Making Your Greyhawk Campaign Feel More Like Greyhawk

I look at 4 ways to make a Greyhawk campaign feel more "Greyhawkian".
0:00 What's today's video about?
0:30 Using the Lore
4:15 Using the Famous NPCs
7:29 Using the Balance
10:17 Using the Famous Adventures
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[@Mr_Welch]

I always put Sam Neill quality mustaches on all my drow warriors. Then my players know they aren't in Faerun anymore.

[@mykediemart]

I can just his his voice "Your a long way from the surface son" Underdark drawl

[@jacobhope6164]

Bro, you a real one! 🔥

[@DIEGhostfish]

You mean Sam Elliot?

[@EHLarson]

@@DIEGhostfish That was how I took it.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@EHLarson Neil has had a stache but it vame with a full beard and his mot famous roles were cleanshaven

[@kailenmitchell8571]

What I loved about Greyhawk was that it was fairly neutral so you could flavor Greyhawk the way you want.

[@hamishshaw4907]

I agree that tying into the campaign history is CRUCIAL to making Greyhawk feel like Greyhawk. And Greyhawk absolutely has the best villains of any campaign world hands down. Great video!

[@sststr]

Also: use Greyhawk specific names for monsters. Orc = euroz, kobolds = celbit, goblins = jebli, etc.

[@godking4621]

I've used the Isle of Dread module to launch a Cthulhu/Elder Evil Campaign. The Isle led to the Temple of Elemental Evil, which I pushed into an adventure to the Pomarj. This led the adventures to White Plume Mountain....then an Expedition to the Barrier peaks before it culminated in The Elder Elemental cult trying to Summon Yog-Sothoth through the portals at Tovag Baragu in Blackmoor. The players stopped the cult and saved the world.... however the cult did succeed in freeing an aspect of Nyarlathotep that had been trapped for millennia. And so Nyarlathotep...known in Greyhawk as Tharzidun....walks free again... The adventures continue....as a mysterious island has appeared in the center of the Lake of Unknown Depths...the Nyr Dyv....

[@troffle]

Am ever so slightly disappointed that Way #1 wasn't "Get your 5e books out, lay them on a stone altar, set fire to them and beg Boccob and Quetzalcoatl to hide your party from Mictlantecuhtli, Tezcatlipoca and the whole Hasbro pantheon". I KID, I KID. ... mostly...

[@docnecrotic]

No, that's solid advice! :P

[@raymondhemphill146]

LET’S KEEP GREYHAWK ALIVE!

[@GerdLPluu]

I couldn't imagine myself in this situation until it kind of just happened: I've been a big Forgotten Realms fan since pretty much ever, but a couple of years ago, I have grown fed up with the Forgotten Realms and especially Golarion, and I have been trying to go forward with completely new from scratch settings, avoiding well worn fantasy tropes and the like. But that's really time consuming. Recently, this Idea has been growing in my head that forward may not necessarily be the way to go. After all, there have been fully fleshed out fantasy worlds since before most of my players and myself got into the hobby. Before we were born even! Your channel is a treasure trove for me right now, so thank you!

[@russopland]

Great advice (as always), Joe! I really enjoy the T1-4 series (incorporating your T0 and T5), linking to a modified A1-4 series, then S9 & S10 to link to GDQ1-7, incorporating your G1A, D4 and Q2. (phew!) If the enterprising DM were to set this odyssey against the backdrop of the 576-591CY, one would have a literally epic campaign lasting years. Cheers! 🍻

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of Greyhawk Grognard videos

[@grillwizard]

I ran T1-4 and then A1-4. After that, I threw in a RJK's Dark Druids (heavily modified, I put your T5 there), then a couple of casl´s Markessa modules, and then I-1 set in the Suss. All that before G1-3. Now after D1-2 I'm using your D4 along with D3, leading to a grand finale with your Q2.

[@prizrenbucpapaj869]

How did you modify dark druids, if I may ask :)?

[@grillwizard]

@@prizrenbucpapaj869 The start of the module I set it in the limit of Celene and the Suss forest. Got rid of Mahzrat, N'Thraxus and the misbegotten. In the chamber of exalted passage changed the lightning, cloud, talon and snake symbols for the elemental ones, put a lesser elemental servant in the gulf instead of the twain and Joe's T5 as the dark god's antechamber. The dark druids were deceived by a great druidess, one of Markesa's clones, into an attack on Celene. Also connected the caves with the module I1.

[@imperator88vis67]

(Cool BSG shirt!) Simply running the Greyhawk religious pantheon and having various of those factions vie against each other in a campaign is another great way to make a setting more "Greyhawkian"!

