WOG summary

The World of Greyhawk contains examples of the following tropes:

• Artifact Of Good / Artifact of Doom: There are several of these, such as the Crook of Rao (good) and the Scorpion Crown (evil).
• Author Avatar: Mordenkainen (Who you may recognize for being the author of many spells of inconsistent quality) was originally Gary Gygax's player character. Zagyg might almost certainly was also an avatar for Gygax.
• Back from the Dead: After Rary killed him, Tenser was revived through a clone of himself he had hidden away.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Lord Robilar.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Rary of Ket was always seen as the most reserved and soft-spoken member of the Circle of Eight. Then he killed two of his friends and tried to Take Over the World.
• Broken Base: And how. There are many fans who absolutely despise the changes wrought by From the Ashes and do not consider it canon, or otherwise dislike other parts of the setting, such as Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
• The Brute: Warduke. Originally a D&D action figure from the '80s, an issue of Dungeon retconned Warduke as the martial champion of the Horned Society (an empire of devil-worshippers). A hulking monster of a man, Warduke is presented as the ultimate physical threat in a non-epic campaign.
• The Chessmaster: Mordenkainen.
• Crossover: Greyhawk has crossed over with numerous other D&D settings, though most of these crossovers are of dubious canon at best.
  • Oerth is one D&D world among many connected through the Spelljammer and Planescape campaign settings, at least until 3rd Edition when different settings were given their own cosmologies.
  • Vecna and his traitorous lieutenant, Kas, were briefly imprisoned in the Demiplane of Dread, home of the Ravenloft setting. Azalin Rex, one of the archvillains of Ravenloft, also originally hailed from Oerth.
  • Duke Rowan Darkwood, one of the prime movers in the Planescape setting, was born on Oerth. He later used magic to travel to the world of Forgotten Realms, and from there to the City of Sigil in Planescape.
  • Mordenkainen, along with Elminster from Forgotten Realms and Dalamar from Dragonlance, was one of the "Wizards Three", a trio of archmages who met for friendly get-togethers in a humorous column in Dragon written by Ed Greenwood.
  • Completely canon however is the presence of various spells bearing the name of Greyhawk mages (such as Mordenkainen) in other settings. One would suspect Planewalkers were involved at some point.
• Crossover Cosmology: Iuz is the grandson of both Baba Yaga and Nyarlathotep.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: Most of the notable demon lords have had a hand in Oerth's affairs. Most notable are Graz'zt, the father of the half-demon demigod Iuz; Fraz-Urb'luu, a demon prince trapped under the ruins of Castle Greyhawk for centuries; Demogorgon, Prince of Demons, who launched a bid to conquer all of Oerth in the "Savage Tide" adventure series in Dungeon magazine; Lolth, Spider-Queen of the dark elves, who has ravaged both Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms; and Zuggtmoy, the Demon Lady of Fungi, who conspired with Iuz to build the infamous Temple Of Elemental Evil.
• Devil But No God: Tharizdun, an Omnicidal Maniac Cosmic Horror, is the ultimate force of evil in the cosmology, having the power to force all other evil deities and fiends to do his bidding; there is no corresponding good counterpart. A direct confrontation between Tharizdun and the forces of good would have destroyed the multiverse, so the neutral gods tricked him into sealing himself into a trap.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The racist, blond-haired Scarlet Brotherhood are basically Nazis.
• The Dragon: Saint Kargoth to Demogorgon. Also Kas to Vecna.
• The Empire: The Empire of Iuz.
• The Emperor: The god-king Iuz.
• Evil Is Sexy: Graz'zt, Iggwilv, Eclavdra. Maybe Mordenkainen if you go for older guys.
  • Mordenkainen isn't really evil, he just does evil things sometimes.
• Evil Overlord: Iuz.
• Evil Sorcerer: Many.
  • Rary the Traitor, a formerly heroic wizard who turned on his companions, the Circle of Eight.
  • The undead Acererak, a skeletal wizard who's been dead for so long that all that's left of him is his skull. Easily the most sadistic sonuvabitch in the entire history of tabletop gaming, all thanks to his abode: the Tomb Of Horrors.
  • Vecna: The ultimate evil sorcerer made good. Er, evil. Star of a series of popular adventures (including the awesomely named Die, Vecna, Die!), Vecna ultimately achieved actual godhood as Oerth's God of Secrets.
  • Following Vecna's apotheosis, one of the most powerful mortal spellcaster on Oerth is the witch Iggwilv (who tips the scales at 30th level!), a binder of demons who influences her son Iuz's empire.
    • Not to mention, she sleeps with Graz'zt. There's binding, and then there's binding.
• Evil Versus Evil: Evil groups like the Horned Society, Iuz, the Scarlet Brotherhood, the Aerdi kingdoms and Turrosh Mak are just as apt to fight and plot against each other as they are the forces of good.
• Face Heel Turn: Rary and Robilar.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Baklunish people are similar to real-world Middle Easterners. The Olmans and the Flan are clearly based on Native Americans-the Flan on northern First Nations (Cree, Sioux, Iroquois, etc.), and the Olman on the southern nations, especially the Maya and Aztecs. It's implied that the Rhenee are Roma, having arrived on Oerth from another place called "Rhop"—possibly Europe.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Guns are generally accepted not to work on Oerth, although exceptions are made in some cases for the hero-god Murlynd and his paladins.
• Five Races: Humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings.
• For Science: Zagig created the wacky demiplanes of Dungeonland and the Isle of the Ape pretty much just because he could.
