D&D General What the Melf's Guide to Greyhawk Cover Might Look Like

Reef · 2026-03-28T22:21:39+0000

Jahydin said:
That's awesome. Are you guys playing through a published adventure or doing your own thing?

We're all over the map (no pun intended). There are three of us who DM. The first usually picks an adventure path and sticks to it fairly religiously. The second tends to go complete homebrew: setting and adventures are all original. I tend to split the difference: I like to have some published adventures (separate or as a path) that I can lean on as a framework/crutch, but I'll deviate and make it my own as we go...adding quests, reworking dungeons, swapping npcs etc (as needed).

Jahydin · 2026-03-28T23:49:58+0000

Reef said:
I tend to split the difference: I like to have some published adventures (separate or as a path) that I can lean on as a framework/crutch, but I'll deviate and make it my own as we go...adding quests, reworking dungeons, swapping npcs etc (as needed).

Last one I ran was Out of the Abyss and it felt like this 50/50 split was mandatory. Are the later adventurers like that still or are they more complete like PF Adventure Paths?

Jahydin · 2026-03-29T00:10:25+0000

dave2008 said:
Funny that you mention A5e, I feel that goes farther away from old school D&D than 5e or 5.5e! I have A5e but me and my group felt it was taking us away from our old school playing style so we when back to 5e.

I think for me it was less about simple mechanics, but the idea that D&D isn't just "storytime", but a game to be won. I play OSR games because I like to see players accomplish that with creative solutions and role-play. For other rule sets, I think it's cool to see players do that via smart character builds, clever battle tactics, and/or meta currency manipulation.

5e for me, especially behind the screen, just felt like the math wasn't mathing. Past level 10 I gave up trying to balance fights all together and just let them live out their super hero fantasies. Much happier with PF2e right now since it seems to be a great combination of role-play/tactics in order to overcome challenges.

dave2008 said:
Regarding the art, that isn't actually a trend IMO. There are many styles of art in 5e and in particular 5e24. I mean the following is coming from a book in June: You have blood drinking, stakes through the heart,

That picture of Strahd is absolutely gorgeous. I honestly did a double take. The last promotional Ravenloft artwork I saw was this:

So certainly took note.

Honestly, all those others pics you posted look pretty great too. I was so turned off with the Player's Handbook I never even gave the other books a look through, so glad to see this. I've only seen the Player's Handbook out in the wild, but I will certainly give the other books a flip through if I get a chance.

bedir than · 2026-03-29T00:22:08+0000

Jahydin said:
I think for me it was less about simple mechanics, but the idea that D&D isn't just "storytime", but a game to be won. I play OSR games because I like to see players accomplish that with creative solutions and role-play. For other rule sets, I think it's cool to see players do that via smart character builds, clever battle tactics, and/or meta currency manipulation.

5e for me, especially behind the screen, just felt like the math wasn't mathing. Past level 10 I gave up trying to balance fights all together and just let them live out their super hero fantasies. Much happier with PF2e right now since it seems to be a great combination of role-play/tactics in order to overcome challenges.

That picture of Strahd is absolutely gorgeous. I honestly did a double take. The last promotional Ravenloft artwork I saw was this:View attachment 433136
So certainly took note.

Honestly, all those others pics you posted look pretty great too. I was so turned off with the Player's Handbook I never even gave the other books a look through, so glad to see this. I've only seen the Player's Handbook out in the wild, but I will certainly give the other books a flip through if I get a chance.

You'd probably enjoy the Melf's Acid Arrow art from the PHB too.
There's a lot of variance of style and intent within that book.
Morrus used it for the product announcement

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

Mar 19, 2026

At GaryCon this week, Luke Gygax and WotC's Dan Ayoub announced that Gygax was working on a book called Melf's Guide to Greyhawk. No other information is known at this time, other than that Gygax is also working on adventures.

Luke is the son of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax. The character Melf--of Melf's acid arrow fame--was his player character back in Gygax's home game in the 1970s.

Dan Ayoub: I think probably the thing that I'm excited about many things that we're going to be doing, one of the biggest things I'm most excited about...