Greyhawk (supplement)

''Greyhawk'' is a supplementary rulebook written by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz for the original edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. It has been called "the first and most important supplement" to the original ''D&D'' rules. Although the name of the book was taken from the home campaign supervised by Gygax and Kuntz based on Gygax's imagined Castle Greyhawk and the lands surrounding it, ''Greyhawk'' did not give any details of the castle or the campaign world; instead, it explained the rules that Gygax and Kuntz used in their home campaign, and introduced a number of character classes, spells, concepts and monsters used in all subsequent editions of ''D&D''.

Contents

The original rules for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' were published by TSR in 1974, but were limited in scope: the character classes and monsters listed were small in number; and for combat rules, players needed to have a copy of ''Chainmail'', a rulebook for miniatures wargames published by Guidon Games in 1971. Over the next two years, TSR bolstered the original rules with five supplemental books. ''Greyhawk'' was the first of these supplements, named after Gary Gygax's home campaign.

The 2004 publication '' 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons'' suggested that details of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign were published in this booklet. However Gygax had no plans in 1975 to publish details of the Greyhawk world, since he believed that new players of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' would rather create their own worlds than use someone else's. In addition, he did not want to publish all the material he had created for his players; he thought he would be unlikely to recoup a fair investment for the thousands of hours he had spent on it, and since his secrets would be revealed to his players, he would be forced to recreate a new world for them afterward. In fact the only two references to the Greyhawk campaign were an illustration of a large stone head in a dungeon corridor titled ''The Great Stone Face, Enigma of Greyhawk'' and mention of a fountain on the second level of the dungeons that continuously issued an endless number of snakes.

''Greyhawk'' instead focused on new game rules that had been developed by Gygax and Kuntz during long hours of home play. The 68-page supplement also introduced new character classes (thief and paladin), as well as new combat rules, spells, monsters, and treasures. ''Greyhawk'' included new rules on weapon damage varying by weapon. The supplement added new treasure and magic items, and new spells, including 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells. The supplement also included a section on monsters, introducing the lizard men, beholders, displacer beasts, blink dogs, carrion crawlers, and many others.

Publication history

''Greyhawk'' was already in process at the time of TSR co-founder Don Kaye's death in January 1975, and was published in early March. It was designated ''Supplement I'' and given a product designation of TSR 2003. Many of the new rules presented in the supplement eventually became standard parts of the ''AD&D'' game. A second supplement, ''Blackmoor'', followed later the same year.

Illustrations for the supplement were provided by Greg Bell, who had previously met Gygax while playing wargames, and had already provided some illustrations for the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' boxed set. Gygax often contacted Bell at the last minute for artwork; as a result, Bell sometimes responded by copying figures from the pages of comic books. His illustration of a sword-wielding warrior on the cover of the ''Greyhawk'' supplement is a copy of "Dax the Damned" by Esteban Maroto from a 1974 issue of ''Eerie''.

Judges Guild's '' Ready Ref Sheets'' (1977) collected together 20 pages of charts from the original ''D&D'' box, ''Chainmail'', and ''Greyhawk''. Material from ''Greyhawk'', along with the original ''D&D'' and the ''Blackmoor'' and ''Eldritch Wizardry'' supplements, was revised for J. Eric Holmes' ''Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set'' (1977).

In 2013, the ''Greyhawk'' supplement was reproduced as a premium reprint of the original "White Box" D&D rules. Each booklet features new cover art but otherwise is a faithful reproduction of the original.

Reception

Lawrence Schick, in his 1991 book ''Heroic Worlds'', calls ''Greyhawk'' "The first and most important supplement to ''Original D&D''".

Shannon Appelcline, in his 2011 book ''Designers & Dragons'', considers ''Greyhawk'' an "innovation" because at the time "supplements were largely unheard of in the wargaming industry. Though games were frequently revised and reprinted, continually expanding a game was something new."

Journalist David M. Ewalt wrote that the supplement helped dungeon masters to learn how to create adventures through examples, bridging "the gap between players who leared the game at Gary's table and those who picked it up in a hobby store." Ewalt valued that ''Greyhawk'' showed that ''Dungeons & Dragons'' was meant to be adapted and evolved by the players beyond the original rules to make it most suitable for each individual gaming group.

See also

*World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting

References

External links

*http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10468.phtml

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greyhawk (Supplement)
1975 books
Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks
Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1975