OK, now we’re talking real Greyhawk. This is the World of Greyhawk box set (1983), which is a much expanded reprint of the World of Greyhawk map folio, drawing largely from material written for Dragon Magazine in the intervening years.

There are several Greyhawks. The first was Gygax’s own, the one he used for his personal games. He was loathe to part with that one and reveal its secrets, so the public Greyhawk that is presented in this box is similar but distinct (and a little boring). I find the idea of Greyhawk interesting, especially its place in the history of the development of games. I like the broad strokes of the later TSR meta featuring Iuz, Vecna, Rary and the rest. But I find the details of the setting specifically to lack tooth. Like Forgotten Realms, I think it tends towards the generic, but in a less developed way – I’ve compared it to a film set, where the buildings are all just flat facade with no rooms behind it.

There are two books in the box. The first is an overview of the Eastern Oerik region (the only portion of the world to see official development). It covers the various political powers, geography, gods and such. There is a chapter on trees. It is just  two pages, but it gives you an idea of what you’re dealing with here. The other book, the Glossography, is mostly tables, stats for gods and notes on their worship (which is about as close to specialty priests as 1E ever gets) and a few scenario seeds.

Of course, the exciting parts of Greyhawk are elsewhere, in the adventure modules. If you keep that in mind, and see this box as sort of a backdrop that adds context connecting all those adventures to a wider world, then it kind of works.

Jeff Easley does his best to breathe life into the box with his illustrations and he succeeds to a large degree. And then there is Darlene’s epic map, but I will go into that when I cover the folio. I’ve never quite figured out what is going on with the cover art though. Is it a faux book? A treasure chest?