Previously Forgotten Realms rpg books had a "canon" year it was operating within. Is there a canon year that WotC is using for Greyhawk? I know that the default setting is The Multiverse. Just curious about Greyhawk's reintroduction. I'm thinking the 590's might make sense? Any opinions out there?
and now my brain hurts. the amount of time i spent reading T1-4 and trying to understand the timeline and how long the vampire/knight had been in there cos i thought my players might want to grill history etc and not finding out ...
Well, the dmg, is presenting a revised version of 576; but in 'actuality', 592 is about where the setting left off in 3.5 and folks running games there since such as Greyhawk Grognard - YouTube tend to set them between 592 and 601. I would set a campaign then instead of in 576 too and use that time difference to explain some the changes the new dmg made to the setting.
Also in the old lore, the story being told of the last quarter of the 6th century is actually being told to someone in the 800's as a lesson about the days of an age of magic that has since ended. I toyed with idea once of doing a campaign set in the 800's that begins with exclusively martial classes whose campaign goal is to try and figure out where the magic went and if it could possibly be brought back into the world. The idea doesn't really fit with 5e though IMHO as everything is so high magic, even barbarians, fighters and rogues, that it's hard to think of setting up a non-magical version of the game.
As others have noted, the 2024 DMG presents a version of Greyhawk set in 576 CY which is based on the original setting published in the 80's by Gygax (but with some notable changes). Thus it largely ignores the 90's reboot (primarily The Greyhawk Wars 582-584 CY) & the 2000-2008 Living Greyhawk campaign (which advanced the timeline from 591 to 598 CY).
But the real answer to your question as to the "canon year" of Greyhawk is.... whatever you decide you want it to be in your campaign. The 2024 DMG presents Greyhawk as a customizable setting for a DM to use a foundation on which to build the world of his imagination. I am running a Greyhawk campaign set in 598 CY in which I have cherrypicked ideas from various sources (including Living Greyhawk) to make a setting that makes sense to me & that my players enjoy. Part of the fun is playing in a sandbox that is at least spiritually linked to the one the original designers & players of the game built & enjoyed, so playing there is an homage to the originators of this great game.
I prefer the rollback myself. It sets a nice baseline from the original, that allows you to pick and choose what you liked and didn't like from the advanced timelines. If you liked the border front with Iuz (which makes sense imo), use it. If you want Pomarj more threatening, use the updates there.
Been leafing through my Greyhawk books. I'd forgotten how many different campaign styles options there are across the world already written in. Want intrigue, set up in around the Great Kingdom. You want access to a pretty core D&D campaign, Keoland and the regions around it have some of everything there from medieval adventure, dungeon crawls, courtly intrigue, to high adventure and more. You want a Barbarian centric campaign, head North or North East and start a campaign in the various barbarian kingdom, or Nomad, or Rover's territories (an idea I'd like to DM some time). And of course a more dangerous campaign can be dropped in the areas around where Iuz and related content is there in the upper middle of the map. Or something simple to start, pick one of the smaller kingdoms and have free reign of ideas. And of course the classic melting pot of the City of Greyhawk can be your home base. Or head to Veluna for a knightly campaign.
My favorite region has always been Keoland. There is just some many campaign ideas and content written between there and the Crystal Mist, or heading up North. It is really the classic campaign location that borders close to a lot of interesting locations, module settings.
Previously Forgotten Realms rpg books had a "canon" year it was operating within. Is there a canon year that WotC is using for Greyhawk? I know that the default setting is The Multiverse. Just curious about Greyhawk's reintroduction. I'm thinking the 590's might make sense? Any opinions out there?
The DMG specifically states that the canon year is 576 CY.
and now my brain hurts. the amount of time i spent reading T1-4 and trying to understand the timeline and how long the vampire/knight had been in there cos i thought my players might want to grill history etc and not finding out ...
Well, the dmg, is presenting a revised version of 576; but in 'actuality', 592 is about where the setting left off in 3.5 and folks running games there since such as Greyhawk Grognard - YouTube tend to set them between 592 and 601. I would set a campaign then instead of in 576 too and use that time difference to explain some the changes the new dmg made to the setting.
Also in the old lore, the story being told of the last quarter of the 6th century is actually being told to someone in the 800's as a lesson about the days of an age of magic that has since ended. I toyed with idea once of doing a campaign set in the 800's that begins with exclusively martial classes whose campaign goal is to try and figure out where the magic went and if it could possibly be brought back into the world. The idea doesn't really fit with 5e though IMHO as everything is so high magic, even barbarians, fighters and rogues, that it's hard to think of setting up a non-magical version of the game.
Thank you for your time and please have a very pleasant day.
As others have noted, the 2024 DMG presents a version of Greyhawk set in 576 CY which is based on the original setting published in the 80's by Gygax (but with some notable changes). Thus it largely ignores the 90's reboot (primarily The Greyhawk Wars 582-584 CY) & the 2000-2008 Living Greyhawk campaign (which advanced the timeline from 591 to 598 CY).
But the real answer to your question as to the "canon year" of Greyhawk is.... whatever you decide you want it to be in your campaign. The 2024 DMG presents Greyhawk as a customizable setting for a DM to use a foundation on which to build the world of his imagination. I am running a Greyhawk campaign set in 598 CY in which I have cherrypicked ideas from various sources (including Living Greyhawk) to make a setting that makes sense to me & that my players enjoy. Part of the fun is playing in a sandbox that is at least spiritually linked to the one the original designers & players of the game built & enjoyed, so playing there is an homage to the originators of this great game.
I really disliked the entire Greyhawk Wars/ From the Ashes updates. I’m very happy with the decision to roll back a bit.
I prefer the rollback myself. It sets a nice baseline from the original, that allows you to pick and choose what you liked and didn't like from the advanced timelines. If you liked the border front with Iuz (which makes sense imo), use it. If you want Pomarj more threatening, use the updates there.
Been leafing through my Greyhawk books. I'd forgotten how many different campaign styles options there are across the world already written in. Want intrigue, set up in around the Great Kingdom. You want access to a pretty core D&D campaign, Keoland and the regions around it have some of everything there from medieval adventure, dungeon crawls, courtly intrigue, to high adventure and more. You want a Barbarian centric campaign, head North or North East and start a campaign in the various barbarian kingdom, or Nomad, or Rover's territories (an idea I'd like to DM some time). And of course a more dangerous campaign can be dropped in the areas around where Iuz and related content is there in the upper middle of the map. Or something simple to start, pick one of the smaller kingdoms and have free reign of ideas. And of course the classic melting pot of the City of Greyhawk can be your home base. Or head to Veluna for a knightly campaign.
My favorite region has always been Keoland. There is just some many campaign ideas and content written between there and the Crystal Mist, or heading up North. It is really the classic campaign location that borders close to a lot of interesting locations, module settings.