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Ghosts of Saltmarsh Review

GHOSTS OF SALTMARSH is out, and it marks the first published Greyhawk content for Fifth Edition, unless you count the PDF Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, various appendices to adapt adventures to the setting, and random Oerth tidbits from Mordenkainen in his Tome.

There will be a lot of reviews, but most will be focused on the concerns of average D&D players. Is the book well done? Are the adventures fun? Are they easy to run? This review isn't interested in that. I am only concerned with how the book stacks up as new Greyhawk content. I care about three things. Is it really Greyhawk? How much Greyhawk stuff is there? Is the Greyhawk content done well?

First question first. Yes, it is really Greyhawk. The book sets Saltmarsh clearly in the Kingdom of Keoland's southern coast, on the Azure sea. The adventures are grounded in regional politics between king Kimbertos Skotti’s agenda, disgruntled local smugglers, and the agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood. The slavers of the Sea Princes also pop in as antagonists and motivators of the action. Procan is described for the first time in a 5e book, and the final adversaries are cultists of Tharizdun. The setting of Saltmarsh is populated with Greyhawk-grounded NPC's like a wizard from Ket and a merchant from Iuz. Origins available for players of the campaign have ties to the setting for each character background given in the Players' Handbook. PCs created for the book's contents will be have deep roots in Oerth.

“How much Greyhawk is there?” is a question you can answer a bunch of ways. 12 levels worth is one way as there is enough here to run a Saltmarsh campaign up to level 12 if the PCs stay based in the region. All the adventures are set in Greyhawk and feature Greyhawk lore. And none feature anything that would be out of place on Oerth. There are no references to Forgotten Realms dieties or cities, for example. As for how much actual Greyhawk background is here as opposed to sea rules and room-by-room adventure description? I'd say pages 7-35, which describe the town of Saltmarsh, the politcal state of Keoland, the Scarlet Brotherhood and the Sea Princes and their factions in the town as well as the backgrounds for players count as Greyhawk source book material. I'd also count pages 214 to 228, full of side quests including the wreck of a missionary ship of St. Cuthbert as source book style content. There is a very narrow focus to the region of Saltmarsh, but it is brought to life on a par with classic Greyhawk material.

As for how well the content is done, I was pleasantly surprised. The art is gorgeous. It's been a long time since we've had any official art of Oerth and this stuff is equal to the best of it. As for the lore itself, authors Mike Mearls and Kate Welch know their stuff. The descriptions of Keoland, the Sea Princes, and the Scarlet Brotherhood are spot on to their entries in Gary Gygax's original box set. The gods are all described in keeping with previous publications. There is nothing here that contradicts Greyhawk lore. The regional map includes the fortress of Burle and the city of Seaton, and even adds the Tower of Zenopus from the blue basic set officially to Oerth for the first time. The events seem to be set in the classic 570's time period. There are no dates listed, but the political details of the region and the size of the town suggest the campaign begins just as the 1981 U Series of modules did, in 576 or so.

I am pleased to say that the feel of Greyhawk is here too. The thousands of newcomers to Greyhawk that will buy this book will get the right idea of what this place is about. The three factions are motivated by political and financial concerns. They are conflicted in alignment. Only the Scarlet Brotherhood is out and out evil, and you still may have to bargain with them when it becomes necessary. Keoland isn't just “the good guys.” For example, they trade with Iuz because it destabilizes their northern rivals. And certain people in the town secretly deal with the slavers of the Sea Princes. It feels like gritty, intrigue-filled Greyhawk and not grand epic fantasy Forgotten Realms.

It is, however. definitely a Greyhawk that has been brought in line with Fifth Edition. All of the 5e classes are represented, even though they didn't necessarily exist in 1983, and 5e additions to the D&D multiverse like the Shadowfell and the Feywild make an appearance. Fortunately all are integrated in a way that respects the setting. New players are advised that elves, dwarves, and halflings will be welcome in Keoland, but tieflings and dragonborn would be met with a mixture of curiosity and fear from everyone they meet. No dragonborn actually appear in the book and the only tiefling is an emissary from the land of Iuz, one of the parts of Oerth where they would make sense.

