[Adventure] [9577] The Adventure Begins.pdf

THE GREYHAWK

CAMPAIGN

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 gainers 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 gainers fondly recall the giants-

drow-Abyss series from 1978-1980,

and the brutal but thrilling Tomb of

Horrors (module SI, 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 to the

GREYHAWK pool: Robert Kuntz,

Lenard Lakofka, Harold Johnson,

Jeff Leason, David "Zeb" 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 say no more here.

Materials were scarce for a few years before the GREYHAWK Adventures

hardbound saw print in 1988, marking the start of the "second wave" of the

campaign's life. The world was converted to the AD&D 2nd Edition game

rules in the wide-roving adventure WG8 Fate of lstus, and the City of

Greyhawk was detailed in its own boxed expansion in 1989. 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 designers and authors. Most notable in this period were the

WGA1-3 "Falcon" adventure trilogy, set in the City of Greyhawk, and the

notorious WGA4 Vecna Lives !, which contained probably the most shocking

beginning and end of any AD&D adventure published. The campaign years

for these adventures were around 582 CY or shortly before.

The "third wave" of publications for the official GREYHAWK campaign

began in 1991 with the publication of David Cook's GREYHAWK Wars

boxed game, which detailed the 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 in the From the Ashes boxed set

released the following year, and a wide assortment of adventures and

accessories followed thereafter covering the Empire of Iuz, the Kingdoms of

Nyrond and Furyondy, and the newly founded 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 setbacks, and a new balance has settled into

place. The focus of this new campaign begins in the City of Greyhawk,

which rules a small domain in the heart of the Flanaess, the center of the

known world. In the aftermath of the troubles of war, the people of

Greyhawk and elsewhere have begun to look beyond their borders to other

realms on their 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 to conquer, and new resources, offers

high adventure for all - but great peril, too. Many states slowly drift toward

war, and secret societies and fanatic religious cults prepare to strike at the

heart of law andcivilization, hoping to bring horrifying regimes into power.

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. It 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. 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!

The Adventure Begins

REFERENCES TO EARLY

GREYHAWK PRODUCTS

In some places in this text, cross-

references are made to previously

published GREYHAWK campaign

materials. Though almost all of these

products are currently out of print,

many Dungeon Masters own these

items, or are able to purchase them at

game shops, auctions, used book

stores, and so forth, or have access to

them through the official TSR web

site on the Internet. The material in

this book is designed so that the City

of Greyhawk setting can be linked

with those earlier GREYHAWK

products in a coherent and internally

consistent campaign.

Early Greyhawk products of greatest

use to a DM using The Adventure

Begins are listed below with their

stock numbers (four digits),

designators (letter-number

combinations), release dates, and

additional notes. All AD&D game

materials produced before 1988 use

AD&D 1 st edition statistics and

formats.

Maure Castle area appears on the inside cover of this book.

• WG6 Isle of the Ape (TSR #9153, 1985). This voyage to another bizarre

demiplane begins at Tenser's Castle on the Nyr Dyv and includes

information on the Crook of Rao. This quest is assumed to occur years

before the Greyhawk Wars. The Isle could also be reached through a gate in

Castle Greyhawk's dungeons.

• T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (TSR #9147, 1985). This supermodule

greatly expands an earlier module, T1 The Village of Hommlet (TSR #9026,

1981); it takes place in the Viscounty of Verbobonc, west of Greyhawk. It

addresses the reappearance of a cult devoted to the Elder Elemental God, and

includes details on the rivalry between St. Cuthbert and luz. This quest is

assumed to have taken place prior to the Greyhawk Wars, in the mid- to late

570s.

• A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords (TSR #9167, 1986). This supermodule

collects four earlier adventures and adds new material. This far-ranging

adventure picks up where T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil leaves off,

focusing on the fight against the Scarlet Brotherhood-backed Slave Lords of

the Wild Coast and the Pomarj peninsula, south of Greyhawk. This major

quest is assumed to have been completed some years prior to the Greyhawk

Wars.

