Original D&D Discussion - Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?

« Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign? »

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
May 21, 2013, 9:55pm

Original D&D Discussion :: Gaming with Dave and Gary and Rob :: Gary Gygax' Greyhawk :: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?

« Page 2 of 2 Jump to page Go

Author

Topic: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign? (Read 2,938 times)

koralas
Level 0 Flunky
member is offline

Joined: Jan 2012
Gender: Male

Posts: 1
Karma: 1

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #15 on Jan 14, 2012, 6:09pm »

Jan 4, 2012, 6:38am, SMKSensei wrote:

What about this one that Jason links to:

http://www.grey-elf.com/Greyhawk_Yggsburgh_map.gif

Wow, great to see this map still out and in use and being updated after so many years. I originally drew this in back in the hey days of the TSR Online forums of AOL (I was TSRO Bocob, misspelled I know, but that was due to AOL's name length limits)... Heck I even got TSR's permission to post them for general use back then!

The originals were in separate files, split by the folds in the original Darlene maps. The multiple file format was chosen due to memory restriction on my Win 3.1 PC way back when, and to keep the DL size lower since that was the day of 14.4 modems! This is why you see some anomalies like some place names being duplicated, like the Land of Black Ice, the Burneal Forest and the Yatil Mts. And if I remember correctly, I misspelled one of the city names off in the east.

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Zenopus
Level 8 Warlock

member is offline

[avatar]

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 799
Karma: 95

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #16 on Apr 24, 2012, 10:31am »

Here's some info on the original Greyhawk Campaign map from Gygax's letter A&E#15 (Oct 76):

"The game world is a parallel earth, but the continents are somewhat different. Most of our campaign activity takes place on what corresponds to North America, on the eastern half of the continent. The "Blackmoor" lands lie far up on the northeast coast. "Greyhawk" is in the central portion. There are a few other independently run campaigns located on this map. There are also some other dungeons related to the "Greyhawk" campaign located at some distance from the free city of Greyhawk. Players in our campaign may freely play in "Blackmoor", but to get there they must adventure cross country. With one or two other campaigns, we do not allow any cross-campaign play other than this, for these is too great a disparity of DMing. The territory within 500 or so miles of our main dungeon is mapped out at 5 miles to the hex. Territory within 50 miles of Greyhawk city is mapped more closely, and monster locations are indicated. The entire world is mapped out in rough form, with notes regarding typical encounters in given areas as well as particular special places, for hardy souls who wish to go forth to seek their fortunes."

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

"Story tellers are always careful to point out that the reputed dungeons lie in close proximity to the foundations of an older, pre-human city, to the graveyard, and to the sea.”
- Holmes rulebook

Zenopus Archives - Holmes Basic D&D - website & blog

DungeonDevil
Level 6 Magician

member is offline

[avatar]

Put Me In That Dungeon.

Joined: Sept 2010
Gender: Male

Posts: 387
Karma: 5

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #17 on Apr 24, 2012, 1:12pm »

Great map indeed! However I fail to see a border between MN and IA, unless my colour-blindness is playing tricks with me. BTW, what would the scale be for those hexes?

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

YE AULD SKÜL

havard
Level 6 Magician

member is offline

[avatar]

Skandaharian

Joined: Jun 2008
Gender: Male

Posts: 479
Location: Norway, Europe
Karma: 8

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #18 on Apr 24, 2012, 3:19pm »

I suspect that Gygax' original map had the entire east coast under water, so that the border between Michigan and Indiana effectively became the new east coast. Blackmoor was located in Minnesota and Greyhawk was located in Michigan, probably near Lake Geneva. This is just speculation, but I think I am right

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Visit my Blackmoor Website:
http://www.blackmoor.mystara.us/
Visit my Blackmoor Blog:
http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/

jamesm
Level 8 Warlock

member is offline

[avatar]

Whipping Boy

Joined: Dec 2007
Gender: Male

Posts: 813
Location: The Echo Chamber
Karma: 24

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #19 on Apr 24, 2012, 5:54pm »

If you look at the published map of the Flanaess (1980), even though it is not identical to Gary's original, North America-based map, the relationships are still much the same -- Greyhawk in the center near a large lake, Blackmoor northwest of that in the frozen north, the Great Kingdom to the east, etc. The Flanaess even looks a bit like North America, albeit warped.

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

James Maliszewski,
Writer and Sleep-Deprived Dad
Grognardia

Zenopus
Level 8 Warlock

member is offline

[avatar]

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 799
Karma: 95

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #20 on Aug 10, 2012, 3:14pm »

Here are my thoughts on the location of Blackmoor and Greyhawk on the original Great Kingdom map that is reprinted in Playing at the World:

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-weird-enclave-of-blackmoor.html

« Last Edit: Aug 10, 2012, 3:18pm by Zenopus »

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

blackbarn
Level 7 Enchanter

member is offline

Joined: Apr 2008
Gender: Male

Posts: 537
Karma: 30

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #21 on Aug 14, 2012, 12:36pm »

Aug 10, 2012, 3:14pm, Zenopus wrote:

Great post, thanks and exalt for that.

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

funkaoshi
Level 3 Conjurer

member is offline

Joined: Jun 2012
Gender: Male

Posts: 88
Location: Torotno
Karma: 16

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #22 on Aug 14, 2012, 1:05pm »

I am pretty sure there is a copy of the map in the book Playing at the World, which just came out. Some discussion on the Mule Abides.

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

havard
Level 6 Magician

member is offline

[avatar]

Skandaharian

Joined: Jun 2008
Gender: Male

Posts: 479
Location: Norway, Europe
Karma: 8

Re: Map of the Original Greyhawk Campaign?
« Reply #23 on Sept 15, 2012, 11:08am »

Aug 10, 2012, 3:14pm, Zenopus wrote:

I keep going back to this article Zenopus. Great work.

Can't believe how long I was speculating on what that map may have looked like. Now we finally know

-Havard

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Visit my Blackmoor Website:
http://www.blackmoor.mystara.us/
Visit my Blackmoor Blog:
http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/

« Page 2 of 2 Jump to page Go

Click Here To Make This Board Ad-Free