D&D (2024) Greyhawk Confirmed. Tell Me Why.

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You mean like finally rolling a d20 to cast a spell?

Shadowdark and Dungeon Crawl Classics have entered the chat

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In the article we got this from, it talks about how the PHB having a setting appendix that covers all the major D&D official settings. And that makes sense, because the currency of an IP is recognizable characters and places, and WotC doesn't want to discard anything valuable. So the PHB is likely to be full of art and references for all the various settings, not just one implied default one.

JUSTICE FOR JAKANDOR!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The original Greyhawk folio is 32 pages long, but has stuff that is almost certainly not going to be in this write-up.

So the players have been complaining that the campaign is too dull, eh? Not enough detail? Why is this country at war with its neighbors? How can trade routes exist with all those wandering monsters? Most importantly, why do all of those unsacked, unlooted dungeons and ruins stand so close to the one big city all of the adventurers in the world hail from?

Rejoice, Dungeon Masters, and relax! All of these questions can be answered by following the example of the volume in your hands. The World of Greyhawk is here, and is suitable for use as the backdrop of a new campaign without changes; or, as an alternative, city, country or geographical descriptions can be used to fill in details for existing campaigns.

The World of Greyhawk is in the form of a gazetteer written by a historian native to the region, and as such includes the calendar systems used by the peoples of Oerth, a history of the major nations over the last thousand years, a discussion of climate in the different regions of the world, and even an appendix listing many runes and symbols (and their meanings) which are found in ancient and magical writings.

I think we can safely say the calendar, thousand years of history (other than the super-cool Rain of Colorless Fire and Invoked Devastation), climate information and magical runes and symbols won't be making the cut. And I don't remember if it was in the folio or just in the boxed set, but the charts of mass migration of various ethnic groups, although pretty cool as an idea, are definitely not making it in, either.

(Also, it's kind of wild that this product, of all the D&D stuff on DTRPG/DMs Guild, doesn't have a Shannon Applecline product history written for it.)

 

[Reynard]

What does a "example of making a setting" look like, do you think? My guess is there will be a campaign setting design chapter or setting, and the Greyhawk Gazeteer appendix will follow whatever format that is, with sidebars unobtrusively pointing back to the design chapter. This way the gazeteer remains useful beyond as an example of the process.

What do you think?

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm older than you. At first, when I heard of Potter, I ignored the books. Later, when the movies came out, one of my best friends was into them and so we went to see them together. She had also begun to read the books and I got them as well. I found the story nice enough and I read all of them in the end, but I've always found the writing to be average at best. Somewhat repetitive in the vocabulary and, often, overly verbose.

The writing was never really what carried the books, it was the world building. Which, while not particularly robust, was uniquely appealing to queer and neuro-divergent kids growing up in the late 90s.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't think you need to think too hard about the fine details of Oerth, 3e had Ember the Monk and Hennet the Sorcerer and they were supposedly Humans from Oerth, even though they don't resemble Baklunish, Oeridians, Flan, Sueloise, or Rhennee.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Iuz. Greyhawk has the dark overlord thing going on.

Dude... If the DMG is going to focus on villains for art, maybe we'll get to see a GOOD depiction of Iuz in the DMG? I've never seen any art of Iuz that was compelling.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Let's also keep something clear. They're not making Greyhawk the default setting for the PHB. They're using it as a sample setting in the DMG to illustrate world building for DMs. The two are not the same.

In the article we got this from, it talks about how the PHB having a setting appendix that covers all the major D&D official settings. And that makes sense, because the currency of an IP is recognizable characters and places, and WotC doesn't want to discard anything valuable. So the PHB is likely to be full of art and references for all the various settings, not just one implied default one.

But if the fans reeally love their new take on Greyhawk, that could lead to a high-quality hardcover. I would really love to see how they might depict the setting differently than other settings. With color art? Heck yah.

 

[Quickleaf]

Not to be overly cynical, but my assumption would be that the decision came down to something on the legal side.

I know there’s some thing about maintaining a copyright where you have to use it a certain number of years or it can lapse.

We also know there was some kind of legal issues around Grayhawk pertaining to the Gygax estate, but I’m not privy to the details.

We also know that Ed Greenwood has some kind of vetting or some kind of limited say about the forgotten realms, but somebody will have to remind me of the specifics.

 

[billd91]

I know there’s some thing about maintaining a copyright where you have to use it a certain number of years or it can lapse.

Copyright doesn’t work that way. You can’t lose it through lack of use like you can a trademark. You have it for a [editorial viewpoint: excessively long] length of time, then you lose it… for each particular work.