All in all, this is but a tiny taste of Greyhawk. Only the lore relative to southern Keoland is here, and really only what you need to run the campaign in the book. But that lore is done well, is full of detail and is in keeping with the essence of Greyhawk as we have known it all these years. It's a modest first step, but it's a sure one. One can only hope that the book sparks enough interest that all these new adventurers on Oerth will soon have a true 5e Greyhawk source book to fill in the rest of this rich setting as well as Ghosts of Saltmarsh fills its small corner of the Flannaess.

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Commission! Tiefling Paladin of Trithereon :>

Check out my blog for more art and commission info!

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The folks at Wizards of the Coast were cool enough to publish an article of mine about Greyhawk in 5e. Enjoy! Some good quotes from Mike Mearls too.

#Greyhawk #Dungeons and Dragons #Critical Role #Mike mearls #Wizards of the Coast #Dnd #Dnd Beyond #acquisitions incorporated #Fantasy #Rpg

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So like, I found this blog a few weeks ago just poking around since I’m a big nerd, and heard you talking about it on the 2nd to last episode of Painty Men and it was kind of just a weird serendipitous experience. Anyways, good luck out there! Excited for more Painty Men and also to see more of what you are doing with venerable Greyhawk!

Thanks! Glad you like both this and Painty Men. My Greyhawk campaign is a monthly so they are still only halfway through adventure 2. When I need to make adventure 4, it’ll go in the blog. Gonna do some more adaptation of 5e stuff too.

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Very cool comic strip featuring the original Greyhawk campaign characters. Enjoy!

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greyhawk5e · 6 years

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Raiding Tal’Dorei for your Greyhawk Campaign

A lot of D&D players (including me) like Critical Role, and Matt Mercer has created some great content for his campaign. The “Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting” book has a bunch of stuff that is suiable for any campaign world, and the “Blood Hunter” class is now on DnDBeyond.com. Just as the “Sword Coast Adventurers' Guide” had a couple pages on how to convert the sub-classes to an Oerth-based campaign, here are some suggestions for incorporating some Tal'Dorei goodness in the Flannaess.

The Blood Domain Cleric description sites neutral and evil deities as patrons for these Clerics. Basically they give evil options and one option that uses Blood Magic against villains, the Lawful Neutral Death deity the Raven of Matrons. Probably the closest Greyhawk equivalent would be Wee Jas, The Suel goddess of Death, Magic, and the Law. Also, when in doubt, any creepy ancient magics on Oerth always make sense for the Suel.

I feel like the Blood Domain would work for some clerics of Wee Jas and also for evil clerics of Erythnul and possibly Hextor. For Blood Hunters and Blood Clerics who are opposed to evil, I feel an ancient sect of Wee Jas followers who have preserved Suel Blood Magic from before the Rain of Colorless Fire would be a great stand-in for the Claret Orders.

The Gunslinger Homebrew class from DM’s Guild should only have one highly specialized usage, as a multiclass choice available to high level Clerics of Murlynd, the only known Greyhawk character to use revolvers.

The Path of the Juggernaut seems like it would fit Ice, Snow, and Frost Barbarians, as well as the warriors of the Hold of Stonefist. The various Nomads and Rovers seem more into mounted combat and the Juggernaut seems very much to be an on-foot thing. But Juggernauts coming off of raiding ships and marching into towns in the north seems to fit the setting well.

Because of the Nordic origins of Runes, I'm going to suggest the Suel of the Barbarian North once again for the Runechild Sorcerer. But any nomadic culture without scholarly magic could producer a raw-power sorcerer like this. Flan nomads of the Bright Desert might also be prone to producing a Runechild here or there, or villagers born in the strange lands of Blackmoor.

