Oerth Journal Archives - Greyhawk Online

Greyhawk Happenings in the News

2022-12-26T15:02:07-05:00August 20th, 2022|

New Settings from WotC Announced They include both Spelljammer and Dragonlance, but no Greyhawk---none of which are big surprises, really. Perhaps I'll have more to say on this front later, but for now, that's sufficient. Virtual Greyhawk Con #3 - 30 Sept to 2 Oct 2022It's that time of year again, and Jay Scott has organized another Virtual Greyhawk Con! Event registration began today at Noon CDT, and event submission closes on 26 September; see https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022 for details.My events this year will be: Carlos Lising's _G2 The Witch Queen's Lament_ on Fri Sep 30 at 8:00 pm (4 hours) at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022/schedule/62Rob Kuntz's _Maure Castle and Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure_ on Sat Oct 1 at 7:00 pm (5 hours) at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022/schedule/63Erik Mona's _COR1-03 River of Blood_ on Sun Oct 2 at 2:00 pm (4 hours) at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022/schedule/64All are set in the World of Greyhawk (of course!) and will be run using AD&D 1st edition rules (of course!). In addition to my events (all of which still have seats open as of this posting), numerous other Greyhawk fans are running events spanning OD&D to 5e, all set in Oerth. I'm playing in three other events, and will take part in the closing Greyhawk panel discussion too:"Citadel by the Sea" from Dragon Magazine, and run by Jay Hafner in 5e; I've never played with Jay before, but am looking forward to testing out this classic adventure in my first 5e game (PC levels 1-3)"The Broken Stone Alliance" a 1e scenario for PC levels 7-9, DM'd by Michael Mossbarger. Also my first time playing with Michael."The Ravages of the Mind" by Lenard Lakofka, his final adventure: journey into Ratik's Timberway to root ... read more!

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GaryCon XIV Seminar

2022-04-18T19:51:05-04:00March 4th, 2022|

Hurrah!! It's that time of year!! GaryCon is here once again!! ... and GreyhawkOnline is gonna be there! Our very own Editor-in-Chief of the Oerth Journal, Kristoph Nolen, is going to be there, in addition to some of the authors and editors of the magazine! He'll be giving a seminar Thursday morning at 11am, helping to kick off the convention! If you're interested in more information, there's a whole page for the GaryCon Seminar There's even a virtual ticket if you can't make it in person! Get yours now! Be sure to watch all the events! It's just a little later this month (24-27 March 2022) , and we're looking forward to seeing all the special guests this year! Some of those wer're looking forward to seeing: Peter Adkison Jeff Butler Darlene Jeff Dee Jeff Easley Larry Elmore Alyssa Faden Matt Forbeck The Gygax family—Luke, Ernie, Heidi, and Alex Allan Hammack Tim Kask Diesel LaForce Matt Lillard Joe Manganiello Mike Mearls Erol Otus Jeff Perren Satine Phoenix Stefan Pokorny Ed Stark Jim Ward Margret Weis Tom Wham Skip Williams Come and see us at the Con!

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Greyhawk (and grodog) News Miscellany

2022-12-26T15:57:19-05:00August 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

2022-12-26T15:57:20-05:00August 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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Oerth Journal #35 is Released!

