Saturday, February 3, 2018

Mordenkainens Tome of Foes

Good morning Greyhawkers! I had to get up extra early to talk about this breaking news already scorching across the internet: In May, D&D is releasing Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Following on the heels of the very good accessory, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, this book is surely going to be a hit with fans of 5E. From the product's blurb:

"Discover the truth about the great conflicts of the D&D multiverse in this supplement for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

This tome is built on the writings of the renowned wizard from the world of Greyhawk, gathered over a lifetime of research and scholarship. In his travels to other realms and other planes of existence, he has made many friends, and has risked his life an equal number of times, to amass the knowledge contained herein. In addition to Mordenkainen’s musings on the endless wars of the multiverse, the book contains game statistics for dozens of monsters: new demons and devils, several varieties of elves and duergar, and a vast array of other creatures from throughout the planes of existence."

So let's get this out of the way, this is a multiverse book not a Greyhawk book. I highly doubt it has anything remotely to do with "foes" of Mordenkainen. We do know from 2E Mordy likes to study planar subjects though so I fully expect alot of old 2E era  Planescape, Blood War type stuff to appear in this. The elf and duergar race bit is probably the stuff they've already been playtesting via their Unearthed Arcana articles. They claim its not a Monster Manual, but it feels like one, or at least half-monster/ half-planar guide which wouldn't be bad. I would also hope there is some cool magic items. Can't go wrong there. So yes I'll buy this book and not just because the cover has Mordenkainen shilling for it (I never bought 4E Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium).

Not so idle thoughts beyond the book: what does this mean for the DMsGuild and content creators yearning for Greyhawk? Keep an eye on that site for next several months I guess. If I see Mike Mearls at Garycon in March though I'd be keen to ask if having Mordenkainen's name slapped on the cover makes him viable to use by DMsGuide rules? (not to mention this is his second 5E appearance, ahem) I've mused Tales From the Yawning Portal could be a loophole for Greyhawk creators due to the books content, so if not then, surely now with this book's cover? How much Greyhawk can they tease us with and still keep it buried? Let's hope Tome of Foes is a groundbreaking publication in more ways than one...

15 comments:

Mystic Scholar said...

Love the new layout, Mort! Looks great!

Mike Bridges said...

Thanks pal, Im organizing and adding stuff so that this will be one of the top sources of greyhawk info for a long time coming.

Scott Anderson said...

I have a question about the original Greyhawk characters. Is there a list of their names, players, and their class/role within the game somewhere?

My mom breeds dogs. Each litter has a theme for the dogs' names. I want the next litter to be the original Greyhawk guys.

grodog said...

Scott---

I can't think of such a list, offhand, outside of the Rogues Gallery and TD#37, but not all of the information contained in RG is accurate, either.

Sounds like a worthwhile list for someone to compile! :D

Love the hex-background, Mike! :D

Allan.

tom said...

I have an incomplete, but extensive database of all things Greyhawk. Searching for NPC returns 5204 results:

