D&D 5E Greyhawk: Pitching the Reboot

[billd91]

But is it enough of an outlier to say that Greyhawk was presented as "low magic"...? I am doubtful.

It depends on how you define "low magic". Low in overall power? Low in general frequency for adventurer support? Low in pervasiveness in contemporary society at large? I think it's definitely lower than some other D&D settings. Just compare some of the Volo's guides for the Forgotten Realms (particularly Waterdeep), and you'll see a difference.

 

[TwoSix]

Hommlet is an outlier.

Obviously, you can't make a Hommlet without breaking a few eggs.

 

[The Glen]

I really like the idea of @Snarf Zagyg message of not slavishly recreating and learning from the old setting to make it different from other settings. My two coppers would be:

• Lean in on the politics. I say this for two reasons. One, so each nation can be a little more xenophobic than modern settings. This, in turn, will highlight the species, class, and caste structures of each area. Two, it has the possibility for good RP from a player perspective. Align yourself with this kingdom and become renown; suddenly some parts of another kingdom possibly become off limits. Align yourself with that kingdom and earn renown; now the political leaders are asking you to do some shady stuff. (For the record, I think Mercer's Explorers Guide to Wildemount did a pretty good job with factions. It might be worth the writer's time to revisit that book.)
• DM's Guide to everything! There really needs to be expanded sections that are codified as rules the DM can implement for various settings - low magic being one of them. Nerf the heck out of the spells, it's an alternate setting. They really need to dismiss the balanced game approach for these alternate setting rules, and instead focus on how those settings can be made fun. This ties in to Greyhawk, as it will mean different things to different people. Heroic Fantasy Greyhawk? Sure. Just be clear how you're making those kingdoms heroic too. Again, don't worry about balance. Want to change the death rules for grimdark - codify it so younger players can experience something other than three death saves, a million opportunities to heal, and a hundred opportunities to be resurrected.
• Lastly, @TwoSix mentioned a Witcher vibe. I think this is spot on. To do that thought, I believe you need to reconstruct the daily encounter system. Maybe for Greyhawk, make it one to two encounters per day. Up the ante on monsters.

And as much as I like @The Glen suggestion of isolationism and racial disparity, and how that can lead to my above suggestion, I think it will be a hurdle for most groups. To do that, you really need to species as a culture. Some species in 2024, like aasimar and tiefling are not a culture - they are unique individuals.

It wouldn't be as much of a hurdle as you would think. That was a major factor in games like Skyrim. The Dark elves had their own enclave which was a major plot point. The best time for them to release greyhawk to capture its theme would have been the height of game of thrones. Yes they have Demihumans in the various nations but they tend to live in their own areas. You could make the setting the more mature of the releases, just by presenting a grittier game world. There's an undeniable market for that, you could pitch it to people that want to play something like The Witcher or similar settings

 

[Hussar]

I foresee a Greyhawk 5e24 book coming out, but rather than being yet another set of detailed splatbooks on the world, I see it as more of a guidebook to GMs looking to develop their own version of Greyhawk. It'll give ideas and campaign and adventure seeds to riff off, and perhaps some worksheets to help them develop their own unique version of Greyhawk. It'll be an interesting new line of releases giving players the tools to develop their own world rather than WoTC published world "canon."

I really hope that’s the direction but I suspect it won’t be.

 

[Hussar]

Hommlet is an outlier.

How is it an outlier when it’s no different than every other community presented?

Is it lower magic than FR? Well let’s look at similar communities in FR. Phandelver has one caster - a low level cleric. That’s it.

I mean Waterdeep sure. But compare Waterdeep to Greyhawk City where you had a powerful wizard imprisoned numerous gods in order to ascend to godhood.

We do need to compare apples to apples.

 

[Parmandur]

I would posit that the Flannaes won't get a "Setting book," or similar product, but we might see future campaigns set there as a base for a few years.

 

[haakon1]

I would posit that the Flannaes won't get a "Setting book," or similar product, but we might see future campaigns set there as a base for a few years.

That would be OK.

 

[Parmandur]

That would be OK.

They have really been moving away from the Forgotten Realms as the base assumption for a few years, amd having a general description and map in the DMG means they can say "the default setting for this Adventure is The Pale, but in FR you can set it here, or In Eberron there" would be a pretty sensible approach.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I really hope that’s the direction but I suspect it won’t be.

If they present a light framework for a region and some starting considerations, they could then devote the rest of the book to tools for helping DMs flesh things out in their own way, maybe provide some adventure hooks for a campaign there. The tI st of this will be whether fans will demand more canon or whether they’ll be happy with guidance.

 

[Hussar]

If they present a light framework for a region and some starting considerations, they could then devote the rest of the book to tools for helping DMs flesh things out in their own way, maybe provide some adventure hooks for a campaign there. The tI st of this will be whether fans will demand more canon or whether they’ll be happy with guidance.

My sneaking suspicion will be we'll get these sorts of tools in the DMG with how they present Greyhawk in the DMG - so, it will be a light touch of canon stuff to get the ball rolling and then a bunch of "here's how you do this. This is what we've done in this location, now, you can do this in other locations" kind of stuff. Which I'm perfectly happy with.

After the DMG though, if they keep with the AP approach, we'll get more stuff like Ghosts of Saltmarsh, or, really, how Forgotten Realms has been presented in 5e so far - a big meaty adventure every year, set in and around a specific part of Greyhawk, with a few forays into other parts here and there.

Again, not a problem. I'm perfectly happy with the approach they took with FR in 5e. A very light touch setting book and then a bunch of adventures set in FR. Great.

Really, this is how Paizohawk was presented as well during 3e with the advent of the Adventure Paths. And there's is nothing wrong with those adventures.