf character, was named from what appeared at the top of the character sheet: M Elf.
* TheUndead: Notables include the liches Acererak and Vecna, described above. Also the first death knight, Saint Kargoth; the vampire Kas; and the piteous, zombielike King Ivid the Undying.

[[folder= Modules]]

[[folder=Literature]]

[[folder= Video Games]]