Greyhawk's Underdark

by Denis Tetreault
Version 1.0

The idea of a special "world beneath the world", a dark, mysterious place isolated from the surface world of the player characters and filled with natural wonders and ancient evils, was first introduced to D&D players and DMs as the D-Series of modules (D1 Descend into the Depths of the Earth, D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and D3 Vault of the Drow) first published in 1978, and later reprinted in 1986 as the GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders supermodule. This new subterranean world was based in the World of Greyhawk. Since then, much has been written about this "underdark" realm, both set in specific worlds (such as the Forgotten Realms) and as generic writings, as numerous adventure modules, magazine articles, and hardcover rulebooks for every edition of D&D since. The popularity of the setting even spawned a series of highly popular novels by R.A. Salvatore about Drizzt, a drow ranger from the Forgotten Realms.

This section of my website will strive to present material about Greyhawk's underdark, sometimes referred to as "DeepOerth". The material here could also be easily adapted by DMs to fit into any campaign world they choose to use.

The Ancient City of Khor

The ancient city of Khor is found within a very large cavern located at hexes O2-P2/23-25 on the "Underground Passages" map that can be found in the adventures D1 Descent in the Depths of the Earth, and D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa. A "Free City" inhabited by all manner of creatures, it can serve as a location to be explored by adventurers, or as great jumping off point for starting an underdark-based campaign without the complicated politics of starting PC's (particularly non-drow) in Erelhei-Cinlu.

A Regional Survey of Greyhawk's Underdark

This very special map, a layered PDF, covers the underdark regions beneath the Yeomanry, Hool Marsh, Tors, Hellfurnaces and surrounding areas in the southwest Flanaess. The map, and accompanying descriptions, ties together the D Series of TSR/WotC adventures (later published as the GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spider supermodule), the Night Below boxed set supermodule, and the 1st Edition Dungeoneers Survival Guide into a single massive DeepOerth campaign setting.

Dragonsfoot Collaborative Project: Mapping the Depths of the Earth

A Dragonsfoot community project discussed at the Collaborative Project: Mapping the Depths of the Earth forum. The latest compilation of the current state of the project (entitled "Encyclopedia Subterranica") can be downloaded here.

Visit my active site map to see the entire website at-a-glance, find out whats new, and instantly jump there with just a click.

Return to the Greyhawk Locations Page
Return to my main Greyhawk Page (in case you got here through a search engine)

This page last modified on January 7, 2010