Grease and Blood

...or "Why I love Greyhawk".

As Erik Mona, formerly of Dragon Magazine, now of Paizo, has put it once before: "Greyhawk is my favourite setting, because grease and blood are better than high fantasy and high magic". I happen to agree.

Greyhawk was the first TSR setting for Dungeons & Dragons. And while many falsely assume it is a high fantasy setting reminiscent of Middle Earth or even the Forgotten Realms (gasp!), nothing could be further from the truth.

When you look up Gygax's Appendix N in the back of the 1st Edition DMG, there is only a handful of high fantasy literature on there. The majority of the list is made up of pulp fantasy: Robert E. Howard's Conan, Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, Moorcock. Fritz Leiber's Nehwon stories. All examples of sword & sorcery pulp adventure.

What is more, the early Greyhawk modules such as the Village of Hommlet, the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Giants/Drow series, the Slavers-series, all are examples of small-scale sword & sorcery fantasy - not the epics and high magics that define high fantasy!

Greyhawk's tone is dark. There is an evil demigod that rules an empire to the north. The main city of the setting is steeped in greed and corruption and ruled by a kleptocracy of thieves. The fading empire is mired in diabolism and decadence. The Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings of the setting are isolated enclaves beset by savage humanoids. And the good nations of the world are internally divided and occupied with their defense. This is not a setting of shining knights and epic magic, this is a setting where the might of small adventuring bands make small gains against the encroaching dark gods, slaving racists and decadent nobles.

When I was younger and just discovering D&D, I did not grasp this subtlety. Greyhawk City, Furyondy, the Empire of Iuz, the Great Kingdom - they were all backdrops for our World Tour Adventure, a sandbox of six 14-year olds cavorting through the setting and meeting as many named NPCs as possible.

But in the years since, I have come to admire the exquisite craftsmanship of this setting and the way in which it truly stands apart from Forgotten Realms' high fantasy and Dragonlance's epic fantasy. In a way, it is small fantasy. Not low fantasy, as powerful spells and magic items are still common. But Greyhawk is not about powerful NPC's sweeping in to save the day from marauding gods. Nor is it about an epic war agains evil dragons. Greyhawk is about the very human possibility to make a small change for the better in the world. And you can give me that any day.