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127-654: Castle Greyhawk lies north and slightly east of the Free City of Greyhawk , overlooking the Grey Run River . The Free City of Greyhawk is located centrally in the Flanaess , the eastern portion of the continent of Oerik , the greatest of Oerth 's four continents. The Castle was constructed CY c.320 by the wizard Zagig Yragerne . Known as "The Mad Archmage," Zagig ruled over the Free City of Greyhawk from

254-584: A boxed set . Sales of the hand-assembled print run of 1,000 copies, put together in Gygax's home, sold out in less than a year. (In 2018, a first printing of the boxed set sold at auction for more than $ 20,000.) At the end of 1974, with sales of D&D skyrocketing, the future looked bright for Gygax and Kaye, who were only 36. But in January 1975, Kaye unexpectedly died of a heart attack. He had not made any specific provision in his will regarding his share of

381-596: A cleric (probably Erac's Cousin and his adventuring companion Ayelerach ). In CY 505, Zagig then captured and imprisoned the evil demigod Iuz in the dungeons beneath the Castle. Iuz was one of nine demigods so trapped, and this accomplishment was instrumental in Zagig's ascension to become the demigod now known as Zagyg. Other deities imprisoned in the dungeon included Merikka , Rudd , and Wastri . The remaining five demigods have never been canonically identified, although

508-524: A free city , though it had been effectively independent of the Great Kingdom's rule for over a century. Soon thereafter, the city lost its claim over Hardby and the Wild Coast, as the leading women of Hardby broke from Greyhawk and established the ruling office of Despotrix. This loss of lands sent the Free City into economic decline, a situation that persisted for several decades. Fortunately,

635-463: A business with her involved as a partner." Gygax relocated TSR from the Kaye dining room to the basement at his own house. In July 1975, Gygax and Blume reorganized their company from a partnership to a corporation called TSR Hobbies. Gygax owned 150 shares, Blume the other 100 shares, and both had the option to buy up to 700 shares at any time in the future. But TSR Hobbies had nothing to publish—D&D

762-441: A demonstration of Dave Arneson's Castle Blackmoor game, game designer Gary Gygax agreed with Arneson to co-develop a set of rules for a game that would eventually become known as Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax liked the idea of a castle and dungeon that players could explore, and created his own imaginary place called Castle Greyhawk, which he used to test and develop the game. About a month after his first session, Gygax created

889-574: A detailed look at the city, while WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins (1990) presented a serious look at the dungeons under Greyhawk Castle. Appelcline commented on the Greyhawk setting after Gygax left TSR: "TSR published only scattered RPG supplements until AD&D second edition, which saw the publication of the beautiful The City of Greyhawk (1989) box and the WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins (1990) book. Neither of these locales had much in common with

1016-584: A dozen players. Gygax left Guidon Games in 1973 and in October, with Don Kaye as a partner, founded Tactical Studies Rules , later known as TSR, Inc. The two men each invested $ 1,000 in the venture—Kaye borrowed his share on his life insurance policy —to print a thousand copies of the Dungeons & Dragons boxed set. They also tried to raise money by immediately publishing a set of wargame rules called Cavaliers and Roundheads , but sales were poor; when

1143-742: A few months he spent in Clinton, Wisconsin , after his divorce, and his time in Hollywood while he was the head of TSR's entertainment division, Lake Geneva was his home for the rest of his life. By 1966, Gygax was active in the wargame hobby world and was writing many magazine articles on the subject. He learned about H. G. Wells 's Little Wars book for play of military miniatures wargames and Fletcher Pratt 's Naval Wargame book. Gygax later looked for innovative ways to generate random numbers, and used not only common six-sided dice , but dice of all five Platonic solid shapes, which he discovered in

1270-496: A forum for wargamers via its newsletters and societies, which enabled them to form local groups and share rules. In 1967, Gygax organized a 20-person gaming meet in the basement of his home; this event was later called "Gen Con 0". In 1968, he rented Lake Geneva's vine-covered Horticultural Hall for $ 50 (equivalent to $ 440 in 2023) to hold the first Lake Geneva Convention, also known as the Gen Con gaming convention . Gen Con

1397-506: A great periodical to serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide ... At no time did I ever contemplate so great a success or so long a lifespan." TSR moved out from the Gygax house in 1976 into the first professional location it could call home, known as "The Dungeon Hobby Shop". Arneson was hired as part of the creative staff, but was let go after only ten months, another sign that Gygax and Arneson had creative differences over D&D. The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set released in 1977

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1524-445: A large collection of 54 mm and 70 mm figures, where they used "ladyfingers" (small firecrackers) to simulate explosions. By his teens, Gygax had a voracious appetite for pulp fiction authors such as Robert E. Howard , Jack Vance , Fritz Leiber , H. P. Lovecraft , and Edgar Rice Burroughs . He was a mediocre student, and in 1956, a few months after his father died, he dropped out of high school in his junior year. He joined

1651-503: A large role-playing game convention in Gygax's honor. Gygax was born in Chicago, the son of Almina Emelie "Posey" (Burdick) and Swiss immigrant and former Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Ernst Gygax. He was named Ernest after his father, but was commonly known as Gary, the middle name given to him by his mother after the actor Gary Cooper . The family lived on Kenmore Avenue, close enough to Wrigley Field that he could hear

1778-463: A live-action version of D&D . In fact, Egbert was discovered in Louisiana several weeks later, but negative mainstream media attention focused on D&D as the cause. In 1982, Patricia Pulling 's son killed himself. Pulling blamed D&D for her son's suicide and formed the organization B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons) to attack the game and TSR. Gygax defended the game on

1905-688: A love of games and an appreciation for fantasy and science fiction literature. When he was five, he played card games such as pinochle and then board games such as chess . At age ten, he and his friends played the sort of make-believe games that eventually came to be called " live action role-playing games ", with one of them acting as referee. His father introduced him to science fiction and fantasy through pulp novels . His interest in games, combined with an appreciation of history, eventually led Gygax to begin playing miniature war games in 1953 with his best friend, Don Kaye. As teenagers, Gygax and Kaye designed their own miniatures rules for toy soldiers with

