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161-508: This is a list of characters from the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game . Acererak / ə ˈ s ɛr ə r æ k / ə- SERR -ə-rak was a powerful wizard who became a lich , and later a demilich . Acererak first appears in the original Tomb of Horrors adventure (1978) by Gary Gygax as the main adversary. One of the areas in

322-433: A charm spell, and forced Bigby to become his servant. Kuntz ruled that Bigby would be Mordenkainen's servant as long as he remained under the charm spell, but until Gygax, through roleplaying, had won Bigby's loyalty, the evil wizard would remain a non-player character under Kuntz's control. After a long time and several adventures, Mordenkainen managed to convince Bigby to leave his evil ways behind, and Kuntz ruled that it

483-414: A demigod of magic and secrets in the world of Greyhawk . In 581 CY , his cult helped set events in motion that would have granted him the power of a greater god , but the plan was ultimately foiled. After these events, Vecna ended up imprisoned in the demiplane of Ravenloft , but broke free again later, emerging with the power of a greater god, after absorbing the power of Iuz . He then broke free into

644-577: A dracolich and a major player in Dungeon's Age of Worms adventure path. Dragotha was formerly a powerful red dragon, the mightiest consort of Tiamat . At some point Dragotha offended his mistress, and was forced to leave Avernus . Making his way to Oerth , Dragotha fell in with Kyuss , and eventually became a dracolich and Kyuss' greatest servant. Dragotha's lair is thought to lie in the Wormcrawl Fissure, near Rift Canyon. More historical information

805-476: A lich and ruler of a great and terrible empire (in the Sheldomar Valley , centered near the modern-day Rushmoors ), laid siege to the city of Fleeth with an army of arcane spellcasters and undead. Legend has it that Vecna was nearly slain in this battle by clerics channeling the power of Pholtus , the god of light. The clerics unleashed a great burst of light, which hit Vecna primarily on his left side. Vecna

966-641: A military history buff and pulp fantasy fan, was a central, founding figure in the Castle & Crusade Society . The C&C Society, as it was known, served enthusiasts of miniature wargaming in the Middle Ages and published an occasional newsletter known as the Domesday Book . Following up on a promise he made in Domesday Book #5, Gygax presented the "Great Kingdom" map c. June 1971 in Domesday #9, to be used as

1127-498: A 34" x 44" (86 cm x 112 cm) two-piece color map of the Flanaess. Reviewers were generally impressed, but some remarked on the lack of a pantheon of Greyhawk-specific deities, as well as the lack of any mention of the infamous dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. Game designer Jim Bambra found the original set "disappointing", because "there is only so much information you can cram into a 32-page booklet, particularly when covering such

1288-492: A campaign". Joe Manganiello's character Arkhan fought against Vecna with the adventuring party Vox Machina in the web series Critical Role . He then stole the Hand of Vecna and replaced his own hand with the artifact. In Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (2019), Arkhan is attempting to master the Hand of Vecna in hopes of freeing Tiamat , however, the artifact is slowly corrupting and decomposing his left side. Vecna created

1449-517: A demigod, and the chief antagonist of the adventure. At the end of the adventure—presuming the players defeat Vecna—he is transported to the Ravenloft campaign setting. Vecna's history, via his artifacts, was also further developed in the supplemental sourcebook Book of Artifacts (1993). After the publication of Vecna Lives! (1990), "Vecna disappeared throughout the rest of the '90s, until Domains of Dread (1997)" which confirmed his new location in

1610-505: A dungeon setting. He and Arneson agreed to co-develop a set of rules, and Gygax quickly developed a castle and dungeon of his own, "Castle Greyhawk", set within his portion of the Great Kingdom map. Castle Greyhawk is sometimes considered the first dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons and pioneered the roots of the mega-dungeon format of gaming. Two of his children, Ernie and Elise, were

1771-452: A dungeon; Ward's character owned a magical item which would have rescued the party, but had left it in an inn before setting out. Ward remarked to Gygax that wizards should have access to a spell which allowed them to recall any item in their possession to their hand; Gygax promptly devised instant summons , which did exactly that. There has been some confusion over whether Gygax created the name in homage to Ward or Ward's character; though it

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1932-580: A fantasy supplement for the Chainmail ruleset for medieval miniatures that he was co-writing with Jeff Perren . Released in the late spring of 1971, this booklet included rules for fantasy monsters, wizards and magical weapons. Around the same time, in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Dave Arneson , impressed by the " Braunstein " role-playing games of fellow wargamer David Wesely , developed the Barony of Blackmoor as

2093-450: A few evil deities to provide some villainy. In Chapter 2 of The Gnome Cache , which appeared in the second issue of The Dragon , a shrine to St. Cuthbert (spelled St. Cuthburt ) was mentioned, which was the first published reference to a Greyhawk deity. In 1976, Gygax invited the science fiction/fantasy writer Andre Norton to play Dungeons & Dragons in his Greyhawk world. Norton subsequently wrote Quag Keep , which involved

2254-525: A few of the adventure modules, were published by TSR. Although Gygax originally intended to immediately publish more details of Greyhawk in Dragon on a regular basis, other projects intervened, and it was not until the August 1981 issue of Dragon that Len Lakofka , in his column "Leomund's Tiny Hut", outlined methods for determining a character's place of birth and languages spoken. Gygax added an addendum concerning

2415-479: A few of those who know him have perceived something subtly different about him each time they meet - the shade of his eyes, his height, even the thickness and curl of his hair. Rary calls these his "troubling inconsistencies". Drawmij wears magical robes of cool colors, favoring elven designs. For the last decade or so, Drawmij has focused on the theories of chronomancy, magic involving the manipulation of time. He has grown increasingly eccentric of late. Drawmij

2576-503: A fractious place where chaos and evil were in the ascendant and courageous champions would be needed. In order to explain how his world had arrived at this state, he wrote an outline of a thousand years of history. As a military history buff, he was very familiar with the concept of waves of cultural invasions, such the Picts of Great Britain being invaded by the Celts , who were in turn invaded by

2737-476: A freelance artist in Lake Geneva, developed a full color map on a hex grid. Gygax was so pleased with the result that he quickly switched his home Greyhawk campaign over to the new world he had created. Ultimately, the original Castle Greyhawk was never published for public play, instead with many of the elements of Gygax's original campaign becoming the seed for other adventures. In the late 1960s, Gary Gygax ,

2898-590: A game setting for the Society. Members thereafter began claiming territories, including member Dave Arneson , who was an officer of the organization, and frequent contributor to the newsletter. Arneson claimed a territory he named Blackmoor , a setting he had already begun developing in his home campaign, and Gygax reserved for himself a territory on lake Nyr Div. In addition to historically-based medieval wargaming, both Gygax and Arneson were enthusiasts of adding fantasy elements to their games. To this end, Gygax created

3059-567: A group known as the Votaries of Vecna, making a new home in the Black Spire on the Plane of Shadow . The githyanki necromancer Kastya Zurith-Movya seeks to return the true Acererak to existence as an ally against his people's lich-queen. The Tomb of Horrors is long Acererak's home in undeath. As a demilich, he moves to the demiplane of Moil to complete his grand plans. There is a shrine of Acererak, in

3220-528: A group of gamers who travel from the real world to Greyhawk. It was the first novel to be set, at least partially, in the Greyhawk setting, and according to Alternative Worlds , the first to be based on D&D . Quag Keep was excerpted in issue #12 of The Dragon (February 1978) just prior to the book's release. From 1976 to 1979, Gygax also shared some glimpses of his home campaign with other gamers when he set several TSR Dungeons & Dragons adventures in

