Greyhawk

The Greyhawk campaign was the first setting designed for the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game, and is also the second-oldest fantasy roleplaying campaign. It is familiar to many thousands of gamers the world over, though the campaign world has undergone considerable change over the years. It began with E. Gary Gygax, who created and developed the world as a home campaign. The world took shape with the publication of the WORLD OF GREYHAWK folio in 1980, which was greatly expanded and improved in 1983 as the WORLD OF GREYHAWK boxed set. The game year described as current in those products was 576 CY (Common Year).

Many AD&D game adventures were set in this realm even before the world rules were published; long-time gamers fondly recall the giants-drow-Abyss series from 1978-1980, and the brutal but thrilling Tomb of Horrors (module S1, 1978). GREYHAWK quests ran the gamut from low-level tasks to save local villagers from sahuagin or evil cultists up to long journeys to bizarre demiplanes (the EX1-2 "Alice" series and WG6 Isle of the Ape).

More materials on the GREYHAWK campaign appeared in published adventures and in articles in DRAGON Magazine. A variety of authors added their talents the GREYHAWK pool: Robert Kuntz, Lenard Lakofka, Harold Johnson, Jeff Leason, David "Zebb" Cook, Allen Hammack, Tom Moldvay, Lawrence Schick, David Sutherland, and others. The scope of the world broadened to include the southern tropics of Hepmonaland and the Amedio Jungle, a hidden city inside a dormant volcano, and the dreadful surprises held by a certain "dungeon" in the Barrier Peaks, about which we will see more here.

Materials were scarce for a few years before the GREYHAWK Adventures hardbook print in 1988, marking the start of the "second wave" of the campaign's life. The campaign was converted to the AD&D 2nd Edition game rules in the wide-roving adventure Fate of Istus, and the City of Greyhawk was detailed in its own boxed expansion [missing]. Carl Sargent, Rik Rose, Doug Niles, Jim Ward, Dan Salas, Nigel Findley, Anne and Richard Brown, Dale "slade" Henson, and more joined the crowd of Greyhawk [missing] and authors. Most notable in this period were the WGA1-3 "Falcon" adventure [missing] set in the City of Greyhawk, and the notorious WGA4 Vecna Lives!, which contains probably the most shocking beginning and end of any AD&D adventure published [missing] campaign years for these adventures were around 582 CY or shortly before.

The "third wave" of publications for the official GREYHAWK campaign began with the publication of David Cook's GREYHAWK Wars boxed game, which detailed [missing] cataclysmic political changes brought about by the so-called Greyhawk Wars of 582-584 CY. Carl Sargent presented the full range of consequences of the Wars [missing] From the Ashes boxed set released the following year, and a wide assortment of [missing] adventures and accessoies followed thereafter covering the Empire of Iuz, the [missing] of Nyrond and Furyondy, and the newly found realm of Rary the Traitor. The "third wave" campaign year was 585 CY. The last adventures were produced in 1993, and the campaign was supported only by magazine articles until 1998.

Now, the "fourth wave" has begun! The year is 591 CY and a new age dawns across the lands. The powers of evil that had held so much of the world in thrall have suffered [missing] setbacks, and a new balance has settled into place. The focus of this new campaign [missing] in the City of Greyhawk, which rules a small domain in the heart of the Flanaess, [missing] center of the known world. In the aftermath of the troubles of war, the people of [missing] Greyhawk and elsewhere have begun to look beyond their borders to other realms [missing] continent of Oerik, and even beyond their continent to other parts of the world known as Oerth. This period of exploration and trade, in an effort to find safe havens, lands [missing] conquer, and new resources, offers high adventure for all - but great peril too. [missing] states slowly drift toward war, and secret societies and fanatic religious cults prepare [missing] strike at the heart of law and civilization, hoping to bring horrifying regimes into [missing].

The first product designed for this new GREYHAWK campaign is the Return of the Eight book, an adventure bridging the post-Wars campaign with the new one. The product you are holding, The Adventure Begins accessory, is also a "bridge" product updating one and all on events that have transpired across the Flanaess since 585 CY [missing] also presents in detail the core of the new campaign, the City of Greyhawk and its environs, for gaming to begin anew in this marvelous realm that so many have loved. [missing] And look for the Player's Guide to Greyhawk, designed to help both new and veteran players adapt their characters to life in the Flanaess.

Welcome once more to the GREYHAWK world!