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Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk
Credits
Written by Gary Gygax & Bob Kuntz
Illustrations by Greg Bell
Version
This PDF is from the Original Dungeons & Dragons Premium Reprint. As such, the title is “Book IV” instead of “Supplement I” and the cover art is a new piece done specifically for the reprint. The PDF has bookmarks.
History and Trivia
Supplement I: Greyhawk was released in February, 1975. While one might think this book contains details about Gygax’s personal campaign setting, Greyhawk, it doesn’t. It does, however introduce various elements that would become iconic to D&D as a whole.
Is it Pretty?
The cover art is an updated interpretation of the fighter facing a beholder from the original printing’s cover. As with the other reprint covers, its quite well done and adds a modern flair to an old product. The interior art is from the original printing and is quite a bit better, in my opinion, than the interior art of the core set. As with the core set, there is a piece depicting a bare breasted woman (she actually appears to be completely nude). You won’t find that sort of thing in modern D&D products. The art of the bugbear offers a glimpse of how D&D monsters have evolved over the decades and editions. The bugbear’s head looks like a carved pumpkin, a far cry from the hirsute goblinoid of later versions. One Star.
Is it Professional?
The premium reprint spruced up the appearance of Supplement I as it did with the core game set. As such, its more in-line with the professional standards of modern games than a game of its time. There are a few odd typos here and there which could potentially confuse someone, such as “detect magic” being misnamed as “direct magic.” The book is organized to match up with the booklets from the core set. That is, a section on Men & Magic, a section on Monsters & Treasure, and a section on Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. While it doesn’t have chapters per se, it is reasonably easy to navigate.
There are three issues that must be noted. In the description of the meteor swarm spell, the name Jim appears in parentheses twice next to the descriptions of its fireball effects. I imagine this was done to call out Jim Ward on the power of the spell. Still, it is quite odd and would likely be very confusing for anyone who doesn’t have any knowledge of D&D’s history and creators. The second is simply an error, albeit one that could cause a great deal of confusion. A table noting the powers of flesh, stone, and iron golems appears at the end of the monsters section, right after the description of the giant slug. There’s no descriptions of golems, however, to accompany the table, which might lead one to think the table is somehow related to giant slugs. The third is a much more glaring issue. While describing dragons, the text refers to there being only one Queen of Chaotic Dragons (the being who would become Tiamat in later editions). Next to that is the following statement – “Women’s lib may make whatever they wish from the foregoing.” A completely unnecessary callout to the issues of the time and indicative of Gygax’s generally low opinion of women. That alone is reason enough for me to say zero stars for professionality.
Is it Useful?
Greyhawk rounds out the classic four adventuring classes with the thief. A skills based character could have been called a variety of things and a character suited to adventure-archaeology in the vein of Indiana Jones or Allan Quartermain would have been more appropriate to the dungeon-delving genre of fantasy that D&D focused on. However, the thief is what we ended up with and it has endured through the editions, morphing into the rogue from 3rd edition onward.
Greyhawk also introduces paladins and half-elves and rounds out the existing classes and races with more details. More spells, clarifications on core set spells, new monsters, clarifications on core set monsters, and new magic items round things out.
Combat is updated and improved and varying hit points for characters (d4, d8, etc instead of the universal d6) and varying weapon damage are introduced. Basically, Greyhawk brings the game much closer to resembling AD&D 1st Edition.
The last page of this version is a list of errata. Among other things, it corrects the golem issue noted above.
Greyhawk is absolutely essential if one intends to play the original edition of D&D. It really does complete the game, filling in the gaps left in the core game set.
One star.
Is it Affordable?
$4.99 for a PDF as opposed to $75.00 or more for a print copy on the secondary market? Sold! One star.
Is it Fun?
The thief class adds immeasurably to the party dynamic and the other added details and options really round out the game as a whole. This book makes the original game more fun, or, put another way, makes the original game itself fun to play. One star.
Where to find it
You can find this little gem on drivethrurpg.com listed as ODD&D Supplement I: Greyhawk (0E). Finding a print copy for a reasonable price in good condition is going to be decidedly more difficult. E-bay and other sites usually have copies starting at around $75 and going up from there.
Conclusion
Greyhawk completes the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons and is a must-have for both the collector and at the table for OD&D players. 4 out of 5 stars.
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