Summary
Greyhawk is finally going to get its due again inDungeons & Dragons, but there’s still a reason why its upcoming reappearance might not be everything that it could be. As the first campaign setting ever published forDnD, Greyhawk offers a rich world that has served up many classic adventures and memorable locations. Unfortunately, it’s been largely sidelined in fifth editionDnD, with the focus turning to the equally deserving Forgotten Realms.
As confirmed in aDnDpress briefing on the upcoming 2024 core rulebooks,the newDungeon Master’s Guidewill officially feature the Greyhawk campaign setting. Senior story designer Chris Perkins referred to the setting as “a sandbox full of toys,” giving dungeon masters tools to work with while avoiding any serious restrictions. A new world map and an isometric map of the city of Greyhawk will both be included, along with details about cities, cultures, dungeons, and more.
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Greyhawk Still Isn’t Getting A New D&D Campaign Book
The Dungeon Master’s Guide Will Be A Limited Resource
Getting to see Greyhawk in full again is definitely exciting, but the fact that it’s coming in the2024Dungeon Master’s Guidedoes come with some drawbacks. A new campaign book set in Greyhawk could offer an entirely new adventure within the setting, and there’s more than enough in the world to fill out an entire sourcebook with details about Greyhawk.Anyone eager for new lore probably won’t be getting much here, with the inclusion serving more to introduce the basics of Greyhawk than to give it the same amount of love that the world of the Forgotten Realms receives today.
The only 5e book set fully within the world of GreyhawkisGhosts of Saltmarsh, which largely sticks to the surroundings of its titular town.
With the right dungeon master, however,a homebrew Greyhawk campaign could certainly flourish, and choosing to put it in theDungeon Master’s Guidemight actually lead to more adventures in the setting than a campaign book would. While campaign books have plenty of competition, theDungeon Master’s Guidedoesn’t. Groups might opt foriconic adventures likeCurse of Strahdover a freshly published Greyhawk campaign, but any dungeon master looking to try homebrew for the first time will now be more likely to choose Greyhawk.
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Bringing Greyhawk to theDungeon Master’s Guideis a cool way tocelebrate the 50th anniversary ofDnD, and it does bode well for the future of the setting in officially published material. It also helps to make up for the relative lack of books dedicated to campaign settings inDnD5e, giving dungeon masters a quick and easy resource to use. Greyhawk is iconic for a reason, and although itsDungeons & Dragonsreturn is happening in a limited fashion, it’s certainly a welcome one.
Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons is a popular tabletop game originally invented in 1974 by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson. The fantasy role-playing game brings together players for a campaign with various components, including abilities, races, character classes, monsters, and treasures. The game has drastically expanded since the ’70s, with numerous updated box sets and expansions.
