The New Website is live...

2022-04-17

Welcome to my new site!

It is far from fully featured yet, only a blog and a download page but more is coming soon. The blog posts are all my post from my Patreon blog, and a lot of them are only for patreon members. I will go over all the old posts and make them fully available for everyone, normally I keep some of my patreon post exclusive for patreon members for a month or two.

A page for heraldry is coming, posts will be categorized and tagged to make things easier to find. I hope what is here is working so I can work on add more stuff!

Thank you again for all your support, it makes this possible!! 🙂

New Website is coming!

2022-04-12

New website is under construction and will have the home page and the essentials up and running in a day or two.

Upgraded to a much better server with more space, bandwidth and extras. Hopefully I can now host a lot of my content on my own server. I have postponed this essential upgrade way too long so now I HAVE to do it. I'm over the worst, installing all the base things and now started with the more fun part of actually creating pages and adding content.

The plan is to be able to host my maps on my own server, and now with 500GB of space it should hopefully work.  

Sorry for the mess during downtime!

MeyerHawk - Rules of the Gods

2022-04-11

Here comes a test, I've written up some guidelines for how I want gods to function in my campaign and wanted to share them with you guys. The topic for Legends & Lore Show this  week are Quasi Deities so I thought it was about time I got this published here as an inspiration for the discussion and  see what you like about me publishing more other type of Greyhawk content besides maps from time to time.

These rules are intended to be seen as guidelines to inspire your worldbuilding and ideas for campaigns and not as hard coded. This is also draft and not refined and tested. This is a first to see you you find more than my maps interesting and want to see more of this type of content for use in your games.

The reason behind this is that I felt a need to figure out how the gods came to be, how they wield their powers and how to get rid of them. For example what is the true story of Tharizdun. Whit these guidelines we can make him an ancient lord who rose to power thousands of  years ago and and ascended to divinity, or he could be the first god of death feared by scared mortals hearing his name whispered as the one to be afraid of or else... Or he could have risen from Hell itself and conquered souls throughout the multiverse.

Ideas for how Tharizdun was brought down can also be deduced using these rules. If he was a Tier 8 God his enemies needed to seek out his avatars and kill them first, then conquer and destroy his realm. If he was a Tier 9 God they needed to also hunt down every single priest of Tharizdun and kill them to destroy him, and if he was a supreme being they needed to hunt down and kill every creature that feared or worshipped him. Maybe even everyone who know about him, the most powerful gods can hide in the minds of people as long as they are revered in some form. So to truly destroy Tharizdun even the ones that defeat him might have to kill themselves to make sure he doesn't come back.

Divine Creation

Gods can be created in two different ways in my campaign, by ascension or by emergence.

Ascending Gods

These are creatures who become powerful first by using natural means the same way characters do. The other part needed is for the creature in question to be worshipped, feared or both by others. If the influence over others this way is strong and persistent over time this creates the conditions for a possible start of a divine career.

We have examples of this in Greyhawk from Vecna to Zagyg and St Cuthbert.

Emerging Gods

Sometimes the devotion, or fear, comes first and the object for the devotion are a natural phenomena like the sun, a volcano or nature in general. If the devotion is strong and consistent, over time that creates a ground for a divine phenomena to emerge in the area.  This usually takes far longer than an ascension, and can span over thousands of years.

Examples of deities that emerged in most of the deities of the Old Faith like Beory, Pelor and Obad-Hai. I also want to include the Earth Dragon of the Pomarj as a recent still ongoing case of an emerging deity.

Agents

Worshippers a divine being have promoted to receive powers from them, like spells and other special abilities. Examples are clerics, paladins, witches, warlocks.

Divine Tiers

0 - Prospect

Creatures who have reached enough abilities and power to start the journey to godhood

1 - Hero

Creatures who have acquired worshiping followers willing to devote their life to follow the whims of the hero even from a distance, or caused enough persistent fear in a large group of creatures, or gained divine promotion or a combination.

Agents:  Promote an agent per month

Special Abilities: No need for food or water, cast 1st level magic at will

Senses: Perceive the world through a praying single worshiper as a action,  as long as they are on the same plane. Also Gain Aura Sense

Representation: Normal or create a phylactery and live as a single avatar

Mortality: Maintaining current age as long as they can are worshipped/feared. Killed by by phylactery destruction or normal means.

