Excellent video.Glad you covered the new Basic/Expert game- didn't even know it had a physical version yet!!. And also covering a another rare rpg by RPGPundit.
For the "China" setting, I agree and also recommend his book, "Swords of WuXia" Which I own and did a brief page thru of on "The D&D 50th anniversary special" on my channel. Similar to the old AD&D tome, "Oriental adventures" in flavor, it is nonetheless superior to it in quality and creativity. A MUST OWN, IMO.
I never felt the need to go beyond the Flanaess. Greyhawk always seemed large and diverse enough to cover anything I needed. The point of a setting for me was always to play within its framework, to give guidance to your stories, to ground them, etc. In Greyhawk you already had more cultures, countries, peoples, etc. to all the stories you need. IMO, Greyhawk had more options for settings than FR, Arcanis, Ravenloft, and most others. I think the only time I even considered it was when we first got the 1e Oriental Adventures, and we ended up going with what they had in the book anyway.
Hello Sir Grognard! I love the ability to put these intriguing cultural analogs into role-playing games; using these books as tools to create believable "Mayan" and "Chinese" settings into Greyhawk, or any other game, is a great suggestion. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed this!
One of the character ideas I have in the backburner is a human rogue, Xià Lóngyan, who would arrive in the Flanaess as an ambassador from the "Celestial Empire of Shàofèng" (based on a name variation given in a digital "Behind the Screen" article about _Greyhawk)._ I've been trying to piece together whatever stray bits of lore I could find, not just from _Dragon Magazine_ but 3e's _Chainmail_ and _Living Greyhawk Journals_ as well - Shàofèng's northwest neighbors, the High and Low Khanates, have a populace compared to the horse-riding Baklunish, and the warband of Ahmut were referred to as the "Baklien" in a _Dragon Magazine_ article. Furthermore, Ahmut's Legion attacked the Elven empire of Ravilla from the southeast, which would put them within the vicinity of the Khanates just over the ("Dragonspine") Mountains. Similarly, the Azor'alq entry in _LGJ #3's_ "Blood of Heroes"_ article details how the first Emperor of the Baklunish fled his "defiled homeland" with his family, being defended by Azor'alq against the "minions of Darkness" whilst crossing the "desolate western (Tyurzi) mountains." It makes me think that the Baklunish and the Baklien peoples share a common ancestor within Shàofèng, but that there was a split millennia ago that led to the eastward migration and settlement of the Baklunish… _and_ could explain why some elements of their culture are East Asian-inspired despite being predominately Arabian-inspired (Genie influence, perhaps?). Likewise, the Khanates could be the result of _another_ expulsion (explaining why Shàofèng is building a "Great Wall" to keep them at bay as they did with the Orcreich). It fascinates me just how similar _and_ how different Shàofèng would be compared to China, considering their neighbors and it's geography (being more "landlocked," with a huge mountain chain to the west and two barren wastelands beyond an eastern mountain chain). I also find it amusing that one of the native names for China, "Zhōngguó," can translate as "Middle Kingdom," and Shàofèng's geography puts it square in the _middle_ of the Oerik continent. (Their possible connection with the Baklunish, as well as the geography presented in _Dragon Annual #1,_ also helped me determine some of Lóngyan's language choices: Euroz-vocca [Orc tongue], Fèngyǔ [native language], and Osfaradd [Zeif dialect of Ancient Baklunish].) To help further flesh out Shàofèng's culture, I've been working on a fable of sorts to explain Oerth's two moons: _"Yíntù ('Silver Hare'), proud of his speed, challenged Yùguī ('Jade Tortoise') to a race around the world, to see who could run the most laps within one year._ _Yùguī saw no reason to prove such an endeavor, but decided to sate Yíntù's curiosity and abided by the rules._ _After a year had passed, Yíntù had raced around the world thirteen times, while Yùguī had raced around the world a mere four._ _Yíntù remained ever proud of his accomplishment, until Yùguī reminded him that they both ended up back where they had started, and that this endeavor had proved nothing of consequence._ _Failing to understand any lesson, the proudful Yíntù once more challenged Yùguī to a race - under the same conditions - and Yùguī, relenting, abided."_
For the record, that World map was made by someone at TSR long after Gygax left, and when shown it years later at a GenCon he reportedly said "Yeah, that's NOT my Greyhawk, it would have contained Tekumel, the Empire of the Petal Throne, if i had made it." Lands like Zindia, Erypt, Celestiial Imperium, etc, were just analogs of earth cultures, definitely not his style. His cultures were unique and original, not carbon copies of Earth's lands.
