Gary Gygax, the developer of the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, realized that novels set in Greyhawk could have a similar benefit for his recently published World of Greyhawk boxed set, so he wrote Saga of Old City, the first in a series of novels that would be published under the banner Greyhawk Adventures.

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, he continued to write a few more Gord the Rogue novels, which were published by New Infinities Productions: Sea of Death ( 1987 ), City of Hawks ( 1987 ), and Come Endless Darkness ( 1988 ).

Also in 1974, TSR published Warriors of Mars, a miniatures rules book set in the fantasy world of Barsoom originally imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his series of novels about John Carter of Mars, to which Gygax paid homage in the " Preface " of the first edition of D & D.

Gord the Rogue is the protagonist in a series of fantasy novels and short stories written by Gary Gygax.

Gygax originally wrote the novels and short stories to promote his World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

After he left TSR, Gygax continued to write Gord the Rogue novels for several years.

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, he continued to write a few more Gord the Rogue novels, which were published by New Infinities Productions: Sea of Death ( 1987 ), City of Hawks ( 1987 ), and Come Endless Darkness ( 1988 ).

In Gygax's absence, however, TSR moved the Greyhawk storyline in new directions that Gygax didn't appreciate, and the line of Greyhawk Adventures novels ( without Gord the Rogue ) continued to be written by Rose Estes.

Gygax, who believed D & D would always only appeal to a male demographic, wrote the novels for that readership.

Gary Gygax, in his Gord novels: City of Hawks, Come Endless Darkness, and Dance of Demons, included several non-canonical yugoloths, although Gary Gygax called them " Daemons "

The party has also run into various characters from classic D & D adventures and novels, such as Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance, Elminster from the Forgotten Realms, and Count Strahd von Zarovich from Ravenloft, as well as the game's creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Greyhawk Adventures takes its name and logo from a series of novels written by Gary Gygax and Rose Estes, published by TSR in the 1980s.

Gygax then provided some errata for the boxed set in the September 1985 issue, which was the last mention of the Greyhawk world in Dragon for almost two years.

Shortly after the release of the boxed set, Gygax discovered that while he had been in Hollywood, TSR had run into serious financial difficulties.

Gygax agreed to develop a set of rules with Arneson and get the game published ; the game eventually became known as " Dungeons & Dragons ".

Gygax designed a set of dungeons underneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk as a testing ground for new rules, character classes and spells.

This relationship set by Gygax was carried on to the game's second edition, especially in the Planescape setting, where the two demon lords now share the layer of Shedaklah.

" Gygax wrote the supplements Greyhawk, Eldritch Wizardry, and Swords & Spells for the original D & D game.

Role-playing campaign settings like Greyhawk by Gary Gygax, Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings.

In the December 1984 issue, Gygax mentioned clerics of non-human races and indicated that the twenty four demihuman and humanoid deities that had been published in the February – June 1982 issues of Dragon were now permitted in Greyhawk ; this increased the number of Greyhawk deities from fifty to seventy four.

After Gygax left TSR, the continued development of Greyhawk became the work of many writers and creative minds.

According to Gygax, TSR's stewardship turned Greyhawk into something very different from what he had envisioned.

In its 1986 Summer Mail Order Hobby Shop catalog, TSR had listed a new Greyhawk adventure called WG7 Shadowlords, a high-level adventure to be written by Gary Gygax and Skip Williams.

However, this adventure was canceled after Gygax left TSR, and the catalog number WG7 was reassigned to a new adventure, Castle Greyhawk, released in 1988.

In the time since Gygax had left TSR, no original Greyhawk material had been published, and many letter writers had requested ideas for new adventures.

Although this was not the Castle Greyhawk of Gygax and Kuntz, it was the first serious attempt to publish details of the castle.

Although TSR and WotC had each in turn owned the official rights to the World of Greyhawk since the first folio edition was published in 1980, the two people most responsible for its early development, Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, still had most of their original notes regarding the fifty levels of dungeons under Castle Greyhawk.

Gygax also had his old maps of the city of Greyhawk, and still owned the rights to Gord the Rogue.

In a literary declaration that his old world of Oerth was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final Gord the Rogue novel, Dance of Demons.

Since WotC still owned the rights to the name Greyhawk, Gygax changed the name of the castle to Castle Zagyg — the reverse homophone of his own name originally ascribed to the mad architect of his original thirteen level dungeon.

However in the original world of Greyhawk campaign setting created by Gary Gygax, Drow rank structure was based much more on personal experience level and proven personal abilities rather than on gender.

This particular image first appeared on the inside front cover the 1975 Greyhawk supplement book authored by Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz.

For wizards, Gygax included six spells that could be used to affect a battle, plus two " missiles " ( fire ball and lightning bolt ).

Gygax decided he would recreate something like his original thirteen level dungeon, amalgamating the best of what could be gleaned from binders and boxes of old notes.

Gygax decided to concentrate his first efforts on the continent of Oerik and asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle ; the answer was 34 " x 22 " ( 86 cm x 56 cm ).

When Gary Gygax could not find an established games company willing to publish Dungeons & Dragons, the new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, Gygax and Don Kaye formed Tactical Studies Rules in October 1973.

Said Gygax, " What could be more logical than to make available a scenario which blends the two role playing approaches into a single form?

" Gygax updated the scenario to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD & D ) rules, hoping it could serve as a primer on how to integrate science into one's fantasy role playing game.

The Dragon debuted in June 1976, and Gygax commented on its success years later: " When I decided that The Strategic Review was not the right vehicle, hired Tim Kask as a magazine editor for Tactical Studies Rules, and named the new publication he was to produce The Dragon, I thought we would eventually have a great periodical to serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide ... At no time did I ever contemplate so great a success or so long a lifespan.

Recreating the city was also a challenge ; although Gygax still had his old maps of the original city, all of his previously published work on the city was owned by WotC, so he would have to create most of the city from scratch while maintaining the look and feel of his original.

After his death, Gygax Games, under the control of Gary's widow Gail, took over the project, but no more volumes of the Castle Zagyg project have been published.

Under the Blumes, the company ran into financial difficulties in 1984, and although Gygax managed to have the Blumes removed from the board of directors, they subsequently sold their shares to company manager Lorraine Williams, who succeeded in forcing Gygax out of the company at the end of 1985.

Gygax tried to have the sale declared illegal ; after that failed, Gygax sold his remaining stock to Williams and used the capital to form New Infinity Productions.

Ward remarked to Gygax that wizards should have access to a spell which allowed them to recall any item in their possession to their hand ; Gygax promptly devised instant summons, which did exactly that.

Pooling their resources, Gygax had the Eight construct a stronghold in the middle of an evil land so they would not have to travel far to find adventure.