D&D (2024) Future-Edition Brainstorming: A Simplified Cosmology (+)

Rogerd1

Adventurer
No, my statement is I don't like to mix SF in my fantasy, which is not the same thing.

And not only have you not read the proofs that I've given to you, but it shows that you have no idea what Glorantha is, and in particular the difference between the god time and time, and their simultaneous existence, with all the realms that existed before Glorantha took the shape that it has today. Go read.

Great, and because Green Ronin has written many products, it somehow makes M&M 3e more than confidential, especially today when 3e is not played that much, even less derivative games ?

Look here: DriveThruRPG.com - The Largest RPG Download Store!

Dragon Warriors, a RPG from 1985 which was very confidential, I brought it at the time because it was simple for initiation, and it's still in DTRPG although I wager almost nobody plays it today. What exactly is your problem with M&M 3e being confidential ? I've played confidential games when they were great for our tables...
1. Mixing SF into your Fantasy is exactly what they have done with Star Wars, Nightsisters of Dathomir.
Esper Genesis is a mix of this too with the upcoming KS.

2. I have read them as I have the books. You are utterly ignorant of physics - it is that simple! Having extra dimensions tacked onto a world setting does not make a multiverse. In the same way that Calabi-Yau Manifold may be be part of our universe. This does not make a multiverse.

A multiverse is a group of universes, parallel and alternate (depending upon the model used).

3. It is clear English is your strong suite, as confidential as you are using is plain wrong.


At no point are the games or settings secret.
 

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Umbran

Mod Squad
Staff member
Supporter
Mod Note:
@Lyxen and @Rogerd1


The two of you seem more engaged in your petty personal digs about who is closed-minded than you are with the topic. And making the discussion personal is a good way tot get into an argument, and get yoruself ejected from the thread.

Lyxen, especially, you came into the thread to announce how what the thread was about would not work for you. This is supposed to be a (+) thread, and that's not a constructive setup. It seems to have positioned you to be in conflict, rather than building anything.

Both of you find better ways to engage with the topic, or take your leave of the discussion.
 
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Rogerd1

Adventurer
First, I would condense most of the Upper Planes into one "Heaven" plane. It could be called basically anything, from just "Heaven", to "Mount Celestia", or "Elysium", but for now we'll just call it "Heaven". I don't like how the Great Wheel will separate the afterlives of even good creatures from each other (so family members will be split up if they're of different good alignments), and think that one heaven could just fit all. It could have different layers (possibly one for each type of good alignment; chaotic, neutral, and lawful, but I'd prefer if the sub-divisions of the plane were more like home-realms for Angels, Archons, and Couatls, or something like that, but perhaps both of those could be used in the same setting). The plane is pretty simple; it would be Heaven. A paradise. A place that you probably never want to leave if you come here, with amazing weather, endless food and drink (maybe Nectar and Ambrosia), friendly people, eternal celestial servants, and so on. The Gods might live here if this cosmology has explicitly real gods and they're stated to live in places that the setting's characters can access, but this isn't necessary (maybe take a note from Exandria and have the Gods be real and present, but they can't journey to or interfere with the mortal plane). Either way, Celestial Paragons (Archangels, super powerful Couatls, possibly called Quetzalcouatls, and Head Archons) would be in charge of running most of the business on the plane, and would be what Celestial-Patron Warlocks would make pacts with.

Second, I would also condense most of the Lower Planes into one "Hell" plane. Again, the name doesn't really matter, it could be "Hades", "Hel(l)", "the Abyss/Nine Hells/Acheron/Pandemonium", or something like that, but it would be Hell, the home plane of Fiends and where people who do evil get sent when they die. I personally would probably use my previous idea of it having 7 layers, each attached to one of the Seven Deadly Sins (with an Archfiend that embodies one of the sins ruling each level, like Mammon for Greed, Yeenoghu for Gluttony, Baphomet for Wrath, etc), and probably have the Blood War just take place on this single plane of existence, but that isn't necessary to this idea. Also like the Heaven plane in this same cosmology, the evil gods may or may not live here, it depends on the setting's deity situation, but the Archfiends definitely would, and would be what most Fiend Warlocks make pacts with.
1. Okay so why not take a leaf from the older Charmed tv series, which had Upper Planes, and Lower Planes - both completely separate.

2. Have the astral, but various levels? So at the bottom is the astral sea, star visible through the silvery reflective surface. Mid level could be clouds, which could even possibly contain whole planets? And upper astral could be a dark void full of unknown dangers?
 


Li Shenron

Legend
Why doesn't D&D just list like all 50+ planes and give 6-10 configurations? Two of which can be simple.
Then give you guidance to make you own.
The 3ed Manual of the Planes does that (it's not 50 but more like ~35) but we haven't got a similar book in 5e yet, only the slim information in DMG.
 

Not really in favor of a "one cosmology to rule them all", but for a simple and flavorful one I'd go with:

Prime Material - Center
(Main stage of campaign)

Celestia - Above
(Elemental Air, Astral Sea, & Saintly Planes)

Chthon - Below
(Elemental Earth, Border Ethereal, Shadowfell, & Diabolical Planes)

Oceanos - North
(Elemental Water, Deep Ethereal, & Anarchic Planes)

Gehenna - South
(Elemental Fire & Demoniac Planes)

Arborea - East
(Elemental Wood, Feywild, & Beautific Planes)

Mechanus - West
(Elemental Metal & Axiomatic Planes)
 

Lyxen

Great Old One
The 3ed Manual of the Planes does that (it's not 50 but more like ~35) but we haven't got a similar book in 5e yet, only the slim information in DMG.

Seeing that these books are mostly "not rules" any edition of the Manual of the Planes would do that, or actually any of the sites on the web, since they are mostly ruleless too.
 

Minigiant

Legend
Supporter
The 3ed Manual of the Planes does that (it's not 50 but more like ~35) but we haven't got a similar book in 5e yet, only the slim information in DMG.

Yet another book 5e is missing

Well there are what 27 planes in the Great Wheel. And Feywild- and some all new planes and you can get to 50.


Xibalba and Mictlan for D&D
 

Tales and Chronicles

Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
I acknowledge that the World Axis Cosmology is simpler than the Great Wheel. However, it is still fairly complicated. While it does look like 5 planes of existence in that display, it's more (it has the Abyss, Nine Hells, Pandemonium, Carceri, and other planes still. The Elemental Chaos and Astral Sea are more like Transitive Planes/Planar Locations that the other planes of existence are found in). I do prefer the World Axis to the Great Wheel, but it's not as simple as my tastes, and I did borrow a bit from it in my explanation of a possible simplified cosmology in the OP (Astral Sea with spelljammers in it, moving the cosmology from wheel-shaped to more "axis" based, etc).
My own take with the World Axis is that each realm in the Planes (Hestavar, Carceri, Arvandor, the City of Brass etc) is more like a huge city or domain, rather than a complete plane. Maybe something like Domains of Dread/Delight.

So you dont have to learn 10+ different planes, just like you dont have to know the different cities of the Feywild or Shadowfell.
 


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