The Way of the Cobalt Soul, like most other Monk fighting styles, has only a few possible homes in a Greyhawk campaign. One is the Baklunish East, where the strange hybrid of Asian and Middle Eastern culture that is the Bakluni produces monks of Xan Yae and Zuoken. Another is the Scarlet Brotherhood, where the Suel study monkish combat to help their racist crusade against everyone else. And finally, the far Asian inspired lands of Shao Feng and the Celestial Imperium are perfect for producing monks who have wandered far into Eastern Oerik.

Backgrounds can go as-is, with the Greyhawk Thieves' Guild filling in for the Clasp, Grey College for the Lyceum, lots of candidates for Recovered Cultist, and Fate-Touched being applicable to anyone. Only the Ashari has no Greyhawk equivalent.

Any of the new Feats can fit into a Flannaess campaign.

The Vestiges of Divergence are all very cool magic items, and the idea of a three-stage magic item that increases in power along with the character is one of the best concepts in the book. You don't need the concept of the Divergence at all to use them either. Just explain that some very powerful magic items take a long time to attune to their wielder and require an extraordinary person with a strong will to unlock all of their might. After that it's just a matter of applying a Greyhawk appropriate origin to each item and keeping the stats the same.

Agony seems like the kind of thing an ancient Cleric of Erythnul or a powerful Gnoll Shaman created.

The Armor of The Valiant Soul was worn by an ancient king of Furyondy and is buried under a battlefield.

Cabal's Ruin was a Cloak of Zagyg, and is buried somewhere beneath Castle Greyhawk.

The Circlet of Barbed Vision goes to the Drow, and is somewhere in the Underdark. The Tal'Dorei setting's Spider Queen , after all, is clearly Lolth.

Condemner was the weapon of the founder of the Assassin's Guild of Greyhawk.

Deathwalker's Ward is an old artifact of Wee Jas, and was last seen in possession of the Silent Ones of Keoland.

Fenthras is a Bow of Ehlonna herself, lost somewhere in the forest by a great elven warlord of Celene.

Honor's Last Stand was created by Bahamut (who else could the Platinum Dragon be?) and is now in the hoard of an evil Ancient Dragon somewhere in the Lortmils.

Kiss of the Changebringer was given by Olidammara to one of his faithful rogues and is now somewhere in the Bandit Kingdoms.

Mythcarver was the sword of the founder of the Old Lore college of bards and is now lost somewhere in the Wild Coast.

The Plate of the Dawnmartyr was worn by a great paladin of Pelor and is held by the Pale in a deep vault.

Pyremaul was forged to kill Giants by the Dwarves. It was taken to Geoff by a great Dwarven hero who died doing just that. It now lies in the treasure hoard of a Fire Giant.

The Spire of Conflux is held by the Great Druid of the Old Faith.

The ancient Titanstone Knuckles are in the personal possession of the Wizard Bigby, fascinated as he is by all manner of “hand magic.”

Whisper was used to assassinate many an Overking as it was passed down among the rogues of the Great Kingdom. It lies somewhere in devil-haunted Rauxes.

The Wraps of Zuoken are held by a great order of Monks in Zeif, usable only by their greatest master.

Any of the Optional Rules fit in just fine.

Ignore the irrelevant monster backgrounds as Greyhawk has its own monster origins.

The Ashari don't fit in, but the stat blocks of the Firetamer, Stoneguard, Waverider, and Skydancer would make great bosses for the four factions of the Cult of Elemental Evil.

A Cinderslag Elemental makes a great servant of evil Baklunish wizards, or any of Greyhawk's Archmages.

The Clasp Cutthroat and Enforcer work well in the employ of the Thieves' Guild or Assassin's Guild of Greyhawk, Dyvers, or any other big city, as well as the Scarlet Brotherhood or the Slave Lords.

The Cyclops Stormcaller and the Goliaths are at home among the Giantfolk conquerors of Geoff and Sterich. Tribes of Goliaths make great occupiers of subjugated human towns for Giant warlords.

