Greyhawk Pre 1980

I came into Dungeons & Dragons a little later than I would have liked. The sad truth of the matter is that I was born too late to actually be involved in the initial printing (I was 4 years old in 1974) and in the wrong place (most of the D&D stuff was in the midwest, I live on the east coast). By the time that AD&D came along I was still too young (8 years old), but well on my way of becoming more interested in that sort of gaming. I had loved Greek Mythology as a child and continued to love sci-fi and fantasy well into my early teens. My father taking me to see Conan the Barbarian (starring Arnold Schwartzenegger) really charged me up for sword and sorcery gaming. So, in 1980, when I had a slight taste of Basic D&D for all of 2 weeks before the game was returned and DUNGEON! purchased, I began my journey into RPGs. At the age of 13 I learned about RPGs and AD&D through a school club. I later joined a group of my own, a bunch of teenage boys bored and looking to have some summer fun. It was the summer of 1983 that introduced me to the World of Greyhawk Boxed set, and the love affair bloomed!

The maps were incredible, the setting so deep and filled with a multitude of possibilities, many of which were beyond my young and inexperienced mind to realize. Sure, we played the initial adventures in a Greyhawk that was only loosely considered to be part of that world (mostly in name only), but simply using the maps was magical to me.

It wasn't until college that I learned about D&D that existed BEFORE AD&D. I had no idea that anything was produced prior to the hardcovers. Learning about Greyhawk Supplement I and the Folio were something of an eye-opener. I had no idea how the game had evolved. What mysteries lay in this booklet? Not many, I can assure you...

The Greyhawk supplement was little more than "new" rules for the game, rules that later saw print in standard AD&D. There were no maps, no explanations of cultures or background, and no secrets to be revealed. It wasn't until I started re-reading the old modules that I realized that Greyhawk as Gary ran it was NOT the published version from the Folio and later sets. Gary's Greyhawk was wide open and little explained, only some information given as pertained to the adventure at hand. If you don't believe me, try reading the intro to T1: Village of Hommlet and try to rectify it with the wilderness map provided - it does not fit. Forum discussions with Gygax revealed that his Greyhawk was a version of North America with a few pieces enlarged or reduced. The Nyr Dyv IS Lake Superior - the shape is nearly identical. The Hellfurnace and Crystalmist Mountains are the Rocky Mountains. The Scarlet Brotherhood apparently resides in Florida, and the Great Kingdom was once the American Colonies with the Malachite Throne situated either in New York or Washington D.C.

Oh well, I may never get to experience the original Greyhawk, but knowing its origins, a new one can be re-created by using my map experiences.