• GREYHAWK Adventures rulebook (TSR #2023,1988 ). Many of the spells,

deities, magical items, personalities, locations, and creatures appearing in

this volume could easily be added to a City of Greyhawk campaign. Of

particular interest is the information on Nerof Gasgal, Derider Fanshen, Org

Nenshen, Turin Deathstalker, Duke Karll of Urnst, Tang the Horrific, and

Guihana Mortidus. The Pits of Azak-Zil and ruins of Zarak, southeast of

Hardby, are described here, as are the Twisted Forest and Esmerin; the latter

two are fairly close to the Free City.

• WG8 Fate of Istus (TSR #9253, 1989). Events in this adventure occurred

between 576 and 582 CY. This booklet is most useful for its city maps.

Elredd, on the Wild Coast, was conquered and assumed destroyed by the

Orcish Empire in 584 CY. The city is shown here as an inland town, though

it was called a seaport in earlier works; it is assumed that a port controlled by

Elredd existed east of the city but was captured as well. The map of Elredd

may be used to guide PCs who wish to recover lost treasures in its orc-

colonized ruins. Also in this booklet are descriptions of Verbobonc, west of

Greyhawk, and Leukish, in the neighboring Duchy of Umst. (Note: A DM

should compare this description of Verbobonc with that in WGA4 Vecna

Lives! and resolve any conflicts.)

• The City of Greyhawk boxed set (TSR #1043, 1989). This presents the City

of Greyhawk and its domain as of spring, 582 CY, nine years before the

present campaign time. (Note: Disregard references to WG7 Castle

Greyhawk on page 21 of Greyhawk: Gem of the Flanaess ; instead, use

WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, placing the castle's location as given in The

Adventure Begins.) This set is highly recommended for its portrayal of the

Free City at an earlier time. The text refers to an invasion of the Shield

Lands by the Horned Society and Bandit Kingdoms in 579-581 CY; this is

not mentioned in later works but is assumed to have ended with the

withdrawal of most invaders in 582 CY, just before the Shield Lands were

invaded by Iuz that year.

• WGA1 Falcon's Revenge (TSR #9279,1990); WGA2 Falconmaster (TSR

#9289, 1990); WGA3 Flames of the Falcon (TSR #9302, 1990). This

adventure trilogy chronicles events in the City of Greyhawk that are assumed

to have taken place just

before WGA4 Vecna Lives! occurred. The plot by the villainous Falcon and

her allies to conquer the Free City was backed by Iuz.

• WGA4 Vecna Lives! (TSR #9309, 1990). This adventure details the

conflict between the Circle of Eight and the demigod Vecna, who tried to

conquer the world of the GREYHAWK campaign just before the Greyhawk

Wars began. Much material can be found here on Vecna's cult. The entire

Circle of Eight was slain by an agent of Vecna, and so would fear and hate

this cult greatly.

• C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness

(TSR #9038, 1980). This hard-to-find

adventure details the Ghost Tower,

which lies southeast of Hardby.

• WORLD OF GREYHAWK Fantasy

Game Setting boxed set (TSR #1015,

1983). This detailed overview of the

GREYHAWK campaign reveals

affairs in the Flanaess, the core

campaign lands, and more, as of 576

CY.

• EX1 Dungeonland (TSR #9072,

1983); EX2 The Land Beyond the

Magic Miiror (TSR #9073, 1983).

These two adventures were originally

connected to Castle Greyhawk (see

WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, below), as

this bizarre demiplane was reached

through a gate in the dungeons below

those ruins.

• WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic

Adventure (TSR #9112, 1984). This

adventure details the dungeons and

inhabitants below Maure Castle on

the western border of the Duchy of

Urnst. The adventure is assumed to

take place before 570 CY, perhaps as

early as 560, because of the lower

levels listed for Mordenkainen and

Bigby. Maure Castle's ruins and

dungeons in their current state can be

this adventure as "how it once

looked." An overhead map of the

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