Greyhawk Deities - Greyhawk Receives Another Makeover

Greyhawk Receives Another Makeover

The overall departure of the Greyhawk campaign from Gygax's original world to the darker vision set out in From the Ashes was not well-received by the public, and TSR stopped publishing Greyhawk material in 1993. Several years later, financially strapped by a cash-flow crisis, TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast (WotC), and the moribund Greyhawk setting was revived.

In the Greyhawk Player's Guide published in 1998, the list of deities was expanded, although only human deities (and one monstrous god, Raxivort) were mentioned on page 19. The book notes on page 18 that "this is not a comprehensive list, even for humans, and includes very few demihuman or humanoid gods." Page 62 mentions two dwarven deities, Moradin and Clangeddin Silverbeard, who do not appear on that list, and directed interested readers to Unearthed Arcana or Monster Mythology for details on those gods.

Deities added to the setting in the Player's Guide include Al'Akbar, Daern, Kyuss, Dalt, Jascar, Osprem, Vatun, Zodal, Johydee, Kelanen, Keoghtom and Murlynd. (The latter three were the “quasi-deities” described by Gary Gygax back in Dragon in 1983, and also appearing in the Glossography in the 1983 boxed set.) In addition to Raxivort, the lesser god of xvarts, a new elvish demi-god, Ye'Cind (music, Good), was added, bringing the total number of deities appearing on page 19 to 74. However, none of the gods was given any description, leaving players to search for background information on worshippers and ethos in older published material.

The following year, the sourcebook The Scarlet Brotherhood by Sean K. Reynolds introduced a new human race, the Touv, and the nine gods of their pantheon. In addition, the sourcebook also included the quasi-Aztec Olman pantheon that had been introduced in 1980 but never used in campaign material.