3381-492: A head, whereas the Hand of Vecna appears as a stocky humanoid with a huge left hand where its head should be. Individual congregations are known as organs. Each organ is led by a Thought of Vecna. Lesser priests are known as Memories of Vecna. Lay members of the cult consist of the Teeth, Fingers, Blood, and Spawn of Vecna. The Teeth of Vecna are made up of wizards , and specialize in arcane spellcasting and crafting magical items for

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3542-556: A large area". Before the folio edition was released, Gygax planned to publish supplementary information, using his column "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" that appeared on a semi-regular basis in TSR's Dragon Magazine . In the May 1980 issue, Gygax gave a quick overview of the development of his new The World of Greyhawk folio. For players who planned to use large scale army tactics, he gave details of

3703-534: A legend or myth, a long-destroyed legendary lich of great power, only able to threaten player characters who dared to use his Hand and Eye. Ten years later, in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition 's Dungeon Master's Guide (1989), Vecna's history was expanded under the description of his Hand. With the release of the adventure Vecna Lives! in 1990, written in support of The City of Greyhawk boxed set, Vecna finally appeared in person, reimagined as

3864-624: A lesser god. In the events of the Living Greyhawk campaign setting, Vecna's machinations allowed him to reappear on the prime material plane and retake his place in the Oerth pantheon. At some point in his history, Vecna penned a tome known as Ordinary Necromancy . He is also rumored to have made significant additions to the Book of Vile Darkness . Vecna has few allies, and countless enemies. In 2nd and 3rd Edition, his greatest, and perhaps only true ally

4025-403: A map of North America, adding new cities and regions as his world slowly grew through ongoing adventures. The city and castle of Greyhawk were placed near the real-world position of Chicago, his birthplace; various other places were clustered around it. For instance, the rival city of Dyvers he placed in the area of real-world Milwaukee. Gygax also continued to develop the dungeons underneath

4186-544: A means to an end." Acererak is featured in the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline . Acererak is the son and ally of the balor Tarnhem, a worshipper of Orcus , and an apprentice of Vecna . In life, he was the enemy of a paladin of Pelor named Pentivel, and the wizard-architect who designs his tomb is called Morghadam. He is revered by a group of wizards known as the Covenenticle of Acererak. The necromancers of Skull City, former followers of Acererak, go on to form

4347-417: A new fantasy world of Yarth. The Flanaess is the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, one of the four continents of Oerth, acting as the setting of dozens of adventures published between the 1970s and 2000s. In late 1972, Dave Arneson demonstrated a new type of game to a group of gamers in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, including game designer Gygax. Gygax agreed to develop a set of rules with Arneson and get

4508-512: A new magical spell for the game, he would sometimes use the name of a wizard character from his home campaign to add verisimilitude to the spell name, such as Melf's acid arrow , Melf being a character created by his son Luke. Some of the characters who became synonymous with Greyhawk at that time included: Gary Gygax wrote a short story titled "The Expedition Into the Black Reservoir", subtitled "A Dungeon Adventure at Greyhawk Castle", which

4669-469: A new world for them afterward. With the release of the AD&;D Players Handbook in 1978, many players were intrigued by the connection of Greyhawk characters to magical spells such as Tenser's floating disc , Bigby's crushing hand , and Mordenkainen's faithful hound . The AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide , released the following year, also made references to the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. Players' curiosity

4830-469: A number of lairs and tombs - the most infamous of which would become known as the Tomb of Horrors. Some sources claim that Acererak was using Orcus's worshipers to complete his own schemes, and that he felt no true loyalty to the demon prince." The introduction goes on to say that "Once he attained lichdom, Acererak ceased paying homage to Orcus, lending credence to the notion that his worship had never been more than

4991-406: A pantheon of deities custom-made for humans in the world of Greyhawk. In addition to his original Greyhawk deities, St. Cuthbert and Pholtus, Gygax added seventeen more deities. Although later versions of the campaign setting would assign most of these deities to worship by specific races of humans, at this time they were generally worshiped by all humans of the Flanaess. Shortly after the release of

List of Greyhawk characters - Misplaced Pages Continue

5152-474: A part of an evil country; and still others might take a neutral stance and simply try to collect gold and treasure from both sides. TSR originally intended to publish The World of Greyhawk (TSR 9025) early in 1979, but it was not released until August 1980. The World of Greyhawk consisted of a 32-page folio (the first edition is often called the World of Greyhawk folio to distinguish it from later editions) and

5313-438: A player, and appointed Rob to be co- Dungeon Master of Greyhawk. This freed up Gygax to work on other projects, and also gave him an opportunity to participate as a player, creating characters like Yrag and Mordenkainen . In order to make room for Rob Kuntz's dungeons, Gygax scrapped his bottom level and integrated Rob's work into the Greyhawk dungeons. Gygax and Kuntz continued to develop new levels for their players, and by

5474-407: A player, often going one-on-one with Rob Kuntz as Dungeon Master, Gygax immersed his own characters in politics and large-scale battles. Knowing that there would be some players looking for a town in which to base their campaign, and others interested in politics or warfare, Gygax tried to include as much detail as possible about each region, including a short description of the region and its people,

5635-508: A powerful wizard second only to Mordenkainen, and eventually Bigby became one of the original members of Gygax's Circle of Eight , a group of adventurers made up of eight of Gygax's own characters. When Gygax wrote TSR 's AD&D Players Handbook , he borrowed Bigby's name to describe a series of "hand" spells ( Bigby's crushing hand , Bigby's grasping hand , etc.). This custom continued on in later versions of D&D, with over two dozen "hand" spells eventually ascribed to Bigby. When Gygax

5796-463: A second level for the dungeon. At the next play session, Ernie and Elise were joined by Gygax's friends: Don Kaye , Rob Kuntz , and Terry Kuntz . About a month after his first session, Gygax created the nearby city of Greyhawk, where the players' characters could sell their treasure and find a place to rest. As Gygax and Arneson worked to develop and publish the rules for Dungeons & Dragons through TSR , Gygax continued to design and present

5957-469: A setting for Braunstein style games. Arneson based his game around the village, castle and dungeons of Blackmoor. The castle itself was represented on the table by an actual plastic kit model of a medieval castle. Arneson informed the players that instead of controlling regiments, they would each take one individual character into the castle of the Barony of Blackmoor to explore its dangerous dungeons. Arneson drew from numerous sources but quickly incorporated

6118-576: Is a Mouse Lord, a Lizard Lord, and a Hawk Lord. The most well-known animal lord is Rexfelis, the Cat Lord. Arnd , also known as Arnd of Tdon , was a legendary Oeridian hero who lived ages ago, before the Great Migrations . "A humble priest from the south," he is famed for establishing the first paladins of Heironeous among the Oeridian tribes. He is also known as a possessor (in more ways than one) of

6279-520: Is a lich named Mauthereign. Even when Osterneth, the Bronze Lich, is Vecna's mightiest servant, her position is not revealed among his files. Other Vecnan organizations are known to exist outside of the mainstream cult, and some may have similar or identical names. Relations between these groups and the mainstream cult may vary. Known examples are the Eyes of Vecna (a cult of undeath consisting mainly of rogues),

6440-766: Is a member of the Circle of Eight. He has a close connection to Duke Luschan of Gradsul , who may be a relative of his. Drawmij also spends time with the Hierophant Sverdras Meno , a druid of the Old Faith who oversees the Azure Sea . Drawmij has many contacts among the minstrels and bards of Celene , though few in the capital of Enstad admit to knowing him. Drawmij has few known agents, but he knows much more about Keoland and its client states than it seems like he should. Drawmij has an enduring hatred of Jaran Krimeeah ,