2022-09-23T12:35:42-04:00June 15th, 2021|

Oerth Journal #35 is Released! Volume III, no. 08 The next issue of the Oerth Journal has arrived! This time it's a Winter/Spring issue. During this very difficult time, things have slowed down a lot, and many things are simply not as active during the pandemic. There's all kinds of content from incredible authors and artists! Another issue of the Oerth Journal has arrived! There have been more issues of the Oerth Journal in the past two years than there were in more than the ten years preceding. When GHO began providing the OJ again, one of the biggest things we worried about was how overwhelming a production schedule can become. And, even though we purposely avoided doing a monthly or bimonthly schedule and set it as quarterly, that's still a lot to produce a magazine every 90 days! We're very proud to have so many contributors to the OJ that we can accomplish the goal of a quarterly magazine! It's only through the efforts of all of the artists, authors, and editors that we can make such a great magazine! Some of the articles and authors in this amazing issue are: Articles about things found during Growfest, and a wide variety of other topics! Librarian's Chronicle: Letter from the Editor - by Kristoph Nolen Scholarly Selection of Suel Secrets - by Michael Bridges Wilds of Womtham - by Rodney Hart Legends of the Gnarley Forest: Wild Ange - by Les Reno Dust Cutters - by William Dvorak Outlying Territories of Lo Nakar - by Amy Crittenden Fistful of Baubles, pt 2. - by David Leonard Omnipotent View - The Kel Avone Retna ... read more!

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Review: Oerth Journal 34

2022-04-12T19:25:51-04:00December 4th, 2020|

Review: Oerth Journal 34 The Oerth Journal #34 has arrived! Oerth Journal has hit the newsstands once again, and once again, I find an example of my humble work, A Fistful of Baubles, within its covers. Is there a theme to this issue? Not that I am aware. Past issues had a theme, but this one is a free-for-all, and it shows. There are bios, ecologies, stories, and histories. It's a mixed bag. As much as themes are thrilling, so too is the unexpected. What's my submission about? In a word: Skrellingshald. What's that, you ask? It's one of the mysterious places, or adventure hooks in James M. Ward's "Geography of Oerth" portion of Greyhawk Adventures. More specifically, my submission is a story about Hradji Beartooth's search of that mythical city in the Griff Mountains, and the treasures that may be secreted there. By the way, for those who are not in the know, Skrellingshald is the Rhizian's name for Tostenhca. You don't know what Tostenhca is? It's an ancient Flan city. Indeed, it was one of the greatest cities built by the Flan, or humans, for that matter. Pick up a copy of the module Return to White Plume Mountain to learn more. So why Beartooth's search for Skrellingshald? Because it's a quest, a dangerous one; maybe even a harrowing one. Were it not so, I'm sure someone would have discovered it long ago. Because it's a footnote in Greyhawk's history. Because it's a tale of doom brought on by Keraptis and the Ur-Flan. And because it's a tale told in the far north, a woefully underappreciated corner of the map, in my humble opinion. ... read more!

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Oerth Journal #34 is Released!

2022-03-01T12:42:05-05:00December 2nd, 2020|

Oerth Journal #34 is Released! Get Oerth Journal #34 NOW! The next issue of the Oerth Journal is here! Another season has come and gone, already. Summer's over and we're already into the back half of Autumn. Which means ... Another issue of the Oerth Journal has arrived! Hi--ho, good neighbor! Your friendly neighborhood Editor-in-chief, here! So, this issue (#34) is the seventh issue in the last two years. I mention this not only because it's awesome and incredible, but also because it's a little surprising and nerve-wracking. Never before has the Oerth Journal come out so many times so often. We'd like to thank so many of our contributors for all the articles and art they submit. Many are fan favorites, like Gary Holian and Denis "Maldin" Tetreault, but just as our goal is to promote fan-created work concentrating on Greyhawk, there's all kinds of ecologies, lore, fiction, various D&D editions, and just general GH content by a dozen different contributors. Look Who's Looking! So, surprisingly, it hadn't occurred to us that the Oerth Journal would be noticed by RPGgeek.com, sort of. We found out recently that current issues of the Oerth Journal had begun to show up in their database, and we were pleasantly surprised to find the magazine listed there! As always, there's loads of useful content in this issue - and the folks at RPGgeek are gonna have to keep up with us, because the fans are really putting out some astounding material and the Oerth Journal is just gonna have more issues in 2021! In this issue: Monsters, Famous NPCs, New NPCs, Fiction, Ecologies, and more! Librarian's ... read more!

