World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting

The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting and the World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting are two closely related publications from TSR, Inc. that detail the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game. Both publications were authored by Gary Gygax, and they were the first stand-alone offerings to provide detailed, comprehensive information regarding a D&D campaign setting.

In 1972, after seeing a demonstration of Dave Arneson's Castle Blackmoor game, Gary Gygax agreed with Arneson to co-develop a set of rules for a game that would eventually become known as Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax liked the idea of a castle and dungeon that players could explore, and created his own imaginary place called Castle Greyhawk, which he used to test and develop the game. With almost continuous play during the years 1972–1975, Gygax, and later his co-Dungeon Master (co-DM), Rob Kuntz, expanded the setting to include an entire world. After the creation of TSR, publication of D&D and the release of several adventures set in his world of Greyhawk, Gygax was surprised to learn that there was strong player demand for access to his fantasy setting. He agreed to publish a campaign setting based on his home campaign.

TSR intended to publish The World of Greyhawk early in 1979; the foreword by editor Allen Hammack was dated February 1979. Gygax himself assured Dragon readers in issue No. 37 that, barring catastrophe, the World of Greyhawk was ready for official release. However, Gygax's The World of Greyhawk (TSR 9025) did not hit store shelves until August 1980.

The World of Greyhawk consisted of a thirty-two page folio (this edition is often called the "World of Greyhawk folio" to distinguish it from later editions) and a 34" x 44" (86 cm x 112 cm) two-piece color map of the Flanaess, by Darlene Pekul. The book comes with a folder containing maps and a gazetteer describing every state and region on the maps. In addition to details of geography, history, and political states mentioned above, Gygax also included the following:

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