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1[[quoteright:231:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/368bb61b2be49d69e3f91421e9225849.jpg]]
2
3One of the earliest and most archetypal ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' settings... 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.
4
5The setting is named after the great Free City of Greyhawk, a sprawling metropolis of wizards and thieves located next to the legendary dungeon of Castle Greyhawk. 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 or SwordAndSorcery setting at least on the surface, but one which suits the game's needs perfectly. Greyhawk notably also takes significant inspiration from real-world history, making the setting grittier and more "mud-and-blood" than other settings. 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''.
6
7''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/TheTempleOfElementalEvil'' and ''TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors''.
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9There have been several ''Greyhawk'' novels, but the line never reached the same level of success as ''D&D'''s ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' franchises. Perhaps the most notable was the "Gord the Rogue" series by Gary Gygax, the tales of a dashing burglar from the City of Greyhawk.
10
11''Greyhawk'' has not been the default setting since the 3rd edition of D&D, which borrowed much of Greyhawk's lore and its more prominent deities but otherwise presented itself as a generic setting. It did not appear at all in 4th edition, but the 5th edition still includes material that was once associated with ''Greyhawk'', such as a list of ''Greyhawk'' deities for the Cleric class. The setting seems to have inspired some of the fifth edition's "look and feel", such as its treatment of the Paladin class and the Beholder and [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dark Elf]] races.
12
13!!Works that are set in ''Greyhawk'' includes:
14[[index]]
15[[folder:Modules]]
16* ''Aerie of the Slavelords'' adventure series
17** A0: ''Darkness at Darkshelf Quarry''
18** A1 ''Slave Pits of the Undercity''
19** A2 ''Secret of the Slavers Stockade''
20** A3 ''Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords''
21** A4 ''In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords''
22* ''Against the Cult of the Reptile God''
23* ''Dungeonland''
24* ''Dwellers of the Forbidden City''
25* ''The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun''
26* ''The Greyhawk Sequence'':
27** ''TabletopGame/TheTempleOfElementalEvil''
28** ''Scourge of the Slave Lords'' (compilation of ''Aerie of the Slave Lords'' revised for higher levels)
29** ''TabletopGame/QueenOfTheSpiders''
30*** ''Giants'' adventure series
31*** G1 ''Steading of the Hill Giant Chief''
32*** G2 ''Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl''
33*** G3 ''Hall of the Fire Giant King''
34*** ''Drow'' adventure series
35*** D1 ''Descent into the Depths of the Earth''
36*** D2 ''Shrine of the Kuo-Toa''
37*** D3 ''Vault of the Drow''
38*** Q1 ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits''
39* ''Ghosts of Saltmarsh'' (5th edition remakes of classic adventures)
40* ''The Ghost Tower of Inverness''
41* ''The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan''
42* ''TabletopGame/IsleOfTheApe''
43* ''The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror''
44* ''Lendore/Spindrift Isles'' adventure series -- only three of the five planned modules were officially released, creator Lenard Lakofka eventually released the last two for free
45* ''TabletopGame/SavageTide''
46* ''Special'' adventure series
47** S1 ''TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors''
48** S2 ''White Plume Mountain''
49** S3 ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks''
50** S4 ''The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth''
51* ''TabletopGame/VecnaTrilogy''
52** ''Vecna Lives''
53** ''Vecna Reborn''
54** ''Die Vecna Die!''
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Literature]]
58* ''Quag Keep'' (released in 1978 by Creator/AndreNorton) -- the first ''Dungeons & Dragons'' novel period, set in the original home campaign version of Greyhawk.
59** ''Return to Quag Keep'' (released in 2006 by Andre Norton's estate and Jean Rabe) -- sequel to ''Quag Keep'', but with the Greyhawk serial numbers taken off.
60* ''The Gnome Cache'' (released in issues 1-3 and 5-7 of ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine by Garrison Ernst, a possible pseudonym or pen name for Gary Gygax) -- set in the original home campaign version of Greyhawk.
61* ''Gord the Rogue'' (released from 1985 to 1988 by Creator/GaryGygax) -- set in the original home campaign version of Greyhawk, which was destroyed in the last novel; the first two novels were part of the ''Greyhawk Adventures'' series.
62* ''Greyhawk Adventures'' (released from 1987 to 1989 by Rose Estes) -- likely set in the second version of Greyhawk, the time frame listed covers the five novels by Rose Estes.
63* ''Greyhawk Classics'' (released from 1999 to 2002 by numerous authors) -- set in the officially released version of Greyhawk, novelizations of seven classic adventure modules.
64* ''The Knights of the Silver Dragon'' (released from 2004 to 2006 by Matt Forbeck) -- series of children's books.
65[[/folder]]
66
67[[folder:Video Games]]
68* ''VideoGame/TheTempleOfElementalEvil''
69[[/folder]]
70[[/index]]
71
72----
73!!The world of ''Greyhawk'' contains examples of the following tropes:
74* AlienEpisode: The legendary module ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks'' pulls a masterful BaitAndSwitch on the players by setting up a search for the cave where several monsters that have been terrorizing the countryside have come from, only to turn out that the "cave" is actually a spaceship that has crashed a long time ago and is still functional enough that it can deploy AttackDrone and SentryGun countermeasures against the intruding heroes.
75* ArtifactOfDoom: There are several of these, such as the Crook of Rao (good) and the Scorpion Crown (do not touch!).
76* 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 transplanted 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]].
77* 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, picks his claw-like nails in public specifically to gross people out, eats like a pig in a trough, 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).
