Blogs

The Greyhawk Novels: A Reader’s Guide

2025-10-16T19:02:49-04:00August 27th, 2023|

Hey there, Greyhawkers! Curious about Greyhawk books?! We're boosting the signal, so to speak, for a rather good article written by Ollie Delano on dungeonsanddragonsfan.com about the various books and novels set in the World of Greyhawk! The Greyhawk Novels: A Reader’s Guide The guide to Greyhawk novels is very well-written, and explores the original novels by Gary Gygax, as well as the "Classics" series, the Mika Oba novels, and the murder mystery Night Watch by Robin Wayne Bailey. Even the Quag Keep and Return to Quag Keep are covered! Take a look and read about all the novels and books you may not have read, or those you haven't heard of! The Greyhawk Novels: A Reader’s Guide All the novels are great, all for various reasons. Delano does a great job reviewing the novels while remaining positive about them each, and not falling into debating anything like what might be wrong with any of them or being derogatory or negative about any of them. The novels each reflect Greyhawk in a different way. Most especially the Greyhawk Classics series (by various authors). The characters are all beloved, and everyone has favorites! "Justicar" is often a favorite of readers discovering the books for the first time. A very minor detail: the author says Night Watch takes place "several hundred years after the previous Greyhawk novels." However, the only date or timeline reference we have in the novel indicate that it is much earlier than that. From the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki: Night Watch is set in a possible future of Greyhawk. In it, "no one has heard from the Circle [of Eight] in over 50 years, Mordenkainen more than that."[2]. Also, the members of the Directing ... read more!

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Clerics of Greyhawk: Clerics of Istus

2025-10-16T19:02:55-04:00November 27th, 2022|

GreyhawkOnline is pleased to bring you another cleric subclass for clerics, in a series by the prolific and popular William Dvorak of Wicked Studios! This incredibly popular series has seen subclasses for many popular classes, like paladins, rangers, and even warlock patrons for hero-deities and demigods! Recently, William did a poll to decide on the next class, and it's CLERICS! Watch out for the next cleric subclass ... followers of the Mistress of Fate! The Clerics of Istus! Art by Natalya Saloshmat. CLICK NOW to download the Clreic of Istus subclass! Istus is the Baklunish goddess of Fate, Destiny, Divination, and the Future. Her symbol is a golden spindle with three strands. Istus is aloof and considers both mortals and other immortals beyond her concern. The fate of the universe is the only thing that draws her attention. Istus is represented by three aspects, the young, the mature, and the old, and can appear as one of them at will. Regardless of her appearance, she always carries a golden spindle with her. She uses her spindle to spin the future into the present, thus weaving the web of fate. In the doctrine of Istus, the threads of fate are woven throughout the multiverse. Your fate might be predestined, but you can alter the weave enough to alter your path slightly, thus altering your destiny. Because of this, even those who can see the threads of fate through can never see it with one hundred percent accuracy. Despite this, clerics of Istus teach that one should embrace your destiny as it has already been determined by Istus and laid ... read more!

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Clerics of Boccob

2025-10-16T19:02:59-04:00November 25th, 2022|

More and more 5e subclasses! Will Dvorak is just cranking out these amazing and inventive subclassses! He looks at lore of what we know about the faith/church, and then designs crunch specifically to follow the flavor of the fluff for the World of Greyhawk™!! This incredibly popular series has seen subclasses for many popular classes, like paladins, rangers, and even warlock patrons for hero-deities and demigods! Recently, William did a poll to decide on the next class, and it's CLERICS! The next in the series ... The Clerics of Boccob! Art by Filipe Pagliuso. CLICK NOW to download the Clreic of Boccob subclass! Boccob is the god of magic, arcane knowledge, and foresight. He is known as the Uncaring, the Lord of All Magics, and the Archmage of the Deities. His symbol is an eye in a pentagram, usually worn as an amulet. Boccob teaches that magic is the most important force in the cosmos, and critical for the balance between Law and Chaos and Good and Evil. Boccob promotes the research and creation of new spells and magical items to increase the amount of magic available to everyone. Boccob seems not to care whether he is worshiped or not. Nonetheless, he receives devotion from oracles, sages, and seers, not to mention wizards and sorcerers. He is known to every culture, even if he is known by a different name. Boccob's clerics are usually neutral, though a small minority are chaotic neutral. The church does not actively encourage others to study magic, nor does it discourage them; its primary concern is balance. CLICK NOW to ... read more!

