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'.

 

[TiQuinn]

Possibly, the Scarlet Order is no longer "racist" and no longer "N*zi" in 2024.

Generally, the original racist descriptions by Gygax (referring to Human "race" "purity", skin colors, etcetera) are mostly gone from everything in 2024 Greyhawk.

So we need to pay attention to what 2024 actually does say.


From what I have seen so far, the Scarlet Order is moreorless an assassins guild.

The Scarlet Order is a "fanatical" "Sueloise" "monastic order", whose goals are "shrouded in mystery".

If the order did have racist goals, this wouldnt be a mystery. It would be banal and obvious.

The order is intensely political, with spies and assassins everywhere.

Presumably, the order seeks to revive the ancient Sueloise Empire. But this actually isnt clear, and to what end is less obvious. It might be political intrigue to create something new for some new reason.

The leader of the order is reputed to be immortal, and to have lived during the Sueloise Empire and since. Some repute him to be an ancient Red Dragon trapped in a Human form, and to have been a consort of Tiamat. But all of the rumors are uncertain. (Heh, perhaps he is a Dragonborn with shapeshifting to appear Human.)


Baklunish is a language group. If I understand correctly, Sueloise is also a language group. Especially as an empire, ancient Suel probably comprised many ethnicities, all coming to speak the Sueloise language.

Compare the Roman Empire, merging many ethnicities, with many speaking Latin or a language influenced by Latin. People who seek to revive the ancient Roman Empire might not even be Italians themselves.

Racism is no longer an aspect of the Scarlet Order, as far as I can tell. And whatever it seeking to accomplish is secretive, conspiratorial, and probably Oerth-shaking.


Here is a description of the Scarlet Order, in the Greyhawk chapter in the Organizations and Factions section.

"
FACTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Scarlet Order. The Scarlet Order is a monastic order of Sueloise militarists whose spies and assassins have infiltrated many courts and castles throughout the Flanaess, ready to strike. The leader of the order is a seemingly immortal being known as the Father of Obedience, Korenth Zan. He is rumored to be a Sueloise monk who walked the lands of Suel long before the Rain of Colorless Fire destroyed the Suloise Empire. Others claim Korenth is a red dragon − a former consort of Tiamat who became trapped in human form. Whatever the truth was the Father of Obedience is revered by all who give their lives to the Scarlet Order. His goals − are shrouded in mystery and could one day tilt the balance of power across the whole of Eastern Oerik.

"

Honestly, if the racist flavor truly is gone, I feel deep relief.

This all works for me. Because I tend to think of Star Wars as a D&D analogy, they are the Sith. The Empire was certainly racist but it never really needed to be stated outright. It was insinuated strongly. Few Imperials were aliens with some notable exceptions like Thrawn. There was always disdain for anyone not in an Imperial uniform, I.E. typically not human. And they’re ruled by wizened monk with incredible powers.

Point is, there are ways to suggest these concepts without having to lean heavily into it, allowing others to interpret their actions differently.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Answer: they are not directly mentioned...the chart O' nations and geographic features for the Cebtral flannaes lists the Nyr Dyv, and states "people live on it in barges".

That all.

Good. That was always the most ... problematic part of Greyhawk. No need to have a thinly-coded (and not so thinly racist) trope in it.

 

[Zeromaru X]

Why? Does something break if they don't? Does the universe fall apart if people mingle and mix and live together? Is racial segregation somehow necessary to existence?

Does anything break if they do?

While racial segregation is not necessary, being integrated into the lore and having a place in the world is necessary.

Stuff that exist in thin air, without any logic but being there because yes, makes no sense to me, but that is a me thing.

@ZeromaruX

Possibly, the Dragonborn emerge spontaneously, when Human children are born in an area under the influence of an ancient Dragon. This means, they tend to show up in any wilderness locale where an ancient Dragon is known to exist, and can be any family of Dragon, whether Metallic, Chromatic, or Gem.

Isn't that a Fizban's thing? The only thing that is necessary to be included in the setting is what is stated in the PHB. All other stuff is optional.

 

[Yaarel]

Isn't that a Fizban's thing? The only thing that is necessary to be included in the setting is what is stated in the PHB. All other stuff is optional.

Fizban, exactly.

In Flanaess, Dragons are everywhere. Presumably Dragonborn are too. So the only question is what flavors do the Flanaess settings offer where the existence of Dragonborn make most sense.

If Dragonborn are an ancient civilization, the Dragons Island is their likeliest origin. But if they show up here or there sporatically, then born from draconic magical influence is their likeliest origin.

 

[Yaarel]

This all works for me. Because I tend to think of Star Wars as a D&D analogy, they are the Sith. The Empire was certainly racist but it never really needed to be stated outright. It was insinuated strongly. Few Imperials were aliens with some notable exceptions like Thrawn. There was always disdain for anyone not in an Imperial uniform, I.E. typically not human. And they’re ruled by wizened monk with incredible powers.

