Sword and Sorcery Greyhawk - The Isle of Green Stones

Don't bother looking for this mysterious isle on your map - it is rumored to be somewhere near Midbay in the Nyr Dyv - no one who has gone looking for it has been able to accurately pinpoint its location. This is, in part, due to the thick, moving fogs which usually enshroud the isle. There is also the issue of the questionable sanity of those who claim to have visited the isle.

The isle itself is only ten miles end-to-end from its northernmost point to its southernmost, and roughly three miles across at its widest point east-to-west. It is choked with gnarled, ancient trees, vines, and heavy undergrowth. The isle's moniker comes from the tumbled green stones found all across it. The stones are worked, and seem to have once been part of some ancient city or temple complex. Some stones still bear weather-faded runes and reliefs depicting savage humans, often engaged in salacious acts, lorded over by a race of vulture-headed humanoids. Whether these inhuman beings are an actual race or meant to depict some sort of gods is ambiguous.

What is tempting about the isle to treasure hunters is the rumor of great wealth to be found on the isle. Old legends around the Nyr Dyv, particularly found among the old tribes of Flan descent, place the isle at the center of a lost empire, millennia old. According to these legends, this decadent empire fell into ruin not through the actions of some outer agency or slow decline, but due to a horrible curse that brought them to a sudden, apocalyptic end. A further rumor insists that the broken city sometimes appears as if it had never fallen, on nights when the moon is full.

Visitors to the isle, obviously, risk falling prey to that very same curse.

Random Encounters (d12)
1. Bat, Mobat (2d3)
2. Bird, Dire (1d4)
3. Coatl
4. Vulchling (2d4)
5. Jackal (2d6)
6. Ape, Carnivorous (2d3)
7. Lizard, Giant Monitor (1d4)
8. Amber Creeping Vine (1d3)
9. Basilisk
10. Zombies, JuJu (1d4)
11. Toad, Giant (2d6)
12. Spider, Giant (1d3)

Vulture Helms
These ancient helms may sometimes still be found on the Isle of Green Stones. They are powerful, but convey a great curse. They appear as a gem-encrusted full helm of light, steel mesh in the shape of a vultures head. When worn, they impart a +1 bonus to armor class, infravision, and allow the use of charm person up to three times daily. Due to their curse, however, each use of the Vulture helm's charm ability carries a (cumulative) 5% chance of the wearer transforming into a Vulchling of CE alignment. Only a wish or remove curse may reverse this transformation, and the Helm is lost in the process. Each helm is worth 4500 gp for its value in gems alone.

Spider Knives
These odd weapons may also be found on the Isle of Green Stones. They feature a 9" curved blade with a hilt shaped like a spider. It is held by entwining one's finger among the spider's legs. It functions as a Knife +1, and on a natural roll to-hit of "20" injects a powerful poison into the victim's wound (Save at -1 or die). Unfortunately, these weapons have been influenced by the Isle's curse as well, and on a natural roll of "1" inject the same poison into the wielder.

NPCs

Hrek Maluk (Thief 6, CN) - Maluk has been stranded on the Isle for 2 weeks now since he and his group of treasure hunters landed. He is the only surviving member, and has been without sleep for three days now as he is being stalked by a group of 3 carnivorous apes. He carries a bag of ancient jewelry worth 3000gp he will gladly offer in exchange for help driving off the apes, though he will, of course, try to steal it all back eventually.

Captain Shurc (F4, N) - Shurc has been living on the Isle for six years. He is quite mad, and claims he can speak to the "great spirits of the Isle". His motives are unclear, as is the veracity of his claims, but he will refuse to leave the Isle to the point of physical aggression. He knows the location of a deep sinkhole filled with bones and jewelry.

Sword & Sorcery Greyhawk - The Headless Harlot

What would a good Sword & Sorcery setting be without an iconic tavern?

The Headless Harlot

The Harlot is a notorious tavern and inn of Dyvers the Wicked, located just off the central plaza of the Boulevard, on the very edge of The Groves. This modern wood and plaster, five-story structure abuts a one-story stone structure from an earlier age. The tavern is named for the ancient marble statue of a beautiful girl, the head long-since broken off, that stands by the main entrance, a doorway covered only by several ragged strips of stained leather. There are no windows on the ground floor, or the topmost fifth floor, but the middle three stories have windows with wooden shutters. A narrow alley on the right side of the building leads to a small service entrance around back, and a wide rusty grate in the mouth of the alley leads down into the city sewers. Past the service entrance is a rickety stable that can accomodate up to thirty mounts.

