Greyhawk

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The cover of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer.

The Greyhawk campaign setting is the oldest setting in the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. It is currently the default campaign setting for the game, but a recent announcement at GenCon makes it clear that that is likely to change in the future. Wizards of the Coast does not produce new material for the setting at this time.

1 Locations
2 See also
3 References
4 Extenal links

Locations

The planet Oerth has four continents, but only the Flanaess, the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, is home to "enlightened humanity."

The Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Half-elves and Halflings of Dungeons & Dragons also co-exist with the more common humans.

Evil comes in many forms in Greyhawk. There are the mundane sorts of evil: corrupt tyrants, murderous sociopaths, etc. However, Greyhawk also has a host of mystic evils ranging from the cult of a long-banished god of destruction (Tharizdun) to a demi-god of hate and evil who rules one of the kingdoms of the Flanaess (Iuz).

At the center of the Flanaess is the Free City of Greyhawk, originally under the domination of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. The Circle of Eight, a select group of wizards, monitor events across the Flanaess, intervening when the balance of power is threatened by extremes of good or evil. Several evil factions still prevail across the sub-continent, including the undead remnants of Aerdy, the wicked demi-god Iuz (who rules his expanding territory, the Empire of Iuz), and the mysterious Scarlet Brotherhood (whose racial purity doctrines and fanatical monasticism invite comparisons with both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan). Among the factions opposing these forces are the major kingdoms of Nyrond, Furyondy and Keoland as well as numerous smaller states, organisations and individuals.

Note: some of the above was taken from Wikipedia, and is thus covered only by the GFDL, and not dual licensed as with the rest of this site.

References

Erik Mona, Frederick Weining, Gary Holian, and Sean K Reynolds, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. (ISBN 0786917431) Wizards of the Coast, 2000
Greyhawk four-part poster map in Dungeon issues #118-121