Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:41 pm Post subject: The Inclusive List of Greyhawk Fiction
This is a list of every non-rules product that tells a story in Greyhawk. There are other lists of Greyhawk fiction on the internet and we each have our own lens of what we consider relevant. I like to error on the side of a broad list so the reader can decide what to exclude. I started compiling this because there was no complete listing of Greyhawk stories from Dragon Magazine, there was no complete list of GH video game materials, and no list included all of the unpublished novels. Lists of the coloring books, graphics novels, and records exist, but not as they pertain to Greyhawk.
The following attempts to include all "Warduke-hawk" material by LJN and Marvel. When Paizo canonized Warduke, they peripherally connected his allies and enemies to the Flanaess. Not included are the D&D cartoons. If anyone can tell me which episodes/seasons Warduke or his cohort appear, please let me know.
Also not yet included is short fiction from the WotC website that appeared during the 3E era. I'm vaguely aware there were online stories to promote products and the GH-lite novels. If anyone has a list, please let me know.
I don't doubt sources are missing. This is a first pass. I'll continue to clean it up and organize footnotes and credits. The Black Moon Chronicles still have to be added.
Short Stories
"The Gnome Cache" (Dragon #1,2,3,5,6,7) by Garrison Ernst AKA Gary Gygax
"At Moonset Blackcat Comes" (Dragon #100, 1985) by Gary Gygax.
"Ren O' the Star, The Thief" by James Ward (appears in the Hillsfar Cluebook, Strategic Simulation, Inc., 1989)
"Robilar Remembers: Journey to the City of the Gods" by Robert J. Kuntz (Oerth Journal #7, 1998).
"Evening Odds" by Gary Gygax (appears in Pawn of Chaos, edited by Ed Kramer, published by White Wolf, 1999).
"By the Job" (Dragon #271, 2000) by Paul Kidd
"Keoland Blues" (Dragon #278, 2000) by Paul Kidd
"Prying Eyes" (Dragon #303, 2003) by Johnny L. Wilson
"The Return of Gord" (Dragon #344, 2006) by Gary Gygax and K.R. Bourgoine.
"Lich Pitch" (appears in Heroes and Magic, published by Eldritch Entertainment, 2012) by J.F. Mentzer.
WotC Web Fiction
"Constructs or Undead?" (Return of the Damned, 2003) by Robert Wiese
"Dangers of the City" (The Death Ray, 2003) by Robert Wiese
"Return to the Steading" (Dragon+ #11, 2016) by Bart Carrol
Miscellaneous Novels
Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961) by Poul Anderson
Quag Keep (1979) by Andre Norton.
Nightwatch (1990) by Robin Wayne Bailey
The Rod of Seven Parts (1996) by Douglas Niles
King of the Dead (1996) by Gene De Weese
A Thief in the Tomb of Horrors (unpublished, 1997) by Simon Hawke
Planescape Torment (1999) by Ray Vallese and Valerie Vallese
Return to Quag Keep (2006) by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe
Quag Keep & Return to Quag Keep Omnibus (2006) by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe
Swords of the Damned (2014) by Richard Tongue
Sammi-Zowa versus the Dueling Dragons (2014) by Ernest Gary Gygax, Jr and Nerissa Montie
Classics Series
Against the Giants (July 1999), by Ru Emerson.
White Plume Mountain (October 1999), by Paul Kidd.
Descent into the Depths of the Earth (June 2000), by Paul Kidd.
The Temple of Elemental Evil (May 2001), by Thomas M Reid.
Queen of the Demonweb Pits (October 2001), by Paul Kidd.
Keep on the Borderlands (November 2001), by Ru Emerson.
The Tomb of Horrors (February 2002), by Keith Francis Strohm.
Gord the Rogue
Saga of Old City (1985), by Gary Gygax.
Artifact of Evil (March 1986), by Gary Gygax.
Sea of Death (July 1987), by Gary Gygax.
Night Arrant (September 1987), by Gary Gygax.
City of Hawks (November 1987), by Gary Gygax.
Come Endless Darkness (March 1988), by Gary Gygax.
Dance of Demons (November 1988), by Gary Gygax.
