Dungeons & Dragons Is Bringing Back Greyhawk in 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide
One of D&D's earliest campaign settings will be explored in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide.
Dungeons & Dragons will return to Greyhawk in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. Today, Game Informer confirmed that the upcoming re-release of the Dungeon Master's Guide will use Greyhawk as an example as to how Dungeon Masters can build their own campaign world. According to Game Informer, the book will offer "ample info to bring Greyhawk to life, but leaves much undetailed." A two-sided poster map of Greyhawk, featuring both the Greyhawk campaign setting (assumably a map of Oerth) and the City of Greyhawk will also be included in the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Greyhawk was one of the first campaign settings developed for Dungeons & Dragons and was the home of many of the game's earliest adventures. Created by Dungeons & Dragons co-founder Gary Gygax, the game was home to many of D&D's oldest heroes and villains including Mordenkainen and Vecna. References to Greyhawk and its characters appeared in many early Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and supplements, but it wasn't until 1980 that a World of Greyhawk campaign setting book was first published. Although several subsequent publications featured Greyhawk, including a boxed set, TSR phased out Greyhawk in favor of Dragonlance in the early 1980s. TSR and its successor Wizards of the Coast would occasionally bring back Greyhawk (most notably with the Living Greyhawk organized play campaign), it has generally received much less focus and attention than the Forgotten Realms or other campaign settings over the past 25 years.
In some ways, Greyhawk is the perfect campaign setting for the new Dungeon Master's Guide, especially given the book's release as part of the game's 50th anniversary celebration. Greyhawk is a "classic" but underutilized campaign setting that's much less developed than a place like the Forgotten Realms and can largely be featured in the Dungeon Master's Guide instead of requiring a full campaign setting book. In many ways, Greyhawk conforms to standard fantasy tropes, making it a perfect example of how to utilize standard fantasy elements to build out a world.
The new Dungeon Master's Guide will be released on November 12, 2024.