D&D (2024) Greyhawk Confirmed. Tell Me Why.

[Autumnal]

It would need to explain

Would it, though?

It’s got these other races and mechanics not previously mentioned. Okay. Did settings get rewritten when there were weapon proficiencies? No. Did settings get rewritten for skill systems? No. 4e listed where gods fit in the new alignment zorro and carried on. And so on. I would genuinely surprised if there are more than dozens to low hundreds of people who would otherwise be satisfied with the DMG but won’t be if it lacks in-setting rationales for all that stuff.

 

[JEB]

For all the complaints 5e Ravenloft gets from old-school Ravenloft fans

I don't recall a massive amount of upset among established Ravenloft fans about Curse of Strahd. Some quibbling over a few of the retcons, but that's about all. It was Van Richten's that really made some people unhappy. Suggests that CoS didn't manage to cross a line that VRGTR did. (I suspect it's also not a coincidence that each successive setting reboot has been increasingly careful about how they handle retcons.)

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I don't recall a massive amount of upset among established Ravenloft fans about Curse of Strahd. Some quibbling over a few of the retcons, but that's about all. It was Van Richten's that really made some people unhappy. Suggests that CoS didn't manage to cross a line that VRGTR did. (I suspect it's also not a coincidence that each successive setting reboot has been increasingly careful about how they handle retcons.)

I meant complaints about the Van Richten's version. Curse of Strahd opened the door to getting a proper 5e Ravenloft setting revival, even if many old-school Ravenloft are rather vocally unhappy with what ultimately came of it.

I happen to be quite happy with Van Richten's myself, though I don't have any real background with the setting prior to 5e.

 

[Yaarel]

The hardest part of updating a 5e Greyhawk is recharacterizing the various ethnic groups.

It wouldnt be much change in terms of amount of text, but it would be deep change in terms of world altering implications.

• Barbarians would be less "barbarian", and rely less on reallife stereotypes.
• Latin American Indigenous wouldnt be White people who became darker.
• Orcs would be an anthropologically plausible culture, as opposed to kill on sight "witchdoctors".
• The weird fixation with "race purity" and skin and eye color would discontinue.

Uncomfortable stuff like this would seachange.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And frankly, as a long time fan who bought the first adventure and first box set off the shelves, I’ve found something to enjoy in every iteration, and feel it’s important to provide a different perspective.

I have too. I liked the new version of I'Cath, for example, and as a general "horror in 5e" treatise it's actually quite good. But I object strongly to the idea that now this is what Ravenloft is.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And now consider people who liked the Ravenloft in 1st and early 2e consider the Ravenloft you love a travesty, you guys just bullied them into silence.

I don't understand this statement. Please explain.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't understand this statement. Please explain.

"Some of us have been fans for a long time but still liked VGR"

 

[Micah Sweet]

"Some of us have been fans for a long time but still liked VGR"

They said fans of my preferred Ravenloft (which version I'm not sure what they even mean) have "bullied" fans of 1e/early 2e Ravenloft. Not sure what they mean by that.

 

[TiQuinn]

I have too. I liked the new version of I'Cath, for example, and as a general "horror in 5e" treatise it's actually quite good. But I object strongly to the idea that now this is what Ravenloft is.

It is what it is right now. And it's different from what I've run. Different from yours. And most importantly, it's very different from what it will be in the future because some designer in ten years from now is going to have new ideas.

 

[Minigiant]

Would it, though?

It’s got these other races and mechanics not previously mentioned. Okay. Did settings get rewritten when there were weapon proficiencies? No. Did settings get rewritten for skill systems? No. 4e listed where gods fit in the new alignment zorro and carried on. And so on. I would genuinely surprised if there are more than dozens to low hundreds of people who would otherwise be satisfied with the DMG but won’t be if it lacks in-setting rationales for all that stuff.

Those settings were not used for educational purposes.

Maybe I have a higher standard of education