The Kraghammer Goat-Knight can fight for any mountainous group of Dwarves.

The Ravagers would be great in the hordes of the Pomarj fighting for Turrosh Mak, or up in the northern hordes of Iuz

The Whispered One of the Tal'Dorei setting seems like a version of Vecna so the Remnant Cultist and Chosen would work great in any Cult of Vecna.

#greyhawk dungeons and dragons 5e fifth edition critical role dnd dndbeyond rpg fantasy forgotten realms ebberron dragonlance #matt mercer #james haeck

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Mordenkainen, Archmage of Greyhawk, Member of the Circle of Eight from the DnD RPG

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Archlich Acererak preparing a spell…

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Greyhawk : Dragon Heist. Or Orb Heist? You Get it.

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is an excellent city adventure for 5e, and there should be a full conversion so it can be set in the Free City of Greyhawk. So here it is. The book is immense, and a line by line conversion would be extremely time consuming. Especially considering how much Forgotten Realms lore is stuffed into every page. Here are the main changes one has to make to the story. All stat blocks will remain the same.

Most of this guide uses material from Expedition to The Ruins of Greyhawk and The Adventure Begins. One of those, or the City of Greyhawk boxed set, would be helpful to run the adventure well. Maps of the city are all over the internet.

Greyhawk's gold piece is an orb, not a dragon.

You can ignore Aigharon's Dragonward and anything having to do with it. Greyhawk has no such protection from Dragons, so the staff is not necessary. '

Greyhawk's Lords are not masked, and so the idea of an open lord doesn't exist. It IS run by a directing Oligarchy, but the Lord Mayor is a commoner named Nerof Gasgal, and doesn't work as a substitute for Lord Neverember. But an Oligarch who could certainly have embezzled the money and who also is a noble is Sir Anton Perlilian. He is a Directing Oligarch and the Guildmaster of Lawyers and Scribes. The means and the training to do some serious White Collar Crime. It is he who is dead at the beginning of our adventure.

Unlike Waterdeep, Greyhawk has a Thieves' Guild that not only exists, but is entrenched in the highest levels of power both in city government, and in every neighborhood. The whole city is mobbed up, all the way to the Lord Mayor's office. A gang war between two independent crime families would not be tolerated. Instead of the Zhentarim fighting a gang led by Xanathar, the gang war erupting through the city is between two rival factions of the Thieves' Guild.

The Thieves Guild of Greyhawk is controlled by Master Thieves, who each run the crime in one of the eight “Quarters” of the city. In this adventure, the Master Thieves of two of the Quarters are being controlled by a rival hidden power. The Thieves of the River Quarter have come under the control of a faction of the Seekers of the Arcane, led by a clone of the evil wizard Eli Tomorast. He is the main villain of “Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure” and is of equal stature to Manshoon.

Meanwhile, the thieves of the Thieves' Quarter are controlled by a large and powerful Beholder. His hideout is just as the module describes, but it in the Undercity underneath Greyhawk. You have several choices for powerful Greyhawk beholders. After all, the first time anyone ever saw one was on a book with a pretty cool title.

Iaxithrax, a beholder who lives in Castle Greyhawk, could have found his way to the Undercity and taken over some of the territory of the Thieves' Guild.

The beholder Galubgex, who guards the Guild of Wizardry could have been freed by Thieves and agreed to serve them. Later he manipulated and murdered his way to a position of power. manipulated them.

Or perhaps Father Eye from the Bright Desert found his way to the city somehow. Of the three, Galubgex has the most plausible route to power in the Thieves’ Guild, so I will use him throughout the rest of the guide.

The second of the four villains of the adventure is the clone of Tomorast. His lair will be in the Seeker wizard Khellek's tower in Greyhawk, in the River Quarter. Clone Eli wants the embezzled money to buy his way in to the Society of Magi, where he will loot all of their magic items for himself.

The Cassalanters can be used as-is, down to the last detail.

