D&D 5E Greyhawk: Pitching the Reboot

[Rob Kuntz]

This also goes for playable PC races as well...




Except it already has been. By being appropriated by other settings...




Hasbro/WOTC are not releasing a Greyhawk setting.

They will not release a setting where any part of the three core books has to be trimmed back.

Any setting they release will contain everything in the three core books. That has been the D&D setting m-o since 3e.

They will not release any setting that will be a direct competitor to FR.

Greyhawk would be a competing high-fantasy setting by the time you got done 5e-izing it according to WOTC corp guidelines.

Hasbro will not part with the GH license. And since they will not re-boot it, and they will never sell it; they will sit on it so that no one else can make money on it.

Pretty much what I assessed back in 1998.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Hasbro will not part with the GH license. And since they will not re-boot it, and they will never sell it; they will sit on it so that no one else can make money on it.

That's, like, your opinion man.

But hey, you can be miserable all you want, and never be correct.

Whereas I can be hopeful and happy, and I may still be correct until the end of time! Because there is always tomorrow, and that might be the day it is released!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Hasbro notices old franchise can be cash-cows again if the work for the reboot is right. Good examples are transformers or my little pony.

WotC can't sell only updated editions of old lines, because the true competitors are the fandom wikis. They are dozens of mangakas who could create from zero their own worlds with continents and nations.

And Spelljammer can't come back with a plan by WotC for the different crystal spheres.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Pretty much what I assessed back in 1998.

Yeah, but in fairness, they did do a whole lot in 3e. Which was after that.

(Admittedly, it was weird to see them make GH the default setting, and then publish more stuff for everything else ... BUT STILL!)

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Those seeking the reality of the situation can read my older essay (longish, over 5,000 words) published many years ago:

The First Living Campaign

The First Living Campaign* A Historical Look at the Beginning of RPG Campaign Play in Lake Geneva. ©2013, Robert J. Kuntz. All...

lakegenevaoriginalrpg.blogspot.com

Pay particular attention to its ending and to WotC's non-reaction to the Greyhawk Market Plan that I submitted to them with Gary's approval (In summary, we heard Crickets)

Later... 2004 Erik Mona championed a Greyhawk resurgence at Paizo when they had the licensed magazines. Thus was produced Maure Castle, authored by myself, Erik and James Jacobs and with some input from Gary and the republication of his Sword and Sorcery in Wargaming article from 1975 (that details the adventure of Mordenkainen and crew into an adjunct level to my Castle El Raja Key that was the precursor to Mordenkainen;s Fantastic Adventure that I expanded upon and wrote in 1984)).

As many are aware Maure Castle (Dungeon #112) was a resounding hit and sold out even with hundreds of extra copies printed (it remains to date the best selling issue of Dungeon). It also won a Golden ENnnie (Thanks ENWorlers!!); but after two more installments by me and with more on the horizon (with Erik's envisioned compilation of all installments into a HB book) WotC pulled the magazine licensing from Paizo for their own online, in-house initiative. They had a hit with Maure Castle, but never approached me about continuing it.

Next, about two years ago, I wrote Mike Mearls about rebooting Greyhawk. My response was the same Gary and I received in 1997--crickets.

Portents are often the same as facts...

 

[dave2008]

Yeah but that's not applicable to this thread because Wizards etc. already exist in GH and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that will NEVER happen in an official WotC product beyond a vague suggestion that it's something you could, optionally, do.

You said: "The other issue is "low magic". I don't think D&D handles that well at all,..." So my response was relevant to your statement. Your more important to me than this thread

I also don't think the fact the wizards already exist in GH means that you couldn't reboot GH as low magic or that you couldn't include wizards in the setting. IMO, it is not an either or scenario.

Now, do I think WotC will publish a setting were you can play a full caster. No I don't think so either. It would be my preference, but I don't even see it as a requirement for a low magic setting. And definitely not required for a low magic slant to a rebooted Greyhawk setting.

 

[Mind of tempest]

question how do we mean low magic?

 

[Rob Kuntz]

(Admittedly, it was weird to see them make GH the default setting, and then publish more stuff for everything else ... BUT STILL!)

The nobility is expert at throwing crusts of bread from battlements to keep the commoners coming back to its base. Pedantic or cynical? Perhaps. But the truth is in the baked loaves they hold but which they do not themselves consume.

 

[Jaeger]

That's, like, your opinion man.

But hey, you can be miserable all you want, and never be correct.

I'm doing great. Not a GH fan. Not a FR fan. No dog in the fight.

Hasbro/WOTC's track record is not an opinion.

Hasbro notices old franchise can be cash-cows again if the work for the reboot is right. Good examples are transformers or my little pony.

True, but D&D is unique in that you have a game that can have different settings.

And Hasbro/WOTC has consistently proven that they will not put out competing settings.

It just is what it is.

 

[hopeless]

Good point, how do you bring that into a campaign without making it ridiculous?
Like Visionaries where they recovered magical items that was used to restore the pool of magical energy their items depended upon as well as the wizard who recruited them?