• God's Hands Are Tied: It's generally accepted that the gods cannot intervene directly on Oerth, and can only act through their mortal servants. This typically takes the form of granting divine spells, although they can act on a larger scale if their mortal servants meet the right conditions, such as using an Artifact Of Good or Artifact of Doom. Exceptions to the rule are gods who actually dwell on the Prime Material Plane such as Iuz and Wastri. St. Cuthbert has also appeared on the material plane on a couple of occasions, although it's implied that the gods of evil may be able to do the same at some point to restore the balance.
• Hidden Elf Village: The elven kingdom of Celene, which refused to aid its human allies during the Greyhawk Wars.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: The character of Rary was originally conceived of as a spiritualist. That is: the Medium, Rary.
  • Has anyone ever killed him by knocking him over a cliff? "My, that's a long way to tip a Rary."
  • And the Nyr Dyv, the lake of unknown depths. "Nyr Dyv" is pronounced like "near dive." Get it?
• Ladyland: The city of Hardby was founded by a Suel witch as a monument to the superiority of womankind after men caused a great magical war, and is traditionally ruled by an all-female council of gynocrats led by a despotrix. However, in recent years, male-dominated guilds and trade unions have been chipping away at their power.
• Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Averted - to the west lies the trackless Sea of Dust, all that remains of the Suel Imperium after the Rain of Colorless Fire burnt it to ashes.
• Lovable Rogue: Gord.
• Malevolent Architecture: Castle Greyhawk is one big, mile-deep deathtrap. The Tomb Of Horrors, meanwhile, makes Castle Greyhawk look like one o' them bouncy castles.
• The Man Behind the Man: Iggwilv to Iuz.
  • To a lesser extent, Graz'zt to Iggwilv.
• Mirror Universe: Oerth has several parallel worlds, including Aerth, Yarth, and Earth. The most notable, though, is Uerth, where everyone's alignment is switched (most notably Bilarro, the evil double of Robilar).
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Iuz the Evil, Rary the Traitor.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The demon Fraz-Urb'luu was released from his imprisonment by two foolish adventurers.
  • So were Iuz, Tsuggtmoy and many many others — mostly by the same band if intrepid adventurers (Gary Gygax's original gaming group).
• Omniscient Council Of Vagueness: The Circle of Eight, founded by Mordenkainen to manipulate events across the Flaeness.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same
• Our Elves Are Better: Actually, Our Elves Are Pretty Standard, all things considered. This was where the dark elves first arrived in D&D, though.
• Phantom Thief: Gord the Rogue. He steals mainly for the challenge (and because he loves treasure).
• Physical God: All of the gods are capable of taking material form, but the ones who most often walk the Oerth are Iuz, who rules an empire as its god-king, and Saint Cuthbert, who often dispatches avatars to fight Iuz.
• Retcon: After Gygax and Kuntz both left TSR, in the Greyhawk Wars storyline, Kuntz's character Lord Robilar betrayed his friends, killing some of them; Kuntz was none too happy. Twenty years later, Wizards of the Coast published Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, in which it's retconned that Robilar had been replaced by an evil double from a Mirror Universe.
• Science Fantasy: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. It concerns a crashed spaceship filled with aliens and robots—in the fantasy world of Greyhawk. The players can even hijack a suit of Powered Armor and take it with them after the adventure ends (though thankfully it has limited fuel). Needless to say, many fans consider it FanonDiscontinuity.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Several examples.
  • Iuz (and eight other demigods, including two other evil ones) were trapped beneath Castle Greyhawk by Zagig Yragerne, who siphoned off their power to become a god himself.
  • Fraz-Urb'luu was also trapped in Castle Greyhawk by Zagig, presumably as a practice run for his gambit at godhood.
  • At the beginning of time, the unspeakably powerful and insane Tharizdun was trapped in a remote demiplane by the rest of the gods.
• Take That: The bizarre Egg of Coot, a ruler in the Blackmoor area, was a jab at E. Gary Gygax by D&D co-creator Dave Arneson, with whom he'd had a falling-out. (They later reconciled.)
• Theme Naming: Ernest Gary Gygax named a huge number of people and locations after himself, including Yrag, Tenser, Urnst, and of course, Zagyg/Zagig Yragerne.
• True Neutral: In earlier Greyhawk stories and adventures, a lot of emphasis was placed on some characters' obsession with preserving the balance, especially the archmage Mordenkainen.
  • To truly understand Mordenkainen's dedication to neutrality and balance, consider this: Mordenkainen released a sealed evil demigod from beneath Castle Greyhawk, simply because good was "too powerful". Thanks, Mordenkainen.
• Unfortunate Implications: The description of the Rhenee—a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the Roma—as sneaky, manipulative, unreliable, and chauvanistic plays up a lot of unfavorable stereotypes levied against Gypsies in the real world.
• The Undead: Notables include the liches Acererak and Vecna, described above. Also the first death knight, Saint Kargoth; the vampire Kas; and the piteous, zombielike King Ivid the Undying.
• Vain Sorceress: Iggwilv, the Witch of Perrenland, the mother of Iuz and on-again-off-again consort of the demon Graz'zt. She appears as a stunningly beautiful young woman and sadistically kills anyone who sees her true form—a hideous crone.
• Vestigial Empire: The fractured Great Kingdom, now split into numerous warring states.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Rary just wants to bring peace to all of Oerth... by crushing it under his heel.
  • Mordenkainen wants to keep balance, even if it means unsealing evil demigods and razing entire kingdoms.
• Wretched Hive: The Vault of the Drow and the village of Nulb.