78* AuthorAvatar: Mordenkainen (who you may recognize for being the author of many spells of inconsistent quality) was originally Gary Gygax's player character. [[SdrawkcabName Zagyg]] almost certainly was also an avatar for Gygax. So was Yrag the Lord. Bigby (he of the various "hand" spells) was an NPC henchman played by Gygax.
79* BackFromTheDead: After Rary killed him, Tenser was revived through a clone of himself he had hidden away. Of course, this being D&D, there are quite a few ways this can happen.
80* 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").
81* BoisterousBruiser: A number of them appear, both good and evil: the god Kord encourages the attitude among his faithful, and the noted warrior Lord Robilar has remained one regardless of whichever alignment he happens to have.
82* BewareTheNiceOnes: Rary of Ket was always seen as the most reserved and soft-spoken member of the Circle of Eight. After years of failures, reflecting that [[GoodIsDumb all the Circle's bickering had done was give the forces of evil a chance to launch a world war,]] he became HeWhoFightsMonsters and set out to TakeOverTheWorld.
83* TheBrute: Warduke. Originally a ''D&D'' action figure from the '80s, an issue of ''Dungeon'' {{retcon}}ned Warduke as the martial champion of the Horned Society (an empire of devil-worshippers). A hulking monster of a man, Warduke is presented as the ultimate physical threat in a non-epic campaign.
84** Sevvord Redbeard, ruler of the Hold of Stonefist and later "Rhelt" (King) of Stonehold, is another example. He's the only Epic-level character in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer who is not a wizard.
85* TheCaligula:
86** Ivid V, the Overking of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy, is repeatedly described as being demented, but also fiendishly clever. The Ivid Overkings' sadism and insanity has led Aerdy's Malachite Throne to be called the "Fiend-Seeing Throne" due to the belief that the Overkings either consort with or are flat-out possessed by fiends.
87** Iuz is a particularly sadistic example. When he regained control of his realm in the 570s CY, he was unhappy with the changes that happened while he was trapped beneath Castle Greyhawk. He murdered thousands of people to show his anger, and used their remains to construct the ghoulish "Road of Bones" from his capital city Dorakaa to the Howling Hills.
88* CameBackStrong: Centuries ago in the lands that would become the Great Kingdom, the SorcerousOverlord [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Tuerny the Merciless]] (he of the eponymous [[ArtifactOfDoom Iron Flask]]) was HoistByHisOwnPetard when demon lord Graz'zt broke Tuerny's arcane bindings, took him back to the Abyss through the Flask, and [[ForcedTransformation turned him into a dretch]] (a pathetically weak cannon fodder demon). Skip almost a thousand years, and Tuerny not only manages to return to Oerth, he does so as a mighty nalfeshnee demon (only third in power in the vanilla demonic hierarchy behind mariliths and balors, something which would typically take a dretch millenia or more to achieve), AND has managed to regain most of his arcane prowess (he's now a 17th-level wizard) on top of his demonic power.
89* CanonDiscontinuity: It would be a stretch to assume ''Castle Greyhawk'' the module is meant to be taken seriously in the first place with its vast number of sketch comedy scenes. Among these being Jubilex and his pet parrot as well as the cast of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. However, if you did, then ''Greyhawk Ruins'' certainly retcons it.
90* CardCarryingVillain: Iuz. One of his titles is "The Evil", and his symbol is a human skull.
91* CharacterAlignment: Present as in all ''D&D'' settings.
92** 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".
93*** Of course, what Mordenkainen ''thought'' he was releasing was a demon lord, not a [[PhysicalGod demigod:]] he's been spending most of his career since then [[WhatHaveIDone trying to balance the scales in the opposite direction.]]
94* TheChessmaster: Mordenkainen.
95* CookedToDeath: In module [=WG7=] ''Castle Greyhawk'', adventure "Too Many Cooks", Mentu the Mind-Fileter traps the PlayerCharacters in a room with a giant griddle for a floor and tries to bake them to death.
96* {{Crossover}}: ''Greyhawk'' has crossed over with numerous other ''D&D'' settings, though most of these crossovers are of dubious canon at best.
97** Oerth is one ''D&D'' world among many connected through the ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'', ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', and ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' campaign settings, at least until 3rd Edition when different settings were given their own cosmologies.
98** Vecna and his traitorous lieutenant, Kas, were briefly imprisoned in the Demiplane of Dread, home of the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' setting. Azalin Rex, one of the archvillains of ''Ravenloft'', also originally hailed from Oerth.
99*** One of the last 2nd edition scenarios, ''Die, Vecna, Die!'', took the players on a tour of many settings, among them Greyhawk, Ravenloft and Planescape to stop said Vecna in his [[AGodAmI bid for godhood]]. The canon nature of several events there is hard to doubt considering that Vecna was at least partially successful if 3rd edition is anything to go by.
100** Duke Rowan Darkwood, one of the prime movers in the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting, was born on Oerth. He later used magic to travel to the world of ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', and from there to the City of Sigil in ''Planescape''.
101** Mordenkainen, along with Elminster from ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' and Dalamar from ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'', was one of the "Wizards Three", a trio of archmages who met for friendly get-togethers in a humorous column in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' written by Ed Greenwood.
102** The grandson of Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun from ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', Khelben the Younger, took up planewalking and settled down on Oerth.
103** Completely canon however is the presence of various spells bearing the name of Greyhawk mages (such as Mordenkainen) in other settings. One would suspect [[TabletopGame/{{Planescape}} Planewalkers]] were involved at some point.