In Jarlaxle's place is another Drow, let's call him Andryzor (or whatever you like.) He is an exile of Eclavdra's Drow city in Erelhei-Cinru. He is the secret lord of Elredd in the Wild Coast, ruling through his exiled drow and their humanoid army. He wants the money to take over the Pomarj from Turosh Mak.

Since so much of the adventure is based on the seasons, here for easy reference is the Greyhawk Calendar, Months in Bold

WINTER

Needfest

Fireseek

Readying

Coldeven

SPRING

Growfest

Planting

Flocktime

Wealsun

SUMMER

Richfest

Reaping

Goodmonth

Harvester

Brewfest

FALL

Patchwall

Ready'reat

Sunsebb

Noble houses that fit the noble player character background in Greyhawk are Henway, Silverfox, Pirthan, Wainwright, and Petrides.

Pretty much every guild listed in the Waterdeep book has a Greyhawk equivalent.

FACTIONS

The Bregan D'aerthe can be kept quite similar. Name them whatever you like, though you may want to resist the temptation to call them The Amazing Spider-Men. Their carnival barges are docked in the Selintan right outside the city. Perhaps, as an added Greyhawk touch, you can make his crew a bunch of hired Rhenee circus folk.

However, gunpowder is extremely rare on Oerth. Only Murlynd the demigod has working guns The Drow Gunslingers have masterwork hand crossbows instead, with the same stats.

Emerald Enclave becomes The Old Faith. Everything else can be the same, but in addition to the locations in the adventure, they gather at StoneRing outside the city walls. They worship Beory and Obad-Hai. Phaulkonmere is an old building in the Slum Quarter, and the Orchard can be near Elmshire.

Force Grey is replaced by the Nightwatchman's Guild. They report to the Paladin Garvin Ambus, the guild master, instead of the Blackstaff. Give him these Stats: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Paladin_(5e_Creature)

The Harpers are replaced by the agents of the Circle of Eight. The player's contact Jallarzi's associate Marial for assignments. Marial can have the stats (but not the alignment) of an Evil Mage. Ranaer Neverember becomes Ranaer Perlilian but is the same in any other respect.

The Lords' Alliance is replaced by the Directing Oligarchs. Tigran Gellner replaces Mirt. Kieran Jalucian replaces Laeral, though they can have similar stats. His romance with Jallarzi makes sense if they are to be both assisting the players from their respective factions.

The Order of the Gauntlet is replaced by the Knights of the Hart. Lemajen Sterich, a powerful Ranger, is their representative in the city.

The Doom Raiders are now Seekers of the Arcane and not Zhentarim. They have watched Tomarast take over their branch in Greyhawk and want nothing to do with it. Aside from that they are the same as listed in the module. They can be found at Geld's Maps, the Seeker Lodge in Greyhawk.

The Green Dragon Inn will stand in for the Yawning Portal

Ricard Damaris and not Durnan, is the proprietor. The half elf Master Thief Tirra has her drinks here, and may tell the players about the power struggle within her Guild, which she is keen to stay out of. Khellek the Wizard plays Dragonchess here, and may scope the players out for his boss, Eli.

Furthermore, a man named Captain Gallanz, secretly the legendary fighter Lord Robilar, owns this place. Robilar has just returned to his identity after being replaced by an evil double, and he is laying low as he considers his options. He will be full of advice to any party, as he has a soft spot for adventurers.

The other Tavern regulars are fine, with the following changes :

Mereg is now a spy for the Circle of Eight

Meloon is a Nightwatchman

Obaya Uday, is a Flan Cleric of Zilchus, everything else is the same

Yagra Stonefist, works for the Doom Raider branch of the Seekers

CHAPTER 1 - A FRIEND IN NEED

Tavern Brawl – As-is, with the changes to the factions described above.

Troll and Friends.

