Thoughts on worlds and planes...

[Grossout]

I don't post on here often, as I haven't "gamed" for years, but the more I read about 4E, the more excited I get. I bought both of the preview books and I thought they were pretty cool. But I just finished Worlds and Monsters and I think I've come to a general conclusion about what I dislike about the D&D universe - I don't like planes.

I don't know if its a little too "high fantasy" for me or what, but I think I'd rather just game in one solid world. Maybe some of it is undiscovered, but its all one planet. I guess I don't mind that there are other planes, after all, devils/demons/gods have to come from somewhere. I just think its a little too "out there" for me to say my character is visiting such a place. I'd rather be able to play my character from levels 1-30, living and fighting on the same plane of existence the whole time. My enemies could still sometimes be demons and such who visit my world, but oftentimes enemies would be NPCs of high level trying to take over the world.

I know WoTC would never say you have to visit other planes during your campaign. I just worry that many of the products/adventures for high level play assume as much. Most of Worlds and Monsters focussed on different planes.

This topic obviously isn't a big deal - I was just wondering if anyone felt somewhat the same. Am I alone here...?

 

[DandD]

I don't post on here often, as I haven't "gamed" for years, but the more I read about 4E, the more excited I get. I bought both of the preview books and I thought they were pretty cool. But I just finished Worlds and Monsters and I think I've come to a general conclusion about what I dislike about the D&D universe - I don't like planes.

I don't know if its a little too "high fantasy" for me or what, but I think I'd rather just game in one solid world. Maybe some of it is undiscovered, but its all one planet. I guess I don't mind that there are other planes, after all, devils/demons/gods have to come from somewhere. I just think its a little too "out there" for me to say my character is visiting such a place. I'd rather be able to play my character from levels 1-30, living and fighting on the same plane of existence the whole time. My enemies could still sometimes be demons and such who visit my world, but oftentimes enemies would be NPCs of high level trying to take over the world.

I know WoTC would never say you have to visit other planes during your campaign. I just worry that many of the products/adventures for high level play assume as much. Most of Worlds and Monsters focussed on different planes.

This topic obviously isn't a big deal - I was just wondering if anyone felt somewhat the same. Am I alone here...?

You worry about official high-level/epic WoTC-adventures being purely plane-based? Well, that's what a GM is there for, right? To provide your very own adventure-setting that you would like to have fun into. Also, I don't think that they will limit themselves to such places. And, people also buy stuff from 3rd party publishers.
You really don't have to worry at all.

 

[Grossout]

I guess I'm not really worried about it. Just seeing if anyone else feels like planar travel isn't for them.

 

[DandD]

Some will do, probably. In fact, one of the goal of the game designer is to make planar travel more frequently possible because before, you couldn't go there unless you had specific spells, were of high level and they were clogged up with strange environment rules that made them rather unfun for most people to play in.
The designers do state that they will not try to force, but to enable people to play in such places.
Or, as everybody says, more options, not restrictions. It's up to you if you want to use that option or not.
Of course, one still has to see if everything goes alright or not.

 

[Lackhand]

I like planes. They provide a very neat excuse for why the encounters which are challenging when the players are 15th level hadn't already conquered the world when the players were 1st level.

There are many other ways of answering that implied question, of course -- that those evil powers already had conquered the world, that they were sought out by (or created by!) the players during the campaign, that they are only now awakening from their long slumber... but I sort of like the pizzaz of punching the devil in the face.

That said, I think you're probably right to be worried about Official Support (tm) being mostly plane-aligned. It's reasonably popular, and it lets the writers get fairly gonzo about the set-dressing, which is always exciting.

Sometimes, you can take these adventures & file the numbers off -- an adventure which would otherwise have taken place on Avernus takes place instead in an iron tower during a thunderstorm; adventures on the plane of fire take place in a volcano, and so on.

Sometimes you can take lower level adventures and just grow the numbers -- goblin horde attacking a city, instead of goblin band attacking a village.

Sometimes you have to write your own. These are the best

Good luck! If you ever need adventure ideas, I'm sure that the group-mind of EN World will be more than happy to provide.

 

[Stogoe]

I'm not a huge fan of adventures dealing with planeshifting to a god's realm and taking on unstoppable evil and stuff like that.

But I really love the idea of the Feywild and the Shadowfell. I'm going to be using them all the time.

 

[Grossout]

I'm not sure about the Feywild and the Shadowfell. I mean, I like some of the monsters involved, but it all just seems a little bit like a "warp zone" to me. The Shadowfell completely reminds me of the alternate universe in the Super Nintendo game, Zelda: A Link to the Past. I don't know what it was called in that game - the Dark Realm? Something like that. Anyway, I loved that game, but always wished it would stay in one consistent world - no warping. Please don't take this post as yet another complaint about how D&D is becoming too video gamey - that's absolutely not my intent at all. Again, just trying to throw feelers out to see who likes my preferred "style" of fantasy as well.

 

[Lackhand]

I'm not sure about the Feywild and the Shadowfell. I mean, I like some of the monsters involved, but it all just seems a little bit like a "warp zone" to me. The Shadowfell completely reminds me of the alternate universe in the Super Nintendo game, Zelda: A Link to the Past. I don't know what it was called in that game - the Dark Realm? Something like that. Anyway, I loved that game, but always wished it would stay in one consistent world - no warping. Please don't take this post as yet another complaint about how D&D is becoming too video gamey - that's absolutely not my intent at all. Again, just trying to throw feelers out to see who likes my preferred "style" of fantasy as well.

Teehee, I agree with absolutely everything you said -- it is indeed the Dark Realm, to the best of my recollection, and it was one of the first things that popped into my head for the Feyweald (my Shadowfell (absent the monsters to put in it!) is a lot less whimsical -- more yawning open graves, flies, sallow fleshed despairers... think the realm with all the personal deaths, from The Amber Spyglass, with its underdark shading towards the actual land of death from the same source).

But I love it. I guess I like warping -- it's just funny to notice where my tastes diverge.

 

[Frostmarrow]

For what its worth. I see your point. I don't mind a jaunt to another plane on a rare occasion but I wouldn't miss it. One world is enough. Just look at Earth. Here there are locations that will blow your mind. Ranging from blistering deserts to ice wastes, atop clouds in alpine spires or at the bottom of rainforest caves. Lush lake districts contrasting towering city sprawls. Everything is already here. Why bother leaving?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The Shadowfell and the Feywild do not feel to me like the "classic" planar adventuring I experienced in 3rd edition. They feel more like something like the astral plane from shadowrun, but a lot more "magic" or better mythic. I like the feel of them.

Strange things exist in the 4E world, and they are not light-years away - they are in your close neighbourhood, in fact they are exactly where you are, but - you don't see them (and maye they don't see you either).

I like the possibilites these opens up for adventures.