Gord the Rogue
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In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Gord the Rogue is a young rogue who reluctantly becomes a crusader for neutrality. Gord the Rogue is also the name of the series of books written by Gary Gygax that continued the story of Gord once Gygax left TSR.
Publication history
One of the factors that contributed to the success of the Dragonlance setting when it was published in 1984 was a 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 in August 1985. This introduced Gord the Rogue to gamers just before Saga of Old City was scheduled to be released.[1]
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).[2]
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 continued the Greyhawk line in directions the setting's creator didn't appreciate. Greyhawk releases during that period included "supermodule" versions of adventure modules he had written, a continuation of the Greyhawk Adventures line of novels with three novels by Rose Estes, and a "joke" re-envisioning of the Castle Greyhawk dungeon that had dominated his home D&D campaign. 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.[3]
Description
Gord is small for a human, a hand's breath 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 Rhennee).
Early history
Gord was born Carl Quapardus. His father, Karal, was the grandson of the seventh son of Rexfelis, the Cat Lord. Karal, through his own merit, ascended to the status of Prince of Panthers, but he deserted the realm of the Balance for the world of Oerth for the sake of his love, Ataleena Carona. A violet-eyed human with second sight and distant elvish blood, Ataleena was the last in a long line of female seers. Betrayed by their own kin, Ataleena and Karal were slain by the forces of evil. The orphaned Carl was raised in Greyhawk's Old City by a brutal woman called Leena, who renamed him Gord.
Series overview
The series follows the progress of the orphan beggar Gord, from his lowly youth to celestial heights as the avatar of the Balance. These books appealed to a largely male readership, with writing styles reminiscent of Fritz Liber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series. Gord is somewhat less than heroic, but his early mentors, Gellor and Curley Greenleaf, continually steer him toward honorable ends. Eventually Gord is revealed to have a kinship with the enigmatic Cat-Lord. The series also spawned a collection of short stories. The books also provide some world details otherwise missing from either of the First Edition Greyhawk Campaign box sets.
Individual novels
Saga of Old City was the first novel in TSR'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.
Night Arrant is a collection of nine short stories about Gord's adventures, in his early twenties, in the City of Greyhawk.
Artifact of Evil is a continuation of Saga of Old City. This is the second, and final, Greyhawk Adventures novel written by Gygax that was published through TSR. An ancient artifact is uncovered, whose power could destroy their world. It is up to Gord and his companions to try and stop this artifact of evil from falling into the wrong hands.
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 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.
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 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.
References
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2008) |
- ^ Gygax, Gary (August 1985). "At Moonset Blackcat Comes". Dragon (100). Lake Geneva WI: TSR: 22.]
- ^ Gygax: "Anagrams of my name are exclusively my property according to my settlement agreement with TSR, so that is how I can use Zagyg, or Zagig, as well as Yrag.""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 91)". EN World. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ Q: "After you left TSR, you finished the Gord the Rogue books. At the end of the cycle, Oerth bites the bullet. Was this your way of saying that Greyhawk is dead and that fans should turn away from TSR's version with disdain?" Gygax: "More my way of saying that since T$R had killed the setting with trash releases, it was time to wipe out the shame by obliterating the setting.""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, page 2)". EN World. 2004-11-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- Gygax, Gary. Artifact of Evil (TSR, 1986).
- Gygax, Gary. "At Moonset Blackcat Comes: A Tale of Gord of Greyhawk." Dragon #100 (TSR, 1985).
- Gygax, Gary. City of Hawks (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. Night Arrant (New Infinities, 1987).
- Gygax, Gary. Saga of Old City (TSR, 1985).
- Gygax, Gary. Sea of Death (New Infinities, 1987).
- Gygax, Gary and K. R. Bourgoine. "The Return of Gord." Dragon #344 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Gygax, Gary. Saga of Old City (Troll Lord Games, 2008).