Rating: 
Summary: Confused
Review: Please note that I do not own this book.As a DM for many years now, I have been using a world that two of my friends and I created. I was tossing around buying the Gazetter just for compare/contrast sake and I read through the reviews. My understanding that this Gazetter was about the world of Oerth, not Grayhawk. I know there is a Living Grayhawk Gazetter to be released at a different time. Am I right in assuming these are two completely different campaign settings? One review stated that the book left out all kinds of places (I'm not familiar with Grayhawk) but could that be because it ISN'T Grayhawk? Someone please clarify.
Rating: 
Summary: Grayhawk returns
Review: Someone commented that this was a generic setting, and that people should wait for Forgotten Realms, or some other universe to be released. This is not accurate. Oerth, the setting described in the gazetteer, is the original, and perhaps best, D&D setting. Formerly published as "World of Greyhawk", this is the setting Gary Gygax and co. created way back when the game was first created. It's also the primary setting for D&D 3rd edition.
Rating:
Summary: Greyhawk - Return of an absent favorite
Review: The Grehawk Gazetteer is an excellent purchase for any DM who wants to start a campaign in a pre-existing game world. It provides a ready made world which has a proven track record as a great "place" to play D & D. It is well worth the purchase price for any DM who wants to play in the Greyhawk world, or is looking for inspiration to create his/her own campaign world. It is also great to for players, as it gives them a taste of how a game world operates. Greyhawk was the original world for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Campaign. Originally created by Gary Gygax and crew, this campaign area was largely abandoned after Gygax left TSR. The Greyhawk campaign has always been a popular and vibrant world, a world where all races had areas where they were dominant. Indeed, speculation on the abandonment of this campaign world was not because of any problems with the campaign world itself, but because the the management who replaced Gygax wanted to distance themselves from anything Gygax had personally created within D & D. But Greyhawk would not die. After a long absence, several new modules and accessories were developed, just prior to the financial problems which resulted in Wizards of the Coast's purchase of TSR. The new Gazetteer is heavily derivative, and quite faithful to the previous Greyhawk Gazetteer and other Greyhawk supplements (which is not a bad thing). DMs have been given a world with plenty of room for expansion, and adventure. The only quibbles with this Gazetteer are that it doesn't contain much in the way of new information, and is on the brief side. It will be interesting to see what will be contained in the forthcoming Living Greyhawk book, which will purportedly contain more detailed information on the Greyhawk world.
Rating:
Summary: Greyhawk - Return of an absent favorite
Review: The Grehawk Gazetteer is an excellent purchase for any DM who wants to start a campaign in a pre-existing game world. It provides a ready made world which has a proven track record as a great "place" to play D & D. It is well worth the purchase price for any DM who wants to play in the Greyhawk world, or is looking for inspiration to create his/her own campaign world. It is also great to for players, as it gives them a taste of how a game world operates. Greyhawk was the original world for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Campaign. Originally created by Gary Gygax and crew, this campaign area was largely abandoned after Gygax left TSR. The Greyhawk campaign has always been a popular and vibrant world, a world where all races had areas where they were dominant. Indeed, speculation on the abandonment of this campaign world was not because of any problems with the campaign world itself, but because the the management who replaced Gygax wanted to distance themselves from anything Gygax had personally created within D & D. But Greyhawk would not die. After a long absence, several new modules and accessories were developed, just prior to the financial problems which resulted in Wizards of the Coast's purchase of TSR. The new Gazetteer is heavily derivative, and quite faithful to the previous Greyhawk Gazetteer and other Greyhawk supplements (which is not a bad thing). DMs have been given a world with plenty of room for expansion, and adventure. The only quibbles with this Gazetteer are that it doesn't contain much in the way of new information, and is on the brief side. It will be interesting to see what will be contained in the forthcoming Living Greyhawk book, which will purportedly contain more detailed information on the Greyhawk world.
Rating:
Summary: Greyhawk - Return of an absent favorite
Review: The Grehawk Gazetteer is an excellent purchase for any DM who wants to start a campaign in a pre-existing game world. It provides a ready made world which has a proven track record as a great "place" to play D & D. It is well worth the purchase price for any DM who wants to play in the Greyhawk world, or is looking for inspiration to create his/her own campaign world. It is also great to for players, as it gives them a taste of how a game world operates. Greyhawk was the original world for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Campaign. Originally created by Gary Gygax and crew, this campaign area was largely abandoned after Gygax left TSR. The Greyhawk campaign has always been a popular and vibrant world, a world where all races had areas where they were dominant. Indeed, speculation on the abandonment of this campaign world was not because of any problems with the campaign world itself, but because the the management who replaced Gygax wanted to distance themselves from anything Gygax had personally created within D & D. But Greyhawk would not die. After a long absence, several new modules and accessories were developed, just prior to the financial problems which resulted in Wizards of the Coast's purchase of TSR. The new Gazetteer is heavily derivative, and quite faithful to the previous Greyhawk Gazetteer and other Greyhawk supplements (which is not a bad thing). DMs have been given a world with plenty of room for expansion, and adventure. The only quibbles with this Gazetteer are that it doesn't contain much in the way of new information, and is on the brief side. It will be interesting to see what will be contained in the forthcoming Living Greyhawk book, which will purportedly contain more detailed information on the Greyhawk world.
