D&D 5E Greyhawk Module

[Azzy]

In the next campaign I'm in, I'm playing a Grugach druid from the Welkwood.

 

[Zardnaar]

Why are rock gnomes and hill dwarves excluded? The hill dwarf was THE default dwarf in Greyhawk. Wood elves would be appropriate also.

The one official GH race that I wouldn't allow would be valley elves because they are like, sooooo annoying, right?

Rock gnomes are the tinker thing, may have made a mistake with Mountain Dwarf (FR pollution?).

 

[Azzy]

Both hill and mountain dwarves were playable in the 1e PHB, as are all three subraces (hairfoot, the most common, stout, and tallfellow) of halflings. the 1e UA added grey (duergar) dwarves, grey, wood, wild (Grugach), valley and dark (drow) elves, and deep gnomes as player choices.

5e's forest gnomes are closer to the standard (later, rock) gnomes of 1e.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Rock gnomes are the tinker thing, may have made a mistake with Mountain Dwarf (FR pollution?).

I forgot that WOTC turned rock gnomes into tinker gnomes.

 

[jaelis]

Personally I'd love to see more Greyhawk things, but I'd be disappointed if they came with a bunch of class/race restrictions. That's not part of how I see Greyhawk at all.

Edit: thinking about why I feel that way... it's because I got Dragon Magazine back in the day, which was (a) billed as official and (b) had all sorts of new races and classes you could play. Typically these would be set in Greyhawk. So my picture of Greyhawk is very inclusive.

 

[rabindranath72]

Seems fine to me. I did something similar for my 5e Known World game, so for example, only elves can be Eldritch Knights (to convert my sister's BECMI Elf character).

 

[AriochQ]

I run in Greyhawk and added the following...

Tiefling hail from the lands of Iuz, as the offspring of humans and his demonic allies.

Dragonborn were genetically engineered as warriors prior to the Twin Cataclysm and hail from Sea of Dust/Dry Steppes area. Following the Twin Cataclysms, they inhabited the area vacated by the Suel/Bakluni (sp?) since they were far more hardy and able to survive the desolate environment. I give their civilization a middle eastern flavor.

 

[epithet]

...
Drow are CE, there is no Drizzt types, Good Drow Goddesses who dance in moonlight, or other crap like that in GH. Again, hard to justify a PC Drow IMO.

Same goes for Monks - typically, the only Monks in Greyhawk were members of the Scarlet Brotherhood, who are LE with plans for world domination. Or at least in my games, that was the case; we had a PC monk once, and he was a turncoat who had escaped the Brotherhood.
...

One thing I've never been able to get behind is the idea that a chaotic race of elves would be entirely uniform, embrace monotheism, and abide by Lolth's rules. It appears to me that EGG was of a similar mindset, because whilst Lolth might have lead the dark elves to violently split from their cousins and ultimately slink away beneath the Oerth, they're by no means loyal to her. The most prominent Drow character in the Greyhawk fiction, Eclavdra, was in open rebellion against Lolth, serving Tharizdun and Graz'zt, before being later (post-Gygax) retconned back into a devoted servant of the spider demon. (Maybe I'm wrong about some of those details, if anyone wants to correct me please don't hesitate. It's... been a while.)

In my game, there are enclaves of dark elves, and at least one dark elf city, which openly reject Lolth and the Drow that follow her. (All Drow are dark elves, not all dark elves are Drow.) If it is possible for players to make characters that are valley elves (like, oh my gawd) or Grugach, then it shouldn't be out of the question to roll up a dark elf. It would probably be necessary to take proficiency in the disguise kit, though... dark elves would be "kill on sight" to surface elves, Drow, and most human and demihuman populations.

It seems to be somewhat accepted for Vhaeraun to exist in Greyspace, so having some version of Eilistraee isn't problematic at all, especially as I conceive of the two. I imagine these two (the twins) as different sides of the same coin, to the point that worship of either one "feeds" both. Neither can exist (or be destroyed) without the other. I wouldn't have her function as a goddess of good drow (because there are no good Drow,) but she could grant spells to dark elves either as a minor power (equal to her brother) or as a warlock patron.

With regard to monks, I think limiting them entirely to the Scarlet Brotherhood defeats what I see as the core narrative of the class: power from within. The wizard channels cosmic power, the cleric channels divine mojo, the sorcerer taps into some empowered heritage... but the monk looks within to find the power within all beings, and expresses it. While it might be most common for a monk to be trained in an abbey or monastery, I see no reason why a PC monk couldn't simply be a goatherd with a penchant for self reflection, with maybe a folk hero background.

With regard to tieflings, aasimar, and dragonborn, I agree that these aren't races or populations in Greyhawk, but rather individual halfbreeds resulting from intimate encounters (probably accomplished via shapechange) with fiends, celestials, or dragons. You don't have to eliminate these races to make the setting distinct, just make them freaks. The same is true of warforged, for that matter: there's a character in a Greyhawk based campaign I'm running right now who was an archmage's champion and fell in battle in such a way that "normal" resurrection wasn't an option (long story,) so a construct body was crafted and his soul/spirit invested therein. The traumatic experience and unfamiliar body effectively knock him back to level 1. Viola, warforged PC.

The virtue of the World of Greyhawk is not found in what it doesn't have - you can have any damn thing you want in a Greyhawk campaign. The virtue lies in the presentation and tone.

 

[76512390ag12]

Zardnaar. I like your approach. Could you perhaps revise your set of options and rules and post the final version as a new capping post? I've half a mind to follow you in doing this as a one off mini campaign or con game one day and I'll love to steal your hard work, respect.. Tom

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*