[@scott4092]

I love this stuff. When my group beat the Slave Lords back in the day, of course they all escaped/were imprisoned/etc, so they could become recurring villains. They're all just too damn cool to kill off.

[@mattinthehat3]

This is why I love your channel. It's videos like this that I find to be very helpful and informative for setting up a new campaign in the world of Greyhawk. Excellent video as always.

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

Thank you!

[@mattinthehat3]

@@GreyhawkGrognard you are more than welcome. I truly wish that I could tell you some of the ideas that I have for a Greyhawk campaign, but it would more than likely probably take so long and I would really have to go into deep detail that I'm afraid it would bore you to tears. Suffice to say that it incorporates all the adventure modules, your very own adventure hooks ( which I'm not kidding you would work with the idea that I have for a Greyhawk campaign) among the backdrop of an ancient prophecy concerning two races of hereditary enemies that could bring about cataclysmic results to the world. Anyway, I meant everything I said. Your channel is my go to for all things Greyhawk.

[@mykediemart]

The old modules seem to get me thinking of all the ways it can spin off and expand.

[@williammeek7218]

I always enjoy your content Grognard. Keep Greyhawk alive.

[@perperov]

Excellent ideas and inspiration! Thank you! 😃

[@murgel2006]

The problem with making something feel like Greyhawk is the D&D multiverse. Whatever you do, the multiverse works against you because the NPCs, spells, races, and even the gods cross over. The exception is Mystara because it does belong to that multiverse in a very loose way. To me and my players, who mostly do not play D&D but another system and thus in another world it is hard to keep the various D&D settings apart especially because many things are similar or identical. Thus I agree, that it is important to bring the stuff in that is undeniably typical for Greyhawk and can not be found anywhere else.

[@DaveMcGuire-us8wx]

I played in a Greyhawk not too long ago that included Drawjim, and that was a was a huge suprise and really felt part of the world. Until it went off the rails.

[@Andre99328]

Great advice. I am playing for 35 years on Greyhawk on and off. My favourite evil force is Iuz. However, I am currently running a campaign, where the Scarlet Brotherhood plays a major part and I have a LG monk in my group who oposes them. We started 576 and are now 579, with my players adventuring in the Hold of the Seaprinces. They work for the ruler Prince Jeon II and will eventually detect the agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood, who are in the process of undermining the Sea Princes which will lead to the mass assassinations, mentioned in the Greyhawk Wars. We started with the Saltmarsh trilogy, and I have Drawmij as a major NPC, working in the background with his sea mages. Works well and I guess it feels very Greyhawkish 😊.

[@BockwinkleB]

Dont forget sloping passages, insta kill traps and iron spikes.

[@chrisault5788]

Fellow grognard here. Just wanted to thank you for all your content and hard work! Been using all your videos and downloads to inspire my home-brew Adventures in the Flanaess campaign. Where I'm running a one-on-one with a Tiefling Rogue adopted by the Rhennee (Voran's barge-family actually - if I can take that liberty lol, thank you), and my main group starting in the city of Leukish (and they are loving the horse tracks there!)... it's a sandbox style game and I'm gently trying to nudge them in the direction of Hommlet, or the Keep. But for some reason (they know very little of Greyhawk, they're FR fans), the really want to go to Geoff... giants anyone? Thanks again, for keeping Greyhawk alive and true.

[@carphax]

One of my players in my current Ghost of Saltmarsh campaign named his character Ol'Bigsby. He didn't at the time know about the Wizard Bigby and I've been having a running thing of NPCs reacting to meeting him with shock, bemusement, disbelieve, etc.

[@toddnorthcrux1120]

Thank you so much for helping realize the horizon of adventure in the World of Greyhawk is ever greater than our imagination limits 😀 A world our lives cannot exhaust! Please keep believing in Greyhawk; helping us find wonder, and adventure again! May St Cuthbert ever defend your way :) Bravo Zulu brother. Very respectfully, Todd+

[@sumdude4281]

Always good stuff

[@dantherpghero2885]

I Love ALL Greyhawk Grognard videos!

[@MarkCMG]

Thanks for the video! Great tips!

[@jdavis414]

Pleasant video, thanks. Send it to Liches of the Coast ASAP to get them on track!

[@hamishshaw4907]

Greyhawk-iness😁

[@williampalmer8052]

Great tips. Greyhawk is all about the big themes rather than the minor details. As long as those remain consistent with the established setting, there is endless room to fill in the minutiae. The Circle of Eight, Iuz's pursuit of power and the free peoples who oppose him, the Scarlet Brotherhood, and so much more, are the foundation upon which a creative DM can shape their own coherent and recognizable version of the world.