6601-505: Is an eye in the palm of a left hand. Vecna's "right-hand man", who ultimately became his betrayer, is Kas the Bloody-Handed , a vampire whose sword, the Sword of Kas , is also an artifact. In Eldritch Wizardry (1976), the third supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, Brian Blume invented two artifacts he called the Hand and Eye of Vecna . These were supposedly

List of Greyhawk characters - Misplaced Pages Continue

6762-606: Is detailed for this edition in Complete Divine (2004). Vecna was one of the deities featured in Libris Mortis (2004). Vecna and his priesthood were expanded upon in Dragon #348, in the "Core Beliefs" column. Vecna appears as one of the deities described in the 2008 Dungeon Master's Guide for Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition . He is primarily the god of secrets. The Hand of Vecna has also made its return for this edition of

6923-458: Is detailed in Deities and Demigods (2002). On the deities of the Greyhawk setting, Matthew Attanasio, for CBR , wrote, "Vecna, a lich who hordes [sic] dark secrets, covets incredible power and holds dominion over the undead, is perhaps the most infamous of these deities". Vecna appears in the revised Player's Handbook (2003) for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003–2007). His priesthood

7084-463: Is given in the second edition RPGA Adventurer's Guild Tournament module, Dragotha's Lair ( Bruce R. Cordell , 1999, 2001). According to this history, Dragotha was forced into quiescence (inactivity) by Keraptis , the infamous wizard featured in the module White Plume Mountain using a magical device called the Crown of Mortality. According to the third edition White Plume Mountain web enhancement "Outside

7245-500: Is holy and righteous. Although not actually penned by Vecna, the Book of Keeping (a book of Yugoloth summoning) is heavily linked with the cult of Vecna, as the cultists have the only known copies that are free of the intentional errors introduced into the book by the fiends that wrote the volume as a trap for would-be summoners. Each position in Vecna's cult is named for a certain body part. At

7406-562: Is known that Ward played a character named Drawmij at one time, some sources claim the name of the wizard he was playing at the time instant summons was created was "Bombidell", not Drawmij. This leaves two theories as to how the name got started: Drawmij is 63 years old in 591 CY , although he appears to be a young man in his late twenties or early thirties. His hair is sandy blond and his eyes are so blue that they are nearly purple. He stands six feet tall and weighs 172 pounds. His features possess an undefinable unsettling quality, and more than

7567-620: Is present when Vecna is betrayed by Kas the Bloody-Handed in the fourth century before the Common Year , but at some point, he moves to the Vast Swamp where he constructs a lair for himself, colloquially known as the Tomb of Horrors (and described in an adventure module of the same name). While still alive, Acererak builds a subterranean temple complex in the name of Orcus, burying its architect and all of its workers within. Eventually, Acererak succumbs to

7728-448: Is referred to as "Balakarde". He is described as affable, esteemed, talented and powerful, yet stubborn and headstrong. He has one known sister, Maralee, and is also a former member of the Circle of Eight. In 556 CY , Bucknard's sister and adventuring companion, Maralee, was slain by sons of Kyuss . Bucknard took her death (and seeing her devoured by ghoulish worms) hard. Depressed for years, he emerged from his depression to become one of

7889-476: Is rescued by none other than Vecna , the Whispered One, who kills the advisors urging him to kill the child; instead, he takes on the half-demon as an apprentice. Even then, ten-year-old Acererak loathes life, looking forward to becoming undead like his master. During Vecna's siege of Fleeth, the lich is severely wounded and rescued by Acererak. Vecna subsequently promotes the cambion. It is unknown if Acererak

8050-452: Is some knowledge too evil for the world to know. They instead hunt down secrets and information they deem to be too dangerous for the world at large and keep it secret in the name of Vecna. This puts them in opposition to mainstream followers of Vecna who regard the Keepers as heretics, and makes them enemies of Ioun and her followers, who believe all knowledge should be available for everybody and

8211-450: Is the main villain of the adventure module Vecna: Eve of Ruin , released in May 2024. This module also launches a new storyline that will "play out over a five year period, with other adventures bringing back more classic D&D villains". The left hand and eye of Vecna's original "mortal" lich form, which have never been replaced in his later more powerful incarnations, are now high-valued and very dangerous magical artifacts . To use

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8372-613: Is the mysterious entity known as the Serpent . In 4th edition, the Open Grave book introduces Osterneth, the Bronze Lich, as the mightiest servant of Vecna. The famed cambion lich, Acererak , once served Vecna, but the current status of their relationship is unknown. Among Vecna's staunchest foes are Kas , Iuz , Saint Cuthbert , the Lady of Pain, Pholtus , and the Circle of Eight . He is also opposed by

8533-455: Is usually depicted as a powerful magician resembling a desiccated corpse missing his left hand and eye . A constant theme in the adventures in which the character appears is Vecna's never-ending quest for power, ending, should he succeed, with Vecna as the only deity in existence. Vecna was born as a human, centuries ago as a member of the untouchable caste in the Flan city of Fleeth on Oerth . He

8694-677: Is wary of Drawmij , and holds great antipathy for Warnes Starcoat . Kermin Mind-Bender of the Boneheart once served as Alhamazad's apprentice, but the two are now enemies. Animals Lords are powerful creatures of neutral good alignment that live on the Outer Plane of the Beastlands . In the game, each animal lord is a humanoid being, powerful like a celestial paragon or demon prince , that represents all animals of its chosen type. For example, there

8855-576: The Drow series and the Giant series respectively. Numerous projects were planned to add more depth and detail to the setting after the publication of the initial folio, but many of these projects never appeared for various reasons. In 1983, TSR published an expanded boxed set of the campaign world, World of Greyhawk , which is usually called the Greyhawk boxed set to differentiate it from other editions. According to game designer Jim Bambra , "the second edition

9016-503: The Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock (the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn). On the artifacts, Gary Gygax later said, "nary a detail of those items did [Blume] ever reveal to me". The Hand and Eye of Vecna were then mentioned in the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide (1979) on page 124. During the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons years, Vecna was regarded only as

9177-485: The Greyhawk campaign setting , Vecna was described as a powerful wizard who became a lich . He was eventually destroyed, and his left hand and left eye were the only parts of his body to survive. Even after the character achieved godhood —being a member of the third edition's default pantheon of D&D gods (the pantheon of Oerth ) —he is still described as missing both his left eye and left hand. Vecna's holy symbol

9338-420: The Sword of Kas for his greatest servant, which contains a "portion of his consciousness." This interpretation is relatively recent. As per the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide , Vecna only procured this most powerful sword for his chief lieutenant. Similarly, depending on edition and source, its appearance has varied, from a short sword to a wavy bladed two hander. However, it is consistently depicted that

9499-422: The Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role as the main villain in the last arc of the first campaign . However, the events of Critical Role were not added to the official Dungeons & Dragons canon until Joe Manganiello 's character Arkhan was added to the adventure module Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (2019). Further details on Vox Machina's fight with Vecna were then included in

9660-621: The First Digit (right thumb), Second Digit (right index finger), Third Digit (right middle finger), Last Digit (right pinky finger), Incisors (a pair of inappropriately named fang-like canines), Molar , Scalp , Skin , Heart , Foot (left), and Right Eye . These artifacts are collectively known in D&;D 3rd Edition as the Fragments of Vecna . The Compendium Maleficarum is a book of spells, doctrines, and secrets crafted entirely from bone (even

9821-522: The Hand and Eye of Vecna are the best artifacts, right?" Scott Baird, for Screen Rant , highlighted the risk of the items and stated that "a D&D party that finds one can find itself torn apart. The reputation of these items precedes them and many good adventurers would want to destroy the Eye or Hand of Vecna, but there is always the temptation of power. More importantly, the player will be tempted, simply so they can brag that they used these famous items in