2032-527: A mere 150 pages. He also wanted to create a horror setting for the new RPG called Unhallowed . He began working on the RPG and the setting with the help of games designer Mike McCulley. Game Designers' Workshop became interested in publishing the new system, and it also drew the attention of JVC and NEC , who were looking for a new RPG system and setting to turn into a series of computer games. NEC and JVC were not interested in horror, however, so they shelved

2159-650: A minor mention. The castle finally received serious treatment in 1990, when TSR published Greyhawk Ruins , a 128-page adventure that examined the castle in great detail. In 2005, Troll Lord Games began publishing " Castle Zagyg " in a number of volumes authored by Gary Gygax and Jeffery P. Talanian. The Castle Zagyg series is written for the Castles and Crusades game, an OGL game derived from Dungeons & Dragons . These adventures are based on Gygax's original Castle Greyhawk dungeon design and campaign but are not official D&D materials. In August 2007, Wizards of

2286-409: A new product. Gygax announced in 1988 in a company newsletter that he and Rob Kuntz, his co-Dungeon Master during the early days of the Greyhawk campaign, were working as a team again. This time they would create a new multi-genre fantasy role-playing game called "Infinite Adventures", which would receive support through different gamebooks for each genre. This line would explore the original visions of

2413-763: A protagonist called Gord the Rogue; both sold well. He also hired company manager Lorraine Williams . She bought the Blumes' shares and replaced Gygax as president and CEO in October 1985, stating that Gygax would make no further creative contributions to TSR. Several of his projects were immediately shelved. Gygax took TSR to court in a bid to block the Blumes' sale of their shares to Williams, but he lost. Sales of D&D reached $ 29 million in 1985, but Gygax resigned from all of his positions with TSR in October 1986, and all of his disputes with TSR were settled in December. By

2540-406: A representative of Guidon Games. Gygax saw potential in both games, and was especially excited by Arneson's role-playing game. Gygax and Arneson immediately started to collaborate on creating "The Fantasy Game", the role-playing game that evolved into Dungeons & Dragons . Following Arneson's Blackmoor demonstration, Gygax requested more information from Arneson and began testing ideas for

2667-607: A return to simple and basic rules. Although he was not able to successfully release a Lejendary Adventures computer game, Gygax decided to instead publish it as a tabletop game. Meanwhile, in 1996 the games industry was rocked by the news that TSR had run into insoluble financial problems and had been bought by Wizards of the Coast . While WotC was busy refocussing TSR's products, Christopher Clark of Inner City Games Designs suggested to Gygax in 1997 that they could publish role-playing game adventures that game stores could sell while TSR

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2794-448: A romantic relationship with Gail Carpenter, his former assistant at TSR. In November 1986, she gave birth to Gygax's sixth child, Alex. Biographer Michael Witwer believes Alex's birth forced Gygax to reconsider the equation of work, gaming and family that, until this time, had been dominated by work and gaming. "Gary, keenly aware that he had made mistakes as a father and husband in the past, was determined not to make them again ... Gary

2921-586: A school supply catalog. Gygax cited as influences the fantasy and science fiction authors Robert E. Howard , L. Sprague de Camp , Jack Vance , Fletcher Pratt , Fritz Leiber , Poul Anderson , A. Merritt , and H. P. Lovecraft . In 1967, Gygax co-founded the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW) with Bill Speer and Scott Duncan. The IFW grew rapidly, particularly by assimilating several preexisting wargaming clubs, and aimed to promote interest in wargames of all periods. It provided

3048-666: A segment of 60 Minutes that aired in 1985. Death threats started arriving at the TSR office, so he hired a bodyguard. Nevertheless, TSR's annual D&D sales increased in 1982 to $ 16 million. In January 1983, The New York Times speculated that D&D might become "the great game of the 1980s" in the same manner that Monopoly was emblematic of the Great Depression . Brian Blume persuaded Gygax to allow Brian's brother Kevin to purchase Melvin Blume's shares. This gave

3175-439: A shield and no armor, then he just has a shield. Shields and half-armor = half-armor rules; full-armor figure = full armor rules. I did rules for weapons as well. Together with Don Kaye, Mike Reese, and Leon Tucker, Gygax created a military miniatures society called Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) in 1970, with its first headquarters in Gygax's basement. Shortly thereafter in 1970, Gygax and Robert Kuntz founded

3302-566: A steady income and gave him more time for game development. In 1971, he began doing some editing work at Guidon Games , a publisher of wargames , for which he produced the board games Alexander the Great and Dunkirk: The Battle of France . Early that same year, Gygax published Chainmail , a miniatures wargame that simulated medieval-era tactical combat, which he had originally written with hobby-shop owner Jeff Perren . The Chainmail medieval miniatures rules were originally published in

3429-415: A third line of products, which began with an adventure written by Mentzer, The Convert (1987). He had written it as an RPGA tournament for D&D , but TSR was not interested in publishing it. Mentzer got verbal permission to publish it with New Infinities, but since the permission was not in writing TSR filed an injunction for a period to prevent the adventure's sale. During all this drama, Gygax had

3556-424: A way to market more of his Gord the Rogue novels, but Baker had a vision for a new gaming company. He promised that he would handle the business end while Gygax would handle the creative projects. Baker also guaranteed that, using Gygax's name, he would be able to bring in one to two million dollars of investment. Gygax decided this was a good opportunity, and in October 1986, New Infinities Productions , Inc. (NIPI)

3683-558: A week. It was also from Avalon Hill that he ordered the first blank hex mapping sheets available, which he then employed to design his own games. About the same time that he discovered Gettysburg , his mother reintroduced him to Mary Jo Powell, who had left Lake Geneva as a child and just returned. Gygax was smitten with her and, after a short courtship, persuaded her to marry him, despite being only 19. This caused some friction with Kaye, who had also been wooing Mary Jo. Kaye refused to attend Gygax's wedding. Kaye and Gygax reconciled after