2 - Quasi Deity

Expanded their worship beyond their core group to cover a whole culture, region of the world or plane. Your worshippers are now organized in some form and some form of priesthood of divine agents is taking shape.

Agents: Can promote an agent per day

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 30 feet, cast 2nd level magic at will

Senses: Perceive the world through a divine agent at will,  as long as they are on the same plane. Gain one special sense

Representation: Normal or create a phylactery and project a single avatar

Mortality: Maintaining current age as long as they are worshipped/feared. Killed by by phylactery destruction or normal means.

3 - Minor Demigod

Secure a dominant influence over a large group of creatures, recognition from other deities or minor influence over a part of the natural world.

Agents: Delegate agent promotion to subordinates

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 60 feet, cast 3rd level magic at will.

Senses: Perceive the world through any creature bearing your symbol,  as long as they are on the same plane. Gain or expand one special sense.

Representation: Normal or create a phylactery and project a single avatar.

Mortality: Exist ageless as long as they are worshipped/feared. Killed by by phylactery destruction or normal means.

4 - Major Demigod

Defeat a divine opponent and/or significantly expand your reach, establish permanent places of worship.

Agents: promote up to 10 agents per day

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 120 feet, cast 4th level magic at will.

Senses: Constantly perceive the world through all your permanent places of worship. Gain one special sense, or extend the range of a sense.

Representation: Distributed phylactery and single avatar projection.

Mortality: Killed by by phylactery destruction.

5 - Minor God

Hold on to your power for far more than your natural lifetime.

Agents: promote up to 100 agents per day

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 500 feet. Cast 5th level magic at will.

Senses: Notice every time you name is spoken, on the same plane you are currently on. Gain one special sense, or extend the rage of a sense.

Representation: Distributed phylactery and double avatar projection.

Mortality: Killed by avatar and majority of phylactery destruction.

6 - Major God

Recruit worshipers that hold divine power, and expand your presence beyond your plane of origin, and/or acquire at least a million levels of followers.

Agents: promote up to 1000 agents per day

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 1,000 feet. Cast 6th level magic at will.

Senses:  Your senses now extend into neighbouring planes.

Representation: Distributed phylactery and triple avatar projection, plus simultaneous projection into all permanent areas of worship.

Mortality: Killed by avatar and complete phylactery and temple destruction.

7 - Planar Nobility

Establish a permanent hold on one of the outer planes, inner planes, transitory planes or a create a demi plane of your own.

Agents: ascend one divine being per year

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within a mile. Cast 7th level magic at will.

Senses:  Use the senses of any of your worshippers at will.

Representation: Area phylactery and project up to four avatars on your plane of presence, plus simultaneous projection into all permanent areas of worship.

Mortality: Killed by avatar, phylactery area, and temple destruction.

8 - Planar Lord

Secure and defend a significant part of a plane, recruit other gods to your cause

Agents: ascend two divine beings per year

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 5 miles. Cast 8th level magic at will.

Senses:  Use the senses of all of your agents simultaneously.

Representation: Area phylactery and project up to five avatars on your plane of presence and neighbouring planes, plus simultaneous projection into all permanent areas of worship.

Mortality:  Killed by avatar, realm, and temple destruction.

9 - Ruler of Pantheons

Combine forces with other gods and/or control a whole plane of existence

Agents: ascend three divine beings per year

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 10 miles. Cast 9th level magic at will.

Senses:  Use the senses of all of your worshippers simultaneously.

Representation: Mind phylactery in agents and project up to five avatars on any plane of presence and neighbouring planes.

Mortality: Killed by avatar, realm, temple, and agent destruction.

10 - Supreme Being

Conquer more than a plane, slay another major god or persist for a very long time.

Agents: ascend a divine being per month.

Special Abilities: control environmental conditions within 100 miles. Cast 9th level magic at will.

Senses:  Use the senses of all of your worshippers simultaneously.

Representation: Mind phylactery in worshippers and project up to six avatars on any plane of presence and neighbouring planes.

Mortality: Killed by avatar, realm, temple, agent and worshipper destruction.

Mortality and Avatars

Avatars take 10+10 years per divine tier to bring back if killed.

