Jungle Gods....

[geneweigel]

What is known about the Southern continents besides savages?

[geneweigel]

From Dragon 63 (July 1982) there is a note on the difference between the Southern lands:

Savages from the Amedio Jungle or Hepmonaland would
have skills in long distance signaling, running, possibly paddled
small craft, sound imitation, and trap building. Their required
initial weapons would also include the blowgun or short bow,
club, and dart or javelin in the Amedio. With respect to Hepmo-
naland, the atlatl and javelin, club, and short sword are typical
weapons. (Editor’s note: Official statistics for the atlatl and the
blowgun will appear as part of this column in next month’s issue
of DRAGON™ Magazine.)

[geneweigel]

This is from the 1983 boxed set:



(Plus HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN being set in the Eastern stretch of land in the Amedio. This isn't very GH at all as I've always considered it just a random throw-in)*

There is an absence of an entry for Hepmonaland except in passing in "LORDSHIP OF THE ISLES" having a trade run mentioned in their entry and again lightly in "THE JUNGLE OF LOST SHIPS".

(Plus the DWELLERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY which was written separately from GH and is yet another throw-in. I'm sure if Gygax had still remained in TSR we might have even seen Desert of Desolation attached to GH as well).*

(*In regards to the module placements in general, I know that some GHers have whipped these around like shit monkeys by the tail since time immemorial but I still can't see these being worth anything but a need for a fresh appraoch)

[geneweigel]

Anyway you slice those random encounters for these two areas they are the same and (ignoring "men") the dakon population is humongous and the gibberlings are gigantic as well. Combining with the DMG doesn't even give common jungle animals more of a presence. Weird. That has to be a mistake.

[GT]

Awwww, c'mon Gene! I love the "Forbidden City" (though I think that I had it north and east of the Amedio, somewhere...), and C1 can easily be used in the Amedio, if only as "an earlier civilization"--like all of those lost Mayan pyramids that have been found in the Yucatan. On a different thread we were talkin' Blackmoor--- I think the CAS "Averoigne" module can be used as an encounter there that you "gate" into... you know, a 'mood piece'.

[geneweigel]

gt said:

Awwww, c'mon Gene! I love the "Forbidden City" (though I think that I had it north and east of the Amedio, somewhere...)

(Oops, I shifted gears to Hepmonaland in the line before. Sorry, I should have expressed that clearer. "CITY" was placed in Hepmonaland. TAMOACHAN was in the Amedio.)

I actually never liked it so denying it's Greyhawk pedigree is very easy for me. Considering that the author is the scumbag who confirmed his ultimate betrayal of the fans by writing this garbage implying Gary was a bastard in GREYHAWK WARS (1991):

War’s End
For two long years (582 to 584 CY), the nations
of the Flanaess had schemed, murdered,
and warred against each other until nearly all
sides lay bloodied and beaten: war had exhausted
the land and the people. Furyondy
and Iuz ground to a stalemate; Nyrond’s vast
coffers drained dry and its overtaxed peasants
grew rebellious; the Great Kingdom shattered
into a swarm of petty landholdings vying for
power; Keoland fought invasion on all sides;
countless men, dwarves, elves, and orcs
marched off to war, never to return: farms
stood empty; fields lay fallow. . . . The Flanaess
could war no longer.
Proposals for a peace conference met with
greater and greater acceptance. The puppets
of the Scarlet Brotherhood, taking orders from
the Father of Obedience, issued a call for a
grand truce:& every nation would cease hostilities
and put its own house in order.
In the end, through negotiation, intimidation,
and even assassination, the Brotherhood’s
proposal found a~ceptanceT.h~e~ C ity
of Greyhawk, untouched by the war, became
the site of the c~nferenceI.n~ t~he month of
Harvester, the Great Council (as it came to be
known) convened.
The proposed truce, though simple in theory,
proved an enormous undertaking, what
with the countless ambassadors present. In
the six months of the Great Council, intrigues
abounded as each side attempted to gain the
upper hand. The conference nearly collapsed
more than once when ambassadors took umbrage
over some real or imagined slight.

The final act of the immense drama of war
occurred on the Day of the Great Signing. A
pact had been resolved and nearly all the nations
had agreed to sign it. As this solemn ceremony
got underway, however, a tumultuous
event occurred.
Even today a haze obscures the details: apparently
someone plotted to annihilate the
entire diplomatic corps in attendance, but the
scheme misfired. A blazing explosion destroyed
a good part of the Grand Hall only
minutes before the ambassadors assembled
for the day. A fierce magical battle immediately
ensued, spreading havoc through much
of the old city. When the fire and dust cleared,
constables discovered smoldering robes belonging
to two powerful members of the mysterious
Circle of Eight-Otiluke and tenser.
The murderer of these wizards, undeniably a
powerful mage, was discovered to be a third
member of the Circle of Eight-Rary. Using
secrets gained in confidence, Rary not only
vaporized his two fellows but also tracked
down and destroyed every clone the pair held
in preparation.The motive behind Rary’s
treachery remains clouded.
According to many who knew him,
the wizard probably saw an opportunity to
seize power and land in the confusion that
would follow the assassinations. Others suggest
Rary was a pawn of the Scarlet Brotherhood.
With the plot discovered, though, Rary and
his co-conspirator Lord Robilar fled the city.
Unable to return to Robilar’s castle, which was
immediately seized by the troops of
Greyhawk, the pair escaped into the Bright
Desert. There they conquered the savages and
established a kingdom of their own. Though
small and mysterious, this growing state could
someday threaten the very borders of
Grey hawk.
Fearing further disruptions, the delegates
hurriedly signed the Pact of Greyhawk, and so
the wide-ranging war of the Flanaess came to
an end, and gained the misleading title, the
Greyhawk Wars.

I can easily flush his entire resume down the toilet...

HWOCK-PTUI!!!

[geneweigel]

The sad thing about that missive is that I had no idea what had happened at the time, and seeing Cook as the new head of development for the 2e during that time, myself and others (that I knew) just assumed that Gary was involved in some wrongdoing. In this case it was history written by the victors. I admit its a stretch for us to think that just reading this bit from Greyhawk Wars but compile this with them never having mentioned Gary in the mag anymore for years plus the subtle derision in every issue when referring to the original stuff and one could believe that Gary was bad. Once the truth was revealed however this shows that for Cook to write that then HE must have been a rotten bastard instead. the "truth" being that Gary was honestly trying to save the company for the fans and lost. Thats the frosting on my "auto-dismissal" of anything by Cook and his 2e peers.

So FORBIDDEN CITY can be put in the catapult in this instance.

As it was written before he worked for TSR and why give him grace?

[GT]

I keep forgetting that D"Z"C wrote I1; but nevertheless I do like that adventure! Maybe it was before he embraced the "Dark Side"... ^__^

[geneweigel]

Who knows? He might have been a good guy once...but for me having digested way too much of of the latter end of his career that day will never come again, I believe!