Fun post,
@Snarf Zagyg . I read the first couple pages, and not the rest, so not sure where the conversation went. To address the question of how WotC should approach Greyhawk, it is a bit tricky because I think they'd need to meet two criteria:
1. First, and most importantly, make it faithful to "classic" (Gygaxian) Greyhawk.
2. Be attractive to the current demographic, at least enough to boost sales beyond the grognards that represent only about a tenth of the D&D population.
Now I think they can accomplish both quite easily. While Greyhawk may be anachronistic to current sensibilities, it could be presented in such a way that would be attractive to younger players, in the same way that people are often drawn to cultural material from older generations. For instance, I was born in the 70s and grew up on 80s music, but as I began to develop my own tastes beyond what I presented with on MTV and radio, I found myself drawn to the jazz, funk and soul much of the 70s--music either made before I was born, or when I was too young to be aware of it (or like it). Or my father, born in the 40s and growing up with 50s and 60s music, grew to love the jazz of the 30s and 40s; music of his father's generation.
Meaning, nostalgia isn't only for what we grew up with, but the "prior age" to which we became cognizant, sort of a "second hand nostalgia," like remembering something we can't actually remember, but is the soil that we grew out of. Stranger Things was created by two brothers born in 1984, and thus had no living memory of the time period that their show is set in, but for whatever reason were fascinated with that era. I do not think this phenomena is unusual, that we're often drawn to cultural forms from around the time we were born (thus my interest in 70s music).
Greyhawk is very much a product of the halcyon days of D&D, the "Golden Age" of 1974-83. I see 1983/84 as the transition to the "Silver Age" (1984-96) of late 1E, 2E, and the many settings, before the Bronze Age (1997-2007) of early WotC, 3E, and the OGL. This would be followed by the Iron or Dark Age (2008-13) of 4E and the struggles before Next/5E arose, with a New Golden Age (2014-present).
Now on one hand, following my logic from a couple paragraphs up, it would seem that the age group that would be most drawn to a Greyhawk product, are those born in the early 80s or earlier: older Millenials and Gen Xers, which according to WotC make up about 25% of the player base (age 35+)--more than Gen Xers alone, but maybe not quite enough to justify a major product.
But I think there's a second factor to consider, which relates to my calling 5E the "New Golden Age"--that interest in older cultural forms isn't only a result of nostalgia and "second hand nostalgia," but also a kind of mirroring or higher octave. 5E itself is, in many ways, a return to D&D's roots in that it hearkens closer to the D&D of the halcyon era than it does to the last two editions of WotC's making.
In other words, because 5E is, in a sense, a higher "octave" of that earlier golden age, it could be ripe for a new treatment of Greyhawk.
What would that look like? Beats me. Above all else, it must remain true to its roots--the classic Greyhawk of the halcyon era. But it probably also needs something new, if only in presentation (and production value). I think it should be marketed as "the classic setting of D&D's early years," or something like that--that this would be a selling point for old and young. I would suggest that the core of it remain true to early D&D, but that options be presented for adding in newer D&Disms (e.g. dragonborn and tieflings), perhaps as a supplement.
If I were in charge of design, I would create a mega-box set that includes something like the following:
*A 128-page World of Greyhawk Gazetteer
*A 96-page City of Greyhawk book
*A 96-page Castle Greyhawk adventure book
*A 96-page Adventures in Greyhawk book, with guidance on running a Greyhawk campaign, as well as adding in new D&Disms
*A reprint of the Darlene map in cloth
*A new map of Greyhawk (preferably by
Anna B Meyer)
*A map of the City of Greyhawk
*A map of Castle Greyhawk
*A few bells and whistles (e.g. cardstock iconic NPCs)
Yes, I know: that's over 400 pages, and a bunch of other stuff. We're talking about a very expensive and big product, probably with a list price of $100 (ala Strahd Revamped), or maybe more. But I think that's the sort of product that would be needed to adequately treat the world of Greyhawk.
