Perhaps this is a silly question - but please bear with me. I'm still trying to catch up after my seven-year absence from D&D.
So, there is the From the Ashes boxed and the Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins sourcebook. I noticed that Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins is published by WotC and that From the Ashes is published by TSR. So, are they in chronological order? Meaning, FtA is first and GtAB is second.
I am going to get FtA, for certain. Is GtAB a valuable GH item to have?
As usual, thanks in advance. _________________ -------- Don (Storm) --------
"Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed."
So, there is the From the Ashes boxed and the Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins sourcebook. I noticed that Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins is published by WotC and that From the Ashes is published by TSR. So, are they in chronological order? Meaning, FtA is first and GtAB is second.
I am going to get FtA, for certain. Is GtAB a valuable GH item to have?
Depends.
Do you have Living Greyhawk Gazetteer? Most of the overall setting information in G:tAB is summarized and expanded upon therein. Also, do you plan to center your campaign in or near Greyhawk City? If so, do you have the City of Greyhawk boxed set? If you want to focus on Greyhawk City and don't have that set, G:tAB has a lot of the material needed to run a campaign there. It's essentially an update to the material from the boxed set, moving the timeline forward a few years and updating some of the characters and plots from the earlier work.
All things considered, if you're not going to focus on Greyhawk City, you might want to pass on G:tAB and just pick up the Player's Guide to Greyhawk (the companion piece to G:tAB, also released by WotC in 1998) and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. If you're serious about running a greyhawk game with some notion of canon, you'd do well to skip the Dungeons & Dragons Gazetteer (WotC 2000) and just get the LGG. The D&DG is just a slimmed down version of the LGG for folks wanting to use Greyhawk in its incarnation as the core world for 3rd Edition D&D without being bogged down by Greyhawk Canon. Aside from completing a Greyhawk collection for collecting sake, it's not worth much to a DM who has access to the other Greyhawk materials we've mentioned here.
Just for reference, here's a list of the major works for Greyhawk, in chronolgical order (and to answer your question, they do expand the setting in chronological order, bumping ahead a few years each time):
World of Greyhawk Campaign Setting Folio
World of Greyhawk Campaign Setting Box Set
Note: The above two products are essentially the same, laying the foundation of the setting, it's not necessary to get both to run a game.
Greyhawk Adventures Hardback Sourcebook
City of Greyhawk Box Set
(Greyhawk) Wars Box Set/Wargame
From the Ashes Box Set
Player's Guide to Greyhawk Softbound Sourcebook
Greyhawk: the Adventure Begins Softbound Sourcebook
Dungeons & Dragons Gazetteer Softbound Sourcebook
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer Softbound Sourcebook
If you can get it, the Dragon Magazine CD Archive is also a great resource. Early issues of the magazine have a wealth of articles by Gygax, Kuntz and Lakofka describing bits and pieces of Greyhawk lore.
Also, the Living Greyhawk Journal magazine (first as a stand alone mag for RPGA members, then as a section of Dragon, and currently as a section of Polyhedron, which is in turn a section of Dungeon) is a great resource if you can find the back issues cheap. _________________ What would Raxivort do?<br />
Very nice, thanks for the detailed response, Rich. That helps
I did invest in Erik Mona's LGG, and it's been useful to a pretty good extent. I also have the old, original Greyhawk Campaign Setting boxed (I've never heard of or seen the Folio), Greyhawk Adventures and the an old Greyhwak City: Gem of the Flanaess boxed set.
We don't play in or near Greyhawk city. So, it looks like it's not too pressing for me to get G:tAB right away. I'd still like to get that and FtA, for sentimental reasons.
Cool, thanks again. _________________ -------- Don (Storm) --------
"Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed."
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