[@GrognardPiper]

My setting is heavily influenced by Greyhawk, with small inspiration from Forgotten Realms, Tolkien and Conan. I mostly use Castles & Crusades now, as it feels like AD&D, but with some modern mechanics like ascending armor class.

[@coachlarry6773]

Thank you for the ideas, very helpful. Love the video and the channel

[@SiriusMined]

Drow like "ouch" 😁

[@drwatkins68]

I want to play in Joe's campaign!

[@SiriusMined]

I greatly expanded Dwellers of the Forbidden City for my Hackmaster 4 campaign. I've been using Greyhawk for Hackmaster with my old AD&D players

[@kathykoenig6512]

Great video, and I agree that things should be kept as Greyhawkish as possible. Why choose the setting if you don't. On the other hand, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on bringing in external things. Your recent videos on demons and devils reminded me that many 1st edition campaigns used them. They were too cool not to. So finding a cult or temple to (say) Asmodeus while exploring the Flanaess was not out of the question. Nor was having the Cthulhu Mythos creatures peeking into the Greyhawk universe. Since, however, Greyhawk already has similar inhouse deities and creatures in it's lore, do these imports break the setting? Then again, demons can be found in the encounter tables, and a wrong turn in Castle Greyhawk might have the PCs sitting with a hatter and hare at a mad tea party, so maybe a "just roll the dice and have some occasional guest star fun" is very Greyhawkish indeed.

[@ianwaller4266]

Good stuff. Keep it up.

[@harmonicaman79]

Nice

[@weray7605]

All of these things, yes, but play what your 'Players' are familiar with. If no one in your group has heard of Wastri then you may as well just call him "JubJubHe." If no one has heard of Robilar or Iuz or Tharizdun then your using them doesn't really make it 'feel' Greyhawk to your players. Whereas, if they've heard of Tsjocanth and Iggwilv -- then there you go. If all they know is Mordenkainen, then start there. If the players 'feel' like it is Greyhawk than that's your starting point and, as they play more and more in your campaign, the more it will 'feel' Greyhawk to them as they learn Tensor and Warduke and Ivid. But if you just say "The Scarlet Brotherehood is up to no good...." and your group has never heard of Tilvanot or Suel or Pyremius then The Scarlet Brotherhood may as well be something from Pathfinder or Paizo.

[@Kidharlo6723]

Going to tackle the elephant in the room, I think it is real and a distinction between greyhawk and forgotten realms for example, and that is more homogeneous communities, for example the Demi human lands like Celene and the Ulek states. I have played up some tensions between these good nations as they are each dominated by their own … species. I believe there is great flavour there to play up the cultural differences and yes distrust at times. Even among the human kingdoms, there are cultural differences between the Baklunish , Flan and Suloise people. Most of my Greyhawk cities have a Foreign Quarter where minorities congregate and yes, social justice tensions exist. Perhaps old school here, but a dragon born or tiefling character would face some obstacles in many of my Greyhawk communities TBH… Will say my players have influenced the places they visit, to their credit, and one great theme in our campaign is that the adventurers are seeking to unite the elves dwarves humans and halflings against common foes.

[@Kidharlo6723]

In fact this actually came up last night with one of my new players: For my next character, I want to be a cat-man! What’s a cat-man I asked. Half human, half cat! Er, well that’s unfortunately not a playable species in my game world, I told him. You don’t *know* my backstory!! Oh boy..! 😂

[@BW022]

