D&D 5E Which Greyhawk?

[MerricB]

One of those questions that I wonder about is this: If Greyhawk were to come back as a setting (even if only enabled for DMs Guild creators), which version of the setting would you want to see?

And, to some extent, my answer to that question is "none of them! I want to see mine!"

There have been so many takes on Greyhawk, with various bits of lore misinterpreted and reinterpreted in each version... I've been running campaigns set in Greyhawk for the past twenty years, and the version that I play in is definitely mine, with elements drawn from the early 1980/1983 sets, some fragments of From the Ashes, and random shards of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer thrown in, on top of which I also borrow from the Castle Zagyg products of Troll Lord Games when appropriate...

The early UK adventures may have been "placed" in Greyhawk, but do they represent the setting? Only when I think they do. Or you think they do, as applied to your personal vision of the world.

There's a useful trick that Battletech does in dividing their world into eras, so they can expand any era they like as appropriate. Of course, the Battletech eras don't contradict each other as much as the Greyhawk eras do...

It's a strange situation. If I were to write a DMs Guild adventure set in Furyondy, would you recognise my depiction of the land? Would it diverge too much from what you understand it to be? I often felt that during the Living Greyhawk days - the countries weren't depicted as I saw them; it made things hard.

I'd love to play in Greyhawk as a writer on the DMs Guild. But it's the fragments of a shattered mirror I think we'd see: reflecting the world in crazy patterns.

Cheers!

 

[Demetrios1453]

I really, really liked the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer; in my opinion, it's really what a relatively quick but still thorough overview of a campaign setting should be. If they were to simply republish it with some minor changes, update it for 5e, and replace the (admittedly pretty horrid) art, I would buy it in a heartbeat even though I still own the original. If they were to use that format for other settings, I would also buy them in a heartbeat, even for settings I'm not terribly interested in. So obviously, I'd like to see a putative Greyhawk campaign be based on the LGG version...

 

[Aldarc]

I would be less interested in an expansive overview of the setting, nor do I particularly care about Iuz. I would prefer more of an eyes-to-the-ground look at the area around Greyhawk City or classic areas such as Hommlet. Something that gives a more sandbox and old school sense for the setting. Get back to basics. Focus on the small and show how Greyhawk is a setting about the "local," exploration, ruins of mystery, building up (kingdoms, treasures, reputation, etc.), and such.

 

[Henry]

"Shattered Mirror" is a great analogy, perhaps "Plato's shadows on a wall" is even more accurate, with all of us looking at shadows cast from a basement in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in the 1970s by Gary and his friends, and that's the only "true" Greyhawk.

With Gary passed, and those people all on their own life's journeys, how would you ever get back to that? Any version is going to be 80% wrong to everyone who cares.

 

[JeffB]

Gary's written GH, and his home GH were two different things. He clarified that, before his passing on various forums. I would love to see Gary's actual GH setting (not just the castle)

If they WERE to do it I would prefer they go back to the original minimalist folio and modules to keep things simple and it wouldn't step on too many toes.

That or the FTA era. Because the "Original Sundering" that occurred when WOTC got involved neatly tied up a slew of great plot points and/ornixed material that Carl wrote after Zeb blew it up.

That said, TAB and the PG, are my two fave GH works from WOTC, not because the story is any different than the later LGG, but rather because they are an excellent couple of gaming books to jump right into a GH game for DM and players.

rambling...

 

[Raith5]

Good question. I really like Greyhawk because it mixed Sword and Sorcery with some aspects of Tolkien, but have only really played in "old"/ original Greyhawk in a few 1e campaigns. However, I think the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer/ 3rd ed material is much more consistent and stronger basis for a setting. There seem to be better developed threats (especially IUZ in the north) and the various countries seem more differentiated - the outlines in the original book were very samey.

I agree that any choice is going to upset some people but I think the reason that people like Greyhawk (aside from not being the FR!) is more to do with Gazetter that the old setting.

 

[Aldarc]

Gary's written GH, and his home GH were two different things. He clarified that, before his passing on various forums. I would love to see Gary's actual GH setting (not just the castle)

If they WERE to do it I would prefer they go back to the original minimalist folio and modules to keep things simple and it wouldn't step on too many toes.

That or the FTA era. Because the "Original Sundering" that occurred when WOTC got involved neatly tied up a slew of great plot points and/ornixed material that Carl wrote after Zeb blew it up.

That said, TAB and the PG, are my two fave GH works from WOTC, not because the story is any different than the later LGG, but rather because they are an excellent couple of gaming books to jump right into a GH game for DM and players.

rambling...

That's a lot of acronyms, and I admit that I'm not sure what they mean apart from "GH." Would you (or someone else) mind unwrapping them for me?

 

[JeffB]

That's a lot of acronyms, and I admit that I'm not sure what they mean apart from "GH." Would you (or someone else) mind unwrapping them for me?

Sorry, assuming familiarity.

FTA= From the Ashes boxed set circa 1992 by Carl Sargent and supplements that followed
TAB= The Adventure Begins- GH "reboot" of late 1990s by Roger Moore
PG= Players Guide to GH..companion to TAB..
LGG- Living Greyhawk Gazeteer- 3rd edition boring textbook detailing alot of history of the setting without providing much use at the table like TAB/PG did.

 

[MerricB]

That's a lot of acronyms, and I admit that I'm not sure what they mean apart from "GH." Would you (or someone else) mind unwrapping them for me?

FTA = From the Ashes
WOTC = Wizards of the Coast
TAB = The Adventure Begins
PG = Greyhawk Player's Guide
LGG = Living Greyhawk Gazeteer
DM = Dungeon Master

 

[Aldarc]

Sorry, assuming familiarity.

Passing but not intimate familiarity.