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9982-684: The Old Faith and the Silent Ones. In 4th edition, Vecna's main foes in the realm of death and undeath are Kas , Orcus and the Raven Queen (though he would rather she rule the dead than Orcus). Among the gods, Ioun is something of Vecna's antithesis, for she would share with the world all the knowledge he would keep secret. Vecna's cult is very secretive, and cells have been uncovered, at various points in history, in Diamond Lake , Greyhawk , and Verbobonc . Temples to Vecna have also been reported in

10143-576: The Player's Handbook (2000) listing him as a Lesser deity. Third Edition further raised Vecna's profile in the game, making him a member of the game's "core pantheon". Vecna's alignment was changed from Lawful Evil to Neutral Evil in Third Edition, and no in-game explanation has surfaced. Vecna's role in the 3rd edition Greyhawk setting was defined in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000). Vecna

10304-653: The Pomarj town of Highport and Erelhei-Cinlu , the debased city at the heart of the Vault of the Drow . Being a secretive cult, there are no real collections of Vecnan teachings. However, copies of the Book of Vile Darkness are highly prized by the cult for Vecna's role in that work's development. The Open Grave book offers the "Scroll of Mauthereign", which offers a twisted version of Vecna's history and tells his followers that committing evil acts

10465-606: The Romans . In creating a similar pattern of history for his world, Gygax decided that a thousand years before his campaign began, the northeast corner of the continent had been occupied by a peaceful but primitive people called the Flannae, whose name was the root for the name of that part of Oerik, the Flanaess . At that time, far to the west of the Flanaess, two peoples were at war, the Bakluni and

10626-664: The Sword is inextricably tied to Vecna's relics. "The reason why Vecna only has a single eye and hand is due to a betrayal by Kas", who used the sword against his former master. "In the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the Sword of Kas is a +6 unholy keen vorpal longsword that grants a +10 modifier to the Strength score of its wielder". A number of Vecna's other body parts are presented as minor artifacts in Die Vecna Die! , including

10787-532: The artifact known as the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd , which he wore while leading a rebellion against the wizard Virtos. It is said that Arnd's spirit still inhabits the armor that bears his name, attempting to aid the poor whenever possible. Arnd is credited with writing Unknown Movements of the Universe , a wizardly spellbook. However, as a priest Arnd is probably not the author of the book in question, unless he

10948-413: The "Heart of Vecna" according to the Open Grave sourcebook. The Head of Vecna was a hoax that one adventuring party played on another in a campaign run by game master Mark Steuer. One of the groups tricked the other into going on a quest for the Head of Vecna , a hoax artifact that was supposedly similar to his Hand and Eye , but was simply an ordinary severed head. The hoax takes advantage of

11109-406: The Circle of Eight, and argued against the inclusion of Theodain Eriason . Since losing that fight, however, he has treated Theodain's presence with bland acceptance. Drawmij is reputed to live in a cavernous underwater fortress beneath the Azure Sea , 150 miles south of Gradsul in Keoland, where he deals with merfolk , whales, dolphins, and many other denizens of the ocean. This fastness was once

11270-422: The Company of Seven disbanded. The members of the company were: The Cat Lord , or Master Cat , is the mysterious ruler of cats and a lord of Balance, in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game . The Epic Level Handbook included, as an optional rule, the possibility that he is a quasi-deity. In Gary Gygax 's Gord the Rogue series, he is called Rexfelis . The original male Cat Lord first appeared in

11431-439: The Fingers of Vecna (Vecna's personal guard), and the Ebon Triad (a heretical cult seeking to merge Vecna, Hextor , and Erythnul into a single entity). In 4th edition, a secret group known as the Keepers of the Forbidden Lore is devoted to Vecna. Unlike most Vecna worshippers, the Keepers reject most of the nasty and evil rituals and beliefs associated with the god; they worship him as the God of Secrets, and believe that there

11592-420: The Great Kingdom map, which included local areas based on real-world maps, Gygax decided to create an entirely new and greatly expanded version of Oerth . Needing many more original names for all of the geographical and political places on his map for the new and expanded areas, Gygax sometimes resorted to wordplay. He had previously used Perrenland on the Great Kingdom map, named after Jeff Perren , who co-wrote

11753-691: The Greyhawk campaign. Although it detailed new spells and character classes that had been developed in the dungeons of Greyhawk, it did not contain any details of their Greyhawk campaign world. The only two references to Greyhawk were an illustration of a large stone head in a dungeon corridor titled The Great Stone Face, Enigma of Greyhawk and mention of a fountain on the second level of the dungeons that continuously issued an endless number of snakes. The 2004 publication 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons suggested that details of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign were published in this booklet, but Gygax had no plans in 1975 to publish details of

11914-424: The Greyhawk world, since he believed that new players of Dungeons & Dragons would rather create their own worlds than use someone else's. In addition, he did not want to publish all the material he had created for his players; he thought he would be unlikely to recoup a fair investment for the thousands of hours he had spent on it. Since his secrets would be revealed to his players, he would be forced to recreate

12075-496: The Mage of the Valley of the Mage , and is forever trying to persuade other members of the Circle of Eight to help him kill the wily archmage once and for all. Jallarzi Sallavarian has suggested to Otto that Drawmij's true enmity is for Tysiln San , Jaran's mistress, though the reasons for this are unknown. Drawmij only grudgingly accepted the addition of Warnes Starcoat and Alhamazed to

12236-520: The Mountain is Just as Dangerous as Inside" (Robert Wiese, 2006), Dragotha was a black dragon (not a red dragon, as mentioned above) before becoming undead. An expedition to Dragotha's lair is told in the song "The Claws of Dragotha", which is believed to have been penned sometime in the 5th century CY . Dragotha is mentioned in a pictorial map featured in the White Plume Mountain module: "Beyond to

12397-584: The Oeridians, the Aerdi, began to set up an empire. Several centuries later, the Aerdi's Great Kingdom ruled most of the Flanaess. The Aerdi overkings marked the beginning of what they believed would be perpetual peace with Year 1 of a new calendar, the Common Year (CY) Reckoning . However, several centuries later, the Empire became decadent, with their rulers losing their sanity, turning to evil, and enslaving their people. When

12558-487: The Rogue novels, Eclavdra is depicted as incredibly beautiful, with jet black skin, violet eyes, perfect breasts, and silvery or snow-white hair. Greyhawk The World of Greyhawk is located on a planet called Oerth. Oerth has an axial tilt of 30 degrees, which causes greater seasonal temperature variation than on Earth and is controlled by wizardly and divine magic that shifts weather patterns to be more favorable to

12719-536: The Suloise. The war reached its climax when both sides used powerful magic to obliterate each other, in an event called the Twin Cataclysms. Refugees of these disasters were forced out of their lands, and the Suloise invaded the Flanaess, forcing the Flannae to flee to the outer edges of the continent. Several centuries later, a new invader appeared, the Oeridians, and they in turn forced the Suloise southward. One tribe of

12880-406: The Tomb is a "Chapel of Evil", described as "obviously some form of temple area - there are scenes of normal life painted on the walls, but the people have rotting flesh, skeletal hands, worms eating them, etc." The adventure described him as "a human magic-user/cleric of surpassing evil" who took the steps necessary to preserve his life force as the lich, Acererak." The boxed set adventure Return to

13041-487: The Tomb of Horrors (1998) by Bruce Cordell included a small booklet titled "The Journal of the Tomb", which notes that the character Desatysso discovered that Acererak "owed much of his power" to Tenebrous. Cordell's article "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" in Dragon #249 (July 1998) mentions that "While alive, Acererak built an unholy temple to a now deceased power. When the project neared completion, he slew every worker, excavator, and consecrating priest who had assisted in