Excellent video, another Chinese book would be Codex Sinarum from TLG for use with C&C, but could be converted as well. Is there a Greyhawk area where a "Japan/Kara-Tur" would be?
Due south is nothing but ocean and islands (first the Azure Sea, and then the Peal Ocean), but if you go southeast you hit Hepmonaland and the Touv peoples, and to the southwest beyond the Sea of Dust, you get Zihindia, Nippon, and so forth.
@@GreyhawkGrognard Awesome! I'll wait until you give it a thumbs up or down then. Just to make sure the info inside it is actually correct considering its a WOTC product. lol
I always hated that map of Oerik, it looks so bad and so never used it. I went by the map in the gold box and made my own map for the rest of Oerik and the the rest of Oerth
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you so much for the shout-out. I'm glad you liked Macuahuitl. You did a good job pronouncing Macuahuitl too!
Excellent video.Glad you covered the new Basic/Expert game- didn't even know it had a physical version yet!!. And also covering a another rare rpg by RPGPundit.
For the "China" setting, I agree and also recommend his book, "Swords of WuXia" Which I own and did a brief page thru of on "The D&D 50th anniversary special" on my channel. Similar to the old AD&D tome, "Oriental adventures" in flavor, it is nonetheless superior to it in quality and creativity. A MUST OWN, IMO.
Thanks for the shout out. Sword & Caravan would likely have a lot of utility for the more exotic regions of Greyhawk as well.
I never felt the need to go beyond the Flanaess. Greyhawk always seemed large and diverse enough to cover anything I needed. The point of a setting for me was always to play within its framework, to give guidance to your stories, to ground them, etc. In Greyhawk you already had more cultures, countries, peoples, etc. to all the stories you need. IMO, Greyhawk had more options for settings than FR, Arcanis, Ravenloft, and most others. I think the only time I even considered it was when we first got the 1e Oriental Adventures, and we ended up going with what they had in the book anyway.
Hello Sir Grognard! I love the ability to put these intriguing cultural analogs into role-playing games; using these books as tools to create believable "Mayan" and "Chinese" settings into Greyhawk, or any other game, is a great suggestion. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed this!
Thanks for the video! Good to have a breadth of sources!
Nice job fleshing out Oerth.
Great information on materials to help flesh out Oerth. Thank you very much for your hard work and keeping Greyhawk alive.
One of the character ideas I have in the backburner is a human rogue, Xià Lóngyan, who would arrive in the Flanaess as an ambassador from the "Celestial Empire of Shàofèng" (based on a name variation given in a digital "Behind the Screen" article about _Greyhawk)._
I've been trying to piece together whatever stray bits of lore I could find, not just from _Dragon Magazine_ but 3e's _Chainmail_ and _Living Greyhawk Journals_ as well - Shàofèng's northwest neighbors, the High and Low Khanates, have a populace compared to the horse-riding Baklunish, and the warband of Ahmut were referred to as the "Baklien" in a _Dragon Magazine_ article. Furthermore, Ahmut's Legion attacked the Elven empire of Ravilla from the southeast, which would put them within the vicinity of the Khanates just over the ("Dragonspine") Mountains.