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Clerics of Incabulos

2025-10-16T19:02:59-04:00November 21st, 2022|

Another subclass in a series by a fan-favorite creator, William Dvorak of Wicked Studios! This incredibly popular series has seen subclasses for many popular classes, like paladins, rangers, and even warlock patrons for hero-deities and demigods! Recently, William did a poll to decide on the next class, and it's CLERICS! Without further ado, here's the next installment of his series! The Clerics of Incabulos! Art by Ethan Zu. CLICK NOW to download the Clreic of Incabulos subclass! Incabulos, the god of Plagues, Sickness, Famine, Nightmares, and Disasters. Not all clerics who serve the Black Rider take pleasure in spreading pain, suffering, and death but realize it must be done to feed their master's hunger and to keep life in check. The acts of the clerics of Incabulos often seem random and without meaning to most, but his clerics firmly believe in the dark orders whispered to them by their master. With a deformed body, skeletal hands, and a nightmarish face, Incabulous is terrifying to behold, even in images. His clerics look to duplicate the fear instilled by the Black Rider by imitating his appearance. They achieve this by wearing vile-looking costumes in the shapes of deformed and rotting creatures or by actually disfiguring themselves through rituals. They will hide their hideous armor and appearance when necessary by wrapping themselves in filthy black robes trimmed in sickly green. While Incabulos is not venerated by many, most common folk throughout the Flanaess give him offerings, usually by burning foul-smelling, black candles made from the tallow of sickly animals, to appease him. Clerics of Incabulos are persecuted in most lands, and ... read more!

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Clerics of Greyhawk: Clerics of Beory

2025-10-16T19:03:01-04:00November 16th, 2022|

Greyhawk Online is pleased to present a new subclass for D&D 5e by a fan-favorite creator, William Dvorak. William has been doing subclasses at his home blog, Greyhawk Companion, for years now and they've been tremendously popular! Some of his subclasses have been warlock patrons for Heroi-deities and demigods, paladin subclasses, and rangers! Here's the next installment of his series! The Clerics of Beory! Art by Zoltan Boros CLICK NOW to download the Cleric of Beory subclass! Beory is the Flan mother of Oerth. She is a distant goddess with little concern for the individual and instead focuses on the world's health. She does not associate with other deities, even those with similar interests, as her sole concern is with the planet. Her name is well known throughout the Flanaess and considered a Flan deity primarily, but she is worshiped across Oerth by many names. Clerics of Beory can be mistaken for druids and are often found in their company. The main difference between the two is that the priests of Beory wish to teach others to love and understand nature by venerating Beory. Priests do not mind if followers worship other deities as long as they honor and adhere to Beory's doctrine. Priests are never hostile in their pursuit of teaching others the way and realize that not all can be reached. The clergy of Beory is loosely organized and differs to and respects the station of elder priests. When pressing matters of great importance occur, priests gather to try and find a solution to the problem. Problems of great importance would never be a war, ... read more!