13202-567: The Undead Hall of Infamy. He also features in a sidequest in the adventure Revenge of the Giants and in the 4th edition remake of Tomb of Horrors as central antagonist. Acererak is referenced in a piece of Omega Tech in a Gamma World adventure, Factory of Misfit Omega Tech , specifically the Hunting Knife of Acererak. Its hilt is studded with green and red soul gems. Acererak is also referenced in

13363-513: The Whispered One , while not nearly so powerful as the Sword of Kas , is another item Vecna crafted to connect himself with his highest lieutenants. The final issue of Dragon Magazine, issue #359, featured rules for the "Left Ear of Vecna" as a minor artifact. It grants the owner magical bonuses to hearing and resisting sonic attacks, spell-like abilities to inflict deafness, grant clairaudience and create sonic blasts, and enables them to understand any spoken language. A lich known as Osterneth possesses

13524-524: The Worm God and his cult. He grew increasingly secluded and paranoid, no longer confiding even with close friends like Tenser . Abruptly resigning from the Circle of Eight in 579 CY, he traveled to Alhaster to research his theory that the Ebon Triad cult had been created there as a front for the cult of Kyuss. Lashonna, the town's most knowledgeable expert in the occult, agreed to meet with him and directed him to

13685-498: The Wormcrawl Fissure, where he was captured by Dragotha . The following year, after months of torture, Bucknard finally died at the hands of his own undead sister, upon Dragotha's orders. Bucknard's soul shattered into three separate ghosts, representing his artistic, scholarly, and vengeful sides, which haunted the Fissure for decades afterwards. In 581, Bucknard's position in the Circle was filled by Jallarzi Sallavarian. Bucknard crafted

13846-625: The adventure "Prisoner of the Castle Perilous," Acererak created a simulacrum in the Negative Energy Plane to torment Saint Pentivel, an old foe from his mortal life. This simulacrum eventually transforms itself into a complete being through the aid of an artifact known as the Soul Machine . In 4th edition D&D, Acererak appears in the book Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead as a member of

14007-454: The agency of a clone spell, and was once again a member of the Circle, now known as the Circle of Five after the deaths of Tenser and Otiluke and the treason and departure of Rary . Bigby remained a potent character in subsequent versions of the Greyhawk setting, which updated the storyline to 591 CY. Bucknard is a powerful human wizard , and former member of the Circle of Eight . In Dungeon 's Age of Worms adventure path, Bucknard

14168-477: The castle. By the time he was finished, the complex labyrinth encompassed thirteen levels filled with devious traps, secret passageways, hungry monsters, and glittering treasure. Although details of these original Greyhawk dungeons have never been published in detail, Gygax gave some glimpses of them in an article he wrote for the European fanzine Europa in 1975: Anyone who made it to the bottom level alive met Zagyg,

14329-456: The city of Sigil , where he came perilously close to rearranging all existence to his whims. (Vecna's multiverse shattering campaign in Sigil is used as an in-universe way to explain the differences between the 2nd and 3rd editions of Dungeons & Dragons. ) When Vecna was ejected from Sigil by a party of adventurers, Iuz was freed and Vecna returned to Oerth greatly reduced in power, though still

14490-551: The continent of Oerik and asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle; the answer was 34 x 22 inches (86 cm x 56 cm). He found that, using the scale he desired, he could fit only the northeast corner of Oerik on two of the sheets. This corner of Oerik became known as "the Flanaess", so named in Gygax's mind because of the peaceful people known as the Flannae who had once lived there. Gygax also added many more new regions, countries and cities, bringing

14651-507: The cult. The Fingers of Vecna consist mainly of thieves , who engage in various forms of subterfuge. The Blood of Vecna are mainly warriors charged with protection and enforcement of the cult and its goals. The Spawn of Vecna are the lowest in the cult hierarchy, and consist of the common people who honor the Lich Lord. In 4th edition, the Open Grave book shows the leader of the cult of Vecna

14812-647: The deities of Greyhawk. In both, he is listed as the god of evil secrets. Additionally, both his hand and eye are listed as artifacts. In the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015), Vecna is mentioned as a possible God for the Arcana Cleric Domain, as well as a Warlock patron of the Undying. In the Exandria setting, Vecna is a Betrayer God also known as the Whispered One. He was introduced to this setting in

14973-443: The dungeons and environs of Castle Greyhawk to his circle of friends and family, using them as playtesters for new rules and concepts. As the players began to explore more of the world outside of the castle and city, Gygax developed other regions and cities for them. With play sessions occurring seven or more times a week, Gygax did not have the time or inclination to create the map for a whole new world; he simply drew his world over

15134-501: The dwelling of the druid Sverdras Meno. He visits the Free City of Greyhawk as little as possible, finding it stifling and distasteful, but visits Gradsul regularly. Drawmij possesses a magical metal boat he can pilot underwater. Eclavdra is a powerful drow priestess of Lolth , who is known for her cruelty and complex scheming, and her total lack of compassion. She eliminates rivals before they can become threats. In Gary Gygax 's Gord

15295-613: The end of the Second Edition Universe, and the beginning of Third Edition". Vecna was #2 on Screen Rant 's 2018 "Dungeons & Dragons: The 15 Most Powerful Villains, Ranked" list — the article highlights the Vecna Lives (1991) module and states "the players are given the chance to control the members of the Circle of Eight as they investigate a strange burial mound in the Kron Hills. The players then have to watch in horror as

15456-512: The fact that Gygax was increasingly involved in other areas of the company, meant that of the seventeen Greyhawk adventures published in the two years after the folio edition, only four were written or co-written by Gygax: In 1981, TSR also published the super-modules D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth and G1-2-3 Against the Giants , both being compilations of previously published modules from

15617-503: The fact that the Eye and Hand require a person to remove their own eye or hand and replace it with the artifact to function. The characters involved in the story reasoned that they needed to decapitate themselves to gain the powers of the Head of Vecna, and several members of the group actually fought over which character would get to have his head cut off and replaced. After the third character died,

15778-517: The fantasy supplement of Chainmail into his games. After about a year and half of play, Arneson (Blackmoor) and fellow gamer David Megarry ( Dungeon! boardgame) traveled to Lake Geneva in November or December 1972 to pitch their respective games to Gygax, who at that time was a representative of the Guidon Games company. Gygax was immediately intrigued by the concept of individual characters exploring

15939-466: The first players, and during their first session, as Tenser and Ahlissa , they fought and destroyed the first monsters of the Greyhawk dungeon; Gygax recalled them as being either giant centipedes or a nest of scorpions. During the same session, Ernie and Elise also found the first treasure, a chest of 3,000 copper coins which was too heavy to carry, much to the children's chagrin. After his children had gone to bed, Gygax immediately began working on

16100-602: The folio edition, TSR released the adventure module C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan , designed to familiarize players with the Olman race of the Amedio Jungle . Largely based on Aztec and Incan cultures, this adventure introduced the first published deities of the Greyhawk campaign: Mictlantecuhtli , god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld; Tezcatlipoca , god of sun, moon, night, scheming, betrayals and lightning; and Quetzalcoatl , god of air, birds and snakes. This area

16261-518: The forces of Good and Evil in the world. He also appeared in the adventure Vecna Lives! , where he was temporarily killed by an ancient warlord armed with the hand and eye of Vecna . When TSR decided to reboot the World of Greyhawk campaign setting in 1991, Carl Sargent moved the storyline of the setting forward a decade to 585 CY , the year after the end of a continental war called the Greyhawk Wars . By this time, Bigby had returned to life via