Shrike: The Coming Avenger (unpublished 1991) by Gary Gygax
Sagard the Barbarian
The Ice Dragon (1985) by Gary Gygax and Flint Dille
The Green Hydra (1985) by Flint Dille and Gary Gygax
The Crimson Sea (1985) by Gary Gygax and Flint Dille
The Fire Demon (1985) by Flint Dille and Gary Gygax
Rose Estes novels
Master Wolf (April 1987), by Rose Estes.
The Price of Power (August 1987), by Rose Estes.
The Demon Hand (March 1988), by Rose Estes.
The Name of the Game (July 1988), by Rose Estes.
Dragon in Amber (unpublished 1988), by Rose Estes.
The Eyes Have It (1989), by Rose Estes.
Endless Quest novels
Circus of Fear (1983) by Rose Estes
The Ghost Tower (1985) by Jean Blashfield
Nightmare Realm of Baba Yaga (1986) by Roger E. Moore
Castle of the Undead (1994) by Nick Baron
Siege of the Tower (1994) by Kem Antilles
Bigby's Curse (1995) by Anne Brown
T.H. Lain novels
The Savage Caves by Philip Athans
The Living Dead by Cory Herndon
Oath of Nerull by Bruce Cordell
City of Fire by Ed Stark
The Bloody Eye by Johnny L. Wilson
Treachery's Wake by Nate Levine
Plague of Ice by Murray J.D. Leeder
The Sundered Arms by Dave Gross
Return of the Damned by Jess Lebow
The Death Ray by Philip Athans
Knights of the Silver Dragon
The Secret of the Spiritkeeper
Riddle in the Stone
Sign of the Shapeshifter
Eye of Fortune
Figure in the Frost
Dagger of Doom
The Hidden Dragon
The Silver Spell
Key to the Griffon's Lair
Curse of the Lost Grove
Mystery of the Wizard's Tomb
Mark of the Yuan-ti
Realm of the Rakshasas (unpublished)
Room of the Eyes (unpublished)
Prophecy of the Dragons
The Dragons Revealed
KotSD Fan Fiction
Comics & Graphic media
In the Shadow of Dragons (#1-8), by Jay Donovan, Tyler Walpole & Hung Mac.
Tempest's Gate (#1-4).
Black & White (#1-6).
Where Shadows Fall (#1-5)
Vecna: Hand of the Revenant, by Modi Thorsson & Kevin McCann, Iron Hammer Graphics.
The Forest of Enchantment (1983) by Bob Stine (AKA R.L. Stine), Marvel Books.
The Treasure of Time (1983) by David Anthony Kraft and Jane Stine, Marvel Books.
Dungeons & Dragons Viewmaster - Castle Venger (1983) 3 reels and packaging text
Coloring Books
The Official Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Coloring Album (1979 Troubadour Press) by Gary Gygax.
The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Characters Coloring Book (1983 Marvel Books)
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Book: The Crown of Rulership (1983 Marvel Books) by David Anthony Kraft and Pablo Marcos
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Activity Book: The Rescue of Ringlerun (1983 Marvel Books) by David Anthony Kraft, Pablo Marcos, and Frank Giacoia
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Book: The Lost Wand (1983 Marvel Books) by David Anthony Kraft, Suzanne Weyn, Alan Kupperberg, and Brian Moore
Book and Recordings
Quest of the Riddles (ep/cs 1984)
Black Dragon Bog (ep/cs, 1984)
Attack of the Assassins (ep, 1984)
Video Games
Planescape: Torment (1999 Windows)
Planescape: Torment Official Strategies & Secrets (1999) by Chris Avellone and Matthew J. Norton
Temple of Elemental Evil (2003 Windows)
The Temple of Elemental Evil Official Strategy Guide (2003) by Michael Lummis
D&D Heroes (2003 XBOX)
Dungeons & Dragon Heroes Prima's Official Strategy Guide (2003)
Scourge of Worlds (2003 DVD)
Scourge of the Worlds - Special Collector's Edition (2005 DVD)
D&D Tactics (2007 PSP)
Lich Pitch describes the origins of Frank Mentzer's famous Aquarian megadungeon with insight on Frank's version of Oerth's solar system and technology level.
