If you have never played a Greyhawk campaign, like me, then you may have sometimes wondered about the characters behind some of the named spells in the Player’s Handbook. I started the game with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition back in 1979. There were no products yet detailing the World of Greyhawk. Right about the time I was slowing down on playing the game (work, school, etc) the World of Greyhawk folio came out. I ran out and bought a copy immediately. But I found it lacking. It had all of the maps and the political entities in the land. But it did not really go into depth into the personalities or characters or even the villains of Greyhawk. Granted….the Rogues Gallery supplement did do this a little bit. But not all that much. There were many characters left out. And none of the villains were really discussed. This article is intended to give a light history of some of the important named personas that one might wonder about after reading the spell lists in the PHB. Even many of the later editions (including 5th) still have some of these named spells or other ones named after some of these characters.
In this article I am going to discuss the characters that were specifically named in the 1st Edition Player’s Handbook. These same characters still have spells named after them in just about all of the later editions.
Tenser
Tenser was played by Ernest Gygax. This magic users name was an anagram of Ernest. The spells Tenser’s Floating Disc and Tenser’s Transformation were named after this wizard. The character was developed in 1972 and was one of the first characters ever used in the game that would become Dungeons and Dragons. Tenser was used to play test Gary Gygax’s Castle Greyhawk and the campaign developed around it.
The wizard Tenser was always dressed in blue. He became a member of the Circle of Eight and made his home in the Fortress of Unknown Depths which was a short ride from the Free City of Greyhawk.
Leomund
Leomund, aka, Leomund the Red was another wizard and was also a member of the Circle of Eight. He is known for the spells Leomund’s Trap, Leomund’s Tiny Hut and Leomund’s Secret Chest. He was played by Lenard Lakofka who was one of the early players of Dungeons and Dragons.
The wizard was very different than many of his brethren. Most wizard characters want to blast things with their most powerful spells. Leomund, however, was more interested in coming up with creative spell solutions to adventurer’s problems. And his spells named after him reflect this. Most of these spells, and the ones named after him in later editions, are support spells rather than spells of direct combat action.
Interesting Lenard Lakofka insisted that his character Leomund was never a member of the Circle of Eight. His suggestion was that this was an impostor named Guy Gas.
Otiluke
Oiluke was another magic user and was also a member of the Circle of Eight. He was physically small and weak (even for a wizard). And he was not very wise. He was, however, very intelligent.
While he is known for his spells he is also known for one of his crazy experiments which involved the creation of the Howler Wasp. This abomination was an attempt to crossbreed two species (giant wasps and carnivorous monkeys) but he instead created a species that was out of control. They quickly reproduced and then escaped. This is an example of his lack of wisdom. And it is but one such example. He seems to have done a number of similar experiments without much success.
In 1st Edition he was known for the spell Oiluke’s Freezing Sphere
Bigby
Bigby is known for his many “hand” spells. This one was always the one that interested me the most playing 1st Edition. The various hand spells were all high level spells for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The first began at 5th level and the highest was at 9th. The spells he is most known for are:
- Bigby’s Interposing Hand
- Bigby’s Forceful Hand
- Bigby’s Grasping Hand
- Bigby’s Clenched Fist
- Bigby’s Crushing Hand
The last two spells are very powerful and could easy destroy a high level foe. It is natural that players of 1st edition would be interested in this mage.
Bigby was created by Rob Kuntz. He began as a low level magic user in the Greyhawk Campaign in 1973. He met Gary Gygax character, Mordenkainen, and engaged him in combat. Mordenkainen charmed Bigby and made him his servant. Bigby began life as an evil wizard. And ultimately Mordenkainen convinced him to change his evil ways.
Bigby ultimately became a member of the Circle of Eight. He is known for being very cautious. His favorite phrase during his adventures is said to be ” I think we should be very careful about what we’re about to do .”
All of Bigby’s henchmen had names that rhymed with his. These henchmen included:
- Rigby, a Cleric
- Zigby, a Dwarf
- Nigby, a mage and later apprentice to Mordenkainen
- Digby, a mage and later apprentice to Mordenkainen
- Sigby
- Grigby
Rary
Rary began life as a low level wizard. He was created by Brian Blume to play in Gary Gygax’s Greyhawk Campaign. But Blume was not interested in playing a magic user to high levels. He stopped running this character at 3rd level and never played him again. This character was never high enough in level to cast any of the spells later named after him.
Rary become a member of the Circle of Eight and then, about a decade later, betrayed the circle. He killed Tenser and Otiluke and tried to eliminate the other members of the circle. Bigby was severely wounded in that same magical battle. Rary is often referred to as Rary the Traitor. He was allied with the evil Robilar and both eventually fled when their plan failed.
In 1st Edition he was known for the spell named after him which was Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer
Mordenkainen
The wizard Mordenkainen was created by Gary Gygax. While Gary was the usual Dungeon Master in his campaign he sometimes allowed others to run the game. When this occurred he used this character to play. Mordenkainen is one of the oldest characters in the game as he was created only a couple of months after Gary began his Greyhawk campaign.
He became the leader of the Circle of Eight. He met and defeated Bigby in spell combat and made him his apprentice. He was one of the most powerful wizards in Greyhawk. It is said that he rose to 20 something levels.
He is known in 1st edition for his spells Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound and Mordenkainen’s Sword.
A version of Mordenkainen’s stats were provided in the Rogues Gallery for 1st edition but Gary insisted, later, that he never gave Brian Blume his statistics for the character. Where those stats came from in unknown.
Nystul
Nystul was another powerful mage. He too was a member of the Circle of Eight. Unlike the other characters listed in this article the character Nystul was never actually played in the Greyhawk Campaign. Instead some sites have sugested that he is named after a game designer named Mike Nystul. However Mike Nystul did not work for TSR at the time of the publication of the 1st edition PHB which bears a spell with this name. The spell in question is Nystul’s Magic Aura. According to a post by Gary Gygax on the website dragonsfoot.org Nystul was the stage name of a magician named Brad Nystul who suggested the spell to him.
These are but some of the interesting characters in the Greyhawk Campaign
I could not possibly go into great depth on this subject in a single article. And there are people out there with far more expertise on this subject than me. I have never played in a Greyhawk Campaign (but I did play once in a Castle Greyhawk game at the NTRPG ). So my knowledge is limited to what I have been able to research on the subject. I hope, however, that this has peaked your interest enough to explore this subject more.
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What about Snilloc?