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Greyhawk Rangers: Olman Smoke Warriors

2025-10-16T19:03:02-04:00October 25th, 2022|

Here comes another brand new D&D 5e subclass for Rangers, by one of best contributors, fan-favorite creator, William Dvorak of Wicked Studios! Greyhawk Online The is the latest in a lengthy line of Ranger subclasses William has been doing at his home blog, Greyhawk Companion, for years now. They've been enormously popular, and the fan community has been extremely excited about them. William does polls for his subclasses periodically, to see what fans want to read next. He's done rangers, paladins, and warlocks; and next he's going to do another poll! But, read on for more on this subclass for the Olman of the Amedio jungle and Hepmonaland! The Olman Smoke Warriors! Art by Qiang Zhou CLICK NOW to download the Stonefist Reavers subclass! Olman Smoke Warrior—The game mechanics for the 5e Ranger subclass. Among the common folk of the Olman people living in Hepmonaland and the Amedio jungle are those who worship Tezcatlipoca, the Smoking Mirror. This deity is the god of the sun, moon, night, scheming, and betrayals. Among these worshipers are those who throw off the bonds placed upon them by society and gain the attention of Tezcatlipoca. Hearing Tezcatlipoca's whispers, those who have gained his attention are encouraged to seek refuge away from society in the jungle where they can live a life combating the confines that civilization places upon the world. Those who listen to Tezcatlipoca become Smoke Warriors and push the boundaries of ethics and morality and seek to change their fate by force of will. After receiving the blessing of Tezcatlipoca, Smoke warriors roam the land committing ... read more!

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October in Greyhawk: Things that Go Bump in the Night

2025-10-16T19:03:02-04:00October 24th, 2022|

In October, thoughts naturally gravitate toward the undead and other things that go bump in the night, so I've compiled some of my house rules and other variant rules about undead for your Halloween-inspired gaming! Undead Variants - grodog's Standard House RulesAll undead gain a +3 hp bonus after their HD: i.e., ghouls are 2+3 HD, ghasts are 4+3 HD, groaning spirit is 7+3, etc. This is a natural extrapolation from the mid-tier undead like wight, wraith, mummy, specture, and vampire, and it does give them all a bit more staying power (and make them worth a bit more XP!). In my campaigns, zombies are now the lowest form of undead at 1+3 HD undead, and skeletons are promoted to the 2+3 HD undead: i.e., skeletons are tougher, faster (they get +1 on initiative!), and way cooler than zombies---as it should be, in the classic Harryhausen manner: Jason and the Argonauts (1963) - skeletons by Ray HarryhausenAll undead cause fear upon sight (with a range/radius of 1" per HD of the undead) in any creature with HD equal to or less than the undead's HD: i.e., zombies (1+3 HD in my games) cause fear in up to 1+3 HD monsters, and 0- and 1st-level PCs and NPCs.A save vs. Spells negates the fear, with Wisdom bonuses/penalties applicable. If the save is failed, duration of the fear is 1 round per HD of the undead minus the PC victim’s level (with a minimum duration of 1 round).For the past several years, I've used the DMG's Alternate Turning Matrix described in the table notes in the 1e DMG on page 76:The progression on the [clerical turning] table is ... read more!

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Rangers of Greyhawk: Stonefist Reavers

2025-10-16T19:03:11-04:00October 21st, 2022|

Greyhawk Online is pleased to present a new subclass for D&D 5e by a fan-favorite creator, William Dvorak. William has been doing subclasses at his home blog, Greyhawk Companion, for years now and they've been tremendously popular! Some of his subclasses have been warlock patrons for Heroi-deities and demigods, paladin subclasses, and rangers! Here's the next installment of his series! The Stonefist Reavers! Iron Ring Slavers, art by Jason Engle CLICK NOW to download the Stonefist Reavers subclass! The harsh land between the Icy Sea and the Griff Mountains is a cold and lonely place inhabited by those who sought isolation or fled there to escape war. A few hardy local flan tribes lived in the region under the loose domain of the ancient Kingdom of Tostenhca and later the Colten Feodality. As the Suel and Oeridians moved east, outcasts from those societies made their way into these lands, transforming the Fist's descendants into a motley band. Those who live there now are hard people steeped in a warrior custom of might makes right. Even the farmers and peasants of the region are a stout bunch eeking out a living from poor soil during a short growing season. To compensate for the lack of resources and in line with their warrior customs, the people of Stonefist have become feared raiders. The Suel barbarian tribes to the northeast even respect the skill of these fierce warriors. Chief among these raiders are those known as reavers. The Reavers of Stonefist are renowned slavers who take pride in capturing not just women and children but also the most competent warriors ... read more!