The main entrance opens into the wide, main tavern room, which has twenty long tables with benches, a long bar across the back of the room, and a low stage off to one side. The floor at the center of the room is clear of tables and chairs and is partitioned off by fifteen burning lamps set into iron staves. The tavern room is typically full at all hours of the day and night with raucous patrons, and after dark musicians fill the stage while the Harlot's dancing girls entertain from the central area.

The second floor features four large common rooms, and the third and fourth floors each feature 16 small rooms as well as a locked storeroom and a communal jakes that empties out into the alley below. The common rooms are filthy and often dangerous, and the third floor rooms are on the squalid side. The fourth floor rooms are kept somewhat clean and can be comfortable and well aired thanks to the height of the shuttered windows.

The abutting stone building is an ancient, but still functioning, bathhouse, and is accesible via a guarded door from the main tavern room.

The Staff

The Harlot is owned by Argus Blackarm(F6), a tall and emaciated ex-freebooter whose left arm, while fully functional, appears to be made of some sort of black stone, rumored to be the effect of an altercation with a foreign sorcerer. Argus is nearly always present during evening hours, frowning at the antics of his patrons, and acting as his own bouncer when the need arises. On the few occasions he becomes inebriated, he may be encouraged to regale the crowd with tales of his days stalking the shipping lanes of the Nyr Dyv.

The Harlot employs two bartenders, Grolf and Hubert (each F3), who despite sharing no blood ties are practically indestinguishable from one another. Nonetheless, they are highly, and sometimes violently, offended when someone attempts to call them over by the wrong name. Also in Argus's employ is a large and seemingly ever-revolving staff of wenches(typically Thief1), guards(F2), cooks, stableboys, and servants, all overseen by Argus's right-hand man, Jalister, a gregarious and perceptive priest of the Eye (C4).

Also on hand are Argus's seven slaves, the Harlot's popular and attractive dancers (T2). The most popular of these is Blissanda, a dark-eyed beauty from faraway Ket, who is never allowed to dance until Argus determines the Harlot has broken even for the night. A dozen or so lesser slaves service the bathhouse and upper rooms.

Mysteries and Rumors

The Bathhouse - This ancient structure features twohuge, ornate baths, one of which is hot, and the other cold. Both baths are fed from wide openings in the bottom that lead to some unknown source of water deep below the earth. Rumors persist of the occasional patron being dragged down into the deeps by an unkown agency. The waters of the baths are rumored to have odd effects on the bathers at times, from healing diseases, to other, less beneficial effects. Statues fill the alcoves lining the building's walls, some depicting ancient gods.

The Fifth Floor - Rumors abound about the mysterious fifth floor of the Harlot. As far as anyone can tell, there are no stairways leading up it, no public ones at any rate. Nonetheless, residents of the fourth floor rooms report odd noises, music, and thumps from above.

The Basement - Its a little-guarded secret that the Harlot's basement features a gambling parlor and brothel. Access to it is expensive, and strangers are seldom welcome. Though ostensibly owned by Argus, there are rumors of financial connections to Dyvers' underworld.

Prices

Common room, night - 5cp
Common room, week - 3sp
Private room, 3rd floor, night - 2sp
Private room, 3rd floor, week - 1gp
Private room, 4th floor, night - 5sp
Private room, 4th floor, week - 3gp
Bathhouse, daily access - 1sp
Bathhouse, slave attendant - 2sp/hour
Brothel, services rendered - 1gp/hour plus tip
Gambling room, daily access - 1gp
Stabling, night, plus feed - 1sp

Pilsner, pint - 1cp
Ale, pint - 2cp
Stout, pint - 3cp
Wine, rough, goblet - 3cp
Wine, good, goblet - 1sp
Wine, fine, goblet - 1gp
Liqour, fine, glass - 1gp
Whiskey, rough, jigger - 5cp
Hookah, 10 minutes - 1sp

Meal, rough (course bread, dubious stew) - 3cp
Meal, good (good bread, identifiable meat, cheese, soup) - 5cp
Meal, extravagant (5 course, rare and exotic foods) - 1gp

Sword & Sorcery Greyhawk + 0one Blueprints =?