104* CrossoverCosmology: Iuz is the grandson of both [[Myth/RussianMythologyAndTales Baba Yaga]] and (maybe) [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]].
105* CrownOfPower:
106** The Black Crown of Aerdy gives +2 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, and a bonus CharacterLevel in the priest or wizard class. However, over time it also turns you LawfulEvil and insane.
107** If the Crown of Blackmoor is put on the head of a dead evil wizard of at least 18th CharacterLevel, the body is changed into a [[OurLichesAreDifferent lich]].
108** The Iron Crown of the Bandit Kingdoms gives its wearer immunity to several mind control spells and increases a fighter's CharacterLevel by one.
109** The Silver Crown of Veluna. When worn by a Lawful character, it radiates a Protection from Evil effect. If worn by a LawfulGood or NeutralGood character, it gives +4 to Wisdom.
110* CrystalDragonJesus: The faith of Al'Akbar, the patron demigod of the Baklunish people, is strongly based on Islam, down to the division between Shiite and Sunni sects. His holy artifacts, the Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar, were originally published in ''Strategic Review'' #7 as fictional Muslim relics. The name is rather revealing -- it's a shortened version of "Allah akbar", "God is great", a common Muslim saying.
111* TheCycleOfEmpires: Zigzagged by the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. When the setting's timeline starts, it's in the Decay phase with [[TheCaligula Ivid V]] as Overking, the outer provinces almost independent, most of its other territories being separate states and {{Decadent Court}}s and [[AristocratsAreEvil malevolent nobility]] being the typical order of things. Ironically, it actually ''reversed'' itself during the Turmoil Between Crowns, when the Ivid Overkings of House Naelax seized the Malachite Throne from the {{Upper Class Twit}}s of House Rax. House Rax had almost led the empire to the Long Night phase, but Ivid I actually brought the empire almost back into a Stabilization phase. Unfortunately, it's since gone back into the Decay phase. The sourcebook "Ivid The Undying" depicts Aerdy in the Long Night phase. Ivid V still reigns in the imperial capital of Rauxes, but the provincial nobles hate his guts and nobody outside his immediate domain listens to him.
112* DeceptiveDisciple: An early pupil of Mordenkainen's, Natasha, [[MerlinAndNimue seduced him]], learned all that she could from him (even creating a well-known spell of her own, ''Tasha's Hideous Laughter''), then betrayed him, surpassed him in power and went down in history as the Witch-Queen Iggwilv, ruler (for a time) of her own dark kingdom, author of the ''Demonomicon'', one of the most authoritative treatises on demonology in the D&D multiverse, on-and-off lover of the Demon Prince Graz'zt, and mother of his greatest offspring, the demigod Iuz. [[spoiler: Not that surprising, in retrospect, for a daughter of Literature/BabaYaga...]]
113* DefectorFromDecadence: Many of the more good-aligned Suel people in the Flanaess are the descendants of people who broke away from the remnants of the Suel Imperium as they fled into the Flanaess. Only the most hardcore devotees of the Imperium continued to the far south of the Flanaess, where they became the modern Scarlet Brotherhood.
114* 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 Murlynd. St. Cuthbert was allegedly once a mortal, but is said to have become a deity in ancient times.
115* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: Most of the notable demon lords have had a hand in Oerth's affairs. Most notable are Graz'zt, the father of the [[HalfHumanHybrid half-demon]] demigod Iuz; Fraz-Urb'luu, a demon prince trapped under the ruins of Castle Greyhawk for centuries; Demogorgon, Prince of Demons, who launched a bid to conquer all of Oerth in the ''TabletopGame/SavageTide'' adventure series in ''Dungeon'' magazine; Lolth, Spider-Queen of the dark elves, who has ravaged both ''Greyhawk'' and the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''; and Zuggtmoy, the Demon Lady of Fungi, who conspired with Iuz to build the infamous TabletopGame/TempleOfElementalEvil.
116* DevilButNoGod: Tharizdun, an OmnicidalManiac EldritchAbomination, is the ultimate force of evil in the cosmology, with the power to force all other evil deities and fiends to do his bidding; there is no corresponding good counterpart. A direct confrontation between Tharizdun and the forces of good would have destroyed the multiverse, so the ''neutral'' gods tricked him into [[SealedEvilInACan sealing himself into a trap]].
117** How dangerous is he considered? The pocket dimension he's sealed in has no exit at all, and the only possible area where it could be cracked open again is eternally guarded by an angel of the highest rank, with direct divine orders to vaporize anything and everything within vaporizing distance that tries to approach, without regard to alignment, circumstances, or intentions.
118* DoctorWhomage: An oblong blue box appears out of nowhere. Out of it appears a halfling wearing a large floppy hat and a long multicolored scarf around his neck (AKA the Fourth Doctor played by Creator/TomBaker) who calls himself Professor Why. He is accompanied by two beautiful women who appear to have no romantic interest in him (Companions) and an armor-wearing dog called B-9 (K-9). The professor calls the blue box the CURDIS (Chronically Unable to Reach Destination In Silence). If the [=PCs=] enter it, they discover that it is BiggerOnTheInside. The Professor cannot control the CURDIS's movements.
119** Similarly, in the adventure published in ''Dragon'' #100, "The City Beyond the Gate"[[note]]Part of the Greyhawk setting by dint of the party's quest to retrieve the Mace of Saint Cuthbert[[/note]], a random encounter can have the party (having been transported to 1980s London) come across a police box. If they hang around enough, a tall man in a multi-colored scarf, a pretty woman and a robot dog enter in and the box disappears. No stats are provided to try and avoid the LordBritishPostulate.
120* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The racist, blond- or red-haired Scarlet Brotherhood are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName basically Nazis]].
121* TheDragon: Saint Kargoth to Demogorgon. Also Kas to Vecna.
122* DungeonBasedEconomy: The castle and its vast dungeons bring a lot of adventurers and traders to the city of Greyhawk generating a lot of business, tax and treasure.
123* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The whole goal of the Empire Of Iuz is pretty much just to spread as much evil and suffering as possible. The Living Greyhawk Gazeteer even notes that the Empire's "chief export is misery"
124* EldritchAbomination: In addition to the expected D&D aberration races such as mind flayers and aboleths, Oerth has [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dread Tharizdun]], an OmnicidalManiac MadGod said to be a swirling spiral of black entropy, who wishes to return all of existence to oblivion.
125** Another would be Kyuss, TheWormThatWalks (that's [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast his actual title]] AND [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a totally accurate description]]), [[WasOnceAMan an ancient human priest]] [[DeityOfHumanOrigin currently in mid-ascent to godhood]] who's the originator of a number of worm/bug-related undead, aberration, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs and undead abberation]] monster species, currently a gigantic, vaguely humanoid mass of wriggling worms attempting to usher in the Age Of Worms, which will mark his ascension (which between that or Tharizdun's end goal would be worse [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is largely a matter of opinion and semantics]]).
126* TheEmpire: Several historical and present-time:
127** The Ancient Suloise and Baklunish Empires, which basically destroyed each other in a magical nuclear war dubbed the Twin Cataclysms.
128** 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. Its two most recent 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 (earlier splinter nations like Furyondy and Nyrond or [[TheAlliance the Iron League]] tend to be considerably nicer though).
129** The Empire of Iuz, spanning a fair chunk of the northern Flanaess and directly ruled by an [[PhysicalGod evil demigod]].
130** The Scarlet Brotherhood intends to become one, but its internal struggles and rebellions among its conquered territories have prevented it (it doesn't help that for all their skill at playing TheChessmaster and DiabolicalMastermind, their military capabilities are comparably lacking).
131* TheEmperor: The Overkings of Aerdy.
132* EvilIsNotWellLit: Dorakaa, the [[PlaceWorseThanDeath Capital city of the Empire Of Iuz,]] is permanently dark and overcast due to Iuz's WeatherControl powers.
133* EvilOverlord: Iuz is the present holder of that title, but Greyhawk has suffered under many, many others -- Lum the Mad, Shattados, Kyuss, Iggwilv, Ivid V and many others.
134* EvilSorcerer: Quite a multitude.
135** Rary the Traitor, a formerly heroic wizard [[FaceHeelTurn who turned on his companions]], the Circle of Eight.
136** The undead Acererak, a skeletal wizard who's been dead for so long that all that's left of him is his skull. Easily the most sadistic sonuvabitch in the entire history of tabletop gaming, all thanks to his abode: the TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors.
137** 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 artifact tier items are his gouged-out eye and his hacked-off hand, left behind due to his near-fatal confrontation with Kas.
138*** 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 [[{{Necromancer}} Necromancy]] and Forbidden Lore". So did his Hand and Eye.
139** Following Vecna's apotheosis, one of the most powerful mortal spellcasters on Oerth is the witch Iggwilv, who has enslaved genuine [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Demon Lords]] and used one to produce an heir: Iuz.
140** Keraptis, the maniacal overlord of White Plume Mountain.
141** Some interpretations of the Mage of the Valley make him outright evil rather than merely sinister and reclusive.
142** Evard, inventor of D&D's ''rudest'' spell, [[CombatTentacles Evard's Black Tentacles.]]
143** Abi-Dalzim, whose name means "Father of Droughts" in his native Baklunish, worshiper 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).
144** Iuz offers sanctuary, authority and screaming victims to certain maniacal sorcerers in exchange for the use of their talents: this cabal includes Kermin Mindbender, Null, the mad illusionist Jumper, the vampire Maskaleyne and [[ButtMonkey the unfortunate Vayne.]]
145* EvilVersusEvil: Evil groups like the Horned Society, Iuz, the Scarlet Brotherhood, the Aerdi kingdoms, Stonehold and Turrosh Mak are just as apt to fight and plot against each other as they are the forces of good.
146* 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. The ''Age of Worms'' Adventure Path could have some villains (especially the churches of Hextor, Vecna and Erythnul, due to a cult of heretical dupes from all three religions) also act against the rise Kyuss and the coming of said Age of Worms (none of the three are particularly keen on the continent being overrun by weird undead spawn and worm-monsters).
147* FaceHeelTurn: Rary and Robilar. This was a bit controversial, 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. It would eventually be revealed that [[MirrorUniverse it wasn't Robilar]].
148* FalseFlagOperation: [[GodOfEvil Iuz]] once disguised himself as Vatun, the main god of the [[HornyVikings Frost, Ice and Snow Barbarians]] in order to instigate a war against the Duchy of Tenh.
149* FantasticFirearms: One issue of ''Magazine/DragonMagazine'' takes the Greyhawk world a few centuries into the future and postulates jet fighters dogfighting dragons and a gunpowderless magitek rifle: the rifle fires by teleporting the projectile close to the sun, allowing it an hour to accelerate due to the sun's gravity, then teleporting it back combined with a time-travel spell so it returns an instant after it leaves. Gunpowder-using guns are also mentioned as being an outdated technology, still in use by dwarves.