3810-523: Is back to his old self, and Castle Greyhawk is now some sort of multi-planar brigadoon. In CY 570, the warrior Robilar freed Iuz from his prison, and subsequently most or all of the other eight demigods escaped as well. Note: The 1992 publication From the Ashes (FtA) provides some contradictory dates to those given above. First, it states that construction of the Castle did not begin until CY 375. The adventure module Greyhawk Ruins , however, provides

3937-529: Is blazoned thus: Sable, a castle triple-towered argent, in chief two chains each of four links chevronwise of the second, in base six bezants . The Free City of Greyhawk controls most of the Cairn Hills, which provide the domain with great mineral wealth, such as iron, gems, and silver. Nearby Castle Greyhawk , with its extensive dungeons, draws adventurers and traders to the Domain of Greyhawk from across

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4064-629: Is bordered on the east by the Abbor-Alz and its western border lies within the Gnarley Forest. The area south of Greyhawk City along the Selintan is known as the Plain of Greyhawk . Several settlements fall within the Domain of Greyhawk: As of 589 CY , the city itself boasted a population of 69,500, making it one of the largest cities on Oerth. The population for the entire Greyhawk Domain

4191-472: Is forbidden, and such cults, though they may have followers, do not have a public presence. Evil religions that have established a base in the city in recent memory include those of Incabulos , Iuz , Nerull , and Vecna . Many more deities are worshipped in other settlements of the Domain of Greyhawk. See also: List of Greyhawk deities The most widely spoken language in Greyhawk City and most of

4318-772: Is located centrally in the Flanaess , which is the easternmost part of the continent of Oerik on the world of Oerth . The city controls a large swath of land along the Selintan River from the Nyr Dyv south to Woolly Bay most of the Cairn Hills , parts of the Gnarley Forest , the northern Wild Coast , and parts of the Abbor-Alz . The entire region is officially known as the Domain of Greyhawk . The Domain

4445-578: Is now one of North America's largest annual hobby-game gatherings. Gygax met Dave Arneson , the future co-creator of D&D , at the second Gen Con in August 1969. I'm very fond of the Medieval period , the Dark Ages in particular. We started playing in the period because I had found appropriate miniatures. I started devising rules where what the plastic figure was wearing was what he had. If he had

4572-576: Is roughly 160,000, including the larger towns of Safeton (pop. 6,100), Hardby (pop. 5,100) and Elmshire (pop. 4,000). The Free City of Greyhawk hosts temples and shrines to many deities, including Beory , Boccob , Celestian , Corellon Larethian , Ehlonna , Fharlanghn , Garl Glittergold, Heironeous , Istus , Kord , Kurell , Lirr , Moradin , Norebo, Obad-Hai , Olidammara , Osprem , Pelor , Pholtus , Procan , Ralishaz , Rao , Saint Cuthbert , Trithereon , Ulaa , Wee Jas , Xerbo , Yondalla , and Zilchus . The worship of evil deities and fiends

4699-531: Is the most complete treatment of the Free City. The box contained The following year, in conjunction with this boxed set, TSR published a trilogy of adventure modules by Richard & Anne Brown —WGA1 Falcon's Revenge , WGA2 Falconmaster and WGA3 Flames of the Falcon —set in the city and centred around a mysterious villain called "The Falcon." The two long-awaited Greyhawk supplements appeared after Gygax left TSR: The City of Greyhawk (1989) box presented

4826-417: Is usually considered to be an error. Gary Gygax designed Castle Greyhawk as a locale for the amusement of his children and friends and as a testing ground for the game of Dungeons & Dragons that he developed with Dave Arneson during 1972/73. Dungeon levels were written at the rate of one per week as those adventures progressed, leading to the original thirteen-level castle. In those early days there

4953-636: The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting boxed set. Sales of the D&;D game reached $ 8.5 million in 1980. Gygax also provided assistance on the Gamma World science fantasy role-playing game in 1981 and co-authored the Gamma World adventure Legion of Gold . In 1979, Michigan State University student James Dallas Egbert III allegedly disappeared into the school's steam tunnels while playing

5080-546: The Castle & Crusade Society of the IFW. In October 1970, Gygax lost his job at the insurance company after almost nine years. Unemployed and now with five children he tried to use his enthusiasm for games to make a living by designing board games for commercial sale. This proved unsustainable when he grossed only $ 882 in 1971 (equivalent to $ 6,636 in 2023). He began cobbling shoes in his basement, which provided him with

5207-552: The D&D product line into the successful D&D cartoon series . Gygax left TSR in 1986 over conflicts with its new majority owner, but he continued to create role-playing game titles independently, beginning with the multi-genre Dangerous Journeys in 1992. He designed the Lejendary Adventure gaming system, released in 1999. In 2005, he was involved in the Castles & Crusades role-playing game, which

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5334-458: The D&D Basic Set , and D&D and AD&D became distinct product lines. Splitting the game lines created a further rift between Gygax and Arneson. Arneson received a ten-percent royalty on sales of all D&D products, but Gygax refused to pay him royalties on AD&D books, claiming that it was a new and different property. In 1979, Arneson sued TSR; they settled in March 1981 with

5461-591: The Dangerous Journeys RPG was released by Game Designers' Workshop, but TSR immediately applied for an injunction against the entire Dangerous Journeys RPG and the Mythus setting, arguing that Dangerous Journeys was based on D&D and AD&D . The injunction failed, but TSR moved forward with litigation. Gygax believed that the legal action was without merit and fueled by Lorraine Williams' personal enmity, but NEC and JVC both withdrew from

5588-539: The Greyhawk supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, although this booklet provided no significant detail regarding Castle Greyhawk itself. Later on, Gygax developed the area around this new version of his castle and Greyhawk City to include new cities and countries as needed, expanding to a surrounding area of around 50 miles mapped in depth and approximately ten times that far in outline form by 1976. In 1978, TSR began publishing adventure modules set in

5715-741: The Greyhawk Wars , included information regarding the City's situation, as well as additional adventure cards set in the City. After TSR was taken over by Wizards of the Coast , the World of Greyhawk setting was updated again, and publications of this time period such as Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (1998), the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000), and Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (2007) also provide information regarding

