D&D General Greyhawk setting material

[David Howery]

That's a third from me; I literally suggested they be exiles/refugees from a far-off land either living in isolated villages or intermixed in the larger communities.

my own personal take on it would be... they are a fairly new race to the Flanaess, but they have been rumored about for centuries. Only in the last couple of decades have they been seen, wandering into the Flanaess in search of adventure/treasure/love/whatever, like every other PC race....

 

[David Howery]

Kobold Press, it's the world of Tome of Beasts.

went and had a look at it on DTRPG.COM. There seems to be two versions, Pathfinder and 5E. Which one you using?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

my own personal take on it would be... they are a fairly new race to the Flanaess, but they have been rumored about for centuries. Only in the last couple of decades have they been seen, wandering into the Flanaess in search of adventure/treasure/love/whatever, like every other PC race....

There is a nation briefly described in Dragon Annual 1, called "Dragons Island." The only information on it says it is ruled by a "Dragon Prince." It's kind of the perfect place for Dragonborn to originate from.

 

[Zardnaar]

went and had a look at it on DTRPG.COM. There seems to be two versions, Pathfinder and 5E. Which one you using?

5E.

Midgard Worldbook for PFRPG (PDF) - Kobold Press Store

Adventure In a Dark World of Deep Magic! It is an age of war. Civilization slowly gives way to encroaching wilderness, and once-mighty empires now lie beneath the waves. Only magic and the warmth of hope keeps lights aglow when dread things prowl, and priestly wardings are bent by demonic rage...

koboldpress.com

 

[Wolfpack48]

Your going to have to do FAR more than remove two races. That's like saying two 2019 Toyota Corollas are completely different types of cars because one has different hubcaps.

Eh, I would disagree that the settings are that similar.

 

[The Glen]

Forgotten Realms is the kitchen sink, they can take any race from any setting and they'll make a place for it. Greyhawk is a much grittier setting. Multiple human ethnicities and they don't really get along very well. The nations are at each other's throat, even the lawful good nations don't trust each other. It's street-level fantasy where what nation your from is just as important as what race you're playing. Considering the hype that Game of Thrones was giving us for low level fantasy (before the last two seasons), I'm surprised they didn't advertise Greyhawk as that kind of setting. Instead of magic everywhere like the Forgotten Realms, the party's wizard might be the only wizard for miles.

As for keeping races out, what you leave out is more important than what you include. Mystara doesn't have Dragonborn. It doesn't need them. It's already got Tortles, Sis-Thik, Caymen, Gatormen and Wallaru. Doesn't need a 6th lizardman race. It doesn't have drow, it has Shadow Elves, making the drow redundant. Different in every way except their living arrangements, but throwing in races from outside a setting can ruin the setting. Using races endemic to a setting rather than porting over races to make the setting another kitchen sink makes the setting unique. Birthright doesn't have orcs, so it doesn't have half-orcs. Outer planar races are kept at bay from Mystara so no tieflings. Gnomes are extinct in Dark Sun. Dragonlance has no idea what a halfling is. The PHB is a guide, and carving out the chunks that don't work for your setting is part of the world-building.

 

[Remathilis]

Ok, I'm going to reiterate this quote chain to show how it makes no sense.

1. Someone says Greyhawk is a generic fantasy setting, so it should have all the PHB races.

2. I say if you make Greyhawk have the same slate of fantasy races as FR, you're making it more generic.

3. You say Greyhawk and FR are so similar that it makes Greyhawk generic, so it must have the PHB races.

4. I say that's why it could be better for Greyhawk to have different race selection, so it's less generic.

5. You just reiterate 3 with a metaphor.

Like, what do you want? FR with a different name? Because I want a different setting, one that feels different. Seeing the same races running around makes me feel like I should just play FR with a different tone.

I say that the races aren't what makes its generic. Eberron has all the PHB races, but I wouldn't call it generic. Why? Its a different take, a different tone, not a different list of what PHB options there are that makes Greyhawk different. Play to those tonal differences, not arbitrarily banning options to make things different.

If Greyhawk + Dragonborn = Forgotten Realms in your mind, then the setting truly isn't worth saving.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

If I were tasked to do a 5E Greyhawk book, I'd probably break it up into three sections, representing A, B and C canon. Just spitballing:

Greyhawk: The Adventure Continues

1. World of Greyhawk - Covers material from the original folio to Greyhawk Adventures.

2. From the Ashes - Covers the Greyhawk Wars to Paizohawk.

3. Occidental Adventures - Lands of western Oerick. Draconis Island, here be Dragonborn.

 

[Azzy]

The focus of Greyhawk has always been largely on the Flaeness, so dropping a Dragonborn kingdom there is super disruptive.

Lol, if you're doing hamhandedly, sure. But saying that there's a remote kingdom in the Hellfurnaces (or the like) isn't disruptive—that's even if you even "need" a kingdom. Orcs, Hobgoblins, Halflings, ets. don't have kingdoms, and they're pretty ubiquitous. If Dragonborn are going to be rarer than those races, you don't need anything grand.

I still haven't heard a good argument for why Greyhawk needs every PHB race though, beyond "because I don't want to invent a reason of my own," which I find lacking strength.

I think that, "they're in the PHB, so there's no real need to exclude them without a compelling reason to not have them in the setting and all the "reasons" listed so far are not compelling", sums it up.

 

[David Howery]

3. Occidental Adventures - Lands of western Oerick. Draconis Island, here be Dragonborn.

refresh my memory here... didn't the 2E Chainmail miniature game get set in western Oerik? Can't recall if there was a map or not...