If a divine being looses all its avatars it can only form again after 100 years per divine tier. The powers of the reconstituted deity depends on what remains of its holdings, agents and worshippers. If they are also gone, the god is effectively extinct. There might be some old temple or artifact hidden away that make it possible for the god to reemerge again. This explains booth the need for remote hidden temples with artifacts and a thorough hunt to try and cleanse the world of them.

Senses

Special senses divine being can acquire are, Moonsight, Darkvision, Ethereal Sight, Shadow Sight, Truesight, Life Sense, Arcane Sense. the are the ones I have come up with so far there might be more!

Divine being can use not only their avatars as a base from which to sense things but also their places of worship, which is one of the main reasons that temples often include features like towers, high domes and such. It makes it possible for the deity to keep an eye of a larger area. Also a reason to build temples on hills. Scrying works in a similar way in my campaign, which is why a lot of wizards reside in towers.

More Heraldry - Old Favorites of Greyhawk

2022-04-01

Back home from a great Gary Con, it was so much fun to meet gamer friends again after two years of hibernating at home. The bad side to it are a severe case of Con Crud, but thankfully not covid. After a day recovering in bed its time to get back to work, and first out are some more heraldry digging into Greyhawk history.

First are the infamous Tharizdun, what would a shield used by his followers look like? Below is my take on what a Tharizdun cultist shield might have looked like back in its prime.

The purple color is inspired by Mike Bridges cartoon cultists, which I tried to bled in with a some shine and harsh effects to create a slightly crazy looking shield with a magic flare. 

What would such a shield look like found in "modern times" in the Flanaess. Below is my take on that, a corroded mess shipped away at the edges. Tharizdun doesn't offer much protection from decay even for his own magical items, but some of its power are still present.

Next up is everyone's favorite (it seems) Vecna. The first shield is from the time of Vecnas tyrannical rule of the Flanaess, when he still has both his hands and eyes and was working on his lichdom. His symbol has an eye in the center with radiating spokes, meaning he the ruler of all that sees everything.

Below is what that shield might look like found in a hidden stash in the late CY 500's.

In a bad state but much better than the sorry state of the Tharizdun shield. 

Finally a look at the Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom and their heraldry over the years. First is the initial shield they used in their early days after saving the Overking from some sort of a dragon. 

The design is from the 3rd edition Sword and Fist supplement.

Next is the LG version of the Knights heraldry, the black Aerdy Cranden base later used during the Cranden hold of Rauxes. Didn't like this design at first but its is starting to grow on me a bit. 

and finally a design by Brian Blumklotz sporting a pattern of Aerdy stars on the later Great Kingdom Blue.

I can see this design being adopted as a way of "depoliticize" the order and make it about the Empire and less about Heironeans and Hextorians.

This was it for today, I will get into the hexed version of the Flanaess  & Hepmonaland map now. 

Flanaess & Hepmonaland 576CY - 2022 Atlas

2022-03-19

All the 98 maps are done, and you can grab them as JPG and PDF's here:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kxzix4c9p8irsit/AABYC8mmlkAfkm-jXdhyYb1wa?dl=0

Covers and index will coma a bit later, now I'm just about to leave for Gary Con. I hope to see some of you there!

More Updated Heraldry!

2022-03-13

Here are the next batch of updated heraldry, 60 this time including a few alternate versions.

You can grab them all in a zip file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrv3cpc0fq9umn7/Heraldry4.zip?dl=0

My favorite in this batch are the Hobgoblins of the Pomarj

I'm very happy how the grit and dirt on this one turned out while still keeping the looks of the original illustration of the 83 boxed set. Encouraged by the results I tried the Goblin shield again, and this time I kind of like the result.

Trying to make the skulls dominating so many shields different from each other and look interesting, intimidating and believable is among the hardest in this project. With the Order of the Bone I feel I have succeeded in giving the reclusive cult a good representation. 

I went for a "what if you attach a piece of slate" kind of look, and I like the result.

A classic got a work over this time, Lord Robilar's famous heraldry.

I like the slightly over the top medieval look, I think it compliment the notorious man's legacy.

This brings up the total of heraldry in the new and updated series to 260 with about 100 more to go, which means that the goal of updating all of them this summer is going to happen. Then it is time to start work on a Greyhawk Heraldry Compendium!

Thank you so much for all of your support!! 🙂

Flanaess & Hepmonaland 576CY - Illustrator AI-file

2022-03-13
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Flanaess & Hepmonaland 576CY Map - 2022 Edition

2022-03-13

Here is the final version!!

