D&D General Greyhawk setting material

[lowkey13]

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[LuisCarlos17f]

I miss it a lot, but I don't want a "jump the shark" like Dragonlance 5th Age.

I am afraid that setting is not ready to be added new things, races and classes for example, from last edition.

 

[David Howery]

I use the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set and ignore everything after that.

back when I was active in gaming, I did the same thing...

 

[David Howery]

For my purposes, the 1983 Boxed Set was absolutely perfect, because, well, the Darlene Map (still gorgeous!) and because the information was absolutely perfect in terms on providing information and hooks ... it gave all sorts of ideas for adventurers and plots and ideas, without forcing any on me.

as someone said earlier, it depends on what you want (and how much free time you have). Your reasons for liking WoG are pretty much the same as mine... bare bones outline of most stuff, lots of 'make up your own stuff'... basically, a sandbox setting. Compared to the FR, which is a lot less bare bones and fills in a lot of details. If that's what you like, then FR is for you; not everyone has a lot of free time to plan out stuff...

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The funny thing for me is that, while I actually approve of them setting Ghosts of Saltmarsh in original era Greyhawk (I only got the 1983 boxed set a couple years ago, but it is fantastic—how a campaign setting should be done), my ongoing campaign was already set in the 3e era, so I have to find a way to adjust the Scarlet Brotherhood material to fit a post Greyhawk Wars setting. A sentence or two would help with that, since I’m kind of at a loss.

But that gives me an idea. What they should do (and should have for Forgotten Realms, but they botched it in 4e and then put out so many novels and such supporting the unpopular timeline adjustments that they didn’t feel like they could just reboot in 5e...very very unfortunate because it means I have to “fix” every single 5e Forgotten Realms book I buy, or just skip it) is to set all campaign settings in their original classic eras, and then provide a few paragraphs in an appendix explaining how to update the setting to various later eras, with links to DMsGuild products that provide the best additional overviews of those eras. That would be totally doable. It is substantially easier in my opinion to advance a timeline for personal use than to regress it. Waterdeep Dragon Heist is useless to me, for example, as is the world overview material in SCAG. Even Out of the Abyss is requiring a lot of creativity to fit Blingdenstone as presented into an earlier era (and that’s as far as I’ve read, I don’t know how much other stuff I’ll have to fix).

 

[MockingBird]

Just picked up the Greyhawk box set pdf. I've only skimmed over it so far. I am/was a FR fan. It was my first setting. I'm fairly familiar with it and I can ignore the things I dont care for (4e stuff). I still enjoy it but my version is a bit gritty (as gritty as i can make the stock setting). Saltmarsh caught my interest in Greyhawk and I may be wrong but it gives me a gritty vibe that FR didnt. Am I correct with this initial feel or am I projecting that on to it? I plan to read some when I get ready for bed. Those of you who are more familiar please feel free to give me your synopsis and your take on this classic setting.

 

[Parmandur]

Just picked up the Greyhawk box set pdf. I've only skimmed over it so far. I am/was a FR fan. It was my first setting. I'm fairly familiar with it and I can ignore the things I dont care for (4e stuff). I still enjoy it but my version is a bit gritty (as gritty as i can make the stock setting). Saltmarsh caught my interest in Greyhawk and I may be wrong but it gives me a gritty vibe that FR didnt. Am I correct with this initial feel or am I projecting that on to it? I plan to read some when I get ready for bed. Those of you who are more familiar please feel free to give me your synopsis and your take on this classic setting.

Yeah, I'd say that's fair. The Forgotten Realms started out as a location for a young Ed Greenwood's fan fiction, whereas Greyhawk was a grizzled veteran wargamers sandbox from Day One.

The starting year in Greyhawk by default is in the 500's, whereas in the FR it was in the 1300's for a long time. For me, as a Medievalist, the difference between 6th century Europe and 14th century Europe reflects on how I'd view the two settings by default: Greyhawk is more Arthur & Charlemagne, Attila & Muhammad, Vikings & Byzantines. Forgotten Realms is more Da Vinci & Machiavelli, Henry V & Joan of Arc, Ottomans & Sweden, and so on.

 

[lowkey13]

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[Zardnaar]

Just picked up the Greyhawk box set pdf. I've only skimmed over it so far. I am/was a FR fan. It was my first setting. I'm fairly familiar with it and I can ignore the things I dont care for (4e stuff). I still enjoy it but my version is a bit gritty (as gritty as i can make the stock setting). Saltmarsh caught my interest in Greyhawk and I may be wrong but it gives me a gritty vibe that FR didnt. Am I correct with this initial feel or am I projecting that on to it? I plan to read some when I get ready for bed. Those of you who are more familiar please feel free to give me your synopsis and your take on this classic setting.

Yeah that's fair. GH is a lot less cartoon like than FR and it's more gritty in tone with evil cults etc.

Tech wise it's more 14th century than FR which is more 16th.

They're similar in a lot if ways but if I was DMing them I would try and make the tone very different.
The Zhentarim are a bit cartoon like compared with say the Scarlet Brotherhood who are basically Nazis.

FRs also a bit more cosmopolitan. Things like Dragonborn, Droe and Tieflings should not really be running around.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah Greyhawk is indeed more of a Swords and Sorcery setting. While FR is Heroic Fantasy.

The 2e book from the Ashes decided to go father into it and made the setting bleaker even.

Yeah that's fair. GH is a lot less cartoon like than FR and it's more gritty in tone with evil cults etc.

Tech wise it's more 14th century than FR which is more 16th.

They're similar in a lot if ways but if I was DMing them I would try and make the tone very different.
The Zhentarim are a bit cartoon like compared with say the Scarlet Brotherhood who are basically Nazis.

FRs also a bit more cosmopolitan. Things like Dragonborn, Droe and Tieflings should not really be running around.

I think you are losing cartoon wrong.

Zhentarim are a criminal/mercenary group, so yes they would be quite different to the Racial Supremacist Scarlet Brotherhood.

I would say Greyhawk is more cosmopolitan, it has more actual Kingdoms and Nations then FR. And why should Dragonborn, Drow and Tieflings not be running around?