D&D (2024) WotC Invites You To Explore the World of Greyhawk

This week a new D&D Dungeon Master's Guide preview video was released. This one features the sample setting chapter in the book, which showcases the World of Greyhawk.

One of the earliest campaign settings, and created by D&D co-founder Gary Gygax, Greyhawk dates back to the early 1970s in Gygax's home games, receiving a short official setting book in 1980. Gyeyhawk was selected as the example setting because it is able to hit all the key notes of D&D while being concise and short. The setting has been largely absent from D&D--aside from a few shorter adventures--since 2008. Some key points from the video--

• Greyhawk deliberately leaves a lot for the DM to fill in, with a 30-page chapter.
• Greyhawk created many of the tropes of D&D, and feels very 'straight down the fairway' D&D.
• This is the world where many iconic D&D magic items, NPCs, etc. came from--Mordenkainen, Bigby, Tasha, Otiluke and so on.
• The DMG starts with the City of Greyhawk and its surroundings in some detail, and gets more vague as you get farther away.
• The city is an example of a 'campaign hub'.
• The sample adventures in Chapter 4 of the DMG are set there or nearby.
• The map is an updated version, mainly faithful to the original with some tweaks.
• The map has some added locations key to D&D's history--such as White Plume Mountain, the Tomb of Horrors, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Ghost Tower of Inverness.
• There's a map of the city, descriptions of places characters might visit--magic item shop, library, 3 taverns, temples, etc.
• The setting takes 'a few liberties while remaining faithful to the spirit of the setting'--it has been contemporized to make it resonate in all D&D campaigns with a balance of NPCs who showcase the diversity of D&D worlds.
• The backgrounds in the Player's Handbook map to locations in the city.
• Most areas in the setting have a name and brief description.
• They focus on three 'iconic' D&D/Greyhawk conflicts such as the Elemental Evil, a classic faceless adversary; Iuz the evil cambion demigod; and dragons.
• There's a list of gods, rulers, and 'big bads'.

 

[mamba]

Remember how Tyranny of Dragons was presented as the first time players would get to face Tiamat? Just pretend they weren't the BBEG in the Scales of War campaign published in the official Dungeon magazine (4e). And ignore the fact that it was a spiritual sequel to the beloved Red Hand of Doom adventure (3e), which also featured Tiamat as the BBEG.

First time I am hearing about ToD being the spiritual successor to RHoD. I only know the box text of either, do they have more in common than the BBEG? From their description I would not have considered them related

 

[mamba]

I think its likely they looked for guidance at the last era FR fans were really happy for guidance.

I hope they took more away from than a similar page count

 

[mamba]

@Snarf Zagyg's methodology is to simply kill them all and let Nerull sort them out.

better safe than sorry

 

[MonsterEnvy]

This is not the first time they've made claims over a selective or revised interpretation of their own legacy. Remember how Tyranny of Dragons was presented as the first time players would get to face Tiamat? .

could you provide a source for this?

 

[billd91]

First time I am hearing about ToD being the spiritual successor to RHoD. I only know the box text of either, do they have more in common than the BBEG? From their description I would not have considered them related

Scales of War is a literal sequel to Red Hand of Doom, but Tyranny of Dragons is really only a spiritual successor if you consider that both involving Tiamat makes them spiritually related.
In RHoD, the PCs can fight an aspect of Tiamat, but she’s really quite weak compared to her appearances in either SoW or ToD.

 

[mamba]

I’ve never understood this phrase. Why wouldn’t the cows be home?

the cow is at home when it is in its barn. It is in the barn during winter and fed hay, in the spring it is lead up to the mountain pastures to feed on grass and stays there with the herder who takes care of them, milks them and makes cheese from that milk until fall, at least it does / did so in the Alps

The cows coming home

 

[TiQuinn]

the cow is at home when it is in its barn. It is in the barn during winter and fed hay, in the spring it is lead up to the mountain pastures to feed on grass and stays there with the herder who takes care of them, milks them and makes cheese from that milk until fall, at least it does / did so in the Alps

I’m clearly a city boy.

 

[Zeromaru X]

A Reddit user got the 2024 DMG and did an AMA about Greyhawk 2024, if people is interested.

As I guessed, the book doesn't give places for the new races, meaning they are the purview of DM's fiat. But you called me crazy...

 

[Yaarel]

For those who want the religions that are prominent in the City of Greyhawk:

 

[Parmandur]

A Reddit user got the 2024 DMG and did an AMA about Greyhawk 2024, if people is interested.

As I guessed, the book doesn't give places for the new races, meaning they are the purview of DM's fiat. But you called me crazy...

No need to, they can just be there, easy peasy. They are in the art.