Ex Carta

Gygax employed freelance artist Darlene Pekul (b. 1954) to formalize his improvised maps of Greyhawk for publication. The result was the two-piece, full-colour, 86 cm x 112 cm hex-grid map included in the 1980 ‘Folio’ The World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting, commonly known as the ‘Darlene map’. The world, delineated in the accompanying 32-page gazetteer – a variegated land of bandit kingdoms, ice barbarians, tiger nomads, and sea princes – was further fleshed out in classic adventure modules, including Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (TSR, 1980), The Secret of Bone Hill (TSR, 1981), and The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (TSR, 1981).
Greyhawk has always maintained a dedicated community of enthusiasts. Since the 1990s, Anna B. Meyer has been digitally mapping Greyhawk to an astonishing level of detail, incorporating player suggestions. Greyhawk’s enduring appeal is also evidenced by the existence of a dedicated wiki.
As far as official publications go, Greyhawk’s evolution over decades has been uneven, its fortunes waxing and waning according to the vagaries of corporate strategy (Gygax himself was ousted from TSR, Inc. in 1985). However, Greyhawk is currently ascendant: the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide uses it as an example campaign setting, recommending that players set adventures there or use it as a foundation for their own worlds, in keeping with D&D’s traditional spirit. The guide also includes a poster map of Eastern Oerik and the city of Greyhawk.

The iconic 1980 hex-grid map of the World of Greyhawk – drawn by artist Darlene Pekul – was one of the first official cartographies for a Dungeons & Dragonsadventure setting. It captures the martial, morally ambiguous tone of Gary Gygax’s seminal campaign world, where heraldic kingdoms and lawless frontiers meet in a grim sword-and-sorcery landscape.

(D&D), between offering players mechanics to create their own unique, fantasy-inspired settings and providing ready-made mythical realms for immediate play. As a result, there has never been a single canonical world for D&D. Since the 1980s, Ed Greenwood’s (b. 1959) 

 has gained prominence, serving as the setting for several computer games (including the Baldur’s Gate series) and the 2023 film 

. However, since the hobby’s inception, competing ‘campaign settings’ have always existed, one of the first being that of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax.

Responding to requests from early enthusiasts, Gygax published the setting he used in his own games, which evolved organically from a dungeon crawl in ‘Castle Greyhawk’. This world developed into an entire planet (‘Oerth’), with the eastern region of the continent Oerik, known as Flanaess, described in particular depth.

 has a distinctive feel due to two major influences on its creation: Gygax’s formative interests in military historical wargaming, and the ‘sword and sorcery’ genre, exemplified by Robert E. Howard’s 

 tales. The former is evident in the world’s high-medieval aesthetic, with a visual emphasis on coats of arms and heraldry.

The latter manifests in the moral ambiguity of 

’s peoples and history. Unlike the high-fantasy milieu of the 

 offers no grand tales of redemption or heroism; it is a land beset by relentless demonic forces and pitiless overlords, with cities as teeming pits of iniquity and coastlines plagued by marauding monsters.

Two-sheet Greyhawk RPG 'Hex' map

RPG Game manuals for Greyhawk

Greyhawk 'Hex' Map keys from the Game Manual

Colour key for the Greyhawk 'Hex' map

Icon legend for the Greyhawk map

Continued icon legend for the Greyhawk map

Gygax employed freelance artist Darlene Pekul (b. 1954) to formalize his improvised maps of Greyhawk for publication. The result was the two-piece, full-colour, 86 cm x 112 cm hex-grid map included in the 1980 ‘Folio’ The World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting, commonly known as the ‘Darlene map’. The world, delineated in the accompanying 32-page gazetteer – a variegated land of bandit kingdoms, ice barbarians, tiger nomads, and sea princes – was further fleshed out in classic adventure modules, including Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (TSR, 1980), The Secret of Bone Hill (TSR, 1981), and The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (TSR, 1981).

Greyhawk has always maintained a dedicated community of enthusiasts. Since the 1990s, Anna B. Meyer has been digitally mapping Greyhawk to an astonishing level of detail, incorporating player suggestions. Greyhawk’s enduring appeal is also evidenced by the existence of a dedicated wiki.

As far as official publications go, Greyhawk’s evolution over decades has been uneven, its fortunes waxing and waning according to the vagaries of corporate strategy (Gygax himself was ousted from TSR, Inc. in 1985). However, Greyhawk is currently ascendant: the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide uses it as an example campaign setting, recommending that players set adventures there or use it as a foundation for their own worlds, in keeping with D&D’s traditional spirit. The guide also includes a poster map of Eastern Oerik and the city of Greyhawk.