150* FantasticNuke: The ancient Suloise Mages of Power leveled the Baklunish Empire with the Invoked Devastation. The surviving Baklunish mage-priests retaliated with the Rain of Colorless Fire. Collectively known as the Twin Cataclysms, these caused mass-migrations of people into the Flanaess, as the survivors had wastelands where their empires had previously been.
151* FantasticRacism: Plenty to go around, especially since several groups haven't even shaken off ''ordinary'', intra-species racism.
152* FantasyAliens: ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks'' is an adventure module where a group of adventurers from the otherwise firmly fantasy world explore a cavern that turns out to be the long-buried remnants of a crashed starship. Within it, the characters will find themselves battling malfunctioning robots and alien creatures and may be able to scavenge advanced energy weapons and PoweredArmor.
153* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
154** The Baklunish people are similar to real-world Middle Easterners. 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, while Perrenland and the Theocracy of the Pale evoke medieval Switzerland and UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights, respectively, and the barbarians of the Thillronian Peninsula are pretty much HornyVikings.
155** 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]]. The Flan, however, 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. Granted, giving rise to at least two of the setting's greatest {{evil sorcerer}}s could just be related to said reasons, and the evil wizard-lord Keraptis (a third great evil arcanist) disappeared (and is usually claimed to have been killed) about thirteen hundred years ago. His rise and fall may have been part of a general downward trend that resulted in the collapse of civilization in the region. Records from the time are, to say the least, sketchy. Eventually, several of the more successful Flan groups integrated in or adopted the newcomers' hierarchy, meaning that sizable Flan-blooded populations are rather common, and a few nations are dominated by this ethnic group.
156* FantasyCounterpartMap: Originally had the most literal version of this trope. For his home game, Gary Gygax initially used a map of the Midwestern US for the locations on the Flanaess, with Greyhawk itself mapped to Chicago. For obvious reasons, the map was redone once the world was published as a product, with some callbacks to the original map left, such as the Nyr Dyv looking like Lake Superior.
157* FantasyGunControl: Guns are generally accepted not to work on Oerth, although exceptions are made in some cases for the hero-god Murlynd and his paladins.
158* FoodGod: Merikka is the Oeridian demigoddess of farming and agriculture.
159* ForestOfPerpetualAutumn: In supplement [=WG7=] Castle Greyhawk. Level 4 of the Castle, "There's No Place Like Up", takes place almost entirely in an extradimensional area called "Eternal Autumn Woods". Most of the area consists of a forest with gold, orange and red colored leaves. The ground is covered with things like piles of raked leaves and bushels of apples.
160* ForTheLulz: The mad archmage Zagig Yragerne created the wacky demiplanes of [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Dungeonland]] and [[Film/KingKong the Isle of the Ape]] pretty much just because he could.
161* GodEmperor: Iuz is a half-demonic being, head of state, and focus of a ReligionOfEvil all in one.
162* GodOfEvil: There are dozens of evil gods, though Tharizdun is the one who most closely embodied pure, destructive evil.
163* GodsHandsAreTied: It's generally accepted that the gods cannot intervene directly on Oerth without starting the Apocalypse, 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.]]
164* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Averted. While the gods of Oerth ''can'' derive extra power from worship, they do not need it to survive or be gods. Boccob, who has the not very reassuring nickname "The Uncaring", is actively worshiped by very few people, yet is still a greater god for example. Many deities with huge followings are less powerful than other deities with smaller ones.
165* 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 worshipers to be misguided, heathens or heretics, and advance a form of proto-monotheism with Pholtus as the sole god worthy of worship; taken up to eleven 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 worshiping Pholtus exclusively, and which has territorial and religious imperialistic designs on all its neighbors. Their [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is pretty much being {{Knight Templar}}s. Consequently, they're considered LawfulNeutral as a whole rather than LawfulGood.
166* GrimUpNorth: The northern Flanaess contains:
167** The {{Evil Empire}}s of the Horned Society and Iuz;
168** The Bandit Kingdoms, which are a series of {{Wretched Hive}}s each held by {{Bandit Clan}}s;
169** The {{Barbarian Tribe}}s of the Frost, Ice and Snow Barbarians who constantly fight and raid each other and the humanoids of the mountains;
170** 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]];
171** {{The Horde}}s of the Tiger and Wolf Nomads, who aren't known for being friendly to outsiders;
172** The Theocracy of the Pale, a nation of {{Knight Templar}}s who persecute any religion except that of Pholtus;
173** The Rovers of the Barrens, who are a DyingRace struggling to survive while fighting against their hostile neighbors;
174** 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;
175** Perrenland, which was once ruled by the evil sorceress Iggwilv and, while mostly good-aligned still has some evil-aligned clans who support her;
176** The Duchy of Tenh and the Archbarony of Ratik, which are both surrounded by hostile neighbors on almost all sides and struggle to survive.
177** And the northernmost point on the map, the Land of Black Ice, might as well be transplanted from MysteriousAntarctica, only [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin with black-colored ice]].
178* HatedByAll: Basically every other country on the planet fears and hates the Empire Of Iuz.
179* HealerGod: Pelor was the popular sun god of light, strength and healing.
180* HenotheisticSociety: Several countries have a specific patron deity:
181** TheTheocracy of the Pale is ruled by worshippers of the deity Pholtus and takes him as its deity.
182** In the early years of the game, the Archclericy of Veluna was dedicated to the deity St. Cuthbert.