So what do you get when you cross S&S Greyhawk with 0one Blueprints' Caverns of Chaos?

I can't decide.

I want to make a 1-3rd level adventuring locale for S&S Greyhawk. That means no orcs, goblins, etc. Degenerate humans are the default "humanoid hordes" in S&S Greyhawk. Monsters are big, dark, scary, and usually the product of an unkind sorcerous ritual or a debauched experiment.

Undead are cool, too.

I'm thinking Howard, Vance, Lovecraft; all mixed together for a nice introductory meatgrinder, with plenty of mysteries, traps, and just plain weird things to look at when not fending off howling cultists and giant serpents.

Help me pick between these:

1. Baleful Caverns of the Mind Lord

2. Lost Valley of the Obsidian Throne

3. Sinister Caves of Kor-Kuros

Sword &Sorcery Greyhawk - Gnarley Forest

Gnarley Forest

The Gnarley Forest is a vast woodland extending for hundreds of miles from the southern shores of the Dyr Dvv all the way into the battle ravaged Pomarj. This write-up deals with the NE section of the forest know locally as the Twisted Wood or Moaning Deep. This is the area of the Gnarley bordered on the north by the Velverdyva and on the east by the Selintan. The trees of the forest are black wood with deep purple or dark crimson leaves, and many are twisted into almost human shapes, contorted as if tormented. When breezes blow through the trees they create an unnerving moaning sound, especially intense after dark. A few tribes of woodsmen live in the Moaning Deep, hostile to outsiders and devout followers of the Old religions of blood and stone.

Bloodvine Vale - This area of the Moaning Deep is plagued by smothering vines with sharp crimson thorns, which seem to reach toward living creatures when their attention is elsewhere. A great ruined castle lies in the heart of the vale.

Ravine of Staring Statues - This deep, dark ravine is terraced on all sides, and a menacing, icy-cold creek runs down the center until it disappears into a yawning crack in the rocky earth. The terraces are lined with rusting iron statues of human figures which stare upwards at the uncaring skies above.

Wicker Hills - This row of four long hills lie on the border of the Moaning Deep nearest Dyvers the Wicked. Atop each is a great Wicker Man, which the woodsmen fill with criminals and captives each season and burn in sacrifice to their cruel gods.

Old Henge - This center of worship for the woodsmen is the haunt of a circle of grim druids and their fey acolytes. Thirteen mildew-streaked menhirs stand in a semi-circle here around a bloodstained stone altar.

Melting Caverns - Near the center of the Moaning Deep is a broken hill with many dark caves leading into the Melting Caverns, a series of natural chambers filled with weeping fungi and slime. The caverns are haunted by all manner of carnivorous jellies, oozes, and puddings, and is the source of the Silthering Trackers that infest the Gnarley. Rumor has it a great golden statue of alien demeanor squats in the deepmost chamber.

Kraken Tree - This massive black tree, the size of a small citadel, sits near the western edge of the Moaning Wood, its twisting trunk forming many natural arches and alcoves. Some of these lead into a great hall beneath the tree, the abode of the unnatural and cruel aelfs that hunt the wood for human victims to take part in their games of dark whimsy. The Hall is said to be far larger than should naturally fit beneath a tree of even the Kraken's proportions, and is ruled by an Aelfen queen of infamous sadism.

Creek of Time - No one is sure exactly where this creek lies within the wood, possibly because the slightest touch of its icy water causes one to lose all past memories.

Bald Hill - This barren hill at the NE corner of the Moaning Deep is the site of unspeakable rituals and orgies, where the witches of the Gnarley consort and cavort with demons called up from the Abyss.

The Tower of Eyes - The location of this tower seems to change upon the whim of its master, the inscrutable Sage Menek Voht, a diviner and oracle of great power.

The Silent Halls - Once a lively underground city of gentle, inhuman craftsmen (known by some as "gnomes"), the tunnels and chambers now lie silent and barren, filled with the bones of their former masters. What doom befell this gentle folk is unknown, but rumors persist of undiscovered treasure vaults filled with master-crafted jewelry and baubles.

