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]

But what if someone confuses Heward's AD&D metaphysical status with Iuz's AD&D metaphysical status? They'll inadvertently spoil their whole RPG experience!

I found the 2014 5e change of what a demigod was to be fairly pointless and just confuses talking about stuff like Iuz, who is a full god in the 5e 2014 PH.

Quasi-deities have a divine origin, but they don't hear or answer prayers, grant spells to clerics, or control aspects of mortal life. They are still immensely powerful beings, and in theory they could ascend to godhood if they amassed enough worshipers. Quasi-deities fall into three subcategories: demigods, titans, and vestiges.
Demigods are born from the union of a deity and a mortal being. They have some divine attributes, but their mortal parentage makes them the weakest quasi-deities.
Titans are the divine creations of deities. They might be birthed from the union of two deities, manufactured on a divine forge, born from the blood spilled by a god, or otherwise brought about through divine will or substance.
Vestiges are deities who have lost nearly all their worshipers and are considered dead, from a mortal perspective. Esoteric rituals can sometimes contact these beings and draw on their latent power.

So in 2024 DMG Greyhawk is Iuz a lesser god who grants clerics spells or a demigod who does not? Or can quasi deities now grant spells?

 

[mamba]

And really, if you are going to ignore them, then why are you complaining?

I am not complaining about what is in the DMG, see the second half of my post. I disagreed with a post saying we all have to accept the changes to GH

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I am not complaining about what is in the DMG, see the second half of my post. I disagreed with a post saying we all have to accept the changes to GH

Come at the (Burger) King, better not miss....

 

[pemerton]

My Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign had a full blooded orc PC (using the half-orc stats from the PHB - funny how we managed to anticipate WotC by about 5 years or so) and a Firbolg from the Dreadwood. Not sure when Firbolg first appeared in the setting.

They're in MM2. Not sure about Lost Caverns.

 

[pemerton]

What about Hero Deities?

 

[Parmandur]

They're in MM2. Not sure about Lost Caverns.

And the Gold Box explicitly uses Fiend Golio and MM2 material.

 

[Azzy]

Does the feel of the setting change by dropping a bunch of creatures that never existed into it, and shifting the basis of conflict?

Well, damn... They did that back in 1e. Just adding things will-nilly—from the FF, MM2, UA, and various material from The Dragon magazine.

 

[mamba]

Well, damn... They did that back in 1e. Just adding things will-nilly—from the FF, MM2, UA, and various material from The Dragon magazine.

those always existed in GH, TSR just had not published their stats yet

 

[PHATsakk43]

Obviously it doesn't!

I mean, Lost Caverns/MM2 added all sorts of beings to GH. And that didn't break it. Why would Dragonborn be any different?

No. See Lost Caverns/MM2.

Has anyone actually had a player who wanted to play a Dragonborn? I’m not joking, as I’ve never seen one in a game since I started 5E in 2017.

 

[Parmandur]

Has anyone actually had a player who wanted to play a Dragonborn? I’m not joking, as I’ve never seen one in a game since I started 5E in 2017.

Yeah, all the time, it is quite a standard choice...?