Like Return to Quag Keep, The Rod of Seven Parts is a completely generic novel built on GH source material.
Swords of the Damned is an Adventures Dark and Deep novel by BRW Games set in Graybarrow, a town somewhere near the Castle of the Mad Archmage, Joseph Bloch's compilation of every piece of Castle Greyhawk lore.
The Sagard series of choose-your-own-adventure gamebooks are similar to the Gord novels in that they start on Oerth and slowly progress into an alternate universe. These books were actually written by Gary's son, Ernie, and Flint Dille, with minimal involvement from Gary.
Dragon in Amber was to be Greyhawk Adventures book #7 set in the Land of Black Ice. It was advertised in the 1988 TSR Product Catalog with a synopsis and cover mock-up by Clyde Caldwell.
Of the Endless Quest books, Siege of the Tower is the best, with some interesting locations and encounters on the post-war border of Furyondy. Bigby's Curse was originally slated to be written by Carl Sargent in the 1995 product catalog, but was reassigned to Anne Brown. It's a dull read, but mentions apprentices of Bigby and Nystul that could be useful NPC's.
The Nightmare Realm of Baba Yaga is included because Roger Moore's other material on the Hut (DR#80) is GH canon.
A Thief in the Tomb of Horrors was lost in the 1997 financial collapse and sale of TSR. Jennell Jaquays' cover painting eventually appeared on the 1999 FR novel Star of Cursrah.
The Forest of Enchantment and The Treasure of Time "storybook" series are short digest comics for children, published by Marvel, promoting the LJN toy line. They feature Warduke and his enemy Strongheart.
The Knights of the Silver Dragon are young-adult novels published by WoTC's Mirrorstone imprint. They are "Greyhawk-lite" a la the T.H. Lain novels.
Last edited by vestcoat on Tue Feb 28, 2017 10:56 pm; edited 2 times in total
Joined: Aug 03, 2001 Posts: 2769 Location: Michigan
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2017 3:10 pm Post subject:
This is a great list, Vestcoat. I have only a few possible additions:
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson, because Q1 blatantly includes a portal to this world. This novel had a sequel, A Midsummer Tempest, but it'd stretch things to the breaking point to claim that for Greyhawk.
Sammi-Zowa versus the Dueling Dragons by Ernest Gary Gygax, Jr. I include this because it's based on a bedtime story originally told by Gary Gygax to his children and it might be the reason why there's a "Nippon" on the Dragon Annual #1 map of Oerth. More information in this thread.
I've heard, but can't personally verify, that The Anubis Murders by Gary Gygax includes a cameo by Louhi from Finnish legend, who Gygax identified with Iggwilv elsewhere (Sea of Death, page 15). Dance of Demons suggests that Gord and his friends went to Ærth after the events of the Gord novels; Dance of Demons actually says Yarth, but the text mentions the names of Ærth's nations, not the nations from the Sagard books.
The TH Lain novels are GH-lite like other 3.0 products and most of the GH references amount to gods and the iconic characters. The Bloody Eye bears the strongest GH connections through its prequel module and short story in Dungeon and Dragon respectively. See this thread. I started a more general thread here bitd.
The Oath of Nerull sparked my imagination with a monastery of Pholtus subverted by the Reaper's followers. Some of the novels contain maps and references to a Kingdom of Soes and a "New Koratia" unheard of in GH canon. IMO, if GH can suddenly accommodate Chainmail, it can accommodate some new pronouns in novels too.
The iconic characters were finally tied to Greyhawk beyond any doubt in the 2005 Scourge of Worlds Special Edition release which contains a map and other bonus DVD content that places Regdar & Co's adventure in the Dreadwood and Sea of Dust. To explain Regdar, Lidda, Mailee, and Jozen adventuring throughout the Flanaess, Soes, and Karatia, we need to acknowledge that they're all on the same world or concoct a plane-hopping/parallel universe story. I prefer the former.
