D&D 5E Greyhawk: Why We Need Mo' Oerth by 2024

[JEB]

There's also no lack of spells and magic items to draw from.

Excellent point, this would be a great opportunity to add more of both to 5E. There are certainly a bunch of other Mordenkainen's X or Bigby's Y spells they could port over...

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah like I said, let's make Greyhawk the setting where magic items are not optional, where ancient treasures lurk in hidden places, and ancient artifacts make their wills known.

Maybe your heroes will be set on the quest to find the Orb, Scepter, and Crown of Good....or stumble upon Heward's Mystical Organ!

EDIT: because Greyhawk without magic items would be pretty sad, if you ask me.

 

[Vaalingrade]

EDIT: because Greyhawk without magic items would be pretty sad, if you ask me.

Just like D&D without magic items.

 

[James Gasik]

Just like D&D without magic items.

Yes, well, that ship has sailed. But maybe for just one setting, we can go back to the days of high adventure, where characters can hope to claim one of the fabled treasures of yore...if they don't bleed out to a goblin's spear.

Who doesn't want to have a chance to wield the Rod of Lordly Might, or snicker at the puny Wizard's Tiny Hut while you relax behind the sturdy iron walls of your Daern's Instant Fortress?

And if they get too uppity, well, there's always one of the gems from your Helm of Brilliance available to incinerate them with!

 

[Mort]

Yes, well, that ship has sailed. But maybe for just one setting, we can go back to the days of high adventure, where characters can hope to claim one of the fabled treasures of yore...if they don't bleed out to a goblin's spear.

Who doesn't want to have a chance to wield the Rod of Lordly Might, or snicker at the puny Wizard's Tiny Hut while you relax behind the sturdy iron walls of your Daern's Instant Fortress?

And if they get too uppity, well, there's always one of the gems from your Helm of Brilliance available to incinerate them with!

Is this really that common? That magic items are barely a thing?

I like giving out fun, flavorful and powerful items to the group - really adds to the game IMO.

Especially an artifact here and there, powerful but also a plot magnet - which frankly makes my job as DM of getting the PCs involved - that much easier.

 

[Maxperson]

I don't have a dog in this race. I'm not a fan of the setting, but I also don't know much about it and don't inherently dislike it. If 2024's revisited campaign setting is between the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk, I would vote for Greyhawk just due to the fact that it isn't another Forgotten Realms book (which there have been a ton of in D&D 5e).

One FR campaign style book is not a ton. Adventures set in the Realms are not FR setting books. I want to see a Greyhawk campaign setting book, but the Realms needs something more than the Sword Coast.

 

[Maxperson]

or stumble upon Heward's Mystical Organ!

I heard he got arrested for showing that at parties.

 

[James Gasik]

From what I've seen, and from comments I've gleaned online, it comes down to the fact that there are three subtypes of DM's out there (among many).

Ones that hate players getting anything, lol, or seem to, and are quite happy that magic items are not "required" (supposedly).

Ones that are very conservative about magic items, thinking they need to be rare or uncommonly seen in games.

Ones that aren't really sure how to incorporate magic items in their games, as the DMG guidelines don't really say "ok at level Y, players should have X magic items, including weapons/armor of bonus Z", so are hesitant.

When you broach the subject of magic items with them, reactions can range from anger, dismissal, or even "eyes widen in surprise" lol.

Adventurer's League used to be very conservative about magic items, to the point that I didn't start collecting any until we went on adventurers that allow for random loot, like Storm King's Thunder.

 

[Bitbrain]

Yeah like I said, let's make Greyhawk the setting where magic items are not optional, where ancient treasures lurk in hidden places, and ancient artifacts make their wills known.
EDIT: because Greyhawk without magic items would be pretty sad, if you ask me.

Considering just how little of any treasure the other DMs in my group give out compared to my own campaigns, I would love to see a D&D setting whose elevator pitch is “this is where ALL the magic items are”.

Is this really that common? That magic items are barely a thing?

Especially an artifact here and there, powerful but also a plot magnet - which frankly makes my job as DM of getting the PCs involved - that much easier.

In my own personal experience with DMs who have never played or experienced any D&D outside 5th edition... yes. They don’t give out magic items at all. And as players, they don’t seem to expect any either.

It’s taken me two years of being “flamboyantly generous” (my player’s words) with magic weapons and wonderous items, but I’ve finally gotten my 5e-was-their-intro-to-RPG players to go “alright! We killed the baddie. Now, where’s the loot?”

EDIT
Please note that has just been my own experience. I’m sure there have been different experiences.

 

[Cruentus]

From what I've seen, and from comments I've gleaned online, it comes down to the fact that there are three subtypes of DM's out there (among many).

Ones that hate players getting anything, lol, or seem to, and are quite happy that magic items are not "required" (supposedly).

Ones that are very conservative about magic items, thinking they need to be rare or uncommonly seen in games.

Ones that aren't really sure how to incorporate magic items in their games, as the DMG guidelines don't really say "ok at level Y, players should have X magic items, including weapons/armor of bonus Z", so are hesitant.

When you broach the subject of magic items with them, reactions can range from anger, dismissal, or even "eyes widen in surprise" lol.

Adventurer's League used to be very conservative about magic items, to the point that I didn't start collecting any until we went on adventurers that allow for random loot, like Storm King's Thunder.

I'm sure many of you know this, but for some older editions, specifically 2e and earlier (I don't have a ton of experience in 3 or 4), magic items were what gave a class more definition and ability as the character leveled. The 2e Fighter, aside from weapon specialization, gets basically nothing from level advancement but Thaco improvement and more HP. No abilities, no at wills, no spell like abilities, etc. So magic items were the only way to "power up" characters of all stripes.

Having played in and run 5e, characters have plenty of "magic" inherent in them, or easily accessible, that most magic items aren't worthwhile, and just add another thing to consider from an encounter building perspective. I gave out Legacy items that would build in power with the characters (in some cases tied to backstory), and they were universally ignored in favor of the stuff on the sheet born out of the classes. Aside from the rare need of a magic weapon to hit certain creatures, it wasn't even considered. My players often wanted them "just because" and then never used them.

Something would have to give in 5e's bounded accuracy and class design and "balance" stuff to properly include magic items like they used to be. We had one +x weapon in our 5e game that the barbarian used, and that, plus the bonus damage it did basically made the Barb untouchable unless REALLY focused on. Every fight was basically "see if the Barb can be even knocked unconscious while the rest of the party stood around and watched." Only ever happened because the DM was using a wonky critical chart that afforded "knocked unconscious, no save" as one of its critical effects. He luckily avoided the "instant death" criticals...