D&D (2024) WotC Invites You To Explore the World of Greyhawk

This week a new D&D Dungeon Master's Guide preview video was released. This one features the sample setting chapter in the book, which showcases the World of Greyhawk.

One of the earliest campaign settings, and created by D&D co-founder Gary Gygax, Greyhawk dates back to the early 1970s in Gygax's home games, receiving a short official setting book in 1980. Gyeyhawk was selected as the example setting because it is able to hit all the key notes of D&D while being concise and short. The setting has been largely absent from D&D--aside from a few shorter adventures--since 2008. Some key points from the video--

• Greyhawk deliberately leaves a lot for the DM to fill in, with a 30-page chapter.
• Greyhawk created many of the tropes of D&D, and feels very 'straight down the fairway' D&D.
• This is the world where many iconic D&D magic items, NPCs, etc. came from--Mordenkainen, Bigby, Tasha, Otiluke and so on.
• The DMG starts with the City of Greyhawk and its surroundings in some detail, and gets more vague as you get farther away.
• The city is an example of a 'campaign hub'.
• The sample adventures in Chapter 4 of the DMG are set there or nearby.
• The map is an updated version, mainly faithful to the original with some tweaks.
• The map has some added locations key to D&D's history--such as White Plume Mountain, the Tomb of Horrors, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Ghost Tower of Inverness.
• There's a map of the city, descriptions of places characters might visit--magic item shop, library, 3 taverns, temples, etc.
• The setting takes 'a few liberties while remaining faithful to the spirit of the setting'--it has been contemporized to make it resonate in all D&D campaigns with a balance of NPCs who showcase the diversity of D&D worlds.
• The backgrounds in the Player's Handbook map to locations in the city.
• Most areas in the setting have a name and brief description.
• They focus on three 'iconic' D&D/Greyhawk conflicts such as the Elemental Evil, a classic faceless adversary; Iuz the evil cambion demigod; and dragons.
• There's a list of gods, rulers, and 'big bads'.

 

[Parmandur]

But, let’s be honest, they don’t quite have the word count. Because the fantasy nazis have had entire sourcebooks devoted exclusively to them. They’ve featured prominently in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. They continue to feature prominently in various sources.

But phb races get an npc and a picture or two?

It’s not an unreasonable issue. We absolutely cannot change the setting to accommodate phb races but we can still have a homeland for fantasy nazis?

I’m saying that I want both. My Greyhawk will certainly have both.

Sure? It doesn't dwell on the Scarlet Order much, just flipping through my copy now. Each of the "new" PHB Species gets a head of state, which is better than Halflings and Gnomes still.

 

[Scribe]

All of them need to be given an example of how they fit in an already defined setting with 50+ years of history.

Just base your game in FR, solved.

 

[Parmandur]

As for the NPCs, do we have confirmation of that?

Yes just in the Free City itself (where that bar is located clearly), but outside of thst 4 nations have "new" Species heads of state: a Dragonborn in the Shield Lands (which makes a ton of sense, actually), a Goliath in the Yeomanry (fitting in the shadow of the G modules location), an Aasamir in the theocracy of Ekbir (a Sultan now, used to be Caliph), and a Tieflimg leading the Hunters of the Happy Hunting grounds in their struggle against Iuz (interesting and fitting).

 

[Parmandur]

Agree completely!

As I have repeatedly pointed out, Greyhawk was around when they kept introducing new races (species) into the game. You can totally have them as part of the hoi polloi.

MMMm..... Hoi polloi.... now I want some avgolemono soup.

To me, probavly more interthan the Species substitutions are some of the other changes: the Prince of Ulek is now the Princess of Ulek, for starters, and the brief description makes her sound like the international Dwarven Galadriel figure...and that is cool.

 

[Zeromaru X]

so now every race needs a homeland and kingdom for it, anything less is unacceptable? If I am misunderstanding this, what is it you are asking for so they are properly recognized?

But every race needs a homeland. Even halflings have some unnamed communities near Saltmarsh. That homeland doesn't need to be within the Flanaess necessarily, but they need to say they live somewhere.

 

[Parmandur]

But every race needs a homeland. Even halflings have some unnamed communities near Saltmarsh. That homeland doesn't need to be within the Flanaess necessarily, but they need to say they live somewhere.

I mean, they are around, so clearly they live somewhere...but everyone in the Flannaes is kind of all over, that's a major point of the Setting.

 

[TiQuinn]

But every race needs a homeland. Even halflings have some unnamed communities near Saltmarsh. That homeland doesn't need to be within the Flanaess necessarily, but they need to say they live somewhere.

An unnamed community is not the same thing as a homeland.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

But every race needs a homeland.

No, they do not. It's just that YOU would like every race to have a homeland.

 

[MGibster]

There is more to it than that though. Without express placement in the setting, these will always be the “guest starring” races. Just like gnomes and halflings.

That's a valid point. At the end of the day, I don't think it's possible for WotC to do something about this that will please everyone.

 

[Zeromaru X]

Yes just in the Free City itself (where that bar is located clearly), but outside of thst 4 nations have "new" Spwxies heads of state: a Dragonborn in the Shield Lands (which makes a ton of sense, actually), a Goliath in the Yeomanry (fitting on the shadow of the G modules location), an Aasamir in the theocracy of Ekbir (a Sultan now, iswd to be Caliph), and a Tieflimg leading the Buntera of the Happy Huntinggroujds in their struggle against Iuz (interesting and fitting).

Well, is better than nothing, I guess. I would have wanted something more like what they did in the 4e DMG with the PHB races, but well...

Just base your game in FR, solved.

I already have a campaign there. Good setting, if you ask, but the truth is that I'm getting curious about Greyhawk. All this conversation made aware that I had many misconceptions about the setting, based in some bad experiences with some DMs. And now that it's the new "sample setting" I'd like to know more about it, even if I end not using it. If only to inform myself better.

Also, is not like I don't have my issues with FR, as well (Wall of the Faithless, I'm looking at you).