Moaning Deep - Wandering Monster Table (1d12)
1- Ghost (1)
2- Shambling Mound (1d2)
3- Giant Slug (1)
4- Quicklings (4d4)
5- Giant Horseflies (1d6)
6- Violet Fungi (1d4)
7- Slithering Tracker (1)
8- Slithering Tracker (2)
9- Kraken Aelfs (2d10)
10- Bandits (2d10)
11- Woodsmen (as "Berserkers", 4d10)
12- Druids (1 Druid of 1d6+4 lvl, plus 2 acolytes of 1d3 lvl, plus 2d10 Woodsmen).

S&S Greyhawk - Amulet, Staff, Curvy Knife

I thought it would be cool if Magic Users and Priests in the Sword & Sorcery Greyhawk setting, perhaps known collectively as "Sorcerers" to better fit the genre, had some iconic "tools of the trade".

Staff: The staff is an important artifact in any Sorcerer's kit. A Sorcerer spends hours perfecting his staff, perhaps cutting it from a twisted ancient tree growing in a cursed graveyard, then carving into it arcane runes and symbols, imbuing it with dubious unguents and fluids, and performing weird rituals with it, such as placing it in the hands of a mummified virgin beneath a gibbous moon. Using such a staff replaces the need for material components in non-divinatory spellcasting, up to a value of 10gp. It also allows a sorcerer to re-roll any "1"s when determining damage. A broken staff robs the sorcerer of these benefits and it takes 1 week per level of the sorcerer to properly prepare a new one.

Curvy Knife: This wavy dagger, or athame in some parlance, is invested with a sorcerer's power similarly to the staff above, but conveys different benefits. If used in divination type spells it drastically reduces the chance of failure. Further, if waved at a target, it allows the sorcerer to "remotely" apply a spell that would normally require a touch, such as Shocking Grasp or a Reversed cure spell. A broken or damaged athame must be replaced as the staff above.

Amulet: This sorcerous tool may come in many different forms, such as a golden sun-shaped disk, a pewter serpent with ruby eyes, or even the shrunken head of a dispatched rival. Prepared and replaced as the items above, the Amulet conveys two important benefits. Firstly, if given to a trusted ally, it allows telepathic communication between sorcerer and agent at a range of up to one mile per level of the sorcerer. Secondly, when worn by the owner, it can hold a single protective spell cast into it, such as Shield or Protection from Evil, that may be activated immediately when the sorcerer is threatened with harm, before initiative is rolled, and does not count against any further actions the caster may take in the remainder of the round.

S&S Greyhawk - Dyvers the Wicked!

Yet again, the mere passing thought of Sword & Sorcery Greyhawk has sent me down the rabbit hole of DIY world-building. I don't know why the idea fascinates me so much, but a Greyhawk where Vance and Leiber hold more sway than Medieval History just seems...right. So here's some ideas for Dyvers:

Dyvers the Wicked
Dyvers is a bustling port city where the black waters of the Velverdyva River empty into the Lake of Unknown Depths. Originally an outpost of the Furyondy Satrapies, the city's Thieves' Guild took preeminance in 514CY, when they took advantage of Furyondy's economic hardships during the Holy Wars with Veluna to secede under Veluna's protection. After more than a decade of refusing tribute to Veluna, the city was beseiged by vengeful King Thrommel's bloodthirsty cavalry in 526CY. The seige lasted for only two months, until Thrommel's force was almost completely destroyed by poison and disease, helped along by Dyvers' fanatic assassins of the Temple of the Eye. No state has attempted to lay claim to the city since.

Some important locations in and around Dyvers include:

The Old Docks - Legend has it that the cyclopean stone blocks that make up Dyvers' riverside docks were there long before Dyvers, the remnant of some lost civilization of unknown beings. Those willing to risk swimming down below the sea-weed choked megaliths may spot curling runes and carvings of an unsettling nature, and further ruins lurk just beneath the surface of the Velverdyva, a hazard for unwary ships.

The Boulevard - The economic center of Dyvers, a hundred yards wide and a mile long, this infamous chalk road is typically choked with a maze of canvas booths and tents of all color and description, selling anything and everything from across the face of Oerth.

