Building the Common Ground Guild of Greyhawk: Adapting the Greyhawk Setting for West Marches Play

The Greyhawk setting is one of D&D’s most iconic worlds, brimming with history, legendary figures, and countless opportunities for adventure. Combining this with the West Marches campaign style—a sandbox format that emphasizes exploration and player agency—creates a perfect foundation for the Common Ground Guild of Greyhawk at Common Ground Games in Dallas, TX. Here’s how I’m adapting Greyhawk to this format, and how you can bring this blend to life in your campaigns.

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Why Greyhawk and West Marches Fit Together

Greyhawk’s diverse regions, from the dangerous Wild Coast to the enigmatic Bright Desert, are inherently modular. This makes them ideal for West Marches, where players explore a vast world in self-contained sessions. Additionally, Greyhawk’s factions and long-standing conflicts, like the Great Kingdom’s machinations or Iuz the Evil’s dark influence, provide rich background elements to weave into quests and world events.

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Step 1: Establishing the Adventurer’s Hub

The West Marches format relies on a central hub where players gather between missions. For the Common Ground Guild of Greyhawk, this hub will be:

• The City of Greyhawk: A bustling metropolis known as the "Gem of the Flanaess," offering countless story hooks.
• The Guildhall: A player-created adventurer’s guild that ties the campaign together. NPCs like guildmasters, informants, and rival adventurers will populate this space.

The city itself provides essential resources for sandbox play:

• A bounty board in the guildhall posts missions tied to specific Greyhawk factions.
• Taverns, temples, and shops act as roleplaying hubs where players can gather information from the Rumor Mill or prepare for their next venture.

Resource: The Dungeon Masters Guide (2024) offers maps, NPCs, and plot seeds to flesh out the city and its surroundings.

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Step 2: Creating Modular Regions for Exploration

The key to West Marches is a world where players can explore freely, so I divided Greyhawk into thematic zones based on lore:

• The Gnarley Forest: A dense, ancient woodland teeming with mysterious druids and hidden ruins.
• The Cairn Hills: A region dotted with burial sites and crypts that lure treasure seekers.
• The Wild Coast: A dangerous frontier rife with bandits and opportunities for glory.

Each region is designed with increasing difficulty as players venture farther from the hub. For example:

• Near Greyhawk City, players may encounter minor bandits or wild animals.
• Deep in the Cairn Hills, they could face ancient undead or rival adventurers competing for loot.

Resource: The Dungeon Masters Guide (2024) provides detailed descriptions of regions, making it easy to choose which areas to feature.

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Step 3: Weaving in Greyhawk’s Factions and History

Greyhawk’s political landscape adds depth and dynamism to the campaign. Factions like:

• The Scarlet Brotherhood (spies and manipulators),
• The Knights of the Hart (valiant defenders of good), and
• The Thieves’ Guild of Greyhawk City (shadowy power brokers),

...provide built-in conflicts and alliances. Quests can tie into these groups, letting players shape the balance of power in the region.

For instance:

• A mission to retrieve stolen relics may involve choosing between aiding the Knights of the Hart or negotiating with the Thieves’ Guild.

Example: In one session, a group might steal a powerful artifact for the Scarlet Brotherhood, only for another party to face the consequences of that act in a later game.

Resource: The Dungeon Masters Guide (2024) offers details about these factions and their goals.

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Step 4: Keeping the Spirit of Greyhawk Alive

Adapting Greyhawk for West Marches isn’t just about geography and factions—it’s about preserving its tone. Greyhawk is a world of moral complexity, where heroes often face tough choices. To reflect this:

• I’ve designed morally ambiguous quests where players must weigh the greater good against personal gain.
• Legendary figures like Mordenkainen and Tenser may appear as quest-givers or distant influencers, adding a sense of history and grandeur to the campaign.

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Step 5: Encouraging Player-Driven Stories

At the heart of the Common Ground Guild of Greyhawk is the players’ freedom to shape their stories. This means:

• Open-ended quests: Missions aren’t solved in one way; creativity is rewarded.
• World impact: Player actions, like clearing a bandit stronghold, change the world for future sessions.

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Conclusion

Adapting Greyhawk to a West Marches format brings together the best of both worlds: the rich, immersive lore of Greyhawk and the player-driven exploration of West Marches. With the Common Ground Guild of Greyhawk, I aim to create a campaign that honors D&D’s legacy while offering a fresh, dynamic experience for players at Common Ground Games.

Want to start your own Greyhawk West Marches game? Check out the Dungeon Masters Guide (2024) or The Great Library of Greyhawk Wiki for inspiration!

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Have questions or ideas for the Guild? Share them—I’d love to hear how others would explore Greyhawk in this format!