5842-547: The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer states that the nine were of "opposing alignments." Because Zouken is known to be imprisoned somewhere on the central Flanaess, some believe he was one of the nine deities Zagig trapped at the Castle. Noncanonical lists of the other demigods have been offered by Gary Gygax himself, other early D&D notables such as Robert J. Kuntz , and in various works of fan fiction , although many of these lists cannot be reconciled with

5969-465: The Marines , but after being diagnosed with walking pneumonia , he received a medical discharge and moved back home with his mother. From there, he commuted to a job as a shipping clerk with Kemper Insurance Co. in Chicago. Shortly after his return, a friend introduced him to Avalon Hill 's new wargame Gettysburg . Gygax was soon obsessed with the game, often playing marathon sessions once or more

6096-672: The Pomarj that prompted this move, a situation that has been resolved to some extent, the Despotrix and the Wild Coast cities are once again agitating for increased independence. Also as a result of the Wars, the city has seen an influx of new citizens. Some of these are wealthy diplomats, and some are "nobles" who have contributed significantly to Greyhawk's coffers with the purchase of various counterfeit titles and documents. But many newcomers to Greyhawk are destitute refugees, or are merely using

6223-529: The Unhallowed setting in favor of a fantasy setting called Mythus . JVC also wanted a name change for the RPG, favoring Dangerous Dimensions over The Carpenter Project . Work progressed favorably until March 1992, when TSR filed an injunction against Dangerous Dimensions , claiming that the name and initials were too similar to Dungeons & Dragons . Gygax changed the name to Dangerous Journeys . The marketing strategy for Dangerous Journeys: Mythus

6350-499: The World of Greyhawk , although these early adventures did not directly concern the castle. Similarly, TSR's The World of Greyhawk 1980 folio and 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set provided information regarding the campaign setting at large, but no detail regarding Castle Greyhawk. Between 1983 and 1985, TSR published three modules linked to Castle Greyhawk. These were the 1983 adventure Dungeonland and its sequel The Land Beyond

6477-431: The "satanic" game D&D caused enough friction that the family finally disassociated themselves from Jehovah's Witnesses. Mary Jo resented the amount of time that her husband spent "playing games"; she had begun to drink excessively, and the couple argued frequently. Gygax had started smoking marijuana when he lost his insurance job in 1970, and he started to use cocaine and had a number of extramarital affairs. In 1983,

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6604-424: The (now canon) "opposing alignments" criteria noted above. In Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk published in 2007, Zuoken was officially confirmed to be one of the canonical deities imprisoned. According to the module, when Iuz was freed, the other gods effected an escape except for Zuoken who remained imprisoned. By the end of the adventure, Zuoken has been freed, Robilar who had been replaced by an evil double

6731-567: The Barrier Peaks , The Temple of Elemental Evil , The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun , Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure , Isle of the Ape , and all seven of the modules later combined into Queen of the Spiders . In 1980, Gygax's long-time campaign setting Greyhawk was published in the form of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting folio, which was expanded in 1983 into

6858-448: The Blume brothers a controlling interest, and Gygax and the Blumes were increasingly at loggerheads over the company's management by 1981. Gygax's frustrations at work and increased prosperity from his generous royalties brought a number of changes to his personal life. He and Mary Jo had been active members of the local Jehovah's Witnesses , but others in the congregation already felt uneasy about his smoking and drinking; his connection to

6985-452: The Blumes' employee. Gygax wrote the supplements Greyhawk , Eldritch Wizardry , and Swords & Spells for the original D&D game . With Brian Blume, he also designed the wild west -oriented role-playing game Boot Hill . The same year, Gygax created the magazine The Strategic Review with himself as editor. But wanting a more industry-wide periodical, he hired Tim Kask as TSR's first employee to change this magazine to

7112-453: The CY 320 reference for the start of construction. Greyhawk Ruins is both an earlier work and more specifically focused on the Castle itself, and thus would seem to be a more definitive source. Second, FtA suggests both CY 505 and CY 507 as dates for Iuz's initial imprisonment. Given that all other references to Iuz's imprisonment in official game publications use the CY 505 date, the CY 507 anomaly

7239-410: The Castle & Crusade Society's fanzine The Domesday Book . Guidon Games hired Gygax to produce a game series called "Wargaming with Miniatures", with the initial release for the series being a new edition of Chainmail (1971). The first edition of Chainmail included a fantasy supplement to the rules. These comprised a system for warriors, wizards, and various monsters of nonhuman races drawn from

7366-407: The Castle and City of Greyhawk by Gygax and Kuntz, now called "Castle Dunfalcon". Before work on this project could commence, NIPI ran out of money, was forced into bankruptcy, and dissolved in 1989. After NIPI folded, Gygax decided to create an entirely new RPG called The Carpenter Project , one considerably more complex and "rules heavy" than his original D&D system, which had encompassed

7493-413: The Castle for approximately the next 100 years, after which he abandoned the Castle and mysteriously disappeared. Over the centuries, the Castle's three towers decayed into ruin. The main tower is called the "Tower of Zagig," and the two lesser towers are the "War Tower" and the "Tower of Magic" (alternately "The Power Tower"). An extensive dungeon complex lies below the towers. In the initial years after

7620-407: The Castle was abandoned, few if any adventurers approached the Castle because of rumors that it lay under a powerful curse. Eventually, a group of Northern barbarians forayed into the area and pillaged a large amount of treasure. The story of their success attracted groups of Dwarves , Elves , and other adventurers to the area, and over time the Castle's dungeons became a major site for adventuring on

7747-417: The City and Dungeon of Greyhawk in a renamed setting were somewhat fulfilled at Troll Lord Games, who published a few Castle Zagyg books — detailing the uppermost levels of the dungeon — before Gygax's death." The following represents a summary of information taken from the various published sources mentioned above that a player would be able to use: Greyhawk, named for the small grey hawks which populate

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7874-525: The City's major professional guilds and the military. In some cases, the Oligarchy may include important wizards or clerics . New Directors are chosen by current council members when a vacancy must be filled. The Greyhawk Council of Mayors and Manorial Lords is an annual assembleage of leaders from the various baronies and towns in Greyhawk Domain. In theory, this gathering allows citizens of