16422-488: The form of a five-foot statue of a humanoid skull, on the second layer of Pandemonium . Acererak the Devourer is described as a cambion , the result of an ancient conjurer summoning a demon, a balor named Tarnhem, far beyond his ability to control. Tarnhem devours the conjurer and takes his human mother by force. Acererak's mother survives her son's birth, but she is killed by a torch-wielding mob ten years later. The boy

16583-473: The game published; the game eventually became known as Dungeons & Dragons . Gygax designed a set of dungeons underneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk as a testing ground for new rules, character classes and spells. In those early days, there was no Flanaess; the world map of Oerth was developed by Gygax as circumstances dictated, the new cities and lands simply drawn over a map of North America. Gygax and Kuntz further developed this campaign setting, and by 1976,

16744-621: The game. Vecna was given a set of statistics in Open Grave (2008). Vecna was the name of the Wizards of the Coast's server that hosted and handled the new online character builder tool. In the 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide ( 2014), Vecna appears as a member of the "Dawn War Pantheon" which is mostly derived from the 4th Edition pantheon. He is also included in the Player's Handbook (2014) as one of

16905-441: The high-level wizards that they are controlling are brutally dealt with [...]. The players then wake up and realize that they have to succeed where some of the most powerful wizards in the world failed. Vecna Lives concludes with the players facing off against an avatar of Vecna". In 2019, Jeremy Thomas, for 411Mania , wrote "Vecna is one of D&D’s most well-known villainous characters. While his story has evolved slightly over

17066-414: The insane architect of the dungeons. Zagyg is a reverse homophone of Gygax , and it was Gygax's inside joke that the person who had designed the dungeon—himself—must be insane. Only three players ever made it to the bottom level and met Zagyg, all of them during solo adventures: Rob Kuntz (playing Robilar ), Gygax's son Ernie (playing Tenser ), and Rob's brother Terry (playing Terik). Their reward

17227-423: The joke was revealed. In the 1999 Dungeons & Dragons CRPG Planescape: Torment , Fall-From-Grace (a celibate succubus) asks Morte (a disembodied floating skull) "What are you?", to which Morte replies "Me? I'm the head of Vecna." A similar conversation between the two involves Morte saying "It's a long story involving the head of Vecna. I don't want to talk about it." Grace responds with an amused "That

17388-422: The lair of Dragotha, the undead dragon where fabulous riches and hideous death await." The name "Drawmij" entered Dungeons & Dragons canon through the spell Drawmij's Instant Summons , and was formed by reversing " Jim Ward ", the name of one of Gary Gygax 's players. By Ward's own account, the spell originated during a session in Gygax's original Greyhawk campaign during which the players were stranded in

17549-449: The lands within a radius of 50 miles had been mapped in depth, and the lands within a radius of approximately 500 miles were in outline form. Following yet more work, in 1978 Gygax agreed to publish his world and decided to redevelop Oerth from scratch. Once he had sketched out the entire planet to his satisfaction, one hemisphere of Oerth was dominated by a massive continent called Oerik. Gygax decided to concentrate his first efforts on

17710-406: The lure of lichcraft , and has himself buried in a labyrinthine tomb, where he commits himself to his studies and, eventually, demilichdom, abandoning his body for the planes beyond. Many adventurers over the years attempt to raid Acererak's tomb, but it is believed that none are able to destroy him, despite some claims. The sequel module Return to the Tomb of Horrors retconned and expanded on

17871-422: The magic item Bucknard's Everfull Purse, which is essentially a leather pouch or small bag that refills itself each morning. Each such coin purse can replicate a different number of coins or gems, depending on which type of bag it is. Gygax made mention of whom this magic item was named after and why in an EN World thread: "Bucknard was an NPC I created out of whole cloth. He was based on a neighbor of mine when I

18032-455: The moral obligations on how to use it rest on the shoulders of the individuals involved. In 2013, Alex Lucard, for Diehard GameFAN , highlighted the use of Vecna in two 2nd edition modules: Vecna Lives (1991) and Die Vecna, Die (2000). On the second module, Lucard wrote, "I love Vecna and I love Greyhawk. [...] Players will encounter some of the most iconic and evil characters in all of Dungeons & Dragons , and have to witness firsthand

18193-535: The most potent wizards of his generation. He had dedicated himself to one overriding task: the destruction of Kyuss. In 571, Bucknard became one of the founding members of the Circle of Eight, as Mordenkainen invited some of the most prominent mages in the Flanaess to join him in a successor organization to the Citadel of Eight . At the height of his powers, Bucknard began deeply obsessing over occult manuscripts relating to

18354-402: The multiverse. According to the 3rd edition Tome of Magic , Acererak, following his destruction by adventurers completing the Tomb of Horrors, passes on to become a vestige - an ineffable, amoral entity which can be summoned and bound by characters known as Binders. Acererak grants his summoner lich-like powers, including immunity to cold and the ability to speak with the dead. According to

18515-506: The novel Hero written by R.A. Salvatore, released in 2016. The reference is made when talking about Malcanthet, the Queen of the Succubi, and the deal she had made with Acererak involving a demonic mirror that traps souls. Acererak uses those souls to feed his undeath. Aegwareth is a human shade . A former Elder Hierophant Druid , Aegwareth lived at White Plume Mountain until -800 CY , when he

18676-447: The number of Greyhawk deities to an even fifty. For the next eight years, Greyhawk would be primarily defined by the information in this publication. Vecna Vecna ( / ˈ v ɛ k . n ɑː / VEK -nah ) is a fictional character appearing in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game . Vecna has been named one of the greatest villains in the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Originally appearing in

18837-488: The number of political states to 60. Needing original placenames for all of the geographical and political places on his map, Gygax sometimes resorted to wordplay based on the names of friends and acquaintances. For instance, Perrenland was named after Jeff Perren , who co-wrote the rules for Chainmail with Gygax; Urnst was a homophone of Ernst (his son Ernie); and Sunndi was a near-homophone of Cindy, another of Gygax's children. From Gygax's prototype map, Darlene Pekul ,

18998-498: The official campaign sourcebook Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020) along with details on Vecna's enemies and his commandments. In June 2022, Wizards of the Coast released the Vecna Dossier as a digital exclusive on D&D Beyond . This included background information and a 5th Edition statblock for Vecna in the updated style of the edition. This iteration is of Vecna as an archlich before his ascension to godhood. Vecna

19159-520: The officials leave to depart, and promising them his protection for the rest of their lives. At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed , using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas . Only his left hand and his eye survived the battle, perhaps because of the previous events in Fleeth. Vecna did not stay gone forever, and rose as

19320-399: The officials offered their own lives. Vecna gave one of their number, Artau, and his family, over to his lieutenant, Kas , who spent the entire day torturing and murdering them before the other officials. Still unsatisfied, Vecna slaughtered all within the city, and had their heads stacked before the officials, with those of their family members prominent. Vecna then granted his mercy, granting

19481-427: The only remnants of an evil lich , Vecna, who had been destroyed long ago. "The book contains no more detail on Vecna other than the fact that Kas was his bodyguard". The name Vecna was an anagram of Vance, the surname of Jack Vance , the fantasy author whose works inspired the magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons . The Hand and Eye of Vecna on the other hand were inspired by similar items that appear in

19642-440: The original World of Greyhawk folio (1980), Gygax was asked to produce a map of the world and decided to create something new which still featured many of the locales from his original world of Oerth but with new geography. Gygax also connected Dave Arneson 's Blackmoor to his world by including a country by that name in Oerth. In his later novel Dance of Demons (1988), Gygax destroyed Greyhawk's Oerth and replaced it with

