Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2018 3:50 pm Post subject: Indexing Sources, Greyhawk Journal
I hope this is a good place to pose this question. If not, feel free to direct me to the proper location.
I'm looking for any sort of location index that will contain sources such as the Greyhawk Journal articles and where ever else that maps such as Anna B Meyer's would list. For example, I was looking earlier for where Ob Noiqui was from and someone pointed me towards one of the Keoland adventures from the Greyhawk Journal. No amount of Googling came up with that answer and if it hadn't been for someone on here giving me their time, I never would have found it on my own.
Where do you all go to find the source of these locations? I have access to Greyhawk Journal articles/adventures but short of manually searching every one, I don't know how to find this information. I'd hate to keep posting a question here and annoying everyone each time I run across a location that Google is unfamiliar with.
You needf someone who will go through this source material and create a detailed index. I did this up till 2003 but can't really do this kind of detail work anymore (due to failing eyesight)
Some software like PDF-XChange Viewer will crank through mountains of PDF's on your hard drive looking for keywords without opening them manually -- IF your PDF's are word searchable and someone did the text recognition properly.
After that, there's Zavoda's index, canonfire site search, the ever-moving/crashing GH wiki, google, and asking Anna Meyer directly.
Let go of all expectation and entitlement when using Anna's maps. It's a shame they don't have a companion index, but the fact that such works of art/research were ever made is a miracle. Everyone understood her maps were chock-full of apocrypha when they first came on the scene, but new players are increasingly using them as a primary reference without any official maps and getting confused.
It's also a good idea to start your own archives, use things like Evernote as you browse, and save content found on the social media abyss immediately as it's constantly buried and forgotten.
And you can join my crusade of pestering the admins to fix the forum search feature here at canonfire. There's decades of information that doesn't always turn up in google.
That is some extremely helpful advice, Vestcoat. I appreciate that very much. The copies of the Living Greyhawk Journals that I have aren't searchable, unfortunately. Although I have only tried it with Adobe's viewer. Perhaps other viewers would have better luck.
And as you mentioned, Google doesn't appear to always turn things up either. I'm guessing the text in these PDFs aren't able to be indexed by Google or something.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I'm coming back to Greyhawk and D&D in general after being away from RPGs for 25 years. A lot has changed since I last played, both with D&D (I'm jumping from 1e/2e to 5e) and Greyhawk (the Wars were still very new last time I played). Anna's maps are fantastic in so many ways. We have many more resources these days and I want to take advantage of them. However, as you say, I probably need to learn to let go of trying to find every iota of detail that has been put into the world and just go with my own stories. It's just difficult for me to do because I'm such a huge lore fiend. I want it all :)
Thanks again for your all's advice. At the very least I now know that there isn't some secret index somewhere that you all are pulling from. It's just a trickle here and there that folks happen to know and are gracious enough to share.
Joined: Nov 07, 2004 Posts: 1819 Location: Mt. Smolderac
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:24 pm Post subject:
Jason's index is the most comprehensive index available. If you don't have it you can download it here -- https://melkot.com/mechanics.html
Beyond that, asking old timers is the best way to find the really obscure stuff. It's kind of a pain for you but none of us mind. Myself, I like research challenges, and I know others do also. Another place to ask questions is the Canonfire! A Greyhawk Resource Facebook group, if you're on Facebook.
Thanks for the link to that index but I have already downloaded a copy of that. I've started searching there before I turn to Google because he seems to have indexed nearly everything up until 2003 (or whatever year it was he made that). Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of the things I'm seeing on Anna's maps come from articles after that date.
I hate to bother folks on here with too many questions but it sounds as if you all don't mind. Since my current area of interest is somewhat small (southern Keoland), maybe I'll just make a list of the locations that I can't seem to find any information about and see what you all can tell me.
I'm in the process now of converting the Keoland LGJ PDFs that I have into Word docs which is allowing me to perform searches on them. If I continue to have problems I'll turn to DriveThruRPG and pick up copies there.
Those will include pointers to top-level sources, rather than specific content indices within a source. That's where Jason's index is such a great resource.
One of the projects we're discussing for Greyhawk Online is a comprehensive metadata standard which will help with finding content within and across content sources.
Joined: Jan 05, 2002 Posts: 539 Location: Sky Island, So Cal
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:05 am Post subject:
Pan wrote:
Since my current area of interest is somewhat small (southern Keoland), maybe I'll just make a list of the locations that I can't seem to find any information about and see what you all can tell me.
In the campaign journals forum I have an ongoing description of a campaign I have set in the Sheldomar, with a party that started in Saltmarsh. Besides descriptions of the actual game play, I have DM Notes about where I am getting the background information from. This sometimes includes online sources, fanon, etc. There would be a lot of chaff for your wheat, but you might see where the party is at the moment and look for references if you are interested in the area.
That's excellent, Kirt. Thanks very much! My campaign is actually beginning with U1 as well. The characters are coming from Gradsul, Waverock, and Ob Nuiqui and meeting in Saltmarsh. Your info will undoubtedly come in handy for me.
It is places like Ob Nuiqui and Waverock (and others) that I've been attempting to locate information about. Thanks to someone on here, I've found info on Ob Nuiqui which fit perfectly with the background of one of the characters.
When I find time this weekend, I'll look through the references you all are mentioning. Thanks again.
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