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

D&D seems content with Greyhawk staying in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

greyhawk city.jpg


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.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


log in or register to remove this ad



This is what I was hoping they would do with GH. A campaign setting that doesn't require a DM to read a 200 page setting book, follow an evolving "metaplot," or read a bunch of tie-in novels is incredibly useful to many people, including new DMs.

I also think it sends a great message - this is YOUR campaign setting to tell YOUR stories in. It is not going to get defined by WotC, Matt Mercer, R.A. Salvatore or anyone else.
 

SteveC

Doing the best imitation of myself
It’s part of the 50th anniversary celebration.
And then it's promptly getting ignored again. In favor of the Realms. Again, as a new DM, eight year-old me would have wanted something more. And there's no way I would have just jumped into DMsGuild. I guess I would probably pick up the Realms book and wonder why I had read about Greyhawk at all.

If I had started the game older, I think I'd have a similar reaction and maybe get something more from DMsGuild but I'd wonder why the world used as an example in the DMG didn't become the default world.

Now me as, well, me, I have old Greyhawk materials from when they were new. I still wonder why we're going right back to the Realms. I guess it doesn't really matter because the next game I would run is set in the Realms anyway. It seems like some wasted pages.

I guess I'm thinking there must be a target for this, but I don't think it's going to effectively be new DMs or more experienced ones who aren't going to homebrew. I've no idea what percentages that's going to end up resonating with, but I suspect it won't be as much as if there was a clear path of support.
 





Stormonu

NeoGrognard
Well, if they wanted to, they could always put out a 50th Anniversary reproduction of the boxed set (or the folio), and let that be a gauge of how well a full-book reset like Planescape might garner. Or look at the levels Yawning Portal and Infinite Staircase are making to gauge how well it might sell.

If WotC doesn't want the money from making Greyhawk products, the DM's Guild will certainly step it and take it. I imagine there's quite a few products waiting in the wings right now, just waiting to hit the "publish" button.
 

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top