Oddly, I kind of disagree with many of these. For me... 1. Pick a starting area which isn't generic -- typically outside the central Flanness. Ekbir, Snow Barbarians, Wolf Nomads, or Irongate helps ensure it isn't generic. 2. Work the local setting into your PCs. Give character creation guidelines to make characters from that area -- even if restrictive. Work in background, people they know, etc. 3. Forget lore... work in culture. Lore is a lot of information dumps, often on characters who may not know that and don't care. Culture consists of language, races, food, ethnicity, laws, customs, traditions, dress, etc. Do rely on real-world 'shortcuts' to get folks going. "They are like Vikings" or "They are like Mongols." gets folks started. Also, don't forget currency, goods, weapons, etc. 4. Start small -- preferably isolated. Let them experience culture at a small scale before adding towns, kingdoms, etc. 5. Immerse the players into the culture from the starting scene. If you start the players in the middle of a Wolf Nomad wedding, a Snow Barbarian raid on the North Kingdom, or fighting alongside some wood elves in the Vestve, you force the players to participate in the culture while implying their characters are familiar with it. 6. Track the in-game date and time. Use day and month names. Include festivals, holy days, regular life... and adjust for terrain, climate, and culture. 7. Highlight changes as they travel. 8. Yes, by 5th+ you can start tossing in events, name drops, etc. However, they shouldn't necessarily be meeting such people directly. I personally like having them involved in things rulers might be involved with indirectly. An army from X happens to be passing through. You might hear news of the greater world, maybe meet someone in the know or interact with them, but not every adventure should PCs be working directly for the king. 9. Have an overall plot based on something larger -- an event, a religion, a god, a known magical item, etc. However, this should be relived slowly and keep to a limited item. You can get a Greyhawk feel by focusing on a single thing easier than trying to blanket everything in lore which is just distracting. 10. Work in ways for finding lore and let it happen organically. Give them a reason to want to know about X and ways to do so. I once had a campaign where the first third was about the players trying to learn about an ancient cult of Celestian to fight a demon their priests once vanquished. It was great as the players sought out mages, scoured libraries, and talk to clergy... so the info dump was organic. I did the same on a lost Suel artifact campaign set in Ratik. In another, I had an intelligent dagger which spoke Ancient Baklunish and kept talking about ancient events -- players literally had to learn the language and they found out about ancient Ket via a dagger. 11. Get them traveling. Start noting changes in culture, climate, terrain, etc. 12. Work in NPCs with strong Greyhawk ties can get people invested. A bad guy who's goal is to kill the Snow Barbarian king, or marry the daughter of the Ekbar sultan, or use his Suel blood to use a powerful artifact gives players reasons to learn about parts of Greyhawk.

[@BorgPrincess]

Brilliant ideas! Thank you very much! 🥰

[@michaeltant1448]

I'm building up a World of Grayhawk with 5e play and stumbled across your videos. Best channel I ever came across on KZbin. Consider me a BIG FAN. I'm gonna be picking your brain in the next few months

[@CountAdolfo]

High level characters giving low level characters missions works just fine IF you make it make sense. The common question is "why doesn't that high level character just do it themselves?" If you DON'T BOTHER answering that question... as I see happen far too often... you have a problem. BUT, if you have a reason... obvious or not so obvious but still applicable... you can even make it speak to the nature of the high level NPC. Perhaps the reason the PCs are hired is that the NPC was hired by someone else to do this, but ... "I cannot be two places at once, and I have more pressing matters, elsewhere. In fact, do not waste my time... if you're interested, speak up, for I am needed elsewhere..." or... "This is really not worth my time. I agreed to take it on to appease (another NPC) because he/she was scared... but... REALLY... I don't have the time to deal with something so... beneath me" (so, use a famous NPC with arrogance to do this...) Or... "Look... (another NPC) is behind this... and I can't be seen actively working against them but... YOU..." I do love your other ideas on making a campaign Greyhawk Flavoured... and I HOPE people take them to heart and don't let Greyhawk become generic

[@BanjoSick]

Used Lord Robilar in my Forbidden Lands campaign and a world wanderer on a visit from Greyhawk.

[@emjtucson]

Question, WotC fan content guidelines states you cannot publish their IPs (Greyhawk) with other systems even if it’s free. Am I reading that right? To what extent do things need to be changed?

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

You are correct, if the work is published under the Fan Content Policy. Your second question is much more complex, and has never been tested in court, so it's impossible to answer definitively.

[@BorgPrincess]

Hmmm... Would that also apply to contents that has, say, stats for DnD5 _and_ another system, like people used to to make for a while in the 80s?

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

@@BorgPrincess Here's the actual policy, you can read it yourself. company.wizards.com/en/legal/fancontentpolicy

[@captainhrothgar4637]

1. Don't let your Orcs raise falcons...

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

HAHA!

[@DIEGhostfish]

Demihuman cult of Wastri? High priest Ruckus, (No relation)

[@jamesonstalanthasyu]

Have you come across any pushback from FR folks who say, xyz is better there than wotc putting/forcing it in Greyhawk?

[@fabiowagner4252]

Are mustaches mandatory for drow in Greyhawk? 😅

[@stevestumpy6873]

🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉

[@noah1bishop]

I hope the announcement of the inclusion of Greyhawk to 5e 2024 gets you more views!

[@doltBmB]

amphibian god of bigotry? oh shit it's kek.

[@carlcramer9269]

The idea of an illuminati trying to keep Greyhawk neutral is just stupid in my eyes. What I appreciate is the politics, the gradients intertwined of culture, and the history.