There is no tunnel to a dungeon in the Green Dragon Inn. There is however, an NPC, Lord Robilar, with many enemies. Perhaps one such enemy summons some Demons, with identical stat blocks to the Troll and his stirge allies and they wreak havoc in the bar? If this is too much backstory for nothing, you can have the Troll and Stirges come up from the Undercity, and barge in the tavern from the alley, preceded by an NPC shouting “Monsters came up from the sewers! Run for your lives!”

Volo is now the underground bard and entertainer Corbin DeBlare, who tells the adventurers to help find his friend Floon, a dead ringer for young Lord Renear Perilian.

The Skewered Dragon is in the River Quarter by the Cargo Gate. . Everything else is the same, except for the Zhentarim now being a rogue faction of the Thieves' Guild run by Galubgex. Kenku originally appeared in the world of Greyhawk and are always welcome there.

Kylynne is not a Tiefling. Tieflings are rare on Oerth and live only in areas plagued by fiends like the former Great Kingdom and Molaag. The PC's go to The Citadel and meet a human of the same name to get their license. She behaves the same.

If your version of Oerth is as saturated with tieflings as Faerun or Exandria, go ahead and ignore this.

CHAPTER 2 - TROLLSKULL ALLEY

Trollskull Manor is in the Garden Quarter

T6 – Book Wyrm's Treasure – Dragonborn are quite rare in the Flanaess and certainly have not opened bookshops in human city's yet. Change Rishaal to a human to preserve the feel of Greyhawk. The city is 96 percent human, unlike Waterdeep.

As before, if Dragonborn are commonplace and assimilated into human society in your Oerth, ignore this.

When converting ethnicity of Realms humans, Iluskans become Suel, Tethyrians and Chondathans become Oeridian, Rashemi become Rhenee or Flan, Calishites become Baklunish, Damaran can be Baklunish, Flan, or perhaps distant travellers from Shao Feng.

Faction Missions

The faction missions are as described in the book, just administered by their replacement faction.

Undercliff is replaced by farms around Elmshire.

Ambrose is a Knight of The Hart. OR a Knight of Holy Shielding if you’d rather he have no connections to any other Knights in the adventure.

The Nightwatchman's Guild sends a messenger from Ambus. Hlam is a monk of Zuoken. He's Baklunish or an arrival from far off Shao Feng or The Celestial Imperium if you prefer your monks to have an Asian flavor.

The Lightsinger Theater is in the Garden Quarter

Unlike The Harpers, The Circle of Eight approach neutral-seeming players with a penchant for magic. They send a paper bird from Marial. Missions are the same.

The Dock Ward is the wharves outside the city Walls.

The Dragon is in either in the Selintan or in Mid Bay.

Jalester works for Tigran Gellner, and contacts the players as-is.

Instead of Thay, Esloon is a wizard of the Bright Desert, working for Rary.

Savra is a Knight of the Hart. She serves Heironeous. The Griffon Cavalry are given to the Greyhawk Mountaineer Militia, in exchange for Greyhawk's support of Furyondy against Iuz in the Great Northern Crusade.

The Doom Raiders meet at the Seeker's Lodge above Geld's Maps.

Everything else is the same.

CHAPTER 3 - FIREBALL

The Grahlund estate is in the High Quarter.

The House of Inspired Hands is a temple of Bleredd in the Artisan Quarter

Saeth is a member of the Greyhawk City Watch, Barnabus is a volunteer from the Society of Magi, who often lend members out to help the local law in the manner of Sherlock Holmes.

The Day of Wonders Parade is part of the festivities around Needfest.

Valetta is a human, dwarf, or gnome, not a dragonborn. Once again, Dragonborn on Oerth do not dwell alongside humans in the cities (at least not yet.)

Nim was given to the temple by one of the Circle of Eight.

Renaer's text block should now read “...to my father in Dyvers,” not Neverwinter.

Keep the Teifling Rumors in the Grahlund Tome. This is a perfect representative anecdote for Oerth tieflings. The dates are in the 300s CY.