Similarly, the Azor'alq entry in _LGJ #3's_ "Blood of Heroes"_ article details how the first Emperor of the Baklunish fled his "defiled homeland" with his family, being defended by Azor'alq against the "minions of Darkness" whilst crossing the "desolate western (Tyurzi) mountains." It makes me think that the Baklunish and the Baklien peoples share a common ancestor within Shàofèng, but that there was a split millennia ago that led to the eastward migration and settlement of the Baklunish… _and_ could explain why some elements of their culture are East Asian-inspired despite being predominately Arabian-inspired (Genie influence, perhaps?).
Likewise, the Khanates could be the result of _another_ expulsion (explaining why Shàofèng is building a "Great Wall" to keep them at bay as they did with the Orcreich). It fascinates me just how similar _and_ how different Shàofèng would be compared to China, considering their neighbors and it's geography (being more "landlocked," with a huge mountain chain to the west and two barren wastelands beyond an eastern mountain chain). I also find it amusing that one of the native names for China, "Zhōngguó," can translate as "Middle Kingdom," and Shàofèng's geography puts it square in the _middle_ of the Oerik continent.
(Their possible connection with the Baklunish, as well as the geography presented in _Dragon Annual #1,_ also helped me determine some of Lóngyan's language choices: Euroz-vocca [Orc tongue], Fèngyǔ [native language], and Osfaradd [Zeif dialect of Ancient Baklunish].)
To help further flesh out Shàofèng's culture, I've been working on a fable of sorts to explain Oerth's two moons:
_"Yíntù ('Silver Hare'), proud of his speed, challenged Yùguī ('Jade Tortoise') to a race around the world, to see who could run the most laps within one year._
_Yùguī saw no reason to prove such an endeavor, but decided to sate Yíntù's curiosity and abided by the rules._
_After a year had passed, Yíntù had raced around the world thirteen times, while Yùguī had raced around the world a mere four._
_Yíntù remained ever proud of his accomplishment, until Yùguī reminded him that they both ended up back where they had started, and that this endeavor had proved nothing of consequence._
_Failing to understand any lesson, the proudful Yíntù once more challenged Yùguī to a race - under the same conditions - and Yùguī, relenting, abided."_
Thank you for your wonderful content, you are making excellent videos.
For the record, that World map was made by someone at TSR long after Gygax left, and when shown it years later at a GenCon he reportedly said "Yeah, that's NOT my Greyhawk, it would have contained Tekumel, the Empire of the Petal Throne, if i had made it." Lands like Zindia, Erypt, Celestiial Imperium, etc, were just analogs of earth cultures, definitely not his style. His cultures were unique and original, not carbon copies of Earth's lands.
I'm well aware. But that's what we've got.
Excellent video, another Chinese book would be Codex Sinarum from TLG for use with C&C, but could be converted as well. Is there a Greyhawk area where a "Japan/Kara-Tur" would be?
Yes, to the south of Zihindia, the DA1 map shows a land called Nippon. Needs a better name, though...
Those are pretty damn cool!
Very nice and helpful video
What happens if you go south of the Flanaess?
Due south is nothing but ocean and islands (first the Azure Sea, and then the Peal Ocean), but if you go southeast you hit Hepmonaland and the Touv peoples, and to the southwest beyond the Sea of Dust, you get Zihindia, Nippon, and so forth.
Good information
Off subject...but are you going to critic the "The Making of Original D&D 1970-77" book? I figured I'd ask before taking a chance on it.
Not immediately. I won't buy it new, so I'll have to wait until I find a used copy.
@@GreyhawkGrognard Awesome! I'll wait until you give it a thumbs up or down then. Just to make sure the info inside it is actually correct considering its a WOTC product. lol
I'd toss in Quendor.
🐉🐉🐉🐉
I always hated that map of Oerik, it looks so bad and so never used it. I went by the map in the gold box and made my own map for the rest of Oerik and the the rest of Oerth