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D&D (2024) How Does Greyhawk Fit In To The New Edition?

Dungeon Master’s Guide contains a sample setting—and that setting is, indeed, Greyhawk.

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According to Game Informer — “the surprising importance and inclusions of what is arguably the oldest D&D campaign setting of them all – Greyhawk.”

So how does Greyhawk fit in? According to GI, the new 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide contains a sample setting—and that setting is, indeed, Greyhawk. Not only that, but the book will come with a double-sided poster map with the City of Greyhawk on one side and the Flannaes on the other—the eastern part of one of Oerth’s four continents.
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Even as the multiverse of D&D worlds sees increased attention, the Dungeon Master's Guide also offers a more discrete setting to get gaming groups started. After very few official releases in the last couple of decades, the world of Greyhawk takes center stage. The book fleshes out Greyhawk to illustrate how to create campaign settings of your own. Greyhawk was the original D&D game world crafted by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax, and a worthy setting to revisit on the occassion of D&D's golden anniversary. It's a world bristling with classic sword and sorcery concepts, from an intrigue-laden central city to wide tracts of uncharted wilderness. Compared to many D&D campaign settings, it's smaller and less fleshed out, and that's sort of the point; it begs for DMs to make it their own. The book offers ample info to bring Greyhawk to life but leaves much undetailed. For those eager to take the plunge, an included poster map of the Greyhawk setting sets the tone, and its reverse reveals a map of the city of the same name. "A big draw to Greyhawk is it's the origin place for such heroes as Mordenkainen, Tasha, and others," Perkins says. "There's this idea that the players in your campaign can be the next great world-hopping, spell-crafting heroes of D&D. It is the campaign where heroes are born."
- Game Informer​

 

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Sounds like 1e sensibilities, for good or ill, are part and parcel of what Greyhawk is about. I see no problem with deadly, mercenary, and stronghold-focused. I have no issue with racism and sexism being in the game provided those are presented as bad things. What you're suggesting is that the flavor of Greyhawk is inappropriate for the WotC D&D of today. You are probably right. Best to let it go and use some other setting as their example of what they want players to think D&D is. Like Eberron. All the young folks love Eberron.
No, that’s not at all what I’m saying. I’m say that flavour is not “Greyhawk flavour” it’s 1st edition flavour. If you wanted to recreate 1st edition flavour you need to have something resembling 1st edition rules. You can’t do it with 5e rules. And a setting with highly modified rules would not be a core rules setting, and therefore would not be Greyhawk because Greyhawk is core rules.
 

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Mournblade94

Adventurer
Sounds like 1e sensibilities, for good or ill, are part and parcel of what Greyhawk is about. I see no problem with deadly, mercenary, and stronghold-focused. I have no issue with racism and sexism being in the game provided those are presented as bad things. What you're suggesting is that the flavor of Greyhawk is inappropriate for the WotC D&D of today. You are probably right. Best to let it go and use some other setting as their example of what they want players to think D&D is. Like Eberron. All the young folks love Eberron.
That's pretty much my point. There was never that much lore for Greyhawk, it was pretty bareboned. But I am not finding a lot of Medieval Motif on the Fan art that has been made. It seems that the new direction is going more towards a kind of modern environment. I don't think Greyhawk is a good place for a coffee shop campaign or Strixhaven prom.

Forgotten Realms was thought to complex for new players so they dumbed it down. Grey hawk doesn't have near that level of Lore, so it might work for the new audience, but I just don't think the new player base is really imaging D&D as Medieval anymore. Out of all the settings that strove for the medieval motif it was Greyhawk and Mystara.

THey should just go Eberron.
 




Mournblade94

Adventurer
It might be helpful to stop thinking of them as "easily bored" and start thinking of them as "overinundated" and "overstimulated"

The cognitive load of simply "being human" is many times greater now than it ever was in ye olde days
The kids coming up in High School even out of an environment with stimulus are easily bored especially after Covid. The difference is stark and quantifiable.
 

Zardnaar

Legend
Greyhawk is kitchen sink enough anything exists its more about traditional NPC type races becoming PCs.

Some at least make sense eg Tieflings becoming a big thing.

I would allow new races but they wouldn't be prominent with Tiefling possibly being the exception.

We don't really need a 3rd kitchen sink setting though so making GH mire distinct via vibe is one way to do it
 


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