19803-528: The original first edition Monster Manual II (1983). As ruler of all cats since that position has existed, the Cat Lord bears the respect and fealty of felines from house cats to smilodons. Even hybrid beings like weretigers and wereleopards are loyal to him. In the Monstrous Compendium for the Planescape setting, the Cat Lord is presented as female. Dragotha is a powerful undead dragon known as

19964-407: The origins of Acererak "as a persecuted tiefling child to his development as a wizard and priest of Orcus, to his creation of his tomb that was actually a test to winnow souls". The fourth edition adventure also titled Tomb of Horrors (2010) by Ari Marmell and Scott Fitzgerald Gray mentions in the introduction that "Acererak resurfaced as a worshiper of Orcus, using the cult's resources to construct

20125-433: The overking Ivid V came to the throne, the oppressed peoples rebelled. It was at this point, in the year 576 CY, that Gygax set the world of Greyhawk. As Gygax wrote in his World of Greyhawk folio: "The current state of affairs in the Flanaess is confused indeed. Humankind is fragmented into isolationist realms, indifferent nations, evil lands, and states striving for good". Gygax did not issue monthly or yearly updates to

20286-403: The pages) and penned in blood, that is on par with the Fragments of Vecna . The Tome of Shared Secrets is an illustrated bestiary of relic status, with the ability to impart knowledge of dark and evil creatures at the cost of a portion the user's life force. Those two books were superseded in 5th edition by a combined Book of Vile Darkness , a legacy of dark secrets started by Vecna. The Rod of

20447-556: The physical appearances of the main Greyhawk races. In the November 1981 issue, Gygax gave further details of racial characteristics and modes of dress. In the December 1982 issue, David Axler contributed a system for determining weather in the world of Greyhawk. Gygax later said he thought a system of fourteen charts for determining the weather was too cumbersome, and he personally did not use it in his home campaign. The folio edition had thirty two pages, and information about each region

20608-468: The players wanted Gygax to create and customize a specific deity so that cleric characters could receive their powers from someone less ambiguous than the gods . Gygax jokingly created two gods: Saint Cuthbert —who brought non-believers around to his point of view with whacks of his cudgel —and Pholtus , whose fanatical followers refused to believe that any other gods existed. Because both of these deities represented aspects of Good, Gygax eventually created

20769-536: The populace. Castle Greyhawk was the most famous dungeon in Oerth, the home campaign world of Gary Gygax. Players in the earliest days of this campaign mostly stayed within Castle Greyhawk's dungeons, but Gygax envisioned the rest of his world as a sort of parallel Earth, and the original Oerth (pronounced 'Oith', as with a Brooklyn accent) looked much like the real-world Earth but filled with imaginary cities and countries. Several years later, when TSR produced

20930-591: The powers of the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna one is required to cut off one's own corresponding body part and affix Vecna's in its place. "The new bearer of the Eye or Hand (or both) will gain access to powerful spell-like abilities, but the items will slowly corrupt them, turning them evil over time". These artifacts were introduced in the third supplement to the original D&D rules, Eldritch Wizardry . They went on to appear in all subsequent D&D editions. They are considered classic items in D&D, with Mordicai Knode of Tor.com commenting "We all agree that

21091-503: The private armies that were commanded by some prominent Greyhawk characters from his original home game: Bigby , Mordenkainen , Robilar , Tenser and Erac's Cousin . Gygax also mentioned some of the planned Greyhawk publications he was overseeing: a large-scale map of the city of Greyhawk; some adventure modules set in Greyhawk; a supplementary map of lands outside the Flanaess; all fifty levels of Castle Greyhawk's dungeon; and miniatures army combat rules. None of these projects, other than

21252-478: The realm of Ravenloft. However, it wasn't until 1998 that there was a Ravenloft-centered follow-through, Vecna Reborn . In 2000, Wizards of the Coast released the last adventure to be written for the 2nd edition ruleset, Die Vecna Die! , a three-part adventure tying Greyhawk to the Ravenloft and Planescape campaign settings. In this adventure, Vecna was given the rank of a lesser god. Die Vecna Die! set up

21413-459: The remaining forty three regions in the March, July and September 1982 issues. In the August 1982 issue of Dragon , Gygax gave advice on how to adapt deities from the previously published Deities and Demigods for worship by non-human races in the Greyhawk world. A few months later, he published a five-part series of articles in the November 1982 through March 1983 issues of Dragon that outlined

21574-622: The rules for Chainmail with Gygax, but for the new Greyhawk map he added many more such names of friends and acquaintances. For instance, Urnst was a homophone of Ernst (his son Ernie) and Sunndi was a near-homophone of Cindy, another of Gygax's children. Gygax gave only the most basic descriptions of each state; he expected that DMs would customize the setting in order to make it an integral part of their own individual campaigns. His map included arctic wastes, desert, temperate forests, tropical jungles, mountainous cordillera, seas and oceans, rivers, archipelagos and volcanoes. Gygax set out to create

21735-495: The setting. At some point, a group of necromancers settle the area outside the tomb, creating a community of sorts known as Skull City. Acererak's tomb is revealed to be a mere antechamber to the demilich's true dwelling, the lost city of Moil on the border of the Negative Energy Plane , where he had spent thousands of years working on a process to fuse his essence with the plane and gain control over all undead throughout

21896-593: The state of affairs as presented in the folio since he saw 576 CY as a common starting point for every home campaign; because each would be moving forward at its own pace, there would be no practical way to issue updates that would be relevant to every Dungeon Master. Gygax was also aware that different players would be using his world for different reasons. When he was the Dungeon Master of his home campaign, he found that his players were more interested in dungeon-delving than politics, but when he switched roles and became

22057-448: The temple's construction." The article notes that the result of Acererak's work was the dungeon crawl detailed in the Tomb of Horrors module. In the article "Open Grave" by Bart Carroll and Steve Winters for the "D&D Alumni" column in Dragon #371 (January 2009), the authors interviewed Bruce Cordell about the Return to the Tomb of Horrors adventure, where he revealed that he developed

22218-579: The time the Greyhawk home campaign drew to a close in 1985, the castle dungeons encompassed more than fifty levels. While many players participating in the Gygax and Kuntz home campaign were occasional players, sometimes not even naming their characters, others played far more frequently, and several of their characters became well known to the general gaming world before publication of the Greyhawk campaign setting. Some of these characters became known when Gygax mentioned them in his various columns, interviews, and publications. In other cases, when Gygax created

22379-452: The title of its ruler, the racial makeup of its people, its resources and major cities, and its allies and enemies. For the same reason that he had created a variety of geographical, political and racial settings, he also strove to create a world with some good, some evil, and some undecided areas. He felt that some players would be happiest playing in a mainly good country and fighting the evil that arose to threaten it; others might want to be

22540-533: The top is Vecna himself, followed by the Voice of Vecna, which can only be filled by Vecna's manifestation. Next is the Heart of Vecna, the high priest of the cult. The last known Heart of Vecna was Diraq Malcinex of Ket , who was slain by adventurers in 581 CY. Immediately below the Heart of Vecna are two bizarre monsters known as the Hand and the Eye. The Eye of Vecna creature appears as a slender humanoid with an eyeball for

22701-473: The transition between the second and third editions of D&D. According to Shannon Appelcline, the adventure "touched upon the oldest locales and the most ancient myths of the D&;D game" by involving the Eye and Hand of Vecna and using them to oppose Iuz the cambion demigod. Wizards of the Coast continued the character's theme of ascending godhood in Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition (2000–2002) with

22862-466: The world of Oerth . While they were together, the Company of Seven explored many worlds and planes, some previously unknown. Several of the company became demigods or hero-deities, and all of the company have spells and magic items named after them. In 318 CY the Company of Seven discovered the lost Flan citadel of Veralos and returned with a wagon-load of wondrous treasures. It is not known when, how, or why

