You know, it’s really weird, but the 4e cosmology as described in the new DMG seems almost perfect for Greyhawk.

Let’s face it: if you, like me, rely primarily in the 1983 boxed set and the Gygax “Gord the Rogue” books for inspiration, along with the early AD&D adventures, there isn’t really all that much information on (a) the origin of the world and (b) outer planar stuff.

Consider the 4e origin mythology:

In the beginning, the primordials rose from the Elemental Chaos and created the world. The gods, who live in realms in the Astral Sea, stopped the primordials from destroying the world and took it over. One god planted a seed of ultimate evil in the Elemental Chaos, thus creating the Abyss, and became utterly corrupted – eventually he was overcome and chained by the other gods, but his legacy is the creation of the demons, Chaotic Evil beings that live for destruction. Guess who the Chained One really is? Yes, it’s something that should be familiar to fans of the World of Greyhawk setting.

Meanwhile, a group of servants of the gods rebelled against them and actually slew their master. However, the betrayers were cursed with monstrous forms and imprisoned within the dead god’s dominion. Their realm became the Nine Hells, which is in the Astral Sea, and they can only leave it with the aid of powerful magic. The devils seek the souls of mortals, as they increase the power of the Nine Hells and diminish the influence of the gods on the material plane.

The Shadowfell is a dark echo of the world and is where the spirits of the dead go before they move onto their ultimate resting place – wherever that may be. The Feywild is a place of natural and arcane magic. I don’t really have much trouble in comparing the Demiplane of Shadow to the Shadowfell, and I’m reminded of one of Gygax’s shortstories in Night Arrant for the Feywild.

Does everything fit into the Greyhawk I’m familiar with? No, not really. The idea of True Neutrality (as exemplified by a lot of action in the later Gord books) isn’t in existence. The giants being servants of the Primordials who fought the Gods is new. Mind you, the idea of demons being part of the Elemental Chaos makes the Temple of Elemental Evil have some interesting links… The major problem is the idea of Chaotic Evil being destruction doesn’t quite seem to fit with Zuggtmoy’s and Iuz’s plans. Mind you, with my interpretation of Chaotic Evil, I’ve always felt what they were doing was more Lawful Evil in any case. Organised Evil? Sounds like LE; though I guess the rivalry between the elemental priests made it more NE or CE in nature.

Still, I’ve messed around with Greyhawk cosmology before – most notably in my Fhoi Myore/Ulek campaign. The new edition of D&D may not be written with Greyhawk in mind, but I’m finding it inspiring enough to incorporate elements of it within my Greyhawk campaigns.

Now I need to see how the actual system plays, as opposed to how the flavour text reads…