Living Greyhawk Journal #3

We're back in the wonderful world of Greyhawk with the fourth installment of the Living Greyhawk Journal. Yes, this is issue #3. There was an issue #0, remember? So, this if the fourth. It's 32 pages long, so there's going to be plenty of stuff in here, I'm sure.

We start with Campaign News. The Fright of Tristor is available, a freebie sent to all RPGA members. There is a hint that they might do more of these freebies, but as far as I know, they never did; apparently, this one wasn't as successful as they had hoped. They'll continue the look at the City of Greyhawk in the following issue (they skipped it this time). One of the magic items they sent out in a scenario has a major bug, apparently, and a replacement certificate is necessary. So...if you have the original magic item, it doesn't count and you can't use it in other Living Greyhawk games. Okay, then. They are also releasing some 'adaptable' scenarios which can be played in any region. Well, that's handy.

They include updated character creation guidelines (this is version 1.2). I'm not going to do a minute examination to see what's different.

Now we get to an actual article: The Blood of Heroes. These are actually hero-deities (below demigods in status) who are worshipped by at least a few people in Greyhawk, some of whom are going to be familiar to plenty of players (the hero-deities, not the worshippers). We have:

Azor'alq (Son of Light, Banisher of Darkness), NG Hero-god of Light, Purity, Courage, and Strength. He's Baklunish, in case you couldn't tell from the name. His clerics (yes, they get clerics) have the domains of Good, Sun, and War, and can use scimitars.

Charmalaine (the Lucky Ghost), N hero-goddess of Keen Senses and Narrow Escapes. This one's a halfling whose clerics have the domains of Luck and Protection; her favored weapon is a light mace.

Daern (the Unshakable), LN hero-goddess of Defense and Fortification. Yes, the one with the Instant Fortress. Her domains are Earth, Law, and Protection. And I'm surprised Daern is a 'her'; I never pictured Daern that way. 

Daoud (the Mendicant, Unraveller of Deceptions), N hero-god of Humility, Clarity, and Immediacy. This guy had a famous lantern way back in the day. His domains are Magic and Travel, and his clerics like to use the quarterstaff. He's another Baklunish, so that pantheon is slowly expanding.

Gadhelyn (the Archer, Lord of the Wildwood), CN hero-god of Independence, Outlawry, Feasting, and Hunting. This one is a deity of the wild elves; even the other elves have mostly forgotten about him. His domains are Chaos, Plant, and Animal, and his clerics can use the longbow.

Gendwar Argrim (the Doomed Dwarf), LN hero-god of Fatalism and Obsession. You'll note that these are very specific areas of influence on these hero-gods; they are quite narrow-minded in their focus. Gendwar's clerics get Law and War domains, and their favored weapon is the dwarven waraxe. Sweet!

Johydee (The Hidden Empress), NG Hero-goddess of Deception, Espionage, and Protection. She had a famous mask, as I recall. I think it was an artifact, actually. Her domains are Good, Protection, and Trickery, and her clerics can use short swords.

Kelanen (the Prince of Swords), N hero-god of Swords, Sword Skills, and Balance. He's the most well-known of these hero-gods, and he basically does swordfighting and that's about it. His domains are Travel and War, and his clerics can use any martial sword.

Keoghtom (the Pulse of the Living Land), NG hero-god of Secret Pursuits, Natural Alchemy, and Extraplanar Exploration. And healing ointment. Can't forget that. His domains are Good, Knowledge, and Traven, and his clerics get to wield both short swords and shortbows.

Kuroth (the master Thief), CN hero-god of Theft and Treasure Finding). Another one whose name appears on a special item, in this case a quill. Kuroth's domains are Chaos, Luck, and Trickery, and his clerics can use daggers and rapiers.

Kyuss (the Bone Master), NE hero-god of Creation and Mastery of Undead. Oh, this guy. He got an entire adventure path dedicated to his machinations much later on. To the shock of no one, his domains are Death and Evil; his clerics prefer to use clubs.

Murlynd (the White Paladin), LG hero-god of Magical "Technology". Murlynd had a spoon, but if you're into the obscure bits of D&D lore, you'll know his name also adorns a spell. His domains are Good, Knowledge, and Law, and his clerics can use longswords as well as light crossbows.

Nazarn (the Gladiator), N hero-god of Formal and Public combat. So, a gladiator or duelist. And he's a half-orc, because why not? His domains are Luck and War, and his clerics can use short swords.

Roykyn (the Merciless), NE hero-goddess of Cruelty. This is an evil gnome who likes cruel pranks. Be afraid. And she is not nice in any way whatsoever; her favored weapon is the spiked gauntlet. Oh, and her domains are Evil and Trickery. Right.

Tsolorandril (the Ethereal Walker), LN hero-deity of Wave Motions. Wave motions? That needs its own dedicated divine being to supervise it? Damn. I'd hate to have drawn that out of the hat of portfolios. This one's domains are Knowledge and Law, and his weapon will the spiked chain. Ouch.

Finally, we have Vathris (the Transfixed), LN hero-god of Anguish, Lost Causes, and Revenge. Oh, come on now. Anguish gets its own portfolio? Anyway, Vathris' domains are Law and Retribution, and his weapon is the longspear.

Then we get a listing of the gods of Oerth, with all these hero-gods listed at the end. Sixteen of them? Really? (Counts them) Yep. I guess there are. And it looks like this list incorporates all the deities of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It's a nice, handy table that summarizes the important information for any of the Greyhawk deities.

Alright, the Enchiridion of the Fiend-Sage is next. And we get some new critters! First up is the Amedian Gutworm, a Medium-size Vermin with 3 HD and a CR of 2 as an adult; the larva is much weaker. And...it's a xenomorph from Alien. It injects eggs into a host, so that's gross. It's amphibious, drains blood, and yeah. You know the drill. And they can advance to up to 9 HD and Large size.

Next is the Losel, a Medium-size humanoid with the Orc subtype. They have 1 HD and a CR of ½. So, they're low-level mooks. They don't have any special qualities or anything to make them stand out from the usual humanoids. They can advance as character classes, or just jump up to 2 or 3 hit dice. Their favored class is barbarian.

The Norker is an old classic from the Monster Manual II (and prior to that, the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth in the additional monster and treasure supplement). They're Small Humanoids with the Goblinoid subtype. They're basically the same as Losels, really. Except their favored class is Rogue, and their leaders like the fighter class. They worship Maglubiyet, and their clerics get Chaos, Evil and Trickery as domains.

Finally, we have the Swordwraith. This is actually a template, and they are ultra-dedicated warmongers who want so badly to fight that they come back as undead to do so. It only applies to humanoids and monstrous humanoids (a minotaur swordwraith would be awesome). They do Strength damage with their weapons, have good damage reduction, and travel in packs. Or rather, companies. They bump the base creature's CR by 2, and advance by character class.

Dispatches from various lands and kingdoms come next; they're brief adventure seeds for interested players. I'm not.

And that's about it. There's a blank character sheet at the back, which doesn't give anything new except the RPGA logo at the bottom and a Living Greyhawk logo at the top. Meh.

And that actually is it. Not a bad bit of worldbuilding here, especially with the additional divine beings to add to the pile. Greyhawk has almost as many gods as the Forgotten Realms at this point. Nice.

Tomorrow is another online addition, and after that I'll get into the next issue of Dragon Magazine. See you then.