CHAPTER 4 - DRAGON SEASON

The Field Ward is the River Quarter

Grinda is in Shack Town. The Apparatus can be at the bottom of the Selintan. It is described as deep and can be however deep you need it to be.

The Pink Flumpf is in the Garden Quarter

The Drow Captain (Azyndor? Our version of Jarlaxle) is in disguise as Nerof Gasgal or Kieran Jalucian.

The Lord's Tomb is the Greyhawk stand-in for the City of the Dead, and the statue can be one of Zagyg.

Bane can be either Kyuss, Hextor, Nerull, or Iuz, depending on your preference.

The Southern Ward is the Slum Quarter

The Cellar Complex is the Undercity

Chapter 5 : Spring Madness

Since Skullport does not exist on Oerth, Galubgex's Lair is deep in the Undercity, but otherwise exactly as described.

CHAPTER 5 - HELL OF A SUMMER

The Teiflings should definitely remain in Casselanter Villa as described. This is the perfect setting for a tiefling on Oerth.

CHAPTER 7 - MAESTRO’S FALL

The Hellraiser and the Heartbreaker are near the Wharves on the Selintan, the Eyecatcher is in Mid Bay.

CHAPTER 8 - WINTER WIZARDRY

Eli Tomorast lives in fellow Seeker Khellek's Tower in the River Quarter. Change its features to the ones described in the module for the Kolat Towers. Khellek himself will have jumped ship long before the players close in on Eli. He is not gonna stick around for the bad ending.

Everything else works as-is. Enjoy!

#greyhawk dungeons and dragons 5e fifth edition critical role dnd dndbeyond rpg fantasy forgotten realms ebberron dragonlance

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greyhawk5e · 6 years

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Bringing “The Lost Mine” Down to Oerth

Greyhawk Conversions : The Lost Mine of Phandelver

This is a great 5e adventure that deserves a full conversion for fans of the World of Greyhawk. While I have found arguments on the internet to put it in Naerie, Verbobonc, and Safeton, I have chosen to place it southeast of Hardby. That puts it right near the city of Greyhawk so that you can take your PCs there right after they hit level Five, and gives a good introduction to many factions of the setting. You also get the coastal city, and a road to mines and hills in a remote area that the adventure calls for. What you don't get is a forest to replace Neverwinter Wood. I would suggest putting a ten mile forested area around Cragmaw Castle if you want some leafy cover for the goblin-y crimes therein.

Part 1 - Goblin Arrows

Here, just replace Neverwinter with Hardby in the first text box. Swap out “the Triboar Trail” with “the road to Phandalin.” There will be more trees along the road than the Greyhawk map suggests, as the goblin snare needs to be hooked up to one to work.

Since we are on Oerth, Sildar Hallwinter has never heard of Waterdeep. He is now a griffon rider from the Mountaineer Militia of The Free City of Greyhawk. He met Gundren Rockseeker in Hardby and agreed to accompany him to Phandalin, a town in the hills to the southeast. He wants to investigate the disappearance of Iarno Albrek, a human wizard and member of the Wizard's Guild of Greyhawk, who often assists the Free City's military when magic is needed. Phandalin re-emerging as a source of wealth is important to the Domain of Greyhawk, and Sildar's orders are to assist in this however he can.

Everything else can be run as-is.

Part 2 - Phandalin

Setting the town on Oerth is accomplished with a couple of changes. The settlers who are reviving this mining town are from Hardby, Greyhawk, and Safeton.

The Shrine of Luck is now a shrine to Rudd, the Greyhawk Goddess of Good Luck and Chance. Sister Garaele is certainly not a Harper, as Greyhawk knows no organization dedicated to justice with that type of reach or level of influence.

Her quest to find the spellbook the Banshee knows of would fit if she was an agent of the Circle of Eight, though they would want the book for less noble pursuits.

Another faction that would suit her would be the Seekers of the Arcane, a sort of club for would-be “Indiana Joneses” of varying levels of moral character. As a Circle Member, she will grant the title of “Watcher of the Scales,” and if a Seeker, she will bestow the rank of “Aspirant.”