EasyZoom: https://www.easyzoom.com/image/325836

JPG (287MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/1s6uaz931bnv1vb/Flanaess%20%26%20Hepmonaland%20-%20576CY%20-%202022.jpg?dl=0

PDF (1.25GB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwhskt67k54wgvt/Flanaess%20Hepmonaland%20Full%20Map%20576%20CY%20-%202022%20public%20copy.pdf?dl=0

Only recommend the PDF version for those with really powerful computers, the size of this map is in many ways too big for the PDF format. It has layers like older PDF versions.

Thank you all for supporting this project, it took a bit over a year and a lot of long hours of work but I'm really pleased with the result and it is a good leg to stand on until all the content can be migrated into a GIS based map.

Here is a list of the changes:

Changed the internal borders of the Duchy of Urnst to provincial.

Blackfriar Manor  --> Blackfair Manor

Shield Reclaimed - From Bastion of Faith

Removed misplaced Jewel River text label

Changed Fleichshriver to Freehold

Tweaked the roads of Freehold

Densac Gulf, Pearl Sea and Vohun Ocean labels placement adjusted

Johnsport, river and road adjustments

Blemu Castle added

Old Town of Blemu renamed to Harrowkeep

Knurl moved and border adjusted

Nivlek moved

Roads around Knurl adjusted

Named the road from Harrowkeep to Spinecastle, The Harrowing Road

Wild Coast, Town of Blue Bay added

South Olman Isle, added Atloxtin and Mahuatl

Narisban, added heraldry

Ratik, added Cavrik's Cove

Added Boval Islands

Added Estold Islands

Fharlanst Castle, moved a bit south

Mansbridge, moved east and changed to a small valled town

Hochoch moved to west side of the Realstream

The Docks added next to Stoink

Goldchasm moved further into the Adri

Adjusted Great Kingdom Adri border

Nanonshaven changed to Nannonshafen and moved westwards

Added Flosh Crossing, from Saga of Old city p259

Agnelford renamed Ongleford and moved to the Tessar Torrent west of Knurl

Oddgave Hill added from Saga of Old City

Sharpwall removed

Downslope removed

Adjusted Almor western border

Druid's Well moved further into the Adri

Added Ripper Hills

Changed Blemu Uplands to Tessar Uplands

Len Lakofka's elven town Labelas Grove and Treant Moot added in Axewood

Lo Nakar relocated a bit to the west to better match Amy Crittendens OJ35 article

The Eddri Line of keeps in Idee are now labeled

Heraldry added for Sybarate Isle

Sheldomar River, the first part renamed Kla'arkash River

Shiboleth moved north and roads rearragned

The Black Obeslisk site added in the Rushmoors

Riddlings Pass moved north

Added Rutherton and Mt Rantoloch in Tehn

Changed Sterich from a March to an Earldom

Uskedge  and its  Marchland added to the North Province

Red Falls changed to large town

Baronies of Highlander added

Split Rock added in the Rovers

Legend updated with Imperial borders, edited text and new sea depths

Lo Reltarma moved to Len's original locations on the small island

Pel Reltarma added

Lake Farmin removed

Garrotten moved to Lake Farmin

Manville moved to Garrotens old location

Asmogorgon upgraded to a town

Removed a few roads and sea lanes in the SW

Galesford added in Nyrond

Cepentar added in eastern Hardby territory

Macroom renamed Gysselen

Shanscross added in Veluna, from Saga of Old city

Road from Veluna city to Littleberg via Shanscross added

Stump in Furyondy moved north to the road to Laurelinn, from artifact of Evil

Pen-Wilds area added in the northern Barrier Peaks, from Sea of Death

Hardby heraldry updated

Bardillingham added in the Vale of the Mage, from Sea of Death Gord book

Added Jotslpat heraldry, CASL

Applebee removed

Ruined city of Zinbyle in the Sea of Dust is named

Added Jungle of Lost Ships

Added Turucambi

Dustbrigde heraldry added

River changes on the terrain map

Franz river and its tributaries

Vesve

Nesser River

Rushmoors

Added rivers along the cost of the Gulf of Ghayar

Chanded the small river flowing through Innspa

MeyerHawk - Shield Land Campaign Heraldry

2022-03-04
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