23023-416: The world of Greyhawk: In addition, Lawrence Schick set his 1979 TSR adventure S2 White Plume Mountain in Greyhawk. Despite fan curiosity, the original Castle Greyhawk was never officially published outside of Gygax's home campaign. In 1975, Gygax and Kuntz published a booklet called Supplement I: Greyhawk , an expansion of the rules for Dungeons & Dragons based on their play experiences in

23184-448: The years, he has always been a powerful undead lich. The original appearance of the Eye and Hand of Vecna was in 1976’s Eldritch Wizardry and it was said that Vecna was long-since destroyed. He eventually became an antagonist in the world of Greyhawk, reimagined as a lich who attained demigod status. His hand and eye, which were separated from him, are able to be applied to characters to grant great powers at an equally great cost". Vecna

23345-437: Was #4 on CBR 's 2020 "10 Unique (& Powerful) Villains To Spice Up A High Level Dungeons & Dragons Campaign" list — the article states that "Once a humble necromancer, he rose all the way to becoming a lich and finally a god through an act of ascension. Resplendent with evil this figure is a god whose domain encompasses the undead and secrets. This villain is the apex of the living dead. A campaign centered around fighting

23506-575: Was a character that had been created by Gygax's childhood friend Don Kaye before Kaye's untimely death in 1975. The fourth, a hero-deity named Kelanen , was developed to illustrate the "principle of advancement of power". Of the ten adventures set in Greyhawk published by TSR before the folio edition, all but one had been written by Gygax. However, the new availability of information about Gygax's campaign world and TSR's desire to make it central to Dungeons & Dragons encouraged many new writers to set their adventures in Greyhawk. This, combined with

23667-425: Was a lad, a Mr. Bucknall. He had a great garden, an apple tree with five different kinds of apples, and he knew astronomy well, assisted me with my 100 power telescope. He did use a small change purse, and from it he would extract a small coin to give to me now and again." Bucknard authored Inexplicable Reflections . The Company of Seven is an adventuring group whose members later achieved great fame and power in

23828-565: Was condensed into a short paragraph or two. Gygax realized that some players needed more in-depth information about the motivations and aspirations of each region, and the history of interactions with surrounding regions. With this in mind, Gygax decided to publish a much longer description of each region in Dragon . The first two articles, covering seventeen regions, appeared in the December 1981 and January 1982 issues. Due to his involvement in many other TSR projects, Gygax handed responsibility for completion of this project to Rob Kuntz, who covered

23989-481: Was forced out of TSR in 1985, he lost the rights to most of his characters, including Mordenkainen and Bigby. Bigby is one of the famous mages of the Greyhawk setting whose spells were included in the 1988 Greyhawk Adventures hardbound. Bigby was reintroduced as a member of a repurposed Circle of Eight in 1989 in The City of Greyhawk boxed set, where he appeared as part of a cabal of nine wizards who sought to balance

24150-564: Was further explored in The Scarlet Brotherhood (1999), which expanded the Olman pantheon, and newly introduced the Touv people, including their nine gods. Also included in the March 1983 issue of Dragon was an article detailing four unique Greyhawk characters. The first two quasi-deities — Heward and Keoghtom—had been created by Gygax as non-player characters (NPCs). The third, Murlynd ,

24311-401: Was further piqued by the ten Dungeons & Dragons modules set in Greyhawk that were published between 1976 and 1979. Several of Gygax's regular columns in Dragon magazine also mentioned details of his home campaign and characters that inhabited his world. Gygax was surprised when he found out that players wanted to use Greyhawk as their campaign world. Rather than using his own version of

24472-498: Was initially trained by his mother, Mazzel, in the art of magic , before she was executed by the government of Fleeth for practicing witchcraft. Vowing revenge, Vecna eventually assumed a mastery of the dark arts achieved by no mortal before or since. Some say this achievement was due to direct tutelage by Mok'slyk the Serpent, believed to be the personification of arcane magic itself. Nearly one thousand years after his birth, Vecna, now

24633-549: Was much larger than the first and addressed itself to making the World of Greyhawk setting a more detailed and vibrant place". This edition quadrupled the number of pages from the original edition to 128, adding significantly greater detail. One major addition was a pantheon of deities: in addition to the nineteen deities outlined by Gygax in his Dragon article, another thirty-one new deities were added, though only three received full write-ups of their abilities and worshipers. This brought

24794-461: Was multi-classed. It is possible there was a wizard called Arnd separate from the legendary priest. Arnd of Tdon was named after Don Arndt, a player in the first Greyhawk campaign. Bigby was created by Rob Kuntz as a low-level non-player character evil wizard in the early dungeons of Greyhawk in 1973. Gary Gygax 's character, the wizard Mordenkainen , encountered Bigby. The two wizards engaged in combat; Mordenkainen managed to subdue Bigby using

24955-418: Was organized religion. Since his campaign was largely built around the needs of lower-level characters, he did not think specific deities were necessary, since direct interaction between a god and a low-level character was very unlikely. Some of his players took matters into their own hands, calling upon Norse or Greek gods such as Odin or Zeus , or even Conan's Crom in times of dire need. However, some of

25116-464: Was published in the August 1974 issue of Chicago small press magazine El Conquistador . In the first issue of The Dragon published in June 1976, Gygax prefaced Chapter 1 of his serialized novella The Gnome Cache with a note that the story's setting, Oerth , was very similar to Earth in terms of geography. One facet of culture that Gygax did not address during the first few years of his home campaign

25277-402: Was rescued and brought to safety by one of his wizard generals, a cambion named Acererak (who would one day himself become a mighty demilich ). Vecna eventually recovered. On the verge of conquering Fleeth, the officials of the city came before him to beg for mercy. They offered up the entire city and her wealth if only Vecna would spare the lives of her citizens. When Vecna was not satisfied,

25438-537: Was safe to remove the charm spell, since Bigby had changed from an enemy to a loyal henchman; therefore Gygax could use Bigby as a player character. For a time after this, Kuntz ruled that all the names of Mordenkainen's future henchmen had to rhyme with Bigby. This resulted in Zigby the dwarf; Rigby the cleric; Sigby Griggbyson the fighter; Bigby's apprentice, Nigby; and Digby, who eventually replaced Bigby as Mordenkainen's new apprentice. Thereafter, Gygax developed Bigby into

25599-508: Was slain by the wizard Keraptis , who took White Plume mountain for himself. Aegwarth now exists as a shade . Alhamazad the Wise is a powerful human wizard of Baklunish descent, and one of the newest members of the Circle of Eight . He is an elderly Baklunish man who walks with a limp, dresses in plain robes, and covers his shaved head with a simple turban. Alhamazad is a good friend of Mordenkainen , whom he has known for over twenty years. He

25760-498: Was to be instantly transported to the far side of the world, where they each faced a long solo trek back to the city of Greyhawk. Terik and Tenser managed to catch up to Robilar along the way, and the three journeyed back to Greyhawk together. By this time, a dozen players crowded Gygax's basement every night, with over 20 at times on weekends and the effort needed to plan their adventures took up much of Gygax's spare time. He had been very impressed with Rob Kuntz's imaginative play as

25921-535: Was you?" Also in the same game, the Eye of Vecna is a rare item dropped by greater glabrezu. The Head of Vecna made a canonical appearance in the AD&;D 2nd edition module Die Vecna Die! (2000), and was the subject of a short adventure on the Wizards of the Coast website in 2007. Familiarity with the Head of Vecna was cited as an example characteristic of an avid role-playing gamer by writer David M. Ewalt . Vecna

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