Like many late arrivals on the D&D scene, I only own the PDF of the boxed edition. Thanks for showing us the complete box contents. The Darlene maps are obviously a highlight but the promotional material they included is very cool too as it reminds us the epoch when this was published. Love the fact that your read-through focuses on the important parts of the text. Great work!
My absolute favorite RPG release of any kind. While I was just getting into AD&D in 1982 (after moving from a town where BX was played to a town where AD&D was the system of choice), the acquisition of the PHB, DMG, & MM was followed shortly thereafter by The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting AKA "Gold Boxed Set." There are four* in our house now but only one is mine (*except for my copy of the Twenty-First Century Games miniature box re-release of 2000). Our three kids each have their own copy and love the Darlene maps. I look forward to more in this series, Joe!
Your guide helped me with putting together as many pieces as I could/had for selling the item on ebay! This childhood piece isn't one I'm holding onto any longer. PS: grognard is pronounced grow-nyar. Good French word and fun youtube channel name!
I'm a 'back in the day' guy and the maps in this set are legendary. Used them for years. My only criticism is that Gary did not include hardly any info on his famous Castle. I was expecting at least a chapter. Sadly, we never did get to experience his megadungeon.
I’m a new follower and had the volume up to hear you speaking from the previous video, when that piano music for the intro almost deafened me. A better balance between the two would be appreciated. That said, great content. Thank you.
Hey Grognard. I wanted to say I've been enjoying your videos so far. Great information. You may have already made a change, but if not I would ask that your normalize your audio. Your intro is actually very loud, but your voice is fairly quiet even turned all the way up. Also you are more heavy on the left side of the stereo audio than the right, so not sure if that is setup for your mic or not. As a fellow RUclipsr (I run my own separate channel as well as stream) I know audio is 90% of the video, as weird as that seems. Thanks for the content and keep it going, love me some Greyhawk!
Have Allen Hammack or Steve Winter ever discussed what their contributions were to the set? IIRC one of them commenting somewhere that the Foreword in particular (and so the Savant-Sage and Pluffet Smedger) was their creation.
@@GreyhawkGrognard No. It was "unofficial" source material that gamers used, especially in the South Florida area. Later editions produced cannon backgrounds for Warhammer Fantasy Battles; However, Greyhawk was preferred at first because the coordinate system of the Greyhawk map facilitated better communication regarding army movements of multiple factions. It still stands out to this day.
i may ask some odd questions, as i lost all greyhawk mats (everything ever printed over 20 years) to a guy in terra haute that said he was going to build a massive GH campaign ; but he just took it all and left town so I work mostly from memory
I have the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting and have always used it as inspiration for how to create my own setting. Oddly, I have never run a game in the "World of Greyhawk." Now you have me really thinking about doing so. What do you think about setting a campaign in the World of Greyhawk [boxed set setting] (is that 576?) somewhere in the middle of the map, near Greyhawk; and using the Village of Hommlet as the starting town, and then also using: the Temple of Elemental Evil; the City of Greyhawk (and add a better map of the City of Greyhawk) and the Greyhawk Ruins. I could add in some of your supplemental material and modules as well and then make up the rest (or find other modules to use). Do you have any comments or other tips for me?
What's the tech level of greyhawk? My take was early 15th century high middle ages, feudal, no printing press. Forgotten Realms seems more renaissance.
It's a good question, and I think you need to bear in mind that a) it's going to vary from place to place, so the barbarians in the Thillronian Peninsula could have a lower level of technology than, say, Nyrond; and b) it's built into the setting's history that in the distant past the level of technology was much, much higher, and civilization has fallen into barbarism (more than once). So relics of higher technology are to be found throughout. Generally, though, I go with a 14th-15th century level of technology overall, a little higher in some cases (plated mail, jousting plate in the more civilized areas), and a little lower in others (humanoid tribes, the aforementioned barbarians, etc.). I'm pretty sure they've established that printing presses are at least introduced in certain areas, if not widespread. I think they made reference to printed flyers existing in the City of Greyhawk, for instance. But not enough for really widespread impact.
@@GreyhawkGrognard Yes I agree, some regions will of course vary in tech. Full/field plate as that from unearthed arcana should be either very rare or one off. Also agree with the printing press, i.e. it exists, but it's not a widespread industry. The illumination style art in the campaign setting books seems to reinforce this.
