The D&D Multiverse needs a "Crisis on Infinite Oerths"

Travis Henry · Jun 6, 2019

I'd like to see WotC have a cross-world storyline which ties together the iconic characters from all editions and worlds and times and realities* of D&D. All the heroes join together to fight a multiversal threat, which has gathered all of the iconic villains from D&D history. Like DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, or Marvel's Secret Wars.

*("Realities" refers to different "game universes" (e.g. AD&D 2E Reality vs. D&D 3E Reality): https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/d-d-realities )

The heroes? Every iconic or pre-generated character and every named adventuring party, from every edition, and every D&D product:

Aleena the Cleric, Hawk the Fighter, Clarion the Cleric, Fleetwood the Fighter, Felonius the Magic-User, Greegan the Thief, Rolf the Dwarf, Belain the Elf, and Touchberry the Halfling from the Mentzer Red Box.
The Kids from the D&D Cartoon Show
The LJN Action Figure characters: Strongheart the Paladin, Mercion the Cleric, Elkhorn the Dwarf, etc
The 3E iconics (from Oerth): Regdar the Fighter, Mialee the Elf Wizard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_iconic_characters
The Heroes of the Lance
The Wizards Three: Elminster, Dalamar, Mordenkainen
Drizzt and the Companions of the Hall
All the heroes from the D&D films, video games, novels, advertisements, and comic books.

etc.

The villains? Every iconic villain from the D&D Multiverse. Tiamat, Takhisis, Orcus, Acerak, Vecna, Tharizdun, Venger...all of 'em.

Many of the lesser-known characters would just be "easter eggs" in the background, seen only during gigantic battle scenes. But there'd be a "who's who" appendix or something which gives their name and source.

The medium? A mega-adventure, along with comic book and novel tie-in.

The result? Not cataclysmic...not destroying the worlds. But rather, a coherentizing. In the process, all adventures, novels, films, etc (and even odd things like characters seen on the AD&D beach towel), are officially placed in one (or more) worlds and timelines, and all timelines are given a numerical continuity designation. (The Transformers continuity is the most sophisticated example of this; even more complex than the Marvel and DC world-numbering system.)

Also, cross-world play is made more accessible via gates.

For more about the timelines, see: https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/timeline

What heroes and villains would you like to see in the fray?

lowkey13 · Jun 6, 2019

*Deleted by user*

jasper · Jun 6, 2019

hmm. Barf!
Are only if Drizzt, and all kender are killed off. And if you want to play a Drizzt clone or Kender, you pay your dm $100 a hour up front.

MechaTarrasque · Jun 6, 2019

jasper said:
hmm. Barf!
Are only if Drizzt, and all kender are killed off. And if you want to play a Drizzt clone or Kender, you pay your dm $100 a hour up front.

Obviously the plot will involved Drizzt (and all the drow) being turned into kenders.

Mort · Jun 6, 2019

Honestly, I prefer the Brandon Sanderson approach -

The worlds may be linked but the connections are subtle. People crossing over make themselves known, but generally are in the background while the heroes (and the problems) of any given world drive each individual story.

Urriak · Jun 6, 2019

So the reason Crisis on Infinite Earths was done was largely to "reboot" DC's comic line to a fewer amount of worlds so comic-book readers would be less confused. This was because there were a bunch of different Earth's with the same heroes, so people often got confused between them.

This doesn't really apply to the D&D universe that much, because every world is pretty distinct from each other; you can't confuse Dark Sun with the Forgotten Realms, or even with Greyhawk.

So what you're describing is more of a Secret Wars, or an Avengers: Endgame type event, where the heroes all unite to take on a big bad. And to that I mostly believe it's not really necessary, and pretty confusing.

For one thing, crossovers between worlds are now pretty common. In 5th edition, Rise of Tiamat, Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Tomb of Annihilation are all crossing either the Outer Planes or Greyhawk with the Forgotten Realms (to differing degrees). In PotA, the Cult of Elemental Evil is a Greyhawk organization and the Elder Eye is a Greyhawk god.

For another, all of these heroes meeting each other would feel a lot more tacky than actually fulfilling. It would feel like the Justice League, the Avengers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man all team-up to take on an alliance of villains that have nothing in common. It would be like the plot from Marvel vs. Capcom, or DC vs Mortal Kombat (and believe me you don't play those for plot).

Now I love crossovers, but you need to do them right to make them feel natural and not ridiculous. The upcoming Descent book is a pretty good example of this, crossing elements of Planescape with the Forgotten Realms, plus some tidbits like Arkhan from Critical Role.

Azzy · Jun 6, 2019

Yeah, no.

jayoungr · Jun 6, 2019

No reason you can't create this campaign, rather than waiting for WotC to create it for you...

Shiroiken · Jun 6, 2019

This would be an interesting concept for when they want to end the current D&D line (5E). Since D&D has always been meant as a fairly generic rules for differing worlds, using this event would be a good way to consolidate the worlds into a single style. The next edition could then be based on using that style exclusively, based on the outcome of the storyline.

Some people would probably really enjoy that. I would guess that the majority would not.

thundershot · Jun 7, 2019

I'd love an adventure path that jumps from world to world dealing with something like this... Start off in the Realms, next adventure takes the characters to Eberron, then the third is Dark Sun, then Mystara, with it finally ending with Greyhawk. Use Planescape and Spelljammer as in-between adventures to get from one world to another. If I had the time and energy, I'd write it myself...

Sounds like a great idea for a hardcover adventure book...