D&D General Melf's Guide to Greyhawk Coming From Luke Gygax & WotC

Whizbang Dustyboots · 2026-03-27T01:08:26+0000

GothmogIV said:
Maybe Luke will make a gritter, OSR-like variant set in Greyhawk. My joy would be substantial.

He doesn't have the rights to do anything with Greyhawk other than what WotC allows him to do.

He is doing plenty of Greyhawk-like stuff in other systems, though, if you're looking for gritty and OSR.

bedir than · 2026-03-27T01:11:19+0000

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
He doesn't have the rights to do anything with Greyhawk other than what WotC allows him to do.

He is doing plenty of Greyhawk-like stuff in other systems, though, if you're looking for gritty and OSR.

He has suggested it will be more lethal and consist of other variant rules.
It will still be a 2024 D&D setting

Whizbang Dustyboots · 2026-03-27T01:13:23+0000

bedir than said:
He has suggested it will be more lethal and consist of other variant rules.
It will still be a 2024 D&D setting

Yeah, I know. I don't think it's realistic to think that those variant rules will turn it into a rules-lite OSR game, though. For folks who want that from Luke Gygax, his back catalog of other works is probably the place to start.

Parmandur · 2026-03-27T01:17:49+0000

bedir than said:
He has suggested it will be more lethal and consist of other variant rules.
It will still be a 2024 D&D setting

He was talking about how lethal the current edition rules games he runs can be.

VashVet · 2026-03-27T01:23:09+0000

Could Wizards want to create a rules-lite game that is geared towards OSR play? They could but I doubt they would. It would have to be based upon overall reaction to this product if any rules towards grittiness prove incredibly popular. It’s basically asking Wizards to create a second D&D game - a new paradigm of basic and advanced.

There would have to be some really compelling sales to make them do that.

Dire Bare · 2026-03-27T01:29:59+0000

wizard71 said:
Yes, they did. The book by Ben Riggs was very much in the blame Gygax vein and a thread on this site tried to shift all blame to Gygax for the fall of TSR even though he was long gone after the collapse took place and Lorraine Williams was running the show.

Heh. Nope.

I'm assuming you are referring to "The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons (1970-1977)" . . . although that was Jon Peterson, not Ben Riggs. I don't think Riggs has written any books in partnership with WotC.

But either way . . . Nope.

Gygax was what he was. A guy who captured lightning in a bottle and gifted us with an amazing game. But who was also rather sexist and mildly racist. And a terrible businessman who was running TSR into the ground before he was ousted. All of which happened long before WotC took over the company and the game.

Dire Bare · 2026-03-27T01:33:01+0000

wizard71 said:
Actually many of the old D&D team felt that WOTC shafted them. Weis and Hickman sued them in court to get them to honor their book deal. Professor Dungeon Master said he felt insulted and made a video about it and the TSR apology also.

Several of the novel authors have had rocky relationships with first TSR and then later WotC. Weis & Hickman, Salvatore, probably others.

And?

Dire Bare · 2026-03-27T01:34:02+0000

wizard71 said:
Then what do you think he meant about reconnecting with older players again? Wa it the terrible dwarves baking art he was apologizing for?

Have you bothered to read the thread? It's been covered.

But you do you man, keep on believing what you want to believe, evidence not withstanding.

Whizbang Dustyboots · 2026-03-27T01:34:05+0000

wizard71 said:
Wa it the terrible dwarves baking art he was apologizing for?

That is an extremely weird thing to be triggered by.

Dire Bare · 2026-03-27T01:35:59+0000

kronovan said:
Yup, I wasn't arguing the point that over time dark elves have become equated with evil, but just your assertion that that equating comes from Tolkien's lore or European folklore. I'm personally not bothered by WotC having varying skin tones for Elves, because there's been differences and diversity among Elves going back to their very foundation in literature.

Cool.

But not my assertion.

It's certainly true that Tolkien's work is more complex than that, and also the mythology that inspired it.

Nonetheless, the trope picked up and carried by D&D is that "good" elves are light-skinned, and "evil" elves are dark-skinned. It was never 100%, but it's a pretty strong trope. On which I was pushing back on.