Thanks for the information! I was introduced to rpgs with forgotten realms. The major hurtles to my getting into Greyhawk are: - it isn't currently being pushed by WOTC - no one i know actually knows the setting - I heard there were like 52 major gods in the setting. I've taken the time to learn every God in faerun. From Azuth to Urdlen. For me, it's important that fantasy settings are like Greek epics. The gods meddle with mortal lives. All people have reverence towards the gods and woe unto those who disrespect the gods. If you are looking for some inspiration to make videos, I'd love a "Gods of Greyhawk" series going over each diety. Maybe just 1 video to each or 1 video to a set of two of them at a time?
Have you seen my 5E Greyhawk books? They're available as free downloads on the website, and there's a comprehensive Faiths of the Flanaess book in there.
I should also point out that in my current series of articles on Zihindia (the pseudo-India land on the far side of the Sea of Dust) the gods are also quite present. Each temple keeps a divine war-vehicle at the ready in case a god shows up and needs it, and there are demigods in residence in several cities.
I loved those maps. Still do, even though I haven't played in decades.
Like many late arrivals on the D&D scene, I only own the PDF of the boxed edition. Thanks for showing us the complete box contents. The Darlene maps are obviously a highlight but the promotional material they included is very cool too as it reminds us the epoch when this was published. Love the fact that your read-through focuses on the important parts of the text. Great work!
My absolute favorite RPG release of any kind. While I was just getting into AD&D in 1982 (after moving from a town where BX was played to a town where AD&D was the system of choice), the acquisition of the PHB, DMG, & MM was followed shortly thereafter by The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting AKA "Gold Boxed Set." There are four* in our house now but only one is mine (*except for my copy of the Twenty-First Century Games miniature box re-release of 2000). Our three kids each have their own copy and love the Darlene maps.
I look forward to more in this series, Joe!
You look so happy in the thumbnail, I had to watch and subscribe 😊😂
Your guide helped me with putting together as many pieces as I could/had for selling the item on ebay! This childhood piece isn't one I'm holding onto any longer. PS: grognard is pronounced grow-nyar. Good French word and fun youtube channel name!
Greyhawk is still the best of all the oerths.
The correct amount of background with lots of room for the DM to flesh out.
Still use it to this day.
I'm a 'back in the day' guy and the maps in this set are legendary. Used them for years. My only criticism is that Gary did not include hardly any info on his famous Castle. I was expecting at least a chapter. Sadly, we never did get to experience his megadungeon.
Best campaign setting ever. I picked up another decent copy on ebay fairly recently, but the prices have gotten to be outrageous.
I’m so glad I’ve found this channel
Thank you for this, My absolute favorite setting for Dungeons and Dragons.
I really love this set. All I played settings I created was in the world of greyhawk back in 1984 when I was 14
My primary campaign setting back into the day. Still have an unopened box set.
Aw Man !!! Had to subscribe , Thank you for brining back some Fantastic Memories with this set! Wish WoTC would bring Greyhawk Back!
I’m a new follower and had the volume up to hear you speaking from the previous video, when that piano music for the intro almost deafened me. A better balance between the two would be appreciated. That said, great content. Thank you.
Yeah I've got a (hopefully) better mic on the way. Not sure why the current one is so low, other than my own newness to doing all this. Thanks!
How can one get one of those Greyhawk Grognard t-shirts?
I actually had one made up years ago for cons, so people might know who I was. I never thought other folks might want one too!
@@GreyhawkGrognard Well, I'm interested for sure, and I bet there are more out there too. :D
Hey Grognard. I wanted to say I've been enjoying your videos so far. Great information. You may have already made a change, but if not I would ask that your normalize your audio. Your intro is actually very loud, but your voice is fairly quiet even turned all the way up. Also you are more heavy on the left side of the stereo audio than the right, so not sure if that is setup for your mic or not. As a fellow RUclipsr (I run my own separate channel as well as stream) I know audio is 90% of the video, as weird as that seems. Thanks for the content and keep it going, love me some Greyhawk!
Thanks for the feedback! If you look at some of the later videos, I do (hopefully!) get better at all the technical stuff, audio included. 🙂
Man, I wish I still had mine from the early 80s. But life moved on - through numerous physical moves.
I had the Folio. Terrible way to package the produc, I'm glad they shifted to a box.
