Is Greyhawk Doomed?

Will WotC ruin another setting?

Fear has gripped the land in recent years as the giant Dragon WotC has been spotted flying overhead in search of something, we know not what. People stare upward, pointing, mothers grab their children and men and women alike take up arms in hopes that their town is not the intended target.

As the the Dragon WotC flies past town after town, one man, dressed in armor, sits atop his steed and points to the sky and with fear in his voice shouts, “It heads towards Greyhawk, to arms!!”

Pretty dramatic huh? This is how many Greyhawk fans felt/reacted as WotC revealed the cover of the Players Handbook for their upcoming edition of Dungeons and Dragons and the cover’s key characters are from the world of Greyhawk, front and center

Strongheart the Paldain, Elkhorn the Fighter, Mercion the Cleric and Molliver the Thief all make an appearance here. Yolande the Elven queen looks like she is being protected so she can get off a spell.

Now, I don’t know how much of Greyhawk will be used in the Players Handbook but Erik Tenkar of Tenkar’s Tavern, reported this week, via EnWorld via Game Informer, that Greyhawk will be the setting used to help new Dungeon Master’s understand how to create your own setting etc.

I think, if you love old school gaming and the setting of Greyhawk, you may be asking the question.

“Is Greyhawk in danger of being torched, characters misrepresented, old cities burned down by the ancient dragon’s breath of WotC?”

Some believe it is, I do not.

In fact I agree with Bill Barsh from Pacesetter Games, on a live stream at Tenkar’s, who shared, and I paraphrase,

Greyhawk being featured in the DMG (Dungeon Master Guide) is a good thing for old school gaming. People will see and hear the name, start Googling and find a lot of old school game resources that will introduce them to old school gaming ways and that’s a good thing.

Jim Kitchen, who was also featured on the live stream, had a great take I agree with regarding how old school gamers should approach Greyhawk being mentioned in the newest version of Dungeons and Dragons.

Jim offers older players, who might be quick to bemoan the situation and start yelling at the sky, and on the internet,

“They’re (WotC) is gonna screw it up!”

and

“There’s no one there (WotC) who loves us!”

a different approach. Jim is encouraging the older gaming community to put on their Sunday best because there will be plenty of newbs showing up in Discord and Reddit asking newb-ish questions about Greyhawk.

How will these new folks be greeted and responded to? With vitriol? With tales of how it was? It’s the wrong take.

Jim offers a great example, and I paraphrase,

If you’re at a game store and you hear new players talking about Greyhawk and how cool it is, ask them,

‘Are you guys talking about Greyhawk? That was the first setting I ever played in. I have a lot of experience with the setting, if you have any questions, let me know, I love talking about it.”

This is it, right there!

We can, as a community, draw new players in or push new players away with how we respond to how WotC is handing Greyhawk. First, these new players will, likely, have no clue about WotC past shennigans (and will not care) and I don’t think we need to tell them about it.

I’d rather talk about a great game setting than a corporation’s mishandling of a game.

World of Greyhawk was the second boxed D&D set I owned after the red box with iconic cover art by Larry Elmore. I did not get to play in the world of Greyhawk because our DM did mostly homebrewed adventure. This did not stop me from reading through the glossy pages and staring at the incredible maps contained within.

This is my game, no one can take it from me, not even WotC.

So this is my challenge to you, let’s be good ambassadors of a great hobby instead of bad ambassadors of a mediocre company.

What do you think about Bill’s and Jim’s take? Is this our chance, as a community, to highlight the good and be the welcome wagon for new adventurers in the land of Greyhawk? Or would we rather talk about a toothless, breathless dragon that has no power over the games we play at our table?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.