Gord the Rogue
Encyclopedia
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. In all of these works, the plot revolves around the adventures of a young man named Gord who rises from humble origins in the slums of a large city on the planet Oerth
to become a powerful force trying to stave off the takeover of Oerth by demons.
setting when it was published in 1984 was a popular series of concurrent novels by Tracy Hickman
and Margaret Weis
. 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. The protagonist was Gord the Rogue, and this first novel told of his rise from the Slum Quarters of the city of Greyhawk to become world traveller and thief extraordinaire. The novel was designed to promote sales of the boxed set by providing colourful details about the social customs and peoples of various cities and countries around the Flanaess.
Even before Saga of Old City rolled off the presses in November 1985, Gygax wrote a sequel, Artifact of Evil. He also wrote a short story, At Moonset Blackcat Comes, that appeared in the special 100th issue of Dragon magazine in August 1985. This introduced Gord the Rogue to gamers just before Saga of Old City was scheduled to be released.
However, at the same time, various factions within TSR with different visions of the company's future caused a power struggle, and Gygax was forced out on December 31, 1985. By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D&D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name (for example, Yrag and Zagyg
).
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
. In a literary declaration that his old world of Oerth was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk and D&D, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final Gord the Rogue novel, Dance of Demons.
The series, originally designed to provide some social and descriptive details about Gygax's Greyhawk
campaign world that he had not been able to fit into the limited space of either the 1980 folio edition or the 1983 boxed set, were written in a pulp swords and sorcery
style reminiscent of Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short stories. Like Leiber's stories, the female characters are usually scantily-clad window-dressing, with plots driven exclusively by the male characters. Gygax, who believed D&D would always only appeal to a male demographic, wrote the novels for that readership.
's Greyhawk Adventures series. It starts in Gord's childhood, and ends with his triumphant return to Greyhawk City
as a young man and master thief. He learns his trade in the 'beggars' guild', and gets involved in the gang war touched off by the beggars encroaching on the official thieves' guild's territory. He travels and has a variety of swashbuckling adventures, ranging from participating in a war to liberating a young noblewoman held hostage.
Artifact of Evil is a continuation of Saga of Old City. This was final novel under TSR's Greyhawk Adventures banner that was written by Gygax. An ancient artifact is uncovered, whose power could destroy their world. It is up to Gord and his companions to try to stop this artifact of evil from falling into the wrong hands.
Night Arrant is a collection of nine short stories about Gord's adventures, in his early twenties, in the City of Greyhawk.
Sea of Death, the first of the series published by New Infinities Productions, Inc., has Gord traveling far afield to the Sea of Dust
, on a quest for a 'Theorpart', hidden in a lost city. He must face rivals sent by demon lords
; the psychopathic dwarf Obmi, who serves Zuggtmoy
, and the drow elf priestess Eclavdra, serving Graz'zt
. He meets and falls in love with Leda, a clone of Eclavdra. Leda and Gord part at the end of the book as she returns to the Abyss, impersonating Eclavdra in Graz'zt's service for the sake of higher ideals.
City of Hawks is a retelling of the events that occurred in Saga of Old City. Gord's rise from simple begger to master thief are detailed as is his search for his true heritage.
Come Endless Darkness continues where Sea of Death left off and has Gord continue his quest to stop Tharizdun
& Lord Entropy
from taking over the Multiverse
.
Dance of Demons is the finale, in which Gord and Gellor enter the Abyss
on a mission from the world's most powerful forces of Balance, to retrieve the remaining Theorparts. The goal is nothing less than to free Tharizdun, the long-imprisoned god of ultimate evil and entropy, and to finally destroy him. The novel ends with the complete destruction of Oerth, and the unveiling of a new and better world.
"Evening Odds," which appeared in an anthology of fiction inspired by Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos, takes place some time after the events of Dance of Demons. Gord has been deposed from his position as the new Cat Lord and is traveling the alternate realities as a Champion of Balance. In the course of the story he upsets a plot by the archfiend Baphomet
on modern Earth
.
"The Return of Gord" is a caper story set during Gord's days as a master thief in the City of Greyhawk.
).
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
. Gygax originally wrote the novels and short stories to promote his World of Greyhawk campaign setting
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
for the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
. After he left TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
, Gygax continued to write Gord the Rogue novels for several years. In all of these works, the plot revolves around the adventures of a young man named Gord who rises from humble origins in the slums of a large city on the planet Oerth
Oerth
In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Oerth, pronounced as "Orth" or "oyth", is the name of the fictional planet on which one of the earliest campaign settings, the World of Greyhawk, is located...
to become a powerful force trying to stave off the takeover of Oerth by demons.