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grodog’s Virtual Greyhawk Con 3 Report!

2025-10-16T19:03:12-04:00October 15th, 2022|

Hola folks---As usual, I had a wonderful time at Virtual Greyhawk Con again this year, the convention's third annual installment of Flan-flinging fun! I ran three games, played in two, and participated in the closing panel again, which made for a very fun, but also very full weekend (30 Sept to 2 Oct 2022). Friday Night Only, AlasI had registered to play in Jay Hafner's 5e version of the Dragon Magazine classic adventure "Citadel by the Sea" (designed by Sid Fisher, from issue #78): "Citadel by the Sea"---artwork by Roger Raupp My thought had been that it would be cool to kick the tires on 5e for the first time in a scenario I knew pretty well, with a DM I kn0w from the days of Greytalk. Unfortunately work conspired to keep me away from Jay's table on Friday morning, but my empty spot filled up quickly, so he still ran with a full table (which I'm thankful for!). Perhaps next year, Jay!Friday night, I DM'd Carlos Lising's adventure, G2 The Witch Queen's Lament, and it was quite fun. It's always a pleasure to get to play a high-level villain, and Iggwilv is certainly one of my favorites! :DWe ran through Carlos' adventure tourney-style, and while the players were not able to complete the mission, they did plumb the depths of the vile wizard's lair that Iggwilv set them upon: Your PCs are forcibly recruited by the Witch Queen of Perrenland and geased to perform a mission on her behalf. Will you succeed and find mercy as Iggwilv restores your freedom, or will you fail in your quest and and suffer eternal consequences beyond mere death? Set ... read more!

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Astral Adventures in Greyhawk

2025-10-16T19:03:19-04:00September 25th, 2022|

The players in my Castle Greyhawk campaign have spent most of the past 11 months (since 23 October 2021) romping about in the Astral Plane, and, at long last, they're likely to return home to Oerth soon, I think. Our next session (last night, on 24 September 2022) will tell! We have been playing through my (somewhat modified) version of Anthony Huso's excellent scenario, Zjelwyin Fall (also available in PDF if you prefer): Zjelwyin Fall cover art by Daniele Valeriani As part of my work to deploy Anthony's adventure into my Greyhawk campaign, I also used this as an opportunity to define some more of the planar architecture for the setting. Some of that design work went into adjusting the framework and background for the scenario to suit my current campaign situation, and some of it was general work expanding upon the options for how the Astral Planet works in my games. I'll delve into the campaign context after we wrap up the adventure in our next session, so for now, I'll share some of the rules and design work that I used to augment Anthony's scenario. The Astral Plane in AD&D The rules governing astral travel, astral encounters, and astral monsters are (perhaps unsurprisingly) scattered across a variety of sources in 1st edition AD&D. They appear in chronological order in: Monster Manual (1977) - mostly in passing, not a lot of real planar substance Players Handbook (1978) - Astral Spell, Great Wheel planar appendix, etc. Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) - various notes, Appendix C p. 180 for one page of Astral and Ethereal wandering encounters, which notably include both the Ether Cyclone (ethereal) and ... read more!

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More Mega-Dungeon Meanderings (and on a Monday!)

