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'.

 

[Scribe]

I just should stick to my own table again, and remain in the Forgotten Realms or a more open minded setting.

I mean turning every setting into the same thing would seem to be a poor plan. Let different things be different.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Checked, Yachats is ~600 miles from the Black Ice, and Eru-Tovar is 400 miles from the bBlack Ice.anda gain, the Balack Ice is unnatural and south of the Arctic...

It’s also around 50° latitude. So Paris, Prague, Kyiv.

 

[Parmandur]

It’s also around 50° latitude. So Paris, Prague, Kyiv.

Wo, yeah, checks fir Cebtral Asia analog...

 

[Yaarel]

It’s also around 50° latitude. So Paris, Prague, Kyiv.

Where do you get the Oerth latitudes from?

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Where do you get the Oerth latitudes from?

Page 18 of the Glossography in the 83 box

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Do Baklunish gods exist in 2024 Greyhawk? Probably the sultan and pasha should be more Islamesque.

You linked the list, the Baklunish worship several of the gods on the list you posted. Pelor, Boccob, Istus, and Nerull

 

[Yaarel]

You linked the list, the Baklunish worship several of the gods on the list you posted. Pelor, Boccob, Istus, and Nerull

I am under the impression that all of these are "Greyhawk City" now.

 

[Yaarel]

Page 18 of the Glossography in the 83 box

It means the Corusk Peninsula more clearly corresponds Newfoundland, where a viking settlement is.

The Nordic Lands would be farther north.

 

[Zeromaru X]

I mean turning every setting into the same thing would seem to be a poor plan. Let different things be different.

Are you implying that all settings aren't humanocentric with most of the world dominated by humans, and the demi-humans being few and far between, and humanoids even few, and usually enemies of humans and their demi-humans friends?

There is no setting that doesn't use that formula. That's the reason most people still confuse Greyhawk with the Forgotten Realms... So, don't use the "let the settings be different" argument. It's a lie.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

@Yaarel
In the end... does any of this really matter? MAKE IT YOUR OWN, however you want that to be. That's been the intent of the setting and its creator all along. Do what seems most believable/realistic and/or enjoyable to you. There is absolutely no need for a consensus... so why is this debate ongoing?

For what it's worth, I think it's great that even WotC recognize how well the nations of the Flanaess can be molded in accordance with individual interpretation/preference.