8001-570: The Coast released Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk , a 224-page hardcover book that revisits the material from Greyhawk Ruins and updates the site for 3.5 edition D&D rules. 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 . Since

8128-695: The Directing Oligarchy and oversees the Guild of Lawyers and Scribes . In cases of great import, three Judges of Greyhawk may preside. Appeals of major cases are always heard by a panel of three Judges of Greyhawk, though the Lord Mayor sometimes sits in place of one of the Judges. Lesser matters in Greyhawk City are tried by magistrates from the Guild of Lawyers and Scribes. The city's coat of arms

8255-451: The Domain is Common, though other tongues are spoken in settlements with large non-human populations, such as Elmshire, Greysmere, and Grossetgrottel. The Domain of Greyhawk has no officially named provinces. Some of the region's settlements are under the direct rule of the Free City, while others have varying degrees of autonomy. Notable settlements include: Greyhawk's Directing Oligarchy elects one of its own to as Lord Mayor, who serves as

8382-406: The Domain to have a voice in the governance of the region, but in practice this Council has little real authority. Major legal matters in the Free City of Greyhawk are adjudicated by a Judge of Greyhawk, one of eight such officials appointed by the Directing Oligarchy. One of these eight is chosen to serve as Chief judge of Greyhawk, a position currently held by Sir Anton Palmirian who also sits on

8509-412: The Flanaess, is the adventuring town that gives the World of Greyhawk setting its name. Game designer Ken Rolston comments: "The City of Greyhawk is an organism of systems within systems, with each system driven by its own motivations and personalities. [...] External politics are intertwined in the city’s internal affairs. Rival guilds compete for power and influence, and dark conspiracies fester beneath

8636-404: The Flanaess. As such, the Castle generates significant economic benefits for the City in trade, taxation and treasure. The Domain of Greyhawk's standard coinage consists of the platinum plate (pp), gold orb (gp), electrum lucky (ep), silver noble (sp), and copper common (cp). All of the coins are round, except for the platinum plate, which is square. The current coinage system replaced

8763-401: The Flanaess. The influx of trade, travelers, and treasure associated with this phenomenon has provided significant economic benefits to the nearby City of Greyhawk. Sometime during this period, Zagig reappeared and managed to imprison the demon lord Fraz-Urb'luu in the dungeons beneath the castle. The fiend was imprisoned there for at least 200 years but was eventually freed by a wizard and

8890-494: The Free City of Greyhawk, which game designer Rick Swan described as "a virtuoso performance, with a flawless mix of exposition, atmosphere, and detail [...] painting a bleak picture of a struggling populace. As a consequence of the great war, much of the Old City was incinerated. Destitute property owners who can’t afford to pay for restoration watch helplessly as their neighborhoods are overrun with beggars and street urchins. In

9017-474: The Greyhawk revival began to fade after 1984. His development for the Castle and City of Greyhawk and the Wild Coast was never finished. Gygax's first Greyhawk novel Saga of Old City (1985) "became a major source of Greyhawk lore because novelistic details about currencies and the feel of the city of Greyhawk immediately surpassed anything that had ever been printed in RPG supplements," according to author Shannon Appelcline. In 1985, just before Gary Gygax

9144-586: The Lord Mayor's authority, are usually commanded by the Domain's highest-ranking military officer, the Captain General of the Watch, who also sits on the city's Directing Oligarchy. The current Captain General is Tigran Gellner . Greyhawk's forces consist of several units, including: Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( / ˈ ɡ aɪ ɡ æ k s / GHY -gaks ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008)

9271-468: The Magic Mirror , as well as 1985's Isle of the Ape . All three were originally conceived by Gygax as extra-planar extensions of the dungeons below Castle Greyhawk. As published, however, the modules again provided no information regarding the castle itself or its dungeons. The castle was first detailed for the general public in 1988 in TSR's adventure Castle Greyhawk . However, as the module

9398-509: The River Quarter, authorities fish out body after body with daggers in their backs. Refugees crowd the poorer districts, trade continues to decline, and Iuz, the fiendish ruler of a vast territory in the north central Flanaess, remains a constant threat. Uncertainty prevails, and player characters will find plenty to keep them on their toes." The set moved the timeline of the overall World of Greyhawk setting ten years forward to just after

9525-830: The Selintan). Much river traffic takes place along the Selintan River, which can accommodate all but the largest sea-going vessels from the Nyr Dyv and Woolly Bay. Smaller vessels ply the Ery and Neen rivers. The Able Carter is a coach company created by author Erik Mona , which first appeared in the 2000 RPGA adventure module , River of Blood . It has coaching inns in Greyhawk City, Hardby , Diamond Lake , Blackstone , Elmshire , Steaming Springs , Narwell , Safeton , and Dyvers , among other locations. The Domain of Greyhawk's military forces, though technically under

9652-498: The West Coast, as he rented an immense mansion, increased his cocaine use, and spent time with several young starlets. Gygax was occupied with getting a movie off the ground in Hollywood, so he had to leave TSR in the hands of Kevin and Brian Blume to oversee its day-to-day operations. He reached an agreement with Orson Welles in 1984 to star in a D&D movie, with John Boorman to act as producer and director. But almost at

9779-556: The agreement that Arneson would receive a 2.5-percent royalty on all AD&D products, giving him a six-figure annual income for the next decade. Gygax wrote the AD&;D hardcovers Players Handbook , Dungeon Masters Guide , Monster Manual, and Monster Manual II . He also wrote or co-wrote many AD&D and basic D&D adventure modules, including The Keep on the Borderlands , Tomb of Horrors , Expedition to

9906-768: The basis for rule over the Lanstadt of Selintan, an area that eventually became known as the Domain of Greyhawk. In 4 CY, Greyhawk came under the domination of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy and remained so while strong Overkings ruled from the Malachite Throne in Rauxes . By the 3rd century CY, the Great Kingdom's influence over the city began to wane as the Overkings fell into evil ways and their hold on distant provinces became increasingly tenuous. Circa 310 CY,

