Greyhawk
#11473.59 adjusted 3.63 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 20 books Status Unfinished 1978–2006 Reading commitment High Gary Gygax, Rose Estes, Ru Emerson, Paul Kidd, Thomas M. Reid, Keith Francis Strohm Last reviewed 2026-11-02
Overview
Greyhawk is the campaign world of Oerth, created by Gary Gygax for Dungeons & Dragons and published as a setting in 1980. Gygax's Gord the Rogue novels, begun in 1985, follow an orphan thief from the slums of the city of Greyhawk across the continent and beyond. Rose Estes wrote five Greyhawk Adventures novels from 1987 to 1989, centred on the Wolf Nomad shaman Mika. Robin Wayne Bailey's Night Watch followed in 1990. From 1999 to 2002 TSR and Wizards of the Coast published seven Greyhawk Classics novels by Ru Emerson, Paul Kidd, Thomas M. Reid and Keith Francis Strohm, each retelling a classic adventure module. Andre Norton's Quag Keep (1978), about gamers drawn into the world, predates the setting's publication; its sequel Return to Quag Keep, with Jean Rabe, appeared in 2006.
Sword & sorcery, Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (20 works) counts toward ranking
Gord the Rogue Gary Gygax
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Saga of Old City; Also numbered as the first volume of the Greyhawk Adventures line. | 1985 | 1 | core | 3.71 (1,238 ratings) |
 | Artifact of Evil; Also numbered as the second volume of the Greyhawk Adventures line. | 1986 | 2 | core | 3.64 (669 ratings) |
 | Sea of Death | 1987 | 3 | core | 3.66 (558 ratings) |
 | Come Endless Darkness; The publisher's page lists a first print run in November 1987; most sources date the book 1988. | 1988 | 4 | core | 3.65 (357 ratings) |
 | Dance of Demons | 1988 | 5 | core | 3.67 (344 ratings) |
Gary Gygax's novels about the orphan thief Gord, from the slums of the city of Greyhawk to the Abyss.
Greyhawk Adventures Rose Estes
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Master Wolf; First book of the Mika trilogy. | 1987 | 1 | core | 3.28 (334 ratings) |
| The Price of Power; Second book of the Mika trilogy. | 1987 | 2 | core | 3.28 (253 ratings) | |
| The Demon Hand; Third book of the Mika trilogy. | 1988 | 3 | core | 3.34 (252 ratings) | |
 | The Name of the Game | 1988 | 4 | core | 3.24 (151 ratings) |
 | The Eyes Have It; The publisher's page gives a first print run of August 1989. | 1989 | 5 | core | 3.21 (89 ratings) |
Rose Estes's novels about the Wolf Nomad shaman Mika and the troubles of Perrenland and the Yeomanry.
Greyhawk Classics Ru Emerson, Paul Kidd, Thomas M. Reid, Keith Francis Strohm
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Against the Giants | 1999 | 1 | core | 3.39 (256 ratings) |
 | White Plume Mountain | 1999 | 2 | core | 4.02 (806 ratings) |
 | Descent into the Depths of the Earth | 2000 | 3 | core | 4.11 (488 ratings) |
 | The Temple of Elemental Evil | 2001 | 4 | core | 3.31 (464 ratings) |
 | Queen of the Demonweb Pits | 2001 | 5 | core | 3.98 (493 ratings) |
 | Keep on the Borderlands; First published in 2001, as a Greyhawk Classics companion to the adventure module. | 2001 | 6 | core | 3.19 (223 ratings) |
 | The Tomb of Horrors | 2002 | 7 | core | 3.54 (417 ratings) |
Seven novels from 1999 to 2002, each retelling a classic Greyhawk adventure module.
Quag Keep Andre Norton, Jean Rabe
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Quag Keep; First published in hardcover by Atheneum in 1978; the first novel set in the World of Greyhawk. | 1978 | 1 | core | 3.26 (1,185 ratings) |
 | Return to Quag Keep; Written by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe, who completed Norton's unfinished sequel; published by Tor. | 2006 | 2 | core | 3.31 (248 ratings) |
Gamers from Earth are pulled into the world of Greyhawk, then try to find a way home.
Night Watch (1990) core · 3.80 (82 ratings); Published by TSR Books in 1990; also titled Night Watch: Murder by Magic.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Greyhawk? Greyhawk's Core Canon is 20 books.
- What is the reading order for Greyhawk? Publication order, starting with Saga of Old City. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Greyhawk finished? Unfinished (1978–2006).
- How much reading does Greyhawk take? High reading commitment (estimated from 20 Core Canon books).
- How is Greyhawk ranked? #1147 in this site's official ranking, based on 8,907 reader ratings across 20 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #1147?
Ranked #1147 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.59 across 20 core books.
- A smaller readership (8,907 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.19 to 4.11.
- Less than 0.01 behind #1146, The Sundering (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 20 books · Unfinished · 9k ratings · Ranks #1147 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running sword-and-sorcery universe.
Reading order
Publication order (20 Core Canon books)
- Quag Keep (1978)
- Saga of Old City (1985)
- Artifact of Evil (1986)
- Master Wolf (1987)
- Sea of Death (1987)
- The Price of Power (1987)
- Come Endless Darkness (1988)
- Dance of Demons (1988)
- The Demon Hand (1988)
- The Name of the Game (1988)
- The Eyes Have It (1989)
- Night Watch (1990)
- Against the Giants (1999)
- White Plume Mountain (1999)
- Descent into the Depths of the Earth (2000)
- Keep on the Borderlands (2001)
- Queen of the Demonweb Pits (2001)
- The Temple of Elemental Evil (2001)
- The Tomb of Horrors (2002)
- Return to Quag Keep (2006)
Documented internal/story order: 19 of 20 Core Canon books
- Saga of Old City (1985)
- Master Wolf (1987)
- Against the Giants (1999)
- Quag Keep (1978)
- Artifact of Evil (1986)
- The Price of Power (1987)
- White Plume Mountain (1999)
- Return to Quag Keep (2006)
- Sea of Death (1987)
- The Demon Hand (1988)
- Descent into the Depths of the Earth (2000)
- Come Endless Darkness (1988)
- The Name of the Game (1988)
- The Temple of Elemental Evil (2001)
- Dance of Demons (1988)
- The Eyes Have It (1989)
- Queen of the Demonweb Pits (2001)
- Keep on the Borderlands (2001)
- The Tomb of Horrors (2002)
Internal chronology is documented for 19 of 20 Core Canon books; the remaining 1 are not yet mapped onto the same ordinal scale.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Greyhawk and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Cosmere Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.46
- Das Geheimnis von Askir Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.35
- Riyria / Legends of the First Empire Sword & sorcery / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.33
- Realm of the Elderlings Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.29
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.59 across 8,907 ratings on 20 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: 28 universes; 3 candidates ruled out accepted 2026-11-02
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Greyhawk Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Gord the Rogue Tier 2
- Greyhawk Online wiki: novels Tier 2
- Tome of Treasures: Greyhawk novels Tier 2
- Greyhawk novels reader's guide Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
Rule: Core Canon = the Gord the Rogue novels (Saga of Old City, 1985, to Dance of Demons, 1988), the five Greyhawk Adventures novels by Rose Estes (Master Wolf, 1987, to The Eyes Have It, 1989) and the seven Greyhawk Classics novels (Against the Giants, 1999, to The Tomb of Horrors, 2002), Andre Norton's Quag Keep (1978) and Return to Quag Keep (2006), and Robin Wayne Bailey's Night Watch (1990). Excludes the short-story collection Night Arrant and the Endless Quest gamebooks.