Have Allen Hammack or Steve Winter ever discussed what their contributions were to the set? IIRC one of them commenting somewhere that the Foreword in particular (and so the Savant-Sage and Pluffet Smedger) was their creation.
Very OSR! Pretty Cool! Rulings Over Rules.
Him: *cough, "Forgotten Realms" *cough...
Me: ...gadzunheit 😉
I had the folio... I haven't seen the boxed version. Mostly for me the folio was about the map to help place the modules like G1, S3, T2
Greyhawk was used extensively as a campaign setting for 1e and 2e Warhammer Fantasy Battles back in the day.
I never knew that! I would love to see some of that material, if it still exists. Was it ever in White Dwarf or something like that?
@@GreyhawkGrognard No. It was "unofficial" source material that gamers used, especially in the South Florida area. Later editions produced cannon backgrounds for Warhammer Fantasy Battles; However, Greyhawk was preferred at first because the coordinate system of the Greyhawk map facilitated better communication regarding army movements of multiple factions. It still stands out to this day.
@@Surja9393 Ah, what a pity. I would have loved to see that.
i may ask some odd questions, as i lost all greyhawk mats (everything ever printed over 20 years) to a guy in terra haute that said he was going to build a massive GH campaign ; but he just took it all and left town
so I work mostly from memory
I have the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting and have always used it as inspiration for how to create my own setting. Oddly, I have never run a game in the "World of Greyhawk." Now you have me really thinking about doing so. What do you think about setting a campaign in the World of Greyhawk [boxed set setting] (is that 576?) somewhere in the middle of the map, near Greyhawk; and using the Village of Hommlet as the starting town, and then also using: the Temple of Elemental Evil; the City of Greyhawk (and add a better map of the City of Greyhawk) and the Greyhawk Ruins. I could add in some of your supplemental material and modules as well and then make up the rest (or find other modules to use). Do you have any comments or other tips for me?
What's the tech level of greyhawk? My take was early 15th century high middle ages, feudal, no printing press. Forgotten Realms seems more renaissance.
It's a good question, and I think you need to bear in mind that a) it's going to vary from place to place, so the barbarians in the Thillronian Peninsula could have a lower level of technology than, say, Nyrond; and b) it's built into the setting's history that in the distant past the level of technology was much, much higher, and civilization has fallen into barbarism (more than once). So relics of higher technology are to be found throughout.
Generally, though, I go with a 14th-15th century level of technology overall, a little higher in some cases (plated mail, jousting plate in the more civilized areas), and a little lower in others (humanoid tribes, the aforementioned barbarians, etc.).
I'm pretty sure they've established that printing presses are at least introduced in certain areas, if not widespread. I think they made reference to printed flyers existing in the City of Greyhawk, for instance. But not enough for really widespread impact.
@@GreyhawkGrognard Yes I agree, some regions will of course vary in tech. Full/field plate as that from unearthed arcana should be either very rare or one off. Also agree with the printing press, i.e. it exists, but it's not a widespread industry. The illumination style art in the campaign setting books seems to reinforce this.
Thanks for the information! I was introduced to rpgs with forgotten realms.
The major hurtles to my getting into Greyhawk are:
- it isn't currently being pushed by WOTC
- no one i know actually knows the setting
- I heard there were like 52 major gods in the setting.
I've taken the time to learn every God in faerun. From Azuth to Urdlen.
For me, it's important that fantasy settings are like Greek epics. The gods meddle with mortal lives. All people have reverence towards the gods and woe unto those who disrespect the gods.
If you are looking for some inspiration to make videos, I'd love a "Gods of Greyhawk" series going over each diety.
Maybe just 1 video to each or 1 video to a set of two of them at a time?
Have you seen my 5E Greyhawk books? They're available as free downloads on the website, and there's a comprehensive Faiths of the Flanaess book in there.
I should also point out that in my current series of articles on Zihindia (the pseudo-India land on the far side of the Sea of Dust) the gods are also quite present. Each temple keeps a divine war-vehicle at the ready in case a god shows up and needs it, and there are demigods in residence in several cities.
@@GreyhawkGrognard I have not. I just found your videos. I'll check it out!
So you're not really reading it, just commenting on it...
Well... yes. Narrating all the tables would be tedious. ;-)
اذا فيه حدا عربي يشرحلي ها اللعبه حرام ولا لا
Allah loves wonderous variety.