10033-463: The city as a base for hatching political plots and intrigues across the Flanaess. In particular, there are persistent rumors of covert Scarlet Brotherhood operations in the city. The post-war outlook for the Free City is therefore mixed. Greyhawk's finances are in the best shape they have been since Zagig's departure, but the city faces significant challenges arising from political instability and increasing criminal activity. The Free City of Greyhawk

10160-400: The city in the post-wars period. New Infinities Productions revealed in 1988 that its "Fantasy Master" line had plans to detail both the Castle and City of Greyhawk (renamed as "Castle Dunfalcon") presented in the original form that Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz had envisioned them, but the company dissolved before any of this went into publication; Applelcline noted that "Gygax's plans to publish

10287-506: The company, simply leaving his entire estate to his wife Donna. Although she had worked briefly for TSR as an accountant, she did not share her husband's enthusiasm for gaming, and made clear that she would not have anything to do with managing the company. Gygax called her "less than personable... After Don died she dumped all the Tactical Studies Rules materials off on my front porch. It would have been impossible to manage

10414-412: The company, then worked with Mohan and Mentzer on a science fiction-themed RPG, Cyborg Commando , which was published in 1987. But sales of the new game were not brisk. As game historian Shannon Appelcline noted in 2014, the game was "seen as one of the biggest flops in the industry." Mentzer and Mohan wrote a series of generic RPG adventures, Gary Gygax Presents Fantasy Master , and began working on

10541-410: The construction of nearby Castle Greyhawk . Although Zagig—later known as Zagyg—became increasingly erratic over time, his rule is generally considered to be the most effective in the Free City's history and brought widespread prosperity to the region. Much to the annoyance of Dyvers and other rival cities, Zagig proclaimed Greyhawk to be the "Gem of the Flanaess," and did much to ensure this moniker

10668-430: The discovery of treasure in the dungeons beneath Castle Greyhawk and other nearby locales set off a gold rush of sorts, and Greyhawk's economic fortunes recovered substantially in the second half of the 6th century. The Free City of Greyhawk actually had less direct involvement in the so-called Greyhawk Wars than many political entities across the Flanaess, but because the final truce was brokered in Greyhawk in CY 584,

10795-431: The edge of insolvency. Gygax brought his findings to the five other company directors. He charged that the financial crisis was due to Kevin Blume's mismanagement: excess inventory, overstaffing, too many company cars, and some questionable projects such as dredging up a 19th-century shipwreck. Gygax gained control and produced the new AD&D book Unearthed Arcana and the Greyhawk novel Saga of Old City , featuring

10922-469: The fantasy periodical The Dragon , with Gygax as writer, columnist, and publisher (from 1978 to 1981). The Dragon debuted in June 1976, and Gygax said of 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

11049-427: The folio edition with the World of Greyhawk boxed set, which contained more detailed information about the city and some of its prominent citizens, as well as background information for several small adventures set in the city. By 1983, Gygax was planning a City of Greyhawk publication to be followed by a Castle Greyhawk publication, both to come after the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1983), although

11176-510: The game forget the spells that they have learned immediately upon casting them and must re-study them in order to cast them again), and the system as a whole drew upon the work of authors such as Robert E. Howard , L. Sprague de Camp , Michael Moorcock , Roger Zelazny , Poul Anderson , Tolkien , Bram Stoker , and others. The final draft contained changes not vetted by Arneson, and Gygax's vision differed on some rule details Arneson had preferred. Gygax asked Guidon Games to publish it, but

11303-456: The game in a three-volume set: The Lejendary Rules for All Players (1999), Lejend Master's Lore (2000) and Beasts of Lejend (2000). The new owner of TSR, WotC's Peter Adkison , clearly did not harbor any of Lorraine Williams' ill-will toward Gygax: Adkison purchased all of Gygax's residual rights to D&D and AD&D for a six-figure sum. Gygax did not author any new game supplements or novels for TSR or WotC, but he did agree to write

11430-454: The game on his two oldest children, Ernie and Elise, in a setting he called "Greyhawk". This group rapidly expanded to include Kaye, Kuntz, and eventually a large circle of players. Gygax and Arneson continued to trade notes about their respective campaigns as Gygax began work on a draft. Several aspects of the system governing magic in the game were inspired by fantasy author Jack Vance 's The Dying Earth stories (notably that magic-users in

11557-472: The ground. He had been able to keep the rights to Gord the Rogue as part of the severance agreement he made with TSR, so he made a new licensing agreement with TSR for the Greyhawk setting and began writing new novels starting with Sea of Death (1987); novel sales were brisk, and Gygax's Gord the Rogue novels kept New Infinities operating. Gygax brought in Don Turnbull from Games Workshop to manage

11684-605: The head of state in addition to his directorial duties. The current Lord Mayor, Nerof Gasgal , has held office since 571 CY. The Lord Mayor heads both the Directing Oligarchy and the Council of Mayors and Manorial Lords. The chief of state also officially heads the military, though actual command is most often left to the Captain General of the Watch. The Free City of Greyhawk is ruled by the Directing Oligarchy, an executive council of twelve to eighteen members representing

11811-555: The mage Zagig Yragerne emerged from the Wild Coast and bribed his way into a seat on the Directing Oligarchy. Soon after, the Oligarchs elected Zagig Lord Mayor. Greyhawk subsequently rose in fame and prominence under the leadership of Lord Mayor Zagig. He instituted legal reform, developed a new currency, fortified the walls, founded the city's first university and embarked on a major building program. Most notably, he directed

11938-436: The nearby city of Greyhawk, where the players' characters could sell their treasure and find a place to rest. The lands around Greyhawk gradually grew into an entire world as Gygax's players explored further and further afield. In 1980, Gygax published details of his home campaign in a folio called The World of Greyhawk . This was the first published information about the City of Greyhawk. The Free City of Greyhawk, Gem of

12065-484: The original locations created by Gygax & Kuntz almost 20 years prior, showing how Greyhawk continued to metamorphize and change — though James M. Ward and some of players of those early games did try to get the feel right. Around the same time, TSR published Robin Wayne Bailey’s Nightwatch (1990) novel, which was set in Greyhawk City but didn't feature the "Greyhawk Adventures" trade dress at all — showing