Publication history
One of the factors that contributed to the success of the DragonlanceDragonlance
Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of popular fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job application...
setting when it was published in 1984 was a popular series of concurrent novels by Tracy Hickman
Tracy Hickman
Tracy Raye Hickman is a best-selling fantasy author, best known for his work on Dragonlance as a game designer and co-author with Margaret Weis, while he worked for TSR...
and Margaret Weis
Margaret Weis
Margaret Edith Weis is a fantasy novelist who, along with Tracy Hickman, is one of the original creators of the Dragonlance game world and has written numerous novels and short stories set in fantastic worlds.-Early life:Margaret Weis was born in 1948 in Independence, Missouri, and later attended...
. 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. The protagonist was Gord the Rogue, and this first novel told of his rise from the Slum Quarters of the city of Greyhawk to become world traveller and thief extraordinaire. The novel was designed to promote sales of the boxed set by providing colourful details about the social customs and peoples of various cities and countries around the Flanaess.
Even before Saga of Old City rolled off the presses in November 1985, Gygax wrote a sequel, Artifact of Evil. He also wrote a short story, At Moonset Blackcat Comes, that appeared in the special 100th issue of Dragon magazine in August 1985. This introduced Gord the Rogue to gamers just before Saga of Old City was scheduled to be released.
However, at the same time, various factions within TSR with different visions of the company's future caused a power struggle, and Gygax was forced out on December 31, 1985. By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D&D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name (for example, Yrag and Zagyg
Zagyg
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Zagyg is the god of Humor, Eccentricity, Occult Lore, and Unpredictability...
).
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
Rose Estes
Rose Estes is the author of many fantasy and science fiction books, including full length novels and multiple choice gamebooks.-Career:After contributing extensively to TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons and Dragons Endless Quest series , she wrote her first full length novel, Children of the Dragon...
. In a literary declaration that his old world of Oerth was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk and D&D, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final Gord the Rogue novel, Dance of Demons.
Series overview
The series of novels follows the progress of the orphan beggar Gord, from his lowly youth to his ascension as an avatar of Balance. Gord begins his career with less than heroic motives, but early mentors Gellor and Curley Greenleaf continually steer him toward honorable ends. Eventually Gord is revealed to have a kinship with an enigmatic deity named the Cat Lord.The series, originally designed to provide some social and descriptive details about Gygax's Greyhawk
Greyhawk
Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
campaign world that he had not been able to fit into the limited space of either the 1980 folio edition or the 1983 boxed set, were written in a pulp swords and sorcery
Swords and Sorcery
Swords and Sorcery is a 1963 anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and illustrated by Virgil Finlay. It was first published in paperback by Pyramid Books...
style reminiscent of Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short stories. Like Leiber's stories, the female characters are usually scantily-clad window-dressing, with plots driven exclusively by the male characters. Gygax, who believed D&D would always only appeal to a male demographic, wrote the novels for that readership.
Individual novels
Saga of Old City was the first novel in TSRTSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
's Greyhawk Adventures series. It starts in Gord's childhood, and ends with his triumphant return to Greyhawk City
Free City of Greyhawk
The Free City of Greyhawk, also known as Greyhawk City and the "Gem of the Flanaess," is a fictional city-state in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
as a young man and master thief. He learns his trade in the 'beggars' guild', and gets involved in the gang war touched off by the beggars encroaching on the official thieves' guild's territory. He travels and has a variety of swashbuckling adventures, ranging from participating in a war to liberating a young noblewoman held hostage.
Artifact of Evil is a continuation of Saga of Old City. This was final novel under TSR's Greyhawk Adventures banner that was written by Gygax. An ancient artifact is uncovered, whose power could destroy their world. It is up to Gord and his companions to try to stop this artifact of evil from falling into the wrong hands.
Night Arrant is a collection of nine short stories about Gord's adventures, in his early twenties, in the City of Greyhawk.
Sea of Death, the first of the series published by New Infinities Productions, Inc., has Gord traveling far afield to the Sea of Dust
Sea of Dust (Greyhawk)
In the Dungeons & Dragons World of Greyhawk campaign setting, the Sea of Dust is a vast desert of ash and dust bound by a number of mountain ranges, including the Sulhauts to the north, the Hellfurnaces to the east, and a spur of the Tyurzi Mountains to the south....
