D&D (2024) How Does Greyhawk Fit In To The New Edition?

According to Game Informer — “the surprising importance and inclusions of what is arguably the oldest D&D campaign setting of them all – Greyhawk.”

So how does Greyhawk fit in? According to GI, the new 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide contains a sample setting—and that setting is, indeed, Greyhawk. Not only that, but the book will come with a double-sided poster map with the City of Greyhawk on one side and the Flannaes on the other—the eastern part of one of Oerth’s four continents.

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Even as the multiverse of D&D worlds sees increased attention, the Dungeon Master's Guide also offers a more discrete setting to get gaming groups started. After very few official releases in the last couple of decades, the world of Greyhawk takes center stage. The book fleshes out Greyhawk to illustrate how to create campaign settings of your own. Greyhawk was the original D&D game world crafted by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax, and a worthy setting to revisit on the occassion of D&D's golden anniversary. It's a world bristling with classic sword and sorcery concepts, from an intrigue-laden central city to wide tracts of uncharted wilderness. Compared to many D&D campaign settings, it's smaller and less fleshed out, and that's sort of the point; it begs for DMs to make it their own. The book offers ample info to bring Greyhawk to life but leaves much undetailed. For those eager to take the plunge, an included poster map of the Greyhawk setting sets the tone, and its reverse reveals a map of the city of the same name. "A big draw to Greyhawk is it's the origin place for such heroes as Mordenkainen, Tasha, and others," Perkins says. "There's this idea that the players in your campaign can be the next great world-hopping, spell-crafting heroes of D&D. It is the campaign where heroes are born."

- Game Informer​

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[DarkCrisis]

If not in the guide, the Castle will probably show up in an Adventure soon?

Ah yes, the WotC standard of bare minimum lore and a dungeon that covers 1-10 (milestone gain 1 level every time they find the main staircase down).

 

[Parmandur]

So what year exactly do we think they'll set it? Im guessing the consensus around here will be at the time of the original Folio, but could they have it at the time of From the Ashes, or even the Living Greyhawk Gazateer? Do they dare advance the timeline beyond that?

I think we can make a good guess by looking at Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which hard reset the timeline to the 1980 setup (with some changes, like Dragonborn and Tieflins existing).

 

[Micah Sweet]

i have a bad feeling they're gonna screw this up somehow. hope they don't, but we'll see what happens.

The only thing that really matters is getting it on the Guild, where the public can give it the detailed treatment it deserves.

What WotC actually prints is of little importance beyond opening the door.

 

[Yaarel]

But, then they wouldn't have space to detail the trees of the Flanaess!

Even the trees! This is all part of the details that make a setting come to life.

I remember reading a study about people being unable to remember if something actually happened or was a dream.

It turned out, the random "irrelevant" details are what make something seem real.

Dreams are normally entirely symbolic, a living poem, an epic saga about ones own life. Everything is meaningful even when in a cryptic haunting way.

It is the random nonsense that feels like daily life.

 

[Yaarel]

Ah yes, the WotC standard of bare minimum lore and a dungeon that covers 1-10 (milestone gain 1 level every time they find the main staircase down).

Reading about someone elses setting is sorta like hearing someone describe their dream. The dreamer needs to make an effort to somehow make the dream relevant to other people besides oneself.

 

[Azzy]

Yep, I called it.

I look forward to seeing if the reboot to the Folio/Boxed Set or if they continue on from the LGG.

 

[MNblockhead]

Yeah, I don't see that happening.

Aw man! Well, can I at least 8 pages of climate data and weather-generation tables?

 

[Parmandur]

Aw man! Well, can I at least 8 pages of climate data and weather-generation tables?

Roll for it.

 

[Yaarel]

So what year exactly do we think they'll set it? Im guessing the consensus around here will be at the time of the original Folio, but could they have it at the time of From the Ashes, or even the Living Greyhawk Gazateer? Do they dare advance the timeline beyond that?

I think the designers are done with "advancing the timeline".

I assume they will present the original timeline that Gygax himself was playing in. But I also expect subtle retcons and omissions.

Because the Oerth setting is intentionally a kitchen sink for every TSR-era product, it probably will include all official 5e content as well ... somewhere in the world of Oerth.

Options like Tieflings and Dragonborn contradict nothing. But whether they are welcome in a particular locality or not is an other question. Even Elves and Dwarves are unable to get along amicably in some localities.


Also, I am unsure about the multiverse meta-verse. Some things are part of the multiversal setting, such as First World, the various things that exist in the Astral Plane, the Feywild, the Shadowfell. A 5e Oerth is part of all of this.

Surprisingly, the "wee folk" of different kinds of sprites are actually a prominent feature of the Oerth setting. Whether these will be Feywild creatures or immigrants from the Feywild remains unclear to me.

 

[MNblockhead]

So what year exactly do we think they'll set it? Im guessing the consensus around here will be at the time of the original Folio, but could they have it at the time of From the Ashes, or even the Living Greyhawk Gazateer? Do they dare advance the timeline beyond that?

Have no idea. Hoping for 576 of the Common Year.