12192-425: The point that Mary Jo, pregnant with their second child, believed he was having an affair and confronted him in a friend's basement only to discover him and his friends sitting around a map-covered table. In 1962, Gygax got a job as an insurance underwriter at Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. His family continued to grow, and after his third child was born, he decided to move his family back to Lake Geneva. Except for

12319-715: The previous system, which included coinage worth less than the copper common known as bronze zees, brass bits, and iron drabs. Several roads link the settlements of the Domain of Greyhawk, including the High Road (from Greyhawk City to Elmshire), the Urnst Trail (from the High Road to the Duchy of Urnst ), the Western Road (from Ford Keep on the Selintan to Dyvers ), and the River Road (south from Greyhawk City along

12446-481: The printing costs for the thousand copies of Dungeons & Dragons rose from $ 2,000 to $ 2,500, they still did not have enough capital to publish it. Worried that the other playtesters and wargamers now familiar with Gygax's rules would bring a similar product to the market first, the two accepted an offer in December 1973 from gaming acquaintance Brian Blume to invest $ 2,000 in TSR to become an equal one-third partner. (Gygax accepted Blume's offer right away. Kaye

12573-399: The project, killing the Mythus computer game. By 1994, the legal costs had drained all of Gygax's resources, so he offered to settle. In the end, TSR paid Gygax for the complete rights to Dangerous Journeys and Mythus . In 1995, Gygax began work on a new computer role-playing game called Lejendary Adventures . In contrast to the rules-heavy Dangerous Journeys , this new system was

12700-463: The region, was originally a trading outpost on the Selintan River specializing in local wood and woven garments. In time the town developed strong textile and meat-packing industries. Eventually, Greyhawk came to be ruled by a warlord, who took the title "Lansgraf of the Selintan". His son was then married to the Gynarch of Hardby 's daughter. The nuptials formalized a political alliance that served as

12827-795: The roar of the crowds watching the Chicago Cubs play. At age 7, he became a member of a small group of friends who called themselves the "Kenmore Pirates". In 1946, after the Kenmore Pirates were involved in a fracas with another gang of boys, his father decided to move the family to Posey's family home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin , where Posey's family had settled in the early 19th century, and where Gary's grandparents still lived. In this new setting, Gygax soon made friends with several of his peers, including Don Kaye and Mary Jo Powell. During his childhood and teen years, he developed

12954-430: The same time, he received word that TSR had run into severe financial difficulties, and Kevin Blume was attempting to sell the company for six million dollars. Gygax immediately discarded his movie ambitions—his D&D movie was never made—and flew back to Lake Geneva. He discovered that industry leader TSR was grossing $ 30 million, yet it was barely breaking even; it was in fact $ 1.5 million in debt and teetering on

13081-493: The setting for the world of Greyhawk, and Gygax was not happy with the new direction in which TSR was taking "his" creation. In a literary declaration that his old world 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 . With the Gord the Rogue novels finished, NIPI's main source of steady income dried up. The company needed

13208-447: The setting was originally published in a folio and then again in a boxed set that were both titled World of Greyhawk , the word "Greyhawk" is often used to describe the entire campaign world setting, although the proper name for that part of the world is the Flanaess . Sometimes the lands controlled by the Free City are also referred to as Greyhawk, though the proper term for the region is the Domain of Greyhawk . In 1972, after seeing

13335-627: The standard six-sided dice. He also collaborated with Arneson on the Napoleonic naval wargame Don't Give Up the Ship! Dave Arneson briefly adapted the Chainmail rules for his fantasy Blackmoor campaign. In the winter of 1972–1973, Arneson and friend David Megarry , inventor of the Dungeon! board game, traveled to Lake Geneva to showcase their respective games to Gygax, in his role as

13462-506: The streets, while less-weighty adventures may arise from the lighter aspects of civilized personal and commercial rivalries." The release of The World of Greyhawk (1980) was intended to begin a new focus on the campaign world of Greyhawk , with plans for Minifigs of the UK to create an "Armies of Greyhawk" miniatures ruleset, and TSR to produce a "City of Greyhawk" folio, but none of these publications appeared. In 1983, TSR, Inc. replaced

13589-410: The terms of the settlement, he gave up his rights except to Gord the Rogue and to those D&D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name (for example, Yrag and Zagyg). Immediately after leaving TSR, Gygax was approached by a wargaming acquaintance, Forrest Baker, who had done some consulting work for TSR in 1983 and 1984. Tired of company management, Gygax was simply looking for

13716-461: The three-volume rule set in a labeled box was beyond the small publisher's scope. Gygax pitched the game to Avalon Hill, but it did not understand the concept of role-playing and turned down his offer. By 1974, Gygax's Greyhawk group, which had started off with himself, Ernie Gygax, Don Kaye, Rob Kuntz, and Terry Kuntz , had grown to over 20 people, with Rob Kuntz operating as co-dungeon-master so that each of them could referee smaller groups of about

13843-527: The two got an acrimonious divorce. At the same time, the Blumes wanted to get Gygax out of Lake Geneva so that they could manage the company without his "interference", so they split TSR Hobbies into TSR, Inc. and TSR Entertainment, Inc. Gygax became president of TSR Entertainment, Inc., and the Blumes sent him to Hollywood to develop TV and movie opportunities. He became co-producer of the licensed D&D cartoon series for CBS , which led its time slot for two years. Gygax' life continued to unravel on

13970-568: The war has come to be named for the city. The current timeline of the Greyhawk campaign has been fixed as 591 CY, six years after the end of the Greyhawk Wars. The Wars had several important effects on the city, particularly that the unrest drove Hardby and the Wild Coast cities of Safeton and Narwell to re-submit to the rule of the Directing Oligarchs. However, since it was largely fear of Turrosh Mak 's humanoid raiders from

14097-509: The weakness of the setting at TSR." The fourth module of the WGA (World of Greyhawk Adventures) series, WGA4 Vecna Lives! , was not part of the Falcon series, but was set in Greyhawk City. Treasures of Greyhawk (1992) and Return of the Eight (1998) were two others set entirely within the city. The Campaign Book from the 1992 boxed set From the Ashes , focuses on the areas in and around