Daran Edermath is the same half elf retired adventurer as before, but he has never encountered an “Order of the Gauntlet.” Here are two options for a replacement faction.

Wizards of the Coast suggests the Church of St. Cuthbert as a replacement for the Order of the Gauntlet in Princes of the Apocalypse. This would work fine here. The town's only church is dedicated to good luck, so Daran could easily be a one-man justice crusade in the name of his Lawful Good deity. He could even have a small shrine in his house. He could even communicate with the Temple back in Greyhawk.

Another option, which may better fit his background as a retired adventurer, is to make him a member of the Fellowship of the Torch. They are a group of adventurers first introduced in The City of Greyhawk box set and followed up in From the Ashes. We can decide that they went on a recruiting drive but kept their mission to fight the forces of darkness wherever they were encountered. With this change, the Fellowship makes a good substitute for The Order of the Gauntlet on Oerth. But, in keeping with the Greyhawk setting's tendency to be darker and much harder on “good guys” than the Realms, it's important to portray the Fellowship as sruggling in the face of adversity, and not nearly as powerful an organization as the Gauntlet.

As a reward for joining his faction, Daran will make a player either an “Initiate” (if he's working for St. Cuthbert) or a “Spark” if he's one of the Fellowship.

The old watchtower he warns the players about was built hundreds of years ago by refugees from the Suel Empire, a great magical civilization now in ruins.

Halia Thornton is working for the Thieves' Guild of Greyhawk instead of the Zhentarim, and wants to take over crime in Phandalin for her city's powerful network. If the PC's join up, they will be granted the title of “Prospect.” They won't be made a full member until they have proven themselves many times.

Sildar will recruit the players into the Greyhawk Mountaineers. They may claim the title of “Mountaineer.” They defend the City of Greyhawk against all threats. Joining this faction doesn’t mean staying in Greyhawk. The City has the means and the need to send loyal soldiers on vital missions around the world. Today’s Mountaineer can easily become tomorrow’s secret agent. Sildar will want Iarno taken back to be tried in the city once he learns of his involvement with the Redbrands.

Wizards of the Coast suggests the Knights of the Hart or one of Greyhawk's other orders of knights as a replacement for the Lord's Alliance and this is possible if you would rather not run such a Domain of Greyhawk-centered campaign. He would then no longer be a Mountaineer, but a Knight visiting Hardby to raise funds and personnel for his order. There are no orders of Knights centered in Greyhawk, so the “I want to help make the realm prosper” motivation I gave him earlier wouldn't make sense anymore. Perhaps his order has invested in the mine? Overall, making Sildar a Mountaineer makes more sense for an adventure based near Hardby, and I highly recommend this approach. It also makes more sense why he would know Iarno.

The mace Lightbringer would be commissioned by clerics of Pelor.

Part 3 - The Spider's Web

Hamun Kost is from far to the west, in the Baklunish land of Ket. His ring is from the old Suel wizard migrants.

Reidoth is a Druid of The Old Faith. Since the Old Faith and it's associated Old Lore bards are very close to the Emerald Enclave of Faerun, “Springwarden” is as good a title as any to bestow to new members of the faction.

The Cult of the Dragon revere the Ancient Earth Dragon worshipped by the Slave Lords of the Wild Coast. Tiamat is also known in Greyhawk and can be used if you want to run Tyranny of Dragons.

Part 4 - Wave Echo Cave

Dragonguard was built for a hero of Hardby.

Dumathoin is a dwarven god on Oerth as well as Faerun, as he pre-dates the Forgotten Realms and comes from Dragon magazine. His statue gets to stay!

Everything else may be run exactly as is, making this an easy adventure to adapt to the best D&D setting of all.

#greyhawk dungeons and dragons 5e fifth edition critical role dnd dndbeyond rpg fantasy forgotten realms ebberron dragonlance

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