Point is, there are ways to suggest these concepts without having to lean heavily into it, allowing others to interpret their actions differently.

Scarlet Order = Sith

Love it!

 

[Parmandur]

Good. That was always the most ... problematic part of Greyhawk. No need to have a thinly-coded (and not so thinly racist) trope in it.

I mean, it wasn't even coded. the 1983 Glossography namrs their culture a slur for the Romani.

 

[Parmandur]

One neat thing that I haven't really seen mentioned: the Greyhawk section is a sub-section of the Campaign building Vhapter, which goes over advice on how tonstructure long-form Campaigns, a lot of it advice from the 2014 DMG, but massaged and changed up significantly.

The Greyhawk stuff ua very particularly and clearly designed to show the advice in action.

For example, the general Campaign section goes quite a bit into "Flavors if Fantasy" and how to differentiate, say, High Fabtasy from Sword & Sorcery from Political Intrigue. And each region of the Flannaes is set up to show off a flavor of Fantasy, actually usually a couple but here are the ones I remember off-hand

• Old Keoland is High Fantasy, where the nation's are buds fighting Giants and Dragons and other Monsters
• The Western Flannaes are set-up to show off political intrigue
• The Northern Flannaes is set up for Sword & Sorcery
• The Central Flannaes are setup for Epic Fantasy
• The Eastern Flannaes are set up for War stories (Iron League vs. The Evil Empi...Great Kingdom)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

One neat thing that I haven't really seen mentioned: the Greyhawk section is a sub-section of the Campaign building Vhapter, which goes over advice on how tonstructure long-form Campaigns, a lot of it advice from the 2014 DMG, but massaged and changed up significantly.

The Greyhawk stuff ua very particularly and clearly designed to show the advice in action.

For example, the general Campaign section goes quite a bit into "Flavors if Fantasy" and how to differentiate, say, High Fabtasy from Sword & Sorcery from Political Intrigue. And each region of the Flannaes is set up to show off a flavor of Fantasy, actually usually a couple but here are the ones I remember off-hand

• Old Keoland is High Fantasy, where the nation's are buds fighting Giants and Dragons and other Monsters
• The Western Flannaes are set-up to show off political intrigue
• The Northern Flannaes is set up for Sword & Sorcery
• The Central Flannaes are setup for Epic Fantasy
• The Eastern Flannaes are set up for War stories (Iron League vs. The Evil Empi...Great Kingdom)

That's ... really interesting!

I'm not sure how I feel about it, and it will probably require a lot of thought (and at least 37 essays) to work through. My initial reaction was, "Wut? Campaign settings are supposed to have a single flavor. This isn't Baskin Robbins, this is HIGHLANDER! There can be only one!"

But then I thought to myself, "Self, why does that have to be the case? If god hands you lemons, FIND A NEW GOD! Why not have a setting that has multiple flavors in different areas? Not only could you run different campaigns with different flavors, you could even have one campaign that moves around and subtly changes the flavoring!"

I need to think about this.

 

[Parmandur]

Fun little old school bit from the Flavors of Fantasy title "Crossing the Streams":

Gamma World. The characters inhabit a post-apocalyptic wasteland that is largely medieval in feel, but isolated outposts still hold futuristic technology from before the cataclysm.

 

[Parmandur]

That's ... really interesting!

I'm not sure how I feel about it, and it will probably require a lot of thought (and at least 37 essays) to work through. My initial reaction was, "Wut? Campaign settings are supposed to have a single flavor. This isn't Baskin Robbins, this is HIGHLANDER! There can be only one!"

But then I thought to myself, "Self, why does that have to be the case? If god hands you lemons, FIND A NEW GOD! Why not have a setting that has multiple flavors in different areas? Not only could you run different campaigns with different flavors, you could even have one campaign that moves around and subtly changes the flavoring!"

I need to think about this.

The rest of Chapter 5 thwt isn't about Greyhawk is actually up for free now. The major suggestion they organize the chapter around is to develop 3 "Conflicts" thwt can generate individual Adventures, giving players to make a choice about what to pursue, or to have more personal Arcs per PC maybe. The Greyhawk chapter draws out 3 big specific possibilities (Chromatic Dragon plotting, Iuz a-conquerin', or Elemental Evil...sneaking), and each of the 6 regions also gets specific recommendations (less fully drawn out. But beforw Greyhawk in the chapter, the Flavors of Fabtasy fives three suggestions each for a set of genre tropes: this gives a DM a menu of generic Campaign archetypes, a menu of Flannaes general archetypes, and a menu of specific regional archetypes...to mix and match as desired.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/creating-campaigns