14224-473: The wedding. The couple moved to Chicago where Gygax continued as a shipping clerk at Kemper Insurance. He found a job for Mary Jo there, but the company laid her off when she became pregnant with their first child. He also took anthropology classes at the University of Chicago . Despite his commitments to his job, raising a family, and attending college, Gygax continued to play wargames. It reached

14351-407: The works of J. R. R. Tolkien and other sources. For a small publisher like Guidon Games, Chainmail was relatively successful, selling 100 copies per month. Gygax also collaborated on Tractics with Mike Reese and Leon Tucker, his contribution being the change to a 20-sided spinner or a coffee can with 20 numbered poker chips (eventually, 20-sided dice) to decide combat resolutions instead of

14478-436: The year before. In 1976, he founded The Dragon , a magazine based around the new game. In 1977, he began work on a more comprehensive version of the game called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons . He designed numerous manuals for the game system, as well as several pre-packaged adventures called "modules" that gave a person running a D&D game (the " Dungeon Master ") a rough script and ideas. In 1983, he worked to license

14605-666: Was also a realist, and knew what good fatherhood would demand, especially at his age." On August 15, 1987, on what would have been his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, Gygax married Carpenter. During 1987 and 1988, Gygax worked with Flint Dille on the Sagard the Barbarian books, as well as Role-Playing Mastery and its sequel, Master of the Game . He also wrote two more Gord the Rogue novels, City of Hawks (1987), and Come Endless Darkness (1988). But by 1988, TSR had rewritten

14732-552: Was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ) with Dave Arneson . In the 1960s, Gygax created an organization of wargaming clubs and founded the Gen Con gaming convention. In 1971, he co-developed Chainmail , a miniatures wargame based on medieval warfare with Jeff Perren. He co-founded the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) with childhood friend Don Kaye in 1973. The next year, TSR published D&D , created by Gygax and Arneson

14859-455: Was an introductory version of the original D&D geared toward new players and edited by John Eric Holmes . The same year, TSR Hobbies released Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ), a completely new and complex version of D&D . The Monster Manual was also released that year and became the first supplemental rule book of the new system, and many more followed. AD&D 's rules were not fully compatible with those of

14986-414: Was announced publicly. To help him with the creative work, Gygax poached Frank Mentzer and Dragon magazine editor Kim Mohan from TSR. But before a single product was released, Forrest Baker left NIPI when the outside investment he promised of one to two million dollars failed to materialize. Against his will, Gygax was back in charge again; he immediately looked for a quick product to get NIPI off

15113-492: Was conceived as a hybrid between the third edition of D&D and the original version of the game. In 2004, he had two strokes and narrowly avoided a subsequent heart attack; he was then diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm and died in March 2008 at age 69. Following Gygax's funeral, many mourners formed an impromptu game event which became known as Gary Con 0, and gamers celebrate in Lake Geneva each March with

15240-481: Was forced out of TSR, he wrote the first two Gord the Rogue novels, which provide many interesting details of the city of Greyhawk and its seamy underworld. With Gygax gone, the vision of the city became TSR's, and in 1988, the company published Jim Ward 's Greyhawk Adventures hardcover source book, which provided additional information regarding the city as well as interesting characters living within it. The City of Greyhawk boxed set published by TSR in 1989

15367-427: Was justified. Unfortunately, the "Mad Archmage" suddenly disappeared in 421 CY, leaving no clues regarding his whereabouts, and no heir to inherit the title of Lansgraf. In 498 CY, after decades of Zagig's absence, the Lanstadt was therefore abolished, the title of Lansgraf permanently retired, and the Free City's Directing Oligarchy assumed political authority. The new Lord Mayor Paerinn officially proclaimed Greyhawk

15494-440: Was less enthusiastic, and after a week to consider the offer, he questioned Blume closely before acquiescing.) Blume's investment finally brought the financing that enabled them to publish D&D . Gygax worked on rules for more miniatures and tabletop battle games including Classic Warfare (Ancient Period: 1500 BC to 500 AD) and Warriors of Mars . TSR released the first commercial version of D&D in January 1974 as

15621-523: Was multi-pronged. The RPG and setting were to be published by Game Designers' Workshop, and the Mythus computer game was being prepared by NEC and JVC. There would also be a series of books based on the Mythus setting written by Gygax. He wrote three novels published by Penguin/Roc and later reprinted by Paizo Publishing : The Anubis Murders , The Samarkand Solution , and Death in Delhi . In late 1992,

15748-424: Was no "Flanaess" surrounding the castle; Gygax's world map of "Oerth" was simply drawn over a map of North America. A second version of Castle Greyhawk was developed/created prior to the publication of Dungeons & Dragons by incorporating Rob Kuntz's "El Raja Key" (also commenced in 1972), which had been created to allow Gygax to adventure using his own PCs such as Mordenkainen . In 1975, TSR, Inc. published

15875-545: Was otherwise occupied, so Inner City published the fantasy adventures A Challenge of Arms (1998) and The Ritual of the Golden Eyes (1999). Gygax introduced some investors to the publication setup that Clark was using, and although the investors were not willing to fund publication of Legendary Adventures , Clark and Gygax were able to start the partnership Hekaforge Productions. Gygax was thus able to return to publish Lejendary Adventures in 1999. Hekaforge published

16002-470: Was steeped in humor and featured numerous references to 20th-century culture (such as the character the Amazing Drider -Man), most Greyhawk fans consider the module to be a "joke-version" of Castle Greyhawk. In 1989 The City of Greyhawk boxed set expanded on the detail available for the Free City of Greyhawk and its environs for the second edition D&D rules. The castle itself received only

16129-511: Was still owned by the three-way partnership of TSR, and neither Gygax nor Blume had the money to buy out Donna Kaye's shares. Blume persuaded a reluctant Gygax to allow his father, Melvin Blume, to buy Donna's shares, and those were converted to 200 shares in TSR Hobbies. In addition, Brian bought another 140 shares. These purchases reduced Gygax from majority shareholder in control of the company to minority shareholder; he effectively became

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