Dungeons & Dragons May Not Come Back to Greyhawk After 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide

Wizards of the Coast does not appear to have future plans for the Greyhawk setting past the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. Speaking at a press event earlier this month, Dungeons & Dragons game architect Chris Perkins explained that the inclusion of Greyhawk campaign setting material in the upcoming rulebook was meant to stand on its own. "Basically, we're saying 'Hey DMs, we're giving you Greyhawk as a foundation on which you can build your own setting stuff,'" Perkins said when asked about future Greyhawk setting material. "Whether we get back to Greyhawk or not in some capacity I cannot say, but that's our intention for now. This is the sandbox, it's Greyhawk. Go off and run Greyhawk or Greyhawk-like campaigns with this if you wish. We may not come to this version of Greyhawk for a while because we DMs to own it and play with it. This is not a campaign setting where I think we need to go in and start defining large sections of the world and adding more weight of content that DMs have to sit through in order to feel like they're running a proper Greyhawk campaign."

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide includes a campaign setting gazetteer focused on the Greyhawk setting, one of D&D's earliest campaign settings. The use of Greyhawk is intended to be an example for DMs on how to build a full-fledged campaign setting, with an overview of major conflicts and places to explore within the world. New maps of both Oerth and the city of Greyhawk are also included in the rulebook.

However, while it seems like Wizards isn't committing to future Greyhawk campaign setting material, Perkins admitted that the fans still have a say in the matter. "We're not so immutable with our plans that if the fans rose up and said 'Give us something Greyhawk,' that we would say 'No, never,'" Perkins said. "That won't happen."

Perkins also teased the appearance of more campaign settings in the future. "We absolutely will be exploring new D&D worlds and that door is always open," Perkins said.

 

[Scribe]

Oh you mean they arbitrarily and for no reason completely broke Greyhawk's timeline? Put NPCs in time periods they didn't belong in? Completely changed NPCs so they share only a name with their previous incarnation? Ravenloft says hello!

Its all just about name recognition. Changing sex/species of named NPC's is proof that beyond The Brand, Wizards doesnt care.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Its all just about name recognition. Changing sex/species of named NPC's is proof that beyond The Brand, Wizards doesnt care.

Oh that was pretty apparent a while ago - when Mearls left D&D (long before he left Wizards) was when the inherent attitude of the D&D design team started to change.

 

[Hussar]

Oh that was pretty apparent a while ago - when Mearls left D&D (long before he left Wizards) was when the inherent attitude of the D&D design team started to change.

I know right? I mean changing some obscure NPC's gender? How dare they destroy the setting like that. How dare they disrespect things like that. Completely unacceptable.

 

[Stuart Kerrigan]

I know right? I mean changing some obscure NPC's gender? How dare they destroy the setting like that. How dare they disrespect things like that. Completely unacceptable.

Respectfully disagree. I'd hardly call the Circle of Eight minor myself and they changed their races and classes in a chapter meant to summarise, not rewrite, 50 years of D&D lore. Sure I'm willing to admit Duke Owen of Geoff and his imaginatively named new female counterpart Owena are "minor" though.

Stuart/Stuwena on the bizarro universe

 

[Demetrios1453]

But as to cool things about Greyhawk.

One of my faves is the whole post Greyhawk Wars unholy mess that is Rauxes, former capital of the Great Kingdom.

And I mean Unholy.

A little background: The Great Kindgom, once a shining beacon of Good Guy tropes, has fallen to all the Bad Guy tropes. It's latest ruling house, the Naelex, are demon worshipping baddies. The current Overking Ivid V, the Undying, has embraced undeath* and summoned armies of demons to help him fight the Greyhawk Wars. At the end of the Greyhawk Wars a holy relic of immense power, The Crook of Rao, banished all demons** from the world. This had the adiditional affect that it in some way disrupted some sort of demonic gate*** in Rauxes that led to the entire area becoming an Abyssal hell-hole.

The setting is (I assume deliberately) vague as to exactly what has happened. But the practical upshot is that no-one has heard a peep out of Rauxes since. The area for leagues around Rauxes has become home to all manner of terrible monsters. No-one even knows if Rauxes was dragged into the Abyss or not. Is Ivid still living (heh) up to his epithet? And what of all the riches of Rauxes palaces?

It may be that there is now a rift to the Abyss, a la Golarion's World Wound. Or it may simply be that there has been magical fallout that has corrupted the world. Or something else. For my campaign, I've gone with a small rift. But one that is slowly growing larger with time.

This is all from later sources, Ivid the Undying and From the Ashes.

* IIRC it's not said anywhere if he's a lich, death knight, vampire, mummy, or something else entirely.
** Doesn't effect Iuz, he's a local boy. His many summoned demons on the other hand are banished.
*** Again, I don't think offical sources say exactly what interacts with the power of the Crook, just that it's presumed to have been demonic and very powerful, hence the earth shattering kaboom.

Devils, not demons.

Ivid is an animus, which is a special Great Kingdom-only type of undead created through unholy rites performed by the priests of Hextor and pit fiends supplied to the kingdom by its devilish backers. Originally, it was a punishment/control forced upon others Ivid didn't trust, but it was later forced upon him as well.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Thanks @Demetrios1453 for the corrections.

 

[pemerton]

I assume it is this

And this:

*It has all the tropes, right in the centre of the map: Dwarves, an isolated Elven kingdom, the Pomarj overrun by Orcs, pirates on the Wild Coast, desert and arid hills, urban adventure (Greyhawk, Hardby, Dyvers), etc.

*It has REH-esque ancient empires whose liches, ruins, magic, etc can still be found throughout the land.

that to me is something most settings with maps offer. You can argue that many offer much more than that, i.e. a lot of additional detail you do not care for, but I do not really see them offering any less.

I mean, mountains, forests, location names, seems very basic to me.

I don't know FR very well, but I've never seen anyone make the above pitch for FR. Maybe it offers the same? I don't know.

 

[pemerton]

not knowing what religion dominates the archclericy of Veluna was an odd omission when looking. Cuthbert maybe I would guess but only because of the Temple of Elemental Evil module references of him being around and nothing really specific.

I use St Cuthbert. I think "officially" it is Rao but I think Rao is a bit too esoteric to be a "mainstream" deity.

 

[Parmandur]

And this:


I don't know FR very well, but I've never seen anyone make the above pitch for FR. Maybe it offers the same? I don't know.

I mean, Greyhawk has a great map, but Faerûn does have pretty similar offerings, and over the years from a wide variety of cartographer and different regions.

 

[pemerton]

I mean, Greyhawk has a great map, but Faerûn does have pretty similar offerings, and over the years from a wide variety of cartographer and different regions.

Does it give my urban thieves, reclusive Elven kingdom, Dwarven mountains, coastal pirates, and desert with ancient tombs all within the same region of the map?