D&D 4E What If?: Greyhawk 4e in 2012

[Knightfall]

With all the devil/demon-worshipping, you could easily plunk the tieflings right into the Great Kingdom or Horned ( ) Society as the upper ruling caste.

Dragonborn could easily be from Hepmonaland or Amedio, giving them a tropical, barbaric feel that keeps them distinct from other dragonborn, and puts them squarely at odds with the yuan-ti living in the jungle.

I agree completely. Greyhawk is an excellent fit for the new core races (including the eladrin) and maybe the goliath as well.

I'm not as sold on some of the other new races (i.e. the deva and the shardmind) in Greyhawk, however. Still, Oerth is a huge world so I guess anything is possible.

 

[Ryujin]

This!

Morbid humor and lots of bad puns. It sounds rediculous by itself, but part of the old-school D&D flavor was the juxtaposition of this kind of mirth with the ever-present sense of impending doom. The traditional D&D races and classes give Greyhawk a Tolkein-like verneer, but at it's heart was mutch more like a Fritz Leiber story.

"I'm Bored Flack, the Magic User, and I rarely miss at this range."

"Thirty pound boulder. Drat."

Ah, the good old days

 

[Klaus]

I agree completely. Greyhawk is an excellent fit for the new core races (including the eladrin) and maybe the goliath as well.

I'm not as sold on some of the other new races (i.e. the deva and the shardmind) in Greyhawk, however. Still, Oerth is a huge world so I guess anything is possible.

Deva could be reincarnated Suloise, a side effect of the Rain of Colorless Fire (or was it the Invoked Devastation?). Warforged come from the Barrier Peaks, of course.

Shardmind could arise from the Kron Hills, the universe's response to the rise of the Elder Elemental Eye nearby. Gnomes could consider them the handiwork of Garl Glittergold.

 

[Ryujin]

It's been a long time but IIRC the Rain of Colourless Fire produced the Sea of Dust, while the Invoked Devastation created the Dry Steppes; strike and counter-strike in a magical nuke war.

Deva are the easiest hand-wave, as aspiring immortals sent by the will of the gods. I'm iffy about Shardminds. Perhaps tormented souls "trapped in amber", as a result of The Rain? If so then they could be fighting to avoid another such devasation; aberrant-caused or otherwise. Gnomes have been around since the 1e days, so no hand-wave required.

 

[Klaus]

It's been a long time but IIRC the Rain of Colourless Fire produced the Sea of Dust, while the Invoked Devastation created the Dry Steppes; strike and counter-strike in a magical nuke war.

Deva are the easiest hand-wave, as aspiring immortals sent by the will of the gods. I'm iffy about Shardminds. Perhaps tormented souls "trapped in amber", as a result of The Rain? If so then they could be fighting to avoid another such devasation; aberrant-caused or otherwise. Gnomes have been around since the 1e days, so no hand-wave required.

No, I meant that gnomes consider shardminds to be the handiwork of Garl Glittergold. This posits both races as allies.

If you place the dragonborn in Amedio and Hepmonaland (opposing the yuan-ti), you might as well put the wilden there.

 

[Ryujin]

No, I meant that gnomes consider shardminds to be the handiwork of Garl Glittergold. This posits both races as allies.

If you place the dragonborn in Amedio and Hepmonaland (opposing the yuan-ti), you might as well put the wilden there.

Got it.

I would put the Dragonborn in Amedio, but Wilden in The Dim Forest and The Dreadwood; places where you might also find Wood Elves.

 

[Klaus]

And Celene is the eladrin realm. I might be tempred to make Valley Elves into a cultutal offshoot of the eladrin who swore allegiance to the Mage of the Valley.

 

[Ryujin]

And Celene is the eladrin realm. I might be tempred to make Valley Elves into a cultutal offshoot of the eladrin who swore allegiance to the Mage of the Valley.

I figured on replacing Gray Elves with Eladrin, wherever appropriate, as in Celene and Valley of the Mage. High Elves, Wood Elves, Wild Elves would all be Elves.

 

[Kralin Thornberry]

At Gencon 2008 when they were talking about this they said that everything that had happened in LG over 8 years would not be included in any remake of Greyhawk. Needless to say the LG people left that meeting a little disheartened.

Yeah, and they also said that they would have all of those cool electronic tools. They have said a lot of things that haven't come to pass (most of them recently though).

That being "vented", I'd prefer they not do Greyhawk. Not a big fan, but I'm not sure they would do it justice at this point.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Razorclaw shifters could be Tiger Nomads, and Longtooth shifters could be Wolf Nomads. I know that would be a bit of a retcon, but thematically, it fits.