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Oerth Journal #33 is Released

2020-06-30T11:17:00-04:00June 30th, 2020|

Another issue of the Oerth Journal has now made it to press! It's been a long row to hoe, but not really any more so than usual. *<insert winking emoji of your choice>* This was a pretty big issue, as far as publishing things. There's always a lot going on behind the scenes, but that too, is normal. About the Issue We've got a whole bunch of articles again ... this month, there isn't a "theme", per se, like some of our more current issues have had. There's almost a cornucopia of topics that ought to find a way to please most everyone! There are several articles about Dwur of various regions which tie together nicely. There's an adventure by John Roy, too! It's a sequel to his Unwelcome Guests (a free PDF download) which he published in October of 2019. And it's straightforward enough that which edition it's written for is almost irrelevant. More of Gary Holian's Death Knights are making an appearance, this time alongside an NPC featured in one of the AD&D Greyhawk Trading Cards. There's a surprising number of magical items, too ... which we might have to look at data on that and see if that's something readers want more of. Speaking of which, be sure to tell us in the comment section below what it is you'd like to see!! About the Cover Art We're especially pleased to feature cover art by one of our most well-known community artists, "LadyLoth". You can find her on both Instagram and Twitter. She's a wonderful artist and has a unique style that looks very "painterly". The piece is called Nyrondese Soldiers. One ... read more!

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The Infinite Oerths Journal 32

2020-04-03T19:26:00-04:00April 3rd, 2020|

Wonders never cease. I'm published again. Needless to say I'm thrilled. This issue has a theme, and that theme was Infinite Oerths. That may sound odd to those already familiar with the intent of Gary Gygax's setting. Gary set the stage all those years ago, and then set it free. Make it yours he said. And we did. Each created a Greyhawk of his own, and each Greyhawk was unique. That was its charm. Greyhawk, by its very nature is a study of infinite possibilities. But despite Gary's best intentions, canon slipped in through the cracks. He himself began adding to the setting's timeline in the pages of the Dragon magazine. Then others followed, and before long, these dispatches were becoming canon. And before too long, there were further sourcebooks by Sargant, Moore, Mona, and Holian. And yet more Dragon articles. We were knee deep in accepted canon. Of course, no one had to use it. Gary's invitation was still there, It will always be there. Thus was the invitation of the Oerth Journal for its 32nd issue: Infinite Oerths. What if the accepted history of Greyhawk was a little different? What if the Invoked Devistations had never happened? What if Mordenkainen had hair? He did once, after all. He looked a lot like E. Gary Gygax once, if you recall. In any event, we were asked to peek behind the curtain of what might have been, or what your personal Greyhawk had evolved into over the years. Because some Greyhawks have been evolving for such a very long time, as has Lord Gosumba's Greyhawk. I was perplexed. I was crestfallen. I'd already begun a ... read more!

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Oerth Journal #32 has Released!

2020-04-03T16:41:08-04:00April 3rd, 2020|

So, here we are ... just past the beginning of Spring! And ... we all know what that means!! A brand new issue of the Oerth Journal! The OJ doesn't always have a theme, but, when it does ... This particular issue's theme is "Infinite Oerths". We did a little discussion about the name of the theme about two or three months ago, before planning even began in earnest. We were talking with the members of the GaryCon panel for the Celebrating Greyhawk: A Fandom Renaissance seminar, and the topic of the next OJ came up. As some of you may know, we've made a custom of sorts of the OJ being given out - in print - to attendees of the seminar. And so, we were all talking about it and Bryan (Saracenus) pointed out that up 'til then we had been calling it "Alternate Oerths" ... which tends to imply that there's one which isn't alternate and is a "prime" or somehow is more "correct" than the others. That's an impression that we specifically wanted to avoid - in fact, we wanted to counter it. So, in gathering the articles and soliciting authors for the issue, we specifically used language that would encourage authors not to create "alternates", but, to take a facet of GH and make it uniquely their own. Some authors went with just a expository piece detailing something in GH that's been done different ways, and some (many) chose to create different timelines or write about one of the "infinite" possibilities of Greyhawk in home campaigns. Amongst some of the most popular, thus far, have been Gary Holian's look at ... read more!

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