2025-10-16T19:03:24-04:00August 29th, 2022|

I've been hanging out in reddit a lot more over the past few years, among its OSR, AD&D, Greyhawk, mega-dungeon, miniatures, and related old-school (and Delta Green) communities. In /osr/ the user livefreebugs posted a question at https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/wzugz6/what_elements_would_make_your_ideal_megadungeon/ asking (with my linebreak additions), I've been reading a lot of theory and perform advice on megadungeons and it seems like an area that there's a lot of room for awesome new adventures in. There's definitely a‍ risk some megadungeons run into of being repetitive or incoherent and having a huge quantity of locations over consistent quality. I think vibrant factions, multiple approaches, verticality, a sense of place/history that gives deep interconnections between areas of the dungeon, and a scale that allows for many sessions of return delves. I know it's not too controversial here but while not exactly "mega" depending on your definition I think the Caverns of Thracia is one of the better large dungeons ever made due to the integration of layout, history, occupants, into the whole and not feeling like a jumble of random rooms (though gonzo funhouses' can be sweet too). What would you look for in your perfect large/mega-dungeon that doesn't exist yet? My response follows. ==My favorite things to do in mega-dungeons, as a player or DM:Explore...: lots of room to wander around, get lost, find cool things no one else has found, pass through empty rooms/chambers/halls on the way to fun encounters! A mega-dungeon must also lead outward into the world(s), as well as pull the world into it's orbit from time-to-time....and Map!: I love to map while playing and mega-dungeons provide wonderful opportunities to do so :DInteract with Interesting characters: whether PCs ... read more!

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Happy Needfest and Merry New Year!

2025-10-16T19:03:43-04:00January 3rd, 2022|

While life has continued to wear me out (in particular my day job*), with the new year's turn, there's always a fresh bout of hope that seeps into my fingers and toes, so I'm dusting off the ol' blog once again.This post will summarize some news and updates, and help to kickstart the rest of the month's writing! News and UpdatesJason Zavoda - Greyhawk Fan and Friend - 1965-2021I have sad news to share that Jason Zavoda died on 22 December 2021. Jason was a long-time Greyhawk fan and member of its online communities dating back to AOL's late-2e heyday. Jason published his Hall of the Mountain King blog, wrote Greyhawk fan fiction, contributed articles to the Oerth Journal (and edited some issues during its Turmoil Between Editors phase), and, perhaps most importantly to Greyhawk fans, spearheaded his wondrous index of Greyhawk references in all published products. The index is an indispensable research tool, and began as a humble .TXT file that grew over the years, and was recently updated by Eric Johnson in the Greyhawk Resources Files on Facebook as a Microsoft Excel format to allow more filtering and sorting.Carlos Lising of casl Entertainment wrote a very nice Greyhawk-themed tribute to Jason in the Facebook Sages of Greyhawk group (you'll need to be a member of the group to access his story).Paul Stormberg (of The Collectors Trove and Legends of RolePlaying) and I have discussed putting together a compilation of Jason's many contributions to the Greyhawk fan community, to help ensure that they're preserved and available to the fans for years to come, and I've reached out to the GreyhawkOnline admin team on that front too. ... read more!

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Rangers of Greyhawk: Wolf Nomads, Wolf Sentinels

2025-10-16T19:03:47-04:00December 31st, 2021|

Art by Matt Forsyth As the Wolf Nomads or Wegwiur as they call themselves settled down into their new homeland in the northern Flanaess, the elite outriders of the Relentless Horde found themselves without purpose. Under the guidance of the late Kha-Khan, they scouted ahead for plunder and grazing lands. Still, they now found themselves simply wandering their new homeland without purpose. They found occasional purpose in killing the rare monster or leading raids against their former allies, the Tiger Nomads, or into Perrenland. Still, those callings were few, so their numbers dwindled. They might have even faded into legends had it not been for the rise of Iuz, and the threat of a new foe to fight. With the coming of Iuz, these once outriders evolved into the Wolf Sentinels, ranging the lands between their's and that of the forces of the Great Old One. They took prominent roles in the battles that soon followed Iuz's return and leaders in the continuous skirmishes and raids along their borders with Iuz's empire. Within the rigid structure of Wolf Nomad society, Wolf Sentinels answer only to their tribal tarkhan. When donning the ceremonial red wolves head of their station, they sever all ties to their families and clans to remain uninfluenced by clan rivalries. Wolf Sentinels take no wives and have no children so long as they remain a Wolf Sentinel. They may retire from their station if they wish and live a family life, but this usually only happens if the Sentinel has lingering injuries that keep them from performing the tasks of a Wolf Sentinel. Even when they set aside the ... read more!

