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

Below is a quick mockup of the potential cover of Melf's Guide to Greyhawk based on the Jeff Easley art revealed at Gary Con, using the current D&D 5.5E trade dress. The fonts aren't quite right, but it gives an approximate look at what the book may look like when it is released.

 

[Mournblade94]

Now we're to the point insisting that a PhD in English Lit and Philosophy isn't qualified to write a history book because they don't really understand the subject better than random people who take offense at everything on the internet

Interesting. That's the same argument you used against criticism of the Calimshan section of Heroes of Faerun.

 

[bedir than]

Interesting. That's the same argument you used against criticism of the Calimshan section of Heroes of Faerun.

Yes, I do in fact think that people who are experts know more than people who are not experts.

A claim of retcon, as was thrown at the Calimshan work, when it isn't a retcon because it didn't change the past at all is not a valid criticism.
Nor is the claim that a PhD in English Literature and Philosophy doesn't know enough about studying history to present a book that includes history of the field in which they've worked for over two decades after they were a professor teaching the histories of English literature.

 

[Jared Rascher]

I do wonder about how much this is going to run into the fact that people have their own favorite parts of Greyhawk that may or may not have anything to do with Gygax, and it may not be transparent until you see a more "Gygaxian" Greyhawk that doesn't include some of those things you think are foundational.

 

[Mournblade94]

Yes, I do in fact think that people who are experts know more than people who are not experts.[

A claim of retcon, as was thrown at the Calimshan work, when it isn't a retcon because it didn't change the past at all is not a valid criticism.
Nor is the claim that a PhD in English Literature and Philosophy doesn't know enough about studying history to present a book that includes history of the field in which they've worked for over two decades after they were a professor teaching the histories of English literature.

Yes it takes an expert to write a blurb of an obvious bias in history that everybody brings up ad nauseum.

My problem with Calimshan is not the past its the arbitrary flavor change they made in the present.

Though I left the lab 10 years ago I still work with PhDs every day and my steady job is due to it as well. So just because its made by a PhD doesn't immediately hit reverence for me. A game book by a PhD is not that big a deal when half the players in your campaign are PhDs in a variety of disciplines.

 

[VashVet]

I’m sorry but has this thread just become about responding to one person over and over?

 

[Dire Bare]

I’m sorry but has this thread just become about responding to one person over and over?

Eventually, most threads do. Welcome to the internet!

 

[Mournblade94]

I do wonder about how much this is going to run into the fact that people have their own favorite parts of Greyhawk that may or may not have anything to do with Gygax, and it may not be transparent until you see a more "Gygaxian" Greyhawk that doesn't include some of those things you think are foundational.

Anything involving the Chain mail setting from the 2000s will likely cause some angst.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

qualified historian

I gotta say, you are getting a hell of a workout running the goalposts around this field.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I’m sorry but has this thread just become about responding to one person over and over?

The end state of every ENWorld thread.

I do wonder about how much this is going to run into the fact that people have their own favorite parts of Greyhawk that may or may not have anything to do with Gygax, and it may not be transparent until you see a more "Gygaxian" Greyhawk that doesn't include some of those things you think are foundational.

I think there's a big risk of this. Greyhawk changed a bunch after Gygax left and TSR tried to make a go of it in the late 1E and early 2E eras.

For me, the original folio is what Greyhawk "is." But that was superseded by a full boxed set and then we had multiple takes over the years, each drifting further away from the original folio. I suspect it's going to be like comic books and whatever point you bonded with, say, Batman, is the definitive take and everything else is changing things from there, for good or for ill.

We had people upset about the changes in the 5E DMG's take on the setting, although those are relatively mild and mostly meant to address some problematic issues with naming.

I have to imagine whatever happens in Melf's will upset someone for "messing up" the setting. Given that a Gygax is involved, I assume the stuff people object to will be blamed on WotC interference, whether or not that's accurate.

Yes it takes an expert to write a blurb of an obvious bias in history that everybody brings up ad nauseum.

Racism and sexism being bad are "obvious bias?"

 

[Mournblade94]

Racism and sexism being bad are "obvious bias?"

NO! You really are just trying to make me sound like a bigot. You jump to alot of conclusions. Use the information available to you.

Its an Obvious bias of society of the TIME the game was Created. Its that simple.