, on a quest for a 'Theorpart', hidden in a lost city. He must face rivals sent by demon lords
Demon lord (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demon lords are demons who have gained great power and established a position of preeminence among demonkind. Each demon lord has a unique appearance and set of abilities. Most control at least one layer of the Abyss...
; the psychopathic dwarf Obmi, who serves Zuggtmoy
Zuggtmoy
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Zuggtmoy is the Demon Queen of Fungi. Her symbol is a jawless human skull with fungi blooming from within, though some of her false cults use other symbols...
, and the drow elf priestess Eclavdra, serving Graz'zt
Graz'zt
Graz'zt is a demon lord in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and one of the most powerful demons in the Abyss. Graz'zt, one of the earliest and most famous demons created for Dungeons and Dragons, was named as one of the greatest villains in D&D history by the final print issue of...
. He meets and falls in love with Leda, a clone of Eclavdra. Leda and Gord part at the end of the book as she returns to the Abyss, impersonating Eclavdra in Graz'zt's service for the sake of higher ideals.
City of Hawks is a retelling of the events that occurred in Saga of Old City. Gord's rise from simple begger to master thief are detailed as is his search for his true heritage.
Come Endless Darkness continues where Sea of Death left off and has Gord continue his quest to stop Tharizdun
Tharizdun
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Tharizdun is the god of Eternal Darkness, Decay, Entropy, Malign Knowledge, Insanity, and Cold....
& Lord Entropy
Ygorl
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Ygorl is the Slaad Lord of Entropy.-Publication history:Ygorl was created by Charles Stross, and first appeared in the first edition Fiend Folio ....
from taking over the Multiverse
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
.
Dance of Demons is the finale, in which Gord and Gellor enter the Abyss
Abyss (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Abyss or more fully, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, is a chaotic evil-aligned plane of existence. It is one of a number of alignment-based Outer Planes that form part of the standard Dungeons & Dragons cosmology, used in the Planescape...
on a mission from the world's most powerful forces of Balance, to retrieve the remaining Theorparts. The goal is nothing less than to free Tharizdun, the long-imprisoned god of ultimate evil and entropy, and to finally destroy him. The novel ends with the complete destruction of Oerth, and the unveiling of a new and better world.
Uncollected Short Stories
"At Moonset Blackcat Comes" is an early tale of Gord and his friend Chert, accepting a mission for the Cat Lord."Evening Odds," which appeared in an anthology of fiction inspired by Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos, takes place some time after the events of Dance of Demons. Gord has been deposed from his position as the new Cat Lord and is traveling the alternate realities as a Champion of Balance. In the course of the story he upsets a plot by the archfiend Baphomet
Baphomet (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Baphomet is a demon lord who rules a layer of the Abyss called the Endless Maze. He is the Prince of Beasts and the Demon Lord of Minotaurs.-Publication history:...
on modern Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
"The Return of Gord" is a caper story set during Gord's days as a master thief in the City of Greyhawk.
Description
Gord is described as being small for a human, a hand's breadth above five feet tall, slender and wiry. His eyes are iron-gray in color. He has black hair and olive-toned skin (which allows him to fit in among the RhenneeRhennee
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, the Rhennee are one of the major races of humans inhabiting the Flanaess....
).
List of "Gord the Rogue" novels and short stories
- Gygax, Gary. "At Moonset Blackcat Comes: A Tale of Gord of Greyhawk." DragonDragon (magazine)Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#100 (TSRTSR, Inc.Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
, 1985). - Gygax, Gary. Saga of Old City (TSR, 1985).
- Gygax, Gary. Artifact of Evil (TSR, 1986).
- Gygax, Gary. City of Hawks (New Infinities, 1987).
- Gygax, Gary. Night Arrant (New Infinities, 1987).
- Gygax, Gary. Sea of Death (New Infinities, 1987).
- Gygax, Gary. Come Endless Darkness (New Infinities, 1988).
- Gygax, Gary. Dance of Demons (New Infinities, 1988).
- Gygax, Gary. "Evening Odds." Pawn of Chaos. Clarkson, Ga: White Wolf Publishing, 1996
- Gygax, Gary and K. R. Bourgoine. "The Return of Gord." Dragon #344 (Paizo PublishingPaizo PublishingPaizo Publishing is an American publishing company in Redmond, Washington that specializes in game aids and adventures for "the world's oldest fantasy roleplaying game" and its flagship spin-off game and setting, Pathfinder...
, 2006). - Gygax, Gary. Saga of Old City (Troll Lord GamesTroll Lord GamesTroll Lord Games is an American publisher of role-playing games , The Crusader magazine and other board/dice/card games....
, 2008).