D&D General Does Earth (or at least a fantasy version of it) have a crystal sphere and exist in the D&D Cosmology?

[LuisCarlos17f]

Technically our "Earth" is in Greyspace, but it is not so simple. Oerth, the world of Greyhawk setting has got several "alternate worlds": Aerth, Uerth, Yarth, and Earth. I suspect the world of "Masque of the Red Death" and "Gamma World" could be canon in the D&D multiverse, but if Vecna could cause the "great reset" then these could be "rebooted".

A good metagame reason to add our Earth to the D&D multiverse is because Hasbro wanted "space" for the rest of IPs in D&D. For example to sell a Eberron-like version of G.I.Joe vs Cobra-La.

 

[Voadam]

The articles with Greenwood and Elminster and later the Wizards Three continued long after Spelljammer became a thing. I don't know if there were any specific references to Spelljammer or an Earth crystal sphere in them though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That doesn't mean it is in the D&D Prime full of crystal spheres. In fact, the fact that our universe's cosmology looks like it does essentially proves we live in an Alternate Prime. The D&D wizards visiting Ed and all the adventurers coming her were therefore using some version of Plane Shift.

Couldn't we just have a really big crystal sphere, with a diameter larger than the observable universe?

 

[Reynard]

Couldn't we just have a really big crystal sphere, with a diameter larger than the observable universe?

 

[Moonmover]

Couldn't we just have a really big crystal sphere, with a diameter larger than the observable universe?

That could also he why we have so little magic! The Planes are literally physically too far away to draw arcane energy from.

 

[James Gasik]

There were several stories in the old Dragon magazine about famous wizards visiting earth and enjoying things like ice cream. I don't know that the current lore has crystal spheres, I think they've gone more to a multiverse theory. Which ... who knows? There are certain ideas based on string theory that our universe is just one of an infinite number of membranes each with potentially different underlying physical properties.

Which means of course, that there could be a D&D membrane out there and with sufficiently powerful magic they might be able to travel here. On the other hand, going back when you can't even cast a cantrip might be a bit problematic. Claim to be an all-powerful wizard from another universe is never going to be believed and you can't exactly cast spells for a living any more. So if you can't go back what skills do you have other than maybe spinning yarns and stories of the world you came from, maybe even become a novelist writing about some realm long forgotten.

Yes, the Wizards Three, in which Elminster, Mordenkainen, and Dalamar hung out at Ed Greenwood's place (while he hid, sometimes inside a suit of display armor and listened to their jargon). In which we find out Elminster likes pina coladas and Dalamar has an inferiority complex about being capped at level 17 and the fact that Forgotten Realms is lousy with super-powerful Wizards (thanks to special guest star, The Simbul).

It's worth noting that not all places in the D&D multiverse follow the same rules. You can (though it's not easy) find a Gate to Athas. This does not mean Athas has a Crystal Sphere (and I believe it was definitively stated Athas-space does not).

Though it would be amusing to see what happened if the Dark Powers snagged the crew of a Spelljammer!

 

[DarkCrisis]

Faerun connected to Earth but we “forgot” how to get there. Hence the “Forgotten Realms”.

 

[Seramus]

Faerun connected to Earth but we “forgot” how to get there. Hence the “Forgotten Realms”.

I believe Ed clarified that the Forgotten Realms in question are all the ancient fallen empires in the setting, like Netheril. "Forgotten Realms" all over the place, with budding civilizations built near / on top of their remains.

 

[bloodtide]

The only known contact with Earth has been through magic translocation. Nothing has ever physically moved between Earth and the Known Spheres by way of Spelljammer, Spaceship or creature.

As any Spelljamming Navigator can tell you, no place called "Earth" is found anywhere in the Known Spheres. So Earth is nowhere nearby, and is likely a long way from Known Space.

As no one has traveled to Earth in such a way...it's unknown if the system that Earth is in has a Crystal Sphere.....

 

[Distracted DM]

In a number of Appendix N sources characters either come from or visit earth- even if they don't know it. I can't recall which, but in one of the L. Sprague de Camp novels (it's a burly wizard apprentice iirc? a series of books) a Rope Trick leads him into a place that the magician I think calls purgatory, but it's basically the middle of a nighttime modern highway with cars going this way and that- I think it was well described, so that you didn't know what it was at first but quickly figured out after a paragraph or two of this guy dodging cards on a highway in the dark. He escapes it quickly enough, but it was a very enjoyable moment.

Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series also has a ?20th century? earth in its multiverse.

Not a direct answer to D&D cosmology- but I think that the Elminster-visiting-Ed Greenwood-type answers are the best you'll get.