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Greyhawk (and grodog) News Miscellany

2025-10-16T19:03:50-04:00August 7th, 2021|

Some updates from or of interest to World of Greyhawk fans:Virtual Greyhawk Con 2 to be held from 1 to 3 October 2021 was announced by Jay Scott, and event submissions are already live and being accepted through 29 September 2021; Event Registration begins in one week, on 15 August 2021; badges are $5 so come check it out!:Trent Foster posted his AD&D conversion notes for Gary Gygax's magnum-opus adventure, Necropolis, and he also recounts (in the links in his blog post) playing it with Gary back in the late '80sDan Boggs recently posted a map by the Dutch cartographer Daniel Hasenbos that blends the original Blackmoor campaign setting with Darlene's classic Greyhawk map (as well as with Anna Meyer's too):Zach "Zenopus Archives" Howard recently rediscovered that the published text of Lenard Lakofka's L3 Deep Dwarven Delve adventure (the last official AD&D adventure published, in the 1999 Silver Anniversary Boxed Set) was in fact much-more accurate than he had originally thoughtAnthony Huso recently posted about a cool site that allows you to build heraldry at the elements level, and I thought it might catch folks' eye, particularly Greyhawk fans: https://worldspinner.com/heraldry/device_editor/Carlos "casl Entertainment" Lising will be a Guest of Honor at GrogCon 2 in central Florida from 15-17 October 2021; Carlos will be running a new Greyhawk scenario entitled "The Witch Queen's Lament" (a title which I suggested, in fact!---and I really need to place my catch-up order on his newer titles, too)The Oerth Journal issue numbers #35, #34, and #33 are all now available to download (for free, as always) since I last plugged the zine ;)Black Blade Publishing (which I co-founded with Jon Hershberger ... read more!

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North Texas RPGCon 2021 – grodog’s games recap

2025-10-16T19:03:55-04:00August 6th, 2021|

As usual, I had a wonderful time at the North Texas RPG Con this year (3-6 June 2021)---in particular since this was the first in-person convention that I attended since NTX in 2019!Some quick NTX info, for those who are unfamiliar with the convention:Website @ https://www.ntrpgcon.com/Facebook Group @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/310434204630TableTop Events @ https://tabletop.events/conventions/ntrpgcon-2021 Black Blade BoothThese pictures showcase our Black Blade Publishing booth this year:While it was a transitional and rebuilding year, we did well at the con, and it was great to be able to showcase so many new and cool products to the attending gamers!grodog's EventsKnights & Knaves Alehouse SocialI played in the K&KA Social on Thursday night, and had a wonderful time. It's always fun to play with a very large group (15-25 players) each year and to see what mayhem erupts! This year we were slated to play OD&D (we alternate between OD&D and AD&D each year), and Nathan "tetramorph" Jennings DM'd again. We picked up from where we left off two years ago. Here are my player maps from the 2019 session: and alas, my hapless PC---who used efreeti-granted wishes to become the Lord of the Manor last time---was laid low by those meddling kids! Rest in pieces, Lord Merrak the Perspicacious, and know that you will be avenged! (In the meanwhile, he and his efreet did kill the dragon and go down in a blaze of glory! =) Nathan posted his DM-POV event summary at K&KA at https://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?p=281522#p281522, with some follow-up comments in the next page too. General discussion of the social begins on the page at https://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16739&start=135 Here are a few pics of the K&KA crew in the boardroom where we ... read more!

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