A. Yamoskov (Male)
Aam (3eC3)
Aaron
Aaron Marander (F11, Male)
Aaron Strachan
Abdallah El Dinar
Abdul Fatar (C10/F10)
Abel Mackie (Male)
Abercrombie (C3)
Abigal
Abigor (Devil)
Abner (M5)
Abracus (M3, Male)
Abraham D'Farmin (F4, Male)
Abramo (Male, C7)
Abraxas (Demon)
Abrazaldin Hosk (3ewiz20)
Abril (Lady)
Absalom (Vampire)
Abu (Ogre Mage)
Abulax The Even-Handed
Accilon Dara
Acererak | Devourer (Lich, Male)
Achmed Raisul (C7)
Achulka Aka Saufghi of the Al Illa-Thuffi
Adari Farwander
Adarian Herbifarge
Adaz
Adela (Jallarzi Sallavarians Apprentice)
Adelhardt
Adelmar (Gnoll, Drd2/Rog2)
Adhu Nazaryet (Hobgoblin)
Adinirahc (Drow, F5/M8)
Adonides (Devil)
Adramelech (Devil)
Adrenn Farester
Adriali Herzagmor
Aefird
Aegwareth (Shade)
Aelem (Air Elemental)
Aelfred Elmstaff (Mordel, C6)
Aelistrifel Elinareth
Aeodorich (Lord Admiral)
Aeron (Pa5)
Aestrella Shanfarel (Greyhawk Dragon)
Agadin (Demon)
Agahr (Stone Golem)
Agaran Esiassen | Agarat (C9)
Agares (Devil)
Agat the Tailor
Agath of Thrunch (C19)
Agatha
Ageelia
Ageviin (Lady)
Aggro (F4)
Aghar (Stone Golem)
Agman Stope (3eCom1)
Agnar Ruvik | Ock (Dwarf, F10)
Agnel Grammatol
Agravael (Sir, Pa12)
Agruntha (Greenhag)
Ah-Bey (Half-Ogre, F8/C8)
Ahazu (Demon)
Ahrens
Ahrimanes (Demon)
Aicha
Ajakstu (M9)
Akastilan
Akitrom (Herzog, F15)
Akordia (Drow, C6)
Al (Mad)
Al'Farzikh (As7)
Al'Mehdi, Haroon
Al'Mehdi, Rachid
Al-Fasrallah
Al Ruhk
Alaern (Prince)
Alain
Alain II (Archbaron)
Alain IV (Archbaron)
...

A lot of my data is derived from Jason Zavoda's Encyclopedia Greyhawkania 2003, but I have made many additions & minor corrections & converted it to a searchable SQL database. It isn't generally available at the moment because I have yet to write a web front-end, but if someone has specific questions in mind, I can probably help.

Mike Bridges said...

That's not a question I'm versed in answering surprisingly. My friend Scott Casper at castlegreyhawk.blogspot.com knows all about the OG stuff.

Mike Bridges said...

Thanks Allan! That was an inspired find at the last minute actually.

Tom: I still reference that database often. With so much info, gotta know what you're looking for half the time beforehand.

Does anyone have comments on the Mordenkainen Tome? *smh*

Mike Bridges said...

Thanks Allan! That was an inspired find at the last minute actually.

Tom: I still reference that database often. With so much info, gotta know what you're looking for half the time beforehand.

Does anyone have comments on the Mordenkainen Tome? *smh*

tom said...

I am certainly eager to take a look at Mordenkainen's Tome when it is released, but I doubt that I'll buy it. As far as D&D products go, I'm only interested in those with NEW Greyhawk content. And previously published material does not count as new, even if it has been converted to a more recent edition. I could easily do that myself.

As for the database, that is somewhat true of Jason's text/pdf one. But with a SQL DB, I can ask arbitrary like "what magic items were referenced in 2e Greyhawk modules?" or "what authors other than Gygax use Mordenkainen's name?"

Saracenus said...

More info is going to be released this Monday.

This is going to be a planar product for sure, but having watched Lore You Should Know on the official Twitch/YouTube channel and some of the D&D Beyond videos I think this is just a stepping stone for the D&D design team to branch out beyond the Faerun centered material.

Basically this year is going to build the connective tissue that bridges various campaign worlds. What that means for Greyhawk specifically, I don't have a clue.

grodog said...

Tom---

I'd love to check out your db. I was thinking about starting to update Jason's index already, which it sounds like you've already begun?

Allan.

Al H. said...

Thought I was on the wrong page for a second when I jumped on here. Noice!
Looking forward to all the new stuff.

Cheers,
Al

Thomas Kelly said...

I'm kind of stoked about Mordenkainens Tome of Foes, especially the shout out to Greyhawk that appears in the blurb. That bodes well. Looking forward to hearing Mike's rundown on it.

Mike Bridges said...

Thomas: Yeah I'm eager to skim it for GH relevant info too. Given some of the proposed subject matter this book easily could've been featured by Iggwilv as well.

Unknown said...

Download mordenkainen's tome of foes pdf: https://goodfileshare.com/mordenkainens-tome-of-foes-pdf-download/