Rating:
Summary: Greyhawk returns as THE Dungeons and Dragons world.
Review: The world of Greyhawk is almost as old as Dungeons and Dragons itself. It was the first published setting for Dungeons and Dragons and has endured the test of time. For a long time it was the default realm for the adventure modules such as "The Village of Hommlet," the original "Against the Giants," "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks," and others. Throughout the era of the first edition if an adventure did not have a particular world name stamped on it (like Dragonlance, or Forgotten Relms) the players were to assume that the adventure took place on the planet called "Oerth," the world containing the city called "Greyhawk." This assumption was done away with for the second edition. With the advent of the new edition, Wizards of the coast has brought Greyhawk back to its role as the assumed default world. It is now known as "The Dungeons and Dragons world." Any adventure that does not take place in a DMs own world, or in a separate world published by Wizards of the Coast is assumed to take place in this setting. The purpose of the book is to give the Dungeon Master a quick and easy campaign world with plenty of room to work his own developments plots into the world. The reader is given a map, a brief history, short descriptions of the different nations, city states and cities, short descriptions of the assorted geography, and general descriptions of the groups whose powers trancend political boundries. The map is flimsy but well drawn. (It is fragile enough that I suggest lamination) The Dungeon Master is given the option to change political situations, rulers, or anything else in order to fit his plots and adventures into the world. This is the last piece of the world described by the PHB, and DMG. (Each of these have some info on the various aspects of the world, such as gods, races, etc.) The only real problem with this product is the flimsy map and the history. The problem that I had with the history is that it is difficult to follow if you do not know the geography of the world. However, if you study the map as you go this ceases to be a problem when you finish reading the book. All in all this product does what it sets out to do. It gives the Dungeon Master the basic workings of the world of Greyhawk without getting so specific as to make it impossible to customize. I would say that this product is a good buy for the Dungeon Master that does not want to be bothered with the details of creating a campaign world or playing in one that has many special cases and rules.
Rating:
Summary: Greyhawk Overview
Review: This is a good introduction to the lands of and around the Free City of Greyhawk. I was impressed with the quality and detail of the included fold-out map. Almost every location on the map is overviewed within the 32 page Gazetteer: Mountains, forests, wastelands, wetlands, lakes, rivers and major cities with plenty of adventure "seed" ideas. Keep in mind that this product is only 32 pages in length. It is an overview and only offers some minor detail of the vast campaign world. It is enough to get started, but for any in-depth campaign, the DM will have to flesh out any particular area in which he and his players will wish to play. The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer product that will be released later this year (November, I believe) will be a full 192 pages in length and will most likely pick up where this product leaves off (and offer an online and continually growing campaign world). All in all, I give a thumbs up as a good introduction to a beautiful campaign world.
Rating:
Summary: Greyhawk Overview
Review: This is a good introduction to the lands of and around the Free City of Greyhawk. I was impressed with the quality and detail of the included fold-out map. Almost every location on the map is overviewed within the 32 page Gazetteer: Mountains, forests, wastelands, wetlands, lakes, rivers and major cities with plenty of adventure "seed" ideas. Keep in mind that this product is only 32 pages in length. It is an overview and only offers some minor detail of the vast campaign world. It is enough to get started, but for any in-depth campaign, the DM will have to flesh out any particular area in which he and his players will wish to play. The Living Greyhawk product that will be released later this year (October, I believe) will be a full 192 pages in length and will most likely pick up where this product leaves off (and offer an online and continually growing campaign world). All in all, I give a thumbs up as a good introduction to a beautiful campaign world.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Book
Review: This is a well presented overview of the World of Greyhawk. It contains brief descriptions of countries, history and geography. This is a good example for Dungeon Masters who want to create their own world. I was a bit disappointed because the map included was not the same as the one shown on the front cover.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Book
Review: This is a well presented overview of the World of Greyhawk. It contains brief descriptions of countries, history and geography. This is a good example for Dungeon Masters who want to create their own world. I was a bit disappointed because the map included was not the same as the one shown on the front cover.
| 
