Greyhawk D&D Supplement 1

Flip through this 1975 supplement by Gygax and Kuntz
**Pre-order your copy of Geek Gamers' SOLO GAME MASTERS GUIDE, coming soon from Modiphius

[bernardgodfrey]

Greyhawk was my first D n D campaign game. It was great fun with the hex map and you could integrate everything into it. Isle of Dread being my fondest memory of that epoch. Really good synopsis. Thanks.

[beneaththefells]

A "Boklet" sounds like a really cute creature. A fantastic supplement to any adventure.

[Sinofdamnationk]

Great post. Our DM used Greyhawk as the framework for a 9 year long campaign started somewhere in late 88. Have loads of second edition books stored away somewhere. Thanks for the nostalgia. Really miss those all night d&d games fueled w caffeine and crappy pizza and good friends.

[captcorajus]

I REALLY enjoyed going through this with you a lot. So much excellent lore in this supplement, and IMHO, a lot of character. Very evocative what you read. Thank you!

[sentino]

I’m more of a 1st edition kid. This was before I even knew what dnd was. These initial versions
was raw and pure. No regard for elaborate formatting here. Wow. Very cool. I love how simple the beholder looks compared to today’s 5e version.

[alejotm]

You're on fire lately! Thanks for showing this.

[chrism.]

That was before my timing (for gaming anyway), thanks for the look inside. I remember one of the things my mom wasn’t real happy about when I was a kid was some of the “spicy” art in my D and D books and modules. LOL! The D and D/satanism panic in the 80s and some of the more occult art in the books earned me a visit form our pastor. Turns out he was a huge Tolkien fan and ok D and D, so I got to keep all my stuff. He actually put my parents at ease!

[bluebotic]

Good stuff. Thanks for your take on this classic!

[MrGentleBrutal]

You've mentioned in a few of your videos about not having a ready supply of miniatures for playing out some of the encounters. The idea of pulling out the Greyhawk book (and remembering the accompanying Chainmail rule set) reminded me that it's very easy to DIY a large collection of cardboard counters using any basic "paint" program, a few cut-and-paste fantasy images, and some spray adhesive.

Since I also run games over zoom (with a head's down camera showing the table top) these are actually MORE useful than miniatures, since they are easier to distinguish. I usually color-code the outlines too. But you can make a whole army in an afternoon with a little ingenuity... about 100 times faster than you could actually paint a collection of miniatures. AND about 1% of the cost.

D

[kenhoba]

I love this. I really like these old books and old rpgs. This is especially fun as it will probably never end up in my collection. Fun to see. Thanks!

[MrGentleBrutal]

Also, a book suggestion: Charles Stewart Grant - Programed War Games Scenarios

An outstanding resource for mass battles (or even small skirmish actions) since it provides a great system for non-player character decision making.

The drawback of a lot of solo play is that it is VERY difficult for your opponent to "surprise" you or to create the "fog of war." CSG comes up with a really effective way for determining how your "opponent" will act, forcing you to face Moltke's old adage "No plan survives contact with the enemy."
Even if miniature games (or wargames in general) are not your thing, it is a great way to motivate the opposing forces in an RPG of any genre.


The book has some really good versatility too, since it has scenarios "set ups" for an assortment of eras; Ancient, medieval, Napoleonic, and modern (which could translate in turn to sci-fi.

[joshuaanderson]

Sweet video and thanks for recommending this :)
You've inspired me to solo play Greyhawk XD

[skulptor]

Nice bit of time travel. I started playing D&D with the white box set. Both Greyhawk and Blackmoor seemed to be tantalisingly incomplete and infuriating. The production seemed amateur with typos as you indicate and odd formatting and resembled many fanzines and local D&D mags available then. .GDG&H and Eldritch w<izardry seemed to have little relevance to our games I can remember. (I still have Cavaliers and Roundheads somewhere!) Only the gods know wher emy copies went....we were 14 15 at the time and really wanted a little more help in running games andcampaigns. Even when th eCity State of the invincible Overlord appeared it was quite sketchy.thanks for the nostalgia shot!

[andysimmons]

Thank you for sharing this, it’s good to see the origins of the RPG hobby. I really enjoyed your flick through. I noted that magic user spells 12-18 were blank. Was the “referee” (DM) supposed to create their own spells? I was also surprised to see that the dice sets did not include percentile; you had to buy those separately. This is a wonderful glimpse into the past of gaming and took me back to my earliest days of playing D&D; although this version predates those early games.

[aspektx]

I keep hoping they'll re-release these as a POD.

[jungar]

Never knew that there were such thing as solo rpg and other tabletop games.
Thank you for the videos.
Also what camera do you use?

[LordOfMetal]

Love your videos, especially the ones about RPGs. What are your thoughts about Greg Stafford's Pendragon? I've heard it's good for soloing!
Keep up the quality content :)

[davedogge]

Interesting. I thought Greyhawk was released for the 3rd edition D&d (red box) set first not before.

[rsedan]

Thanks for all your videos. You probably hear this a lot, but you have very nice hands.