D&D General Joe Manganiello: Compares Early 5E to BG 3 . How Important is Lore?

[Mecheon]

So, Greyhawk is a kitchen sink then? Everything released should be there?

Greyhawk is absolutely a kitchen sink per word of its creator. Its the setting that practically introduced the "Hey here's this place that a whole new group of elves with a unique stat block have been living" in the Valley Elves. Its the setting that has a whole published and popular adventure that's about an alien spacecraft crashing. Its the setting that has portals all over the shop. Heck, OD&D had a Barsoom encounter list hidden in one of the books, or at least a "Planetary (Barsoom, etc)" one

Dragonborn are the easiest thing to do. Just grab that mysterious western empire of dragon lords, pry it away from "Some obscure French comic with no D&D connection" that its currently tied to, and go "Yeah it had dragonborn all this time, who'd have thought it". Its not like its ever been published as anything other than "Mysterious and to the west" in official stuff anyway

 

[Micah Sweet]

It certainly has a much stronger argument to be a kitchen sink than, say, Ravnica or Theros.

I could certainly see an argument for making it a more limited palette, dark and gritty kind of setting (I know we had threads making that point a few years ago), but that would be a sort of reboot, and I know that's extremely NOT your preference.

How exactly would what you describe be a reboot? Would they have to change the history or geography of Greyhawk to make it "dark and gritty"?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Greyhawk is absolutely a kitchen sink per word of its creator. Its the setting that practically introduced the "Hey here's this place that a whole new group of elves with a unique stat block have been living" in the Valley Elves. Its the setting that has a whole published and popular adventure that's about an alien spacecraft crashing. Its the setting that has portals all over the shop. Heck, OD&D had a Barsoom encounter list hidden in one of the books, or at least a "Planetary (Barsoom, etc)" one

Dragonborn are the easiest thing to do. Just grab that mysterious western empire of dragon lords, pry it away from "Some obscure French comic with no D&D connection" that its currently tied to, and go "Yeah it had dragonborn all this time, who'd have thought it". Its not like its ever been published as anything other than "Mysterious and to the west" in official stuff anyway

The problem with the fantasy kitchen sink is that it often affects tone. If you can be anything, it's hard to maintain that sword and sorcery feel. That's why IMO the most open settings are also the most gonzo.

 

[TwoSix]

How exactly would what you describe be a reboot? Would they have to change the history or geography of Greyhawk to make it "dark and gritty"?

No idea, I honestly don't know a lot about Greyhawk. I just thought it would be good setting to re-issue with a dark and gritty GoT/Witcher filter applied.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No idea, I honestly don't know a lot about Greyhawk. I just thought it would be good setting to re-issue with a dark and gritty GoT/Witcher filter applied.

Agreed. I just don't think what you're describing (which sounds awesome) needs to be a reboot to my understanding of that term (substantial lore and setting changes).

 

[Micah Sweet]

No idea, I honestly don't know a lot about Greyhawk. I just thought it would be good setting to re-issue with a dark and gritty GoT/Witcher filter applied.

In fact, does anyone know of a good 5e setting that evinces that GoT/Witcher vibe? Most settings are either focused in another direction or are glowingly cosmopolitan and/or optimistic.

 

[Parmandur]

No idea, I honestly don't know a lot about Greyhawk. I just thought it would be good setting to re-issue with a dark and gritty GoT/Witcher filter applied.

Not really: Greyhawk is considerably more whimsical than that, more a Midwestern Discworld than Westeros.

 

[Wolfram stout]

I always assumed that pretty much any large fantasy setting (a la the Realms, Oerth, Eberron, etc.) had plenty of room to hide pocket communities of dozens of races.

Well that's just silly, that would be like Professor Tolkien adding a small out of the way small race into the middle of the Third Age with little development and having other races barely know of their existence.

:Looks around and figures people will get the joke:

If not, totally agree with you.

 

[Remathilis]

So, Greyhawk is a kitchen sink then? Everything released should be there?

Yup. There is no evidence that anything was ever omitted from Greyhawk that wasn't exclusive to another setting. In fact, I'd argue that that the fact Greyhawk has far heavier influence on the core books (named spells, artifacts, and magic items) than any other D&D setting SHOULD make it absolutely kitchen sink. You want Greyhawk exclusitivy? Start by getting Vecna, Mordenkainen, Tasha and Ehlonna out of the core books!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yup. There is no evidence that anything was ever omitted from Greyhawk that wasn't exclusive to another setting. In fact, I'd argue that that the fact Greyhawk has far heavier influence on the core books (named spells, artifacts, and magic items) than any other D&D setting SHOULD make it absolutely kitchen sink. You want Greyhawk exclusitivy? Start by getting Vecna, Mordenkainen, Tasha and Ehlonna out of the core books!

Perhaps, but see my post above about the danger of kitchen sinks.