Guild Days

The various artisan guilds of Greyhawk have as their Guild Days the first and second days after Midsummer Day. Public displays of craftsmanship are placed in the High Market near the Grand Citadel, and the quality of crafting of jewelry, furnishings, sculptures, and other products of artisans is exceptional. Items may be reserved for later sale to admiring bidders here, and indeed many merchants, nobles, and rich folk from neighboring lands come to these Guild Days to purchase items and materials of truly excep tional workmanship.

The master of each guild, along with a committee of 1-4 senior guildmembers drawn by lot (who may not enter their work for judging, but may enter it for show and sale), judges the work of the other guildmembers and awards the creator of the finest single piece of work the greatly coveted Medal of Zagig. This is hugely important. for an artisan who can show this gold medal with blue and red ribbons in his shop window or workshop can be assured of higher sales and prices for years to come.

It goes without saying that bribery, sabotage, blackmail, and theft are not uncommon as artisans strive to attain this coveted prize. There are clearly many opportunities for the DM to embroil PCs in lighthearted adventures as they are commissioned to retrieve (or steal!) a stolen marble sculpture of an unclothed male elf, or recover the biggest smoked ham in Greyhawk before it is eaten by commercial rivals of the desperately anxious member of the Guild of Butchers. who offers the PCs excellent money to get it back.

Some truly startling competitions have been introduced as variants on this theme. Most notable is the Zagig Medal for the Guild of Barbers and Dentists. This is a two-stage competition. In the first part, the competing guildmen have a number of sufferers from bad teeth lined up in chairs (there are plenty of volunteers from the Old City, who are paid an incredibly precious 10 sp for this), and each contestant has to extract as many teeth as possible in 30 minutes. (Extraction of good teeth results in severe marking down by the judges.) The second part of the competJtion allows the guildmen an hour to admmister good haircuts to the same people. Marks are awarded by judges for the number of teeth extracted and the number of people given haircuts, and also for expertise and artistic interpretation (this latter mostly for hair cut ting). The amazing speed of these experts staggers most people who have never seen this event take place before.

Also, farmers from outlying areas have latched on to this idea and, on the same days, have competitions for the finest livestock and vegetables. In the weeks immediately preceding the competition, there may be jobs available providing round-the-clock protection of prize items on the farms. Unfortunately, scandal hit this competition in 581 CY when Farmer Giles, owner of the largest squash ever seen in Greyhawk, was disqualified when it was found he had paid a spellcaster to cast enlarge on his vegetable, and the atmosphere of these competitions has been soured by this, and by extensive sabotage. Here is an excellent opportunity to have PCs of low level hired to protect a giant leek or some such potential prizewinner.