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'.

 

[Voadam]

I saw Greyhawk as multi themed from the beginning. Lankhmar style thieves and assassins guild local political intrigue in Greyhawk. Pirate swashbuckling with the Sea Lords. Tolkien lord of the rings stuff with Iuz. 1001 nights in the Sultanate. Arthurian knights in Furyondy and Shield Lands. Wild West frontier fantasy in the Wild Coast.

Paizo took it a step farther in Golarions mini settings but their inspiration is strongly Greyhawk.

 

[Voadam]

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.

My memory of the original Thrawn novels is that this was explicit. Thrawn was pointed out in the text as a rare non human who had risen based on his excellence despite the Empire’s prejudice against non humans.

It’s been a couple decades though since I read them and I do not own them to be able to check.

 

[Zardnaar]

My memory of the original Thrawn novels is that this was explicit. Thrawn was pointed out in the text as a rare non human who had risen based on his excellence despite the Empire’s prejudice against non humans.

It’s been a couple decades though since I read them and I do not own them to be able to check.

Empire being racist is mostly EU thing and off screen.

 

[Zeromaru X]

@Zeromaru X the book doesn't really address the "place" for any species in the Setting, but perhaps tellingly the Free City section goes out of it's way to provide a location and NPC contact thwt can work for each Background: for instance, the innkeeper at the Black Dragpn Inn is a charitable veteran so os a good contact for Soldiers and Wanderers, while the (disguises dragon) Wizard Morley running the magic shop Unearthed Arcana is a good contact for Charletans or Hermits "because Morley has peculiar interests".

Better than nothing, but still not what I consider useful setting building instruction. I don't know if I have a different perspective about this for living in a multicultural, multiethnic country, but I think describing how the different peoples living in the described region would have been better.

 

[Parmandur]

Better than nothing, but still not what I consider useful setting building instruction. I don't know if I have a different perspective about this for living in a multicultural, multiethnic country, but I think describing how the different peoples living in the described region would have been better.

I mean, I'm from an extremely diverse part of tge U.S., and thie approach WotC is taking here just makes sense to me? Juat because all these Spwcies are around doesn't mean they have a distinct wthnostate around the corner or in living memory.

Whereas tying individual PCs to an area by Background makes way more sense.

 

[Zeromaru X]

I mean, I'm from an extremely diverse part of tge U.S., and thie approach WotC is taking here just makes sense to me? Juat because all these Spwcies are around doesn't mean they have a distinct wthnostate around the corner or in living memory.

Whereas ttyingindovidual PCs to am area by Backgroujd makes waybmore sense.

While I live in a country were each region of it is completely different than the other, culturally and ethnically. Each community is so different, that even if we talk the same language, some words have different meanings depending on the region. If you go from the north to the south, you may as well think you have crossed the border into the next country.

And I'm talking about just native born people. If you take into account the foreigners who happen to decide to live here, my country is pretty diverse.

 

[Parmandur]

While I live in a country were each region of it is completely different than the other, culturally and ethnically. Each community is so different, that even if we talk the same language, some words have different meanings depending on the region. If you go from the north to the south, you may as well think you have crossed the border into the next country.

And I'm talking about just native born people. If you take into account the foreigners who happen to decide to live here, my country

Interesting perspective, but it just doesn't seem to me thst the Setting needs to limit where people.are from thet way: there are lots of mentions in the text if Drafonborn being from places, by the way, such as Ket or the Lortmil Mountains, but no indication that theybare limited to one region.

 

[Parmandur]

@Snarf Zagyg I can confirm that there is a discussion of the gods of Oerik, and thar the chart is explained as a limited selection of deities likely to be significant for a DM and players.

 

[Greg K]

Did 5e Greyhawk go back to using Gygax's Greyhawk deities as the default pantheon or is it using 3e's mix of Gary's Greyhawk deities and Len Lakofka's Suel pantheon?

 

[Parmandur]

Did 5e Greyhawk go back to using Gygax's Greyhawk deities as the default pantheon or is it using 3e's mix of Gary's Greyhawk deities and Len Lakofka's Suel pantheon?

Neither yes, and both? Kinda?

There are really only two Suel skeptics, Wee Jas and Kord, on a brief glance. Vecna is a god, very 3E.