183* 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.
184* IllegalReligion:
185** In the Theocracy of the Pale, the only legal religion is that of Pholtus -- all other religions are expressly forbidden.
186** In many areas religions based on evil deities are officially forbidden because of the death and destruction their worshipers tend to cause.
187* IOwnThisTown: Nerof Gasgal, the Lord Mayor of Greyhawk, is also [[TheDon the assisant master of the Thieves' Guild]]. The Guildmaster Org Nenshen is also part of Greyhawk's ruling council, including its more powerful "inner circle." Greyhawkers even refer to the Thieves' Guild's headquarters as "City Hall", only half-jokingly. It's somewhat downplayed in the sense that the thieves' control is balanced out by other factions like the merchants, the lawyers and various churches. The thieves also try to restrain themselves from going too far and making the rest of the population turn on them.
188* {{Irony}}: The toad-like demigod Wastri, whose priests themselves become more toadlike over time, is basically the patron of humano-centric FantasticRacism, amusingly enough. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer'':
189-->The fact that he dislikes nonhuman races, yet is only barely human himself, is an irony lost on the godling.
190* {{Ladyland}}: The city of Hardby was founded by a Suel witch as a monument to the superiority of womankind after men caused a great magical war, and is traditionally ruled by an all-female council of gynocrats led by a despotrix. However, in recent years, male-dominated guilds and trade unions have been chipping away at their power.
191* LeftJustifiedFantasyMap: Inverted--to the west lies the trackless Sea of Dust, all that remains of the Suel Imperium after the Rain of Colorless Fire burnt it to ashes. The ocean lies to the east and south.
192* LightIsNotGood: 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.
193%%* LovableRogue: Gord.
194* MadGod: Several [[GodOfEvil evil gods]] come off as at least sociopaths or psychopaths, but two gods deserve special mention: Zagyg (who prior to [[AGodAmI ascention]] was known as the mad archmage, and hasn't become any saner afterwards; not evil, though) and Dread Tharizdun (a monster [[OmnicidalManiac wanting to unravel the universe]]).
195* MageTower: Zagyg had two of them in Castle Greyhawk;
196** The Tower Of Magic: Basically a WizardingSchool for housing and training apprentices, [[MagicalLibrary Magical Libraries]], workshops and rooms for creating golems and summoning demigods.
197** The Tower Of Zagig: More personal things such as vaults for collected loot, prisons for deities and crypts for his family.
198* {{Magitek}}: The Machine of Lum the Mad, the Mighty Servant of Leuk-o, the Doomgrinder and the Apparatus of Kwalish. The first three are also in the ArtifactOfDoom category. Rary is fond of creating {{Clockwork Creature}}s.
199* MalevolentArchitecture: Castle Greyhawk is one big, mile-deep DeathTrap. The TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors, meanwhile, makes Castle Greyhawk look like one o' them bouncy castles.
200* TheManBehindTheMan: Iggwilv to Iuz, and to a lesser extent, Graz'zt to Iggwilv. Although given the peculiarities of their relationship (both are basically {{tsundere}} for each other, and both have OutGambitted the other quite a few times), it's hard to say who's the boss at any given time.
201* MechanicalHorse: Lord Robilar has one that Rary the Archmage built for him. Actually, Rary is rather fond of building magical automatons generally, including a full-sized [[spoiler: dragon]].
202* MedievalStasis: It's a ''D&D'' setting, so part for the course, really; the technology of centuries past appears more or less on the level of the modern day, and guns are rare to nonexistent. A ''Dragon'' article suggests it'll eventually pull itself out of this, though.
203* MirrorUniverse: Oerth has several parallel worlds, including Aerth, Yarth, and Earth (and possibly TabletopGame/{{Mystara}} and [[TabletopGame/NentirVale Nerath]]). The most notable, though, is Uerth, where everyone's alignment is switched (most notably Bilarro, the evil double of Robilar -- though Robilar was already evil; Bilarro is just worse).
204* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Iuz the Evil, Rary the Traitor, Dread Tharizdun, Ivid the Undying...
205* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Scarlet Brotherhood, a group of blond, fair-skinned [[FantasticRacism human supremacists]] 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).
206* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: The Greyhawk Thieves' Guild is heavily involved in the city's government. Its assistant guildmaster is the Lord Mayor, and the lead guildmaster is part of the "inner circle" of Greyhawk's ruling council that crafts most major policies.
207* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The demon Fraz-Urb'luu was released from his imprisonment by two foolish adventurers.
208** So were Iuz, Zuggtmoy and many many others--mostly by the same band of intrepid adventurers (Creator/GaryGygax's original gaming group).
209* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Circle of Eight, founded by Mordenkainen to manipulate events across the Flaeness.
210* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: But of course. The evil duergar got their start here, but they're the same kind of evil gray dwarves found on most standard D&D worlds so the point still stands.
211* OurElvesAreDifferent: Actually, Our Elves Are Pretty Standard, all things considered. But on a related note, this setting was the TropeCodifier for D&D's ''dark'' elves. Though much rarer than in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', they even display the same tendency towards being redeemable, as proven by characters like Leda and several of the rebellious dark elves in the city of Erelhei-Cinlu. The ''Unearthed Arcana'' sourcebook even references the idea of drow being rebels due to their alignment, as well as making all elven sub-races, including drow, eligible for the Ranger character class. And all of this actually precedes the introduction of [[Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy Drizzt Do'Urden]].