The Groves - A century ago this lowland side of the city was a slyvan hunting preserve for a Furyondyan Satrap; now, it is a winding ghetto with streets so narrow and choked with filth that the sun is only visible for one hour, precisely at noon.

Ziggurat of Iuz - This great black step pyramid is festooned with serpent-shaped chimneys that spew smog into the sky at all times. The worship of Iuz, the living god, has sprung up only recently in Dyvers, aided of course by the Magister's constant and closest advisor, Dar Hoon (9th level EHP of Iuz).

Temple of the Eye - This massive cube of mildew-stained marble has long been the religious center of the rich and powerful of Dyvers. Bloodstained altars accept sacrifice every night, and the temple trains an Assassins Cult that is among the most feared in Oerth.

Crickhouse - Once the abode of an immeasurably wealthy Nyrondi arms dealer, this sprawling, 400-room mansion now sits "abandoned", the subject of a thousand dark rumors expounding on the horrors of its haunted halls.

Iron Plaza - The center of Dyver's slave market, one of the most prosperous in all of Oerth, with buyers from as far away as Bissel and Aerdy in attendance.

Palace of Jhegaal - This marble and gold palace is the home of Jhegaal, the ruler and Magister of Dyvers (Thief, 12th level). Its harems and baths are legendary, as are its torture chambers and an extensive network of dungeons, the Pits of Jhegaal. Jhegaal's chief advisor, Dar Hoon (9th level EHP of Iuz), is never far from his side.

The Water Gardens - Just off the Boulevard's northern end are the infamous Water Gardens, a labyrinth of fountains, parks, hidden grottoes, and silken tent-brothels where any pleasure or vice is available for the right amount of coin.

Trichean Fountain - The centerpiece of this wide fountain in front of Jhegaal's palace is a horrific bronze statue depicting a pair of maidens, possibly twins, in the final embrace of a giant fanged serpent. It is said the statue presents a riddle that, once deciphered, may lead to a treasure of dark origin.

Grogor Obelisk - This massive, tower-sized stone edifice at the midpoint of the Boulevard is carved with indecipherable heiroglyphics and images of strange, inhuman beings cavorting with demons. Though it has never been proven, rumor has it the Obelisk is hollow and filled with secret halls and chambers.

Carcoss Reservoir - Local legend has it that this reservoir was once a quarry that was dug all the way to hell. Now it is a still, depthless pool of dubious black water that many consider ill-luck to disturb.

Refocusing Greyhawk

As I was having some coffee with my Greyhawk Map the other day, I kind of got to wondering - what would it be like to take a look at Greyhawk through the eyes of someone like Leiber or Howard?

There's a popular image of Greyhawk (and its world "Oerth) as a sort of alternate version of Earth in the Middle Ages, with magic and elves thrown in for good measure. Shiny-armored Knights thunder across the plains of the Great Kingdom, Feather-capped archers plumb the depths of the Gnarley Forest, Dervishes ravage the borders of Bissel, etc. But we all know Gygax's love for pulp fantasy was just as important as his love for Medieval miniatures warfare, so somewhere in there are the seeds for a campaign of Dark Savagery.

I can't really call it "Reimagining Greyhawk", because the pulp stuff is in there, it just kind of got brushed aside as Greyhawk passed through the hands of more and more editors, marketers, and editions. So I prefer to think of it as "Refocusing". Finding those parts of Greyhawk where you just know there's a howling barbarian with a bloody greatsword trying his best to get out!

Imagine Greyhawk City a little closer to Lankhmar. Its Thieves' Guild a little darker and more cultish as opposed to the one portrayed in the Gord novels.


Imagine a Scarlet Brotherhood more akin to the Dreaming Isle of Melnibone, its Suloise monks and wizards the modern descendents of the twisted demon-sworn conquerers of a dead age.


Imagine the Wild Coast and Pomarj as a savage Hyborian wasteland, where a man's life is only worth the steel he carries.


Imagine the Nyr Dyv as a pirate-infested sea like the Vilayet, dotted with black isles haunted by the nightmares of lost races and empires.


Imagine Dyvers as a city of dark pleasures, depraved wizards, and crowded brothels like Shadizar the Wicked.



This:



Instead of This:



Well, you get the idea.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?