D&D 5E Greyhawk?

[Mercurius]

LOL at how we read into rather innocuous statements.

Not to say that Perkins wasn't dropping a hint, but I mean he could simply have been pointing out a bit of memorabilia.

 

[Gargoyle]

Lies. This is what the inside of WotC really looks like.

 

[aramis erak]

It's the 2nd edition base set.

Specifically, the revised boxed set for 2E. (There was an earlier black one for 2E)

 

[thalmin]

Lies. This is what the inside of WotC really looks like.

View attachment 64510

But...but...The Monster Manual disclaimer says mind flayers DON'T run the D&D design team, and that comes straight from Illithids of the Coast, I mean Wizards of the Coast.

 

[Mad Zagyg]

As someone who started gaming during 2E, well after Greyhawk heyday, I'd appreciate if a kind soul were to tell why it is such a well-regarded setting. I know the basics, sure, I've read about it online, but I've never really understood what makes the setting tick, what is it that engenders such fan loyalty for what is ultimately a fairly generic sword and sorcery setting? This question isn't meant to be taken confrontationally, but as a sincere query on my part.

Greyhawk is where the roots of the game can be found.

It's hard to explain why people like myself feel so strongly about it. I think part of it was the experience of coming to know the setting, and loving the way you slowly learned many of its secrets. For many of us, names and places that are commonly heard in D&D are practically synonymous with Greyhawk. Names like Mordenkainen, Bigby, Tenser, Rary, Robilar, Serten, Nystul, Pelor, Acererak, Vecna, Iuz, Tharizdun, Elemental Evil, Lolth, Drow, Keraptis, Iggwilv, Heironeous, Murlynd, Heward, Nerull, Zagyg etc. The list could really just go on and on and on. For Greyhawk fans, the game itself is often inseparable from this old, beleaguered campaign setting.

The fans have also been put through a very volatile history due to petty disputes and rifts in the company over the years. This is something for which Forgotten Realms fans have rarely suffered. Perhaps the poorly conceived Spell Plague is the only real upheaval they needed to endure. I appreciate the Realms and why it has its fan base , though I have no interest in running my game therein. I take great pride in the fact that the hundreds and hundreds of D&D games I've run over the past 30+ years have all been a part of an ongoing campaign set in the World of Greyhawk. At this point I have mountains of details packed into file cabinets and folders. Copious notes on the well over 100 characters that have trodden through the most classic adventurers ever produced by TSR/WotC, and a large number of my own adventures.

Furthermore, most Greyhawk fans have a sense of melancholy about where their beloved setting may have gone if various events had played out differently from the copyright holders. Some of us still yet have some hope that a brighter future lies ahead for a gorgeous, thick, hardcover filled with maps and details about Oerth.

We all realize that many of the hardcore fans of the Realms, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, and the rest don't care overmuch about Greyhawk. But there's plenty of room for everyone, and it looks like Greyhawk might finally get its long overdo full treatment.

Adventures are another part of what make Greyhawk so special. The bulk of the most famous adventures of all time have all been set there. The Temple of Elemental Evil, Scourge of the Slavelords, Queen of Spiders, White Plume Mountain, Tomb of Horrors, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and a host of other classics. If you are the type of person who remembers looking for Hex 113/K5 to determine where the village of Orlane was located, than you and I speak the same language.

Seeing that worn Greyhawk folio sitting on the edge of Perkins' desk has made this grizzled old 'Hawker very happy indeed.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

As others have said, Greyhawk has a "broad-stroke" feel to it. The World of Greyhawk Folio was my foray into it. I remember reading it was going to be released 'soon' (in a Dragon magazine I think). I then saw an advertisement for it and I wanted it so-o bad! Of course, I had to save up my weekly allowance (this was the early early 80's)...and then wait for it to get waaaay up here. When it came to "Jims Toy and Gift" (FLGS...sorta...only one corner had a half-shelf of D&D stuff about 5' wide). Anyway...since that day I've been running GH campaigns.

Greyhawks strongest point is it's solid foundation, with nigh-infinite ways to build on it. There is the Circle of Eight...unless you say they all died. It's not going to 'wreck' the setting and any stuff they may have done can easily be fixed. The focus isn't on them. The focus isn't on "high-level shenanigans". The settings focus is on common folk trying to survive in a pseudo-medieval fantasy world, with court intrigue, political maneuvering, armies going to battle...all with the backdrop of dragons, demons, monsters, and evil demigods. That is not to say "high-level" stuff doesn't go on. It does. But it is somewhat "contained". The power level in GH is low enough that you don't ever have world-shattering events happening every other month. The last world-shattering event was the Baklune/Suloise war that almost obliterated both races. And that was a long, long time ago by current GH reckoning.

What this does is allow each DM running a GH campaign to bring it to life in his/her own image, so to speak. When talking to GH DM's, you will often hear each DM recount how something happened in his/her Greyhawk. Each DM knows the base foundation of the subject, but each gets to hear and tell of a unique interpretation of it. This makes every GH campaign rather unique. I think this personalization of the setting is what really gives it it's staying power.

I for one would love to see another "Folio" put out by them. A big, two-poster sized map (with hex overlay!), a booklet for the DM and another for a player. Toss it into a boxed set and add some other goodies into it as well. Yumm!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Warunsun]

We can dream about Greyhawk!

We can dream, right?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

As someone who started gaming during 2E, well after Greyhawk heyday, I'd appreciate if a kind soul were to tell why it is such a well-regarded setting. I know the basics, sure, I've read about it online, but I've never really understood what makes the setting tick, what is it that engenders such fan loyalty for what is ultimately a fairly generic sword and sorcery setting? This question isn't meant to be taken confrontationally, but as a sincere query on my part.

Greyhawk is (0,0) on the D&D coordinates grid. Rather than being generic D&D, it sets the standard by which we judge D&D. Every other setting is measured by its direction and degree of departure from Greyhawk. Greyhawk looks generic because coming from other settings you see the shared baseline from which they derive, without the influence of the other settings.

It's also worth noting that an enormous amount of the fantasy genre as known today in fiction and games is derived from Greyhawk, since it is the baseline of D&D. It looks somewhat generic coming from non-D&D fantasy because that fantasy is based on D&D (ie, Greyhawk).

Its continued representation in D&D is important, because it is like the sun around which the other settings orbit as planets. If Greyhawk fades to obscurity, there is no more (0,0) on the coordinate system, and it becomes a phantom presence (or black hole).

 

[Hereticus]

Greyhawk was only partially populated, so we could easily insert our own cities, adventure areas, kingdoms, whatever. We could make it our own.

Bullseye.

I never liked settings that were overpopulated, overdeveloped, or had source material that said what was everywhere.

 

[drjones]

As someone who started gaming during 2E, well after Greyhawk heyday, I'd appreciate if a kind soul were to tell why it is such a well-regarded setting. I know the basics, sure, I've read about it online, but I've never really understood what makes the setting tick, what is it that engenders such fan loyalty for what is ultimately a fairly generic sword and sorcery setting? This question isn't meant to be taken confrontationally, but as a sincere query on my part.

Nostalgia. Not saying that is the only reason, but many many gamers first adventures were in Greyhawk or something that included it's bits and most people look on things from their youth fondly.