212* OurGnomesAreWeirder: Well, not really in this case; they're completely conventional D&D gnomes with the regular subraces like svirfneblin familiar to most players.
213* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Out of all the ''D&D'' settings, the orcs of ''Greyhawk'' are probably the worst, if only because they have no notable heroes to show off their ProudWarriorRaceGuy side (well, there's Turrosh Mak, but he's clearly too much on the "total asshole" side of things to be seen as admirable). They're very much of the "Tolkienian Orc" model, especially in early editions when they [[PigMan looked like pigs]]. There ''is'' a notable exception to this rule, though; the sultanate of Zeif has a sizable 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.
214* PhantomThief: Gord the Rogue. He steals mainly for the challenge (and because he ''loves'' treasure).
215* PhysicalGod: All of the gods are capable of taking material form, but the ones who most often walk the Oerth are Iuz, who rules an EvilEmpire as its god-king, and Saint Cuthbert, who often dispatches avatars to fight Iuz.
216* RagtagBandOfMisfits:
217** Fairly common to any ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting, but Greyhawk can have some particularly odd ones. Mordenkainen used to belong to one that turned out to include the BigBad Iggwilv when she was starting out, for example.
218** Paul Kidd created one of the oddest adventuring bands this side of ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' for his Greyhawk stories. How often do you see an adventuring band comprised of a human Ranger with an attitude befitting a Paladin, a still-sentient [[AscendedDemon redeemed and very friendly]] {{Hellhound}}'s skin, a fairy sorceress (with [[InterspeciesRomance a crush on the Ranger]]), a naive young adventurer-wannabe, a shy and humble sphinx, and a {{Motor Mouth}}ed merchant (who eventually ends up as a badger), to say nothing of the prissy sentient sword?
219* RankScalesWithAsskicking: The sourcebooks' entries on each Flanaess country lists its ruler's name, class and level. These are almost always at least 11th level, and are usually higher.
220* ReligionOfEvil: Kinda comes with the territory when you have a bunch of evil gods active. Fortunately, there's just as many good gods (''and'' just as many neutral gods) with their own churches.
221* {{Retcon}}: After Gygax and Kuntz both left Creator/{{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.
222* TheSavageSouth: Much of the southern Flanaess has elements of this:
223** The Hold of the Sea Princes. Before the Greyhawk Wars, it was a country of decadent, wealthy pirate lords who exploited and sold slaves kidnapped from the southern jungles. After the Wars, it was conquered by the Scarlet Brotherhood, who enjoyed setting the slaves and former slavemasters at each other's throats. Now, it's the center of a bloody civil war between the Brotherhood, various factions of the old regime, escaped slaves, and nihilistic servants of Dread Tharizdun;
224** The homelands of the Scarlet Brotherhood, a group of Nazi-like martial artists who believe that the pale-skinned and fair-haired Suel are the "master race" of the world, and want to conquer that world and make the Suel its rulers;
225** The Lordship of the Isles, which is a haven for pirates, slavers and scalawags. It betrayed the rest of the Iron League during the Greyhawk Wars and threw in with the Scarlet Brotherhood, whose operatives it now shelters. The Lordship is also known for its blood feud with the rival pirates of the Sea Barons;
226** The Spindrift Isles were pleasant places to live...before they were driven out of their homes by the People of the Testing, an organization of [[TheFundamentalist elven fundamentalists]] obsessed with the mysteries of the elven gods but not caring what the impact of their attempting to solve these mysteries has on other races;
227** The County (later Kingdom) of Sunndi is another pleasant place to live, but it has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Vast Swamp]] on its southern border, a bog inhabited by the bigoted toadlike god Wastri and his hateful followers;
228** The Amedio Jungle and Hepmonaland are filled with dangerous savages, most of which are themselves of Sueloise descent, in addition to many dangerous monsters.
229* ScienceFantasy: ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks''. It concerns a crashed spaceship filled with aliens and robots--in the fantasy world of Greyhawk. The players can even hijack a suit of PoweredArmor and take it with them after the adventure ends (though thankfully it has limited fuel). Needless to say, many fans consider it FanonDiscontinuity.
230** However, there have been a number of {{Shout Out}}s to it over the years. 4th edition even included stats for the Vegepygmy (an enemy introduced here) and a number of the classical sci-fi weapons.
231* SealedEvilInACan: Several examples.
232** Iuz (and eight other demigods, including two other evil ones) were trapped beneath Castle Greyhawk by Zagig Yragerne, who siphoned off their power to become a god himself.
233** Fraz-Urb'luu was also trapped in Castle Greyhawk by Zagig, presumably as a practice run for his gambit at godhood.
234** At the beginning of time, the unspeakably powerful and insane Tharizdun was trapped in a remote demiplane by the rest of the gods.
235* StandardFantasyRaces: The five playable races are humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings.
236* StarPower: Celestian is the deity of space and the stars. He has a number of space/star related powers, including Aurora Borealis, Comet, Meteors, Space Chill and Starshine.
237* SternSunWorshippers: Nearly all followers of Pholtus are stern traditionalists trying to enforce monotheism in a universe that is very obviously polytheistic. In cosmopolitan areas, the group is just an annoyance (especially to followers of more benevolent gods, like Saint Cuthbert or the rival sun deity Pelor), but wherever they can get away with it, they establish iron-fisted religious dictatorships such as the Theocracy of the Pale. There's a reason Pholtus's main sobriquet is "the Blinding Light".
