Melf's Guide to Greyhawk Cover by Jeff Easley Revealed at Gary Con

Luke Gygax revealed the cover to his upcoming collaboration with Wizards of the Coast at Gary Con over the weekend. During an annual auction at the convention, Gygax revealed a painting by Jeff Easley featuring his famed character Melf. According to GamingTrend, which posted the news on Saturday, the painting will be used as a cover for the upcoming Greyhawk compendium being developed by Gygax and Wizards of the Coast, which was unofficially called Melf's Guide to Greyhawk. The painting was won by actor Vince Vaughn, who paid $5,000. You can check out an image of the cover below, courtesy of GamingTrend. More photos of the artwork can be found on that site.

Gygax and D&D Head of Franchise Dan Ayoub announced their collaboration earlier at Gary Con, with Ayoub emphasizing a desire to "mend the rift" between the Gygax family and Dungeons & Dragons. No specifics have been revealed for what the book will entail, other than that it will be set within Greyhawk. Greyhawk is also featured in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, although at the time Wizards had no plans to further flesh out the setting beyond that book.

Wizards of the Coast also announced at Gary Gon that Gen Con would serve as an announcement hub for upcoming books starting this year, and that modules would be returning in some format tied to the new Seasons approach to promoting material.

 

[Parmandur]

I get all that but that’s a very inherited rift then. Lorraine Williams and the Blumes were not WotC. Wizards asked Gygax to write a regular column for them in Dragon Magazine that ran for several years, so it’s not like he refused to work with new management.

If the rift is between Wizards and people who think they should run games the way they were back in the BX or 1e days, that’s a different matter. But I don’t see how Gygax being forced out is a rift with WotC.

I don't know if we ever publicly hears about any specific rift, but a large number of folks like Magianello or Luke Gygax were in with the WotC D&D team for a spell fairly recently, and that fell off hard somewhere along the line. Don't know the exact tea, but it has been years since Luke Gygax did a Thing with WotC, and they were active at GaryCon and then...were less so?

 

[Dire Bare]

I get all that but that’s a very inherited rift then. Lorraine Williams and the Blumes were not WotC. Wizards asked Gygax to write a regular column for them in Dragon Magazine that ran for several years, so it’s not like he refused to work with new management.

If the rift is between Wizards and people who think they should run games the way they were back in the BX or 1e days, that’s a different matter. But I don’t see how Gygax being forced out is a rift with WotC.

Well, yeah, the rift goes back to TSR in the 80s, but it's still there.

When WotC purchased TSR and D&D in the late 90s, Adkinson made it a point to bring on Gygax as a consultant and to heal that rift, but it didn't last long.

I don't think WotC as a company has a problem with Gary Gygax, and I don't think Gary had animosity towards WotC, other than remaining anger over losing control of "his" game and company. But the rift is still there, although some are quibbling over the specific terms used (rift? drifting apart?). Gygax and D&D are separate things, that some feel should be less separate.

So making a big deal about bringing Luke on to collaborate on a Greyhawk project is bringing back the Gygax name to D&D and Greyhawk, and for fans that's a big deal! Well, for some of us, anyways.

I mean, it's not drama on the level of Real Housewives of New Jersey, but . . .

 

[Artamo]

Well, yeah, the rift goes back to TSR in the 80s, but it's still there.

When WotC purchased TSR and D&D in the late 90s, Adkinson made it a point to bring on Gygax as a consultant and to heal that rift, but it didn't last long.

I don't think WotC as a company has a problem with Gary Gygax, and I don't think Gary had animosity towards WotC, other than remaining anger over losing control of "his" game and company. But the rift is still there, although some are quibbling over the specific terms used (rift? drifting apart?). Gygax and D&D are separate things, that some feel should be less separate.

So making a big deal about bringing Luke on to collaborate on a Greyhawk project is bringing back the Gygax name to D&D and Greyhawk, and for fans that's a big deal! Well, for some of us, anyways.

I mean, it's not drama on the level of Real Housewives of New Jersey, but . . .

Which is fine. Luke Gygax brings a lot of history and memories and is an experienced hand at designing games now, as well as someone who doesn’t seem to want to carry grudges. But end of the day, it’s still gonna be a 5.5 game with some alterations to make it grittier. Who knows? If that’s popular, it could lead to a lot more optional rules and maybe we get to something that’s a little bit 1e, a little bit 5.5.

 

[Parmandur]

Which is fine. Luke Gygax brings a lot of history and memories and is an experienced hand at designing games now, as well as someone who doesn’t seem to want to carry grudges. But end of the day, it’s still gonna be a 5.5 game with some alterations to make it grittier. Who knows? If that’s popular, it could lead to a lot more optional rules and maybe we get to something that’s a little bit 1e, a little bit 5.5.

I dunno how much to expect in different rules.

Depending on the estate situation...we could see a properly Gygaxian Castle Greyhawk, though.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What rift? I feel like everyone’s putting their own meaning on rift.

Him being ousted from D&D is in my opinion the start of any rift between him and his family and the game.

To be exact I was replying to a guy who said WotC made the rift. Which I don’t think is really the case.

 

[Artamo]

I dunno how much to expect in different rules.

Depending on the estate situation...we could see a properly Gygaxian Castle Greyhawk, though.

I believe they’ve already said they want to make Greyhawk grittier so I’m kind of anticipating at least few options to do that.

Castle Greyhawk…oof. To me, that’s such a loaded concept. There was a time I would’ve loved to have seen it back when Gygax was working with the Castles and Crusades folks, but it just seemed like they could never really get the actual work done. And now we’ve seen so much great stuff come out of the OSR space. Would it measure up today? Do you alter it? Do you create a prestige edition with Gary’s original notes so people can just see what it was as he first wrote it? I kinda want that book. Just for a view into the past, but not to try and relive it in a ruleset that it was never built for.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I am not going to be expecting any notable rules changes or variants. I think expecting that is a bit much in fact

 

[bedir than]

I am not going to be expecting any notable rules changes or variants. I think expecting that is a bit much in fact

Luke has said there will be variant rules to increase the lethality of 5.5

 

[Dire Bare]

I believe they’ve already said they want to make Greyhawk grittier so I’m kind of anticipating at least few options to do that.

Castle Greyhawk…oof. To me, that’s such a loaded concept. There was a time I would’ve loved to have seen it back when Gygax was working with the Castles and Crusades folks, but it just seemed like they could never really get the actual work done. And now we’ve seen so much great stuff come out of the OSR space. Would it measure up today? Do you alter it? Do you create a prestige edition with Gary’s original notes so people can just see what it was as he first wrote it? I kinda want that book. Just for a view into the past, but not to try and relive it in a ruleset that it was never built for.

A new take on Castle Greyhawk that fell flat . . . yeah, that would hurt.

But I'd love to see Luke and WotC give it a try using Gary's original notes. While WotC owns Greyhawk, other companies have licenses for the Castle Greyhawk notes, so not sure how likely that is . . . but I think it could be super cool!

 

[morrangor]

I am so excited about this! Some of my most favorite books in AD&D 2nd edition had covers from Jeff Easely. I really hope this Greyhawk book is good, for me the cover alone makes be incredibly nostalgic.