The Knights of the Silver Dragon are more GH-lite with fewer gods mentioned, no iconic characters, and all of the adventures happening around a town called Curston with a Cathedral of St. Cuthbert, a Wee Jas cemetery, and "Watchers' Guildhall." Discussion here.
Added Knights of the Silver Dragon Fan Fiction
Added TH Lain authors
Started a "WotC Web Fiction" section
Added Three Hearts and Three Lions and Sammi-Zowa versus the Dueling Dragons
Thanks for compiling all this Vestcoat. For the past several years I've been on an ambitious project to read every single published novel in what I consider the 5 "main" settings of D&D - Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Darksun, and Ravenloft. I also throw in Planescape as a "bonus" setting, being more like the glue that holds the whole thing together. To that end I've spent a considerable amount of effort acquiring several hundreds of books. I started reading the smaller libraries first, so I could feel like I was making some progress. After knocking out PS (5), I went on to Ravenloft (~13), and then Dark Sun (~19?) It took me about 2 years to get through ~160ish Dragonlance books. I'm currently working on Forgotten Realms, I'd say I'm about a third of the way through it with a little over 100 finished.
Greyhawk is the final frontier for me. It's the setting I know the least about, as DL and FR were the big things when I was getting into it. I had planned to come to this site and ask for just such a list, so to have you already do the work is wonderful :)
Does anyone have any pointers on navigating the GH book line? I've heard the Rose Estes books are.... well, I've not heard kind things, to put it mildly. I won't bother with the Sammi Zowwa type material, I'm more looking at sticking to official, canon work.
Joined: Aug 03, 2001 Posts: 2769 Location: Michigan
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:03 pm Post subject:
It depends on what you mean by "canon." If you mean TSR/WotC canon, there are really only two books to read: Saga of Old City and Artifact of Evil (and "At Moonset Blackcat Comes"). Both of these novels were used as a basis for Carl Sargent's work in the City of Greyhawk boxed set and From the Ashes. The subsequent Gord novels were published by New Infinities and unavailable for TSR/WotC designers to use.
The later Gord novels form their own Gygaxian continuity separate from the TSR/WotC continuity. However, I think the first three Gord novels (Saga of Old City, Artifact of Evil, and Sea of Death) give the best overview of the World of Greyhawk setting.
"The Return of Gord" is sort of a variant Greyhawk where the Valley Elves are ruled by a Mirror Queen. It's kind of cool, but keep in mind that TSR canon Valley Elves are different.
"Evening Odds" takes place in Los Angeles, on Earth. Gord is in it, stopping an incursion of Baphomet with the help of an L.A. street gang.
Nothing else really made its way into RPG canon. The Paul Kidd books are some sort of official, but the events in them (which include the death of Lolth) aren't reflected in RPG products. White Plume Mountain might work with canon, but I'm not sure how compatible it is with Bruce Cordell's Return to White Plume Mountain adventure. The T.H. Lain novels got a crossover adventure in Dungeon Magazine set in Ratik, but seem to be really written for a quasi-historical setting involving Scotland and the Knights Templar, given a light gloss of Greyhawk nouns to disguise it. Return of the Damned seems to be more closely related to Green Ronin's Freeport setting than anything else, referencing as it does the events of the module Hell in Freeport.
Of the Rose Estes novels, I can sort of imagine the first one, Master Wolf, taking place in canon Greyhawk if you pretend that the character named Iuz there was an imposter, a human mage posing as the cambion during the true Iuz's imprisonment within Castle Greyhawk. After that, I think they diverge too much to be useful.
The comics (In the Shadow of Dragons, Tempest's Gate, Black & White, Where Shadows Fall and Vecna: Hand of the Revenant) all work okay with canon, I think. The Vecna comic has some wonky continuity issues (the climate seems to be more of a warm desert, but it should take place in the vicinity of the temperate Gran March; Pholtus was probably not a major god among the Flan of that era) but I think it's worth reading.
I think Quag Keep is worth reading, but it takes place in the proto-Greyhawk of the Castle & Crusades Society Great Kingdom map, not the Greyhawk published later by TSR. The nations and geography are very different.
Nightwatch is great, but takes place in a low-magic version of Greyhawk, a century or so in the future when most magical creatures are extinct.
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