238* 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'''eg(g)''' S'''cott''', a member of the Midwest Military Simulation Association and wargame miniatures manufacturer with whom Dave Arneson had previously clashed. (It's often mistaken for a jab at '''E. G'''ary '''G'''ygax.)
239** The ''Castle Greyhawk'' module had some very heavy ones to Gary Gygax and his style of adventure design. As Gygax had just been kicked out of the company, most people didn't take it in good fun.
240* TechnicalPacifist: The clerics of Zodal, god of mercy, are allowed to fight but typically deal nonlethal damage.
241* ThemeNaming: Ernest Gary Gygax named a huge number of people and locations after himself, including Yrag, Tenser, Urnst, and of course, Zagyg/Zagig Yragerne.
242** A lot of other people were named after Gygax's players and children, or drawn from other mundane sources:
243*** Drawmij, of ''Drawmij's instant summons'' fame, is Jim Ward's character. Spell Jim Ward backwards... There's also a Drawmidj Ocean.
244** Melf (of ''Melf's acid arrow'' and ''Melf's minute meteors''), a male elf character, was named from what appeared at the top of the character sheet: M Elf.
245* ThroneMadeOfX: The Malachite Throne of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. The stone was pulled from a cavern called the [[DarkIsEvil Cauldron of Night]]. Also an ArtifactOfDoom.
246* TheUndead: Notables include the liches Acererak and Vecna, described above. Also the first death knight, Saint Kargoth; the vampire Kas; and the piteous, zombie-like King Ivid the Undying.
247** Ivid's state was a bit of LaserGuidedKarma, though; in his insanity, he arranged to get evil clerics to create a new type of powerful, free-willed undead, the Animus. He then proceeded to give the "gift" of death and reanimation as an animus to scores of lords, generals and priests without bothering to find out if they wanted it. Needless to say, a lot of his supporting hierarchy was either ''pissed'' or terrified they would be next; his own animus transformation following his assassination shattered what little lucidity he had left, leaving a paranoid, gibbering and unpredictable wreck, whose only notable accomplishment was completing the ruin of the Great Kingdom, his own realm.
248* UpperClassTwit: One reason the Great Kingdom of Aerdy declined so quickly in TheCycleOfEmpires was because the Overkings of House Rax were {{Royal Brat}}s who oversaw {{Decadent Court}}s. The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer describes the Overkings of this time as "buffoons and incompetents". They eventually suffered a ZeroPercentApprovalRating and were easily overthrown by House Naelax, who seized the Malachite Throne in the Turmoil Between Crowns.
249* VainSorceress:
250** Iggwilv, the Witch of Perrenland, the mother of Iuz and on-again-off-again consort of the demon Graz'zt. She appears as a stunningly beautiful young woman and sadistically kills anyone who sees her true form--a hideous crone.
251** Wee Jas, the Lawful Neutral goddess of death and magic, is noted for being both beautiful and vain.
252* VestigialEmpire: The fractured [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Great Kingdom]], now split into numerous warring states.
253** The successor-states born from its final collapse are at each other's throats, but those successor-states who'd seceded in the previous centuries (the Great Kingdom's been losing chunks for a ''long'' time) get along pretty well for the most part.
254* WellIntentionedExtremist: Rary just wants to bring peace to all of Oerth... by crushing it under his heel.
255** Mordenkainen wants to keep balance, even if it means unsealing evil demigods and razing entire kingdoms.
256* WizardingSchool: Castle Greyhawk's Tower Of Magic was this in the backstory. Having classrooms, libraries, workshops and dormitories for the wizard Zagyg's apprentices. A more accessible version is the University of Magical Arts in the city of Greyhawk proper.
257* WizardsWar: Thousands of years ago, the Suel Imperium and the Baklunish Empire fought a magical war. The Baklunish Imperium destroyed the Suloise with the Rain of Colorless Fire, which turned the lands of the Suloise into ashes and dust.
258* WonTheWarLostThePeace: This happened to Nyrond during the Greyhawk Wars. It successfully repulsed the Great Kingdom's invasion, but its economy was devastated and it suffered a staggering loss of life. Much of its infrastructure was in shambles, its treasury nearly bankrupt and most of its leaders blinkered and myopic. King Archbold III stubbornly kept funding a large army on the country's eastern border after the war, even as many citizens were on the verge of starvation and rebellion because of the massive taxes Archbold demanded. Things have gotten better since Crown Prince Lynwerd took the throne, as he cut taxes to reasonable levels and shifted his focus on rebuilding infrastructure, but Nyrond is still a pale shadow of what it was before the Wars.
259* WretchedHive:
260** The Vault of the Drow and the village of Nulb.
261** Eastfair, capital of Great Kingdom successor-state North Kingdom is noted as being a reflection of the debauchery of its monarch, Overking Grenell.
262** The City of Greyhawk itself qualifies: although it has many good inhabitants, the city is essentially run by a council of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive merchant guildmasters]] and [[TheMafia leaders of organized crime.]] The rich -- and/or the magically talented -- live in luxury among gardens, fine restaurants and concert halls, while at [[WrongSideOfTheTracks the other end of town]] overpopulated slums are so rife with crime and disease that being a member of the Beggar's Guild is a step ''up.''
263** Dorakaa, the capital of the Empire of Iuz, and Molag, the capital of the Horned Society, are infested with demons and devils respectively, and the people who worship them.
264** The Bandit Kingdoms are some of the most resource-poor places in the Flanaess. The residents are described as "criminals and murderers" constantly fighting their neighbors and each other for resources, struggling to survive in a land of "arid plains and sickly woods."

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