Here’s Why Greyhawk is Everywhere in the New DMG
If you were wondering “Why Greyhawk?” for a sample campaign setting in the upcoming new DMG, here are a few reasons—and a video.
Greyhawk is the example campaign setting in the Dungeon Master’s Guide – and that is a sentiment that will have one of two reactions. The first reaction is to read that, mentally shrug, and go “what’s Greyhawk?” The other reaction involves sinking into a long bath of liquid nostalgia heated to just the perfect temperature.
Greyhawk was D&D’s first campaign setting, invented by E. Gary Gygax for use in his home game. Eventually, the setting got a little treatise as a treat, resulting in a 32-page book that talked about which places had what sorts of soldiers. But then, it got a glow up when TSR discovered the magic of campaign boxed sets.
Ed Greenwood’s Forgotten Realms took off like gangbusters, and then came the era of Dark Sun and Planescape and Spelljammer. And then, when all that chaos threatened to bankrupt the company and see D&D go forever into the realm of curiosity, Wizards of the Coast came along and bought them up because their president loved D&D and wanted it to stick around.
After that, came a new edition and a whole new era of D&D. With 3.X D&D, there was an assumed default campaign setting, sort of. The Player’s Handbook used Greyhawk’s gods and cities as a reference point. It was baked into the PHB and elsewhere. So much so that the Forgotten Realms had its own separate campaign sourcebook. And WotC’s adventures, like the Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury took place roughly in Greyhawk. If you read really carefully. Now Greyhawk, after being in the background and a few adventures, is surging back to the front once more. At least in the new DMG.
Greyhawk in the New DMG
And Greyhawk being the go to for a “sample campaign setting” doesn’t mean that D&D 5.5E is suddenly switching back over to everything being in Greyhawk. We know that not only are a pair of Forgotten Realms books coming next year, there’s also a big adventure in the pipeline starring the Red Wizards of Thay. The Forgotten Realms is where it’s at for WotC. But why Greyhawk then?
If you listen to the video it’s because Greyhawk is kind of a thin setting. Thin in the way a nice, thin broth can be used in just about any dish with the right ingredients. You might clarify it down to make a consomme, or add in some flour and you’ve got a roux going (I think, I’m still learning the ways of broth, soup season is like three days out of the year here, you have to understand). But that’s because, one of the great things about Greyhawk is that it’s meant for you to add your own ingredients. Your own lore, your own little kingdoms and villages and villains. It’s a map that invites you to draw upon it.
And what I really like is that they get into the different things that might be going on in the world while talking about the various threats to Greyhawk. In the video they talk about three threats: Iuz, a villainous conqueror in command of a host of evil, who will conquer a bunch of lands if no one interferes, the Cult of Elemental Evil, which is up to things in the shadows, and Dragons (led by Tiamat).
James Wyatt, one of the main authors of the new DMG, talks about how exploration features into the “living history” of the world. That discovery is the goal of exploration and that they want to use Greyhawk to illustrate how the build-a-campaign chapter might be put into practice.
In short, Greyhawk is a recipe that is easy to take and make your own. And that’s why it’s in the new DMG. That and nostalgia, of course.
Because there’s always room to be nostalgic in the banana stand (which is in Greyhawk in this outro metaphor).
