D&D General What is your favorite D&D cosmology?

[AtomicPope]

4e World Axis is best suited for RPGs, especially DnD where there are decades of campaign settings to draw on. The World Axis was the easiest, by far, for new players to understand. I was teaching all of the children (friends and neighbors included) DnD during the 4e era and even the youngest, who was 8, caught on. The World Axis captured all of the thematic fantasy of DnD Cosmology without being bogged down in strange rules/rulings. It managed to merge Planescape and Spelljammer without ruining either. It's definitely on of the things 4e got right.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm shocked that the world Axis

4e World Axis is best suited for RPGs, especially DnD where there are decades of campaign settings to draw on. The World Axis was the easiest, by far, for new players to understand. I was teaching all of the children (friends and neighbors included) DnD during the 4e era and even the youngest, who was 8, caught on. The World Axis captured all of the thematic fantasy of DnD Cosmology without being bogged down in strange rules/rulings. It managed to merge Planescape and Spelljammer without ruining either. It's definitely on of the things 4e got right.

I'm shocked the world Axis is beating Planescape.

 

[Voadam]

Another for 4e World Axis.

I enjoy aspects of all of them, and Rokugan's set up too, but 4e is the setup I like the most.

 

[ChaosOS]

Before Exploring Eberron, I would've voted the 4e world axis, but now that we actually have Eberron's fleshed out a bit I have to say I really like it.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Another vote for World Axis. When I started my 5e campaign during the pandemic, this was the cosmology I used (with some home brew changes). There is a great fan made compilation of World Axis lore (not a copy and paste but a wonderful synthesis of various sources). I used that as the bible for the setting.

 

[Aldarc]

I'm shocked that the world Axis

I'm shocked the world Axis is beating Planescape.

Admittedly, there are two versions of the Great Wheel up there, and the World Axis is not beating Planescape by much in this low numbers informal poll.

 

[Steampunkette]

I like an incredibly simple cosmology. You have the Material Plane, with all it's worlds. You have Elysium. You have the Astral/Ethereal Plane, you have the Feywild/Shadowfell as demiplanes of the Material Plane, you have the Wasteland, and you have Hell.

Done. No elemental planes. No "Energy" planes. No dozen different planes for all the various gods and demigods and stuff. No plane of Law or Chaos. You don't need seven mounting heavens of Celestia separate from Arborea separate from Elysium separate from Arcadia.

Because characters in a world rarely "Need" all that extraneous reality-building in order to be interesting and engaging heroes and villains of the world I've put together for people to play in. And the handful of planes that I've got are more than enough to have wild and ridiculous adventures in.

Where do Elementals come from? The elements. They're part of the natural world. Where do Mind Flayers come from? The Darkness between the Stars in the night sky. What about Modrons? Don't actually have a use for them... But if anywhere had them? Elysium. They'd work with the Angels to ensure it functioned correctly and help keep mortals out.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I think the main thing I like about the World Axis is that, whereas the Great Wheel has a specific number of Outer Planes linked to the silvery void-version of the Astral Plane, the World Axis can have any number of islands that you can sail to in a fantastical Astral Sea.

 

[Mercurius]

A few people have commented that Spelljammer isn't a cosmology - I get that, but I think it fits the general idea of the poll, as a "meta-perspective" on the universe beyond world. It also fits the idea that these "cosmologies" aren't mutually exclusive.

Anyhow, to answer my own question, I voted for "can't choose." A bit of a cop-out, I suppose, but I agree with what some have said: that I like the unique cosmologies approach.

That said, I prefer World Axis to Great Wheel. Of the unique cosmologies, my favorite is probably Eberron.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

A few people have commented that Spelljammer isn't a cosmology - I get that, but I think it fits the general idea of the poll, as a "meta-perspective" on the universe beyond world. It also fits the idea that these "cosmologies" aren't mutually exclusive.

But... the poll is mutually exclusive...