D&D 5E First World: Possibly One of the New D&D setting?

[Mercurius]

For all this debate about cosmology and multiverses I have to ask - does it actually come up in the game?

Is your Bard in Waterdeep concerned with the First World?
When you're Cleric visits the Inn of the Last Home does the ecological needs of a sapphire dragon in Eberron matter?

I have two answer to this.

1. For the most part, no. Or rather, as a DM, my observation is that it is secondary to hanging out, rolling dice, and adventuring--and some players don't care about such things at all. But it helps to bring color to game, and I find that as a player, I'm very interested in such things, and always want to know more about the world. In fact, I tend towards disappointment if I feel that the world is paper-thin, be it the depth of the DM's homebrew world-building or their understanding of the pre-published world. But even then, I am generally happy to play casually, and as a game of fun and adventure, with any kind of world elements being back-drops only.

2. I'll tell you a secret - and don't tell anyone else on this forum, else I be cast to the nether regions for heresy. Playing RPGs is actually a tertiary hobby for me; or rather, it is a primary hobby, but two related areas take primacy in my life as art forms: Writing stories and world-building (for the stories). My interest in RPGs is partially due to that; it is also why I tend to buy settings books over other books, because I find more enjoyment from them outside of the game context than other books.

I partially jest about the tertiary thing, but I think it illustrates the nature of RPGs: They are different things to different people. There is a certain attitude that sometimes arises, that almost looks down on anything that doesn't immediately impact the game play. Actually, this also exists in the writing world; M John Harrison somewhat famously called world-building "the great clomping foot of nerdism." He was coming from a place of "pure storytelling," so--as far as I understand his meaning (aside from the humor of it)--he was critiquing excessive world-building that has nothing to do with the unfolding of the plot.

While I think he had a good point, his view is not only a bit snobbish but also misunderstands someone like, I don't know, JRR Tolkien. For Tolkien, his main work was Middle-earth itself - it was an ongoing art project, like an extremely complex imaginal sculpture that he continued tinkered with and refined. The books he wrote were rather secondary to the world itself.

I think some DMs have a degree of this "Tolkienism," and it is best understood as a related hobby--or art-form--that overlaps with RPGs, but isn't the same thing. And I think the same applies to your comment about cosmologies and such (not saying you are being snobbish, btw!).

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I get it, but that changed the perception and the standard gnome changed to be a competent form of such neurodiverse people, such as myself. Or did you miss the evolution aspect of my comment?

Tinker gnomes are specific to Dragonlance and have generally been portrayed for comedy there.
Standard gnomes have always been distinct from tinker gnomes, and portrayed in a much more serious fashion, particularly in 4e and Eberron. Even where they have had aspects of inventors, they don't have such neurodiverse coding and "can't do anything right" portrayal that tinker gnomes have.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

they don't have such neurodiverse coding

Eh, I disagree with this as someone both ADHD and autistic. Specifically how they're written in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, with them being antisocial, hyper focusing on their interests, and so on. They're definitely neurodivergent-coded. But respectfully, in my opinion. They're not the butt of a joke in MToF, the book seems to have an appreciation for their quirks and habits. Unlike the Tinker Gnomes of Dragonlance, which definitely do seem like they're mocking neurodivergent folk.

 

[teitan]

Aren't those synonyms?

Yeah but I’m more precise.

 

[vecna00]

You can do the First World so many ways. Its said that all peoples throughout the multiverse were in the First World. You have this cool image now where Powers protect their children and their worshippers, giving them havens where they may live. You could have a central city that is like Sigil, but instead of a City of Doors, it is a City of Idols, where the Powers come and build great palaces that have political intrigues amongst the pantheons acted out through people both in the city and throughout the rest of the First World, where they must battle against the Chaos of All Creation in order to find a safehold within which to survive.

But I guess I'm putting too much of my own biases in here

I like this idea!

I may be misremembering something, but could the First World also have been home to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa? I seem to remember them settling on multiple worlds, but I don't remember if they originated on a Prime world or the Plane of Air.

I've only gotten to the second page, so this may have been covered already.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Tinker gnomes are specific to Dragonlance and have generally been portrayed for comedy there.
Standard gnomes have always been distinct from tinker gnomes, and portrayed in a much more serious fashion

Played Baldur's Gate 2?
Jan Jansen
Tinker gnomes may officially be specific to Dragonlance (and Spelljammer), but in practice it's a common D&D trope to portray gnomes as crazy inventors.

Even Kynn gnomes, if you get away from the work of W&H, build stuff that does work. It's W&H who are specifically cruel.

 

[JEB]

I may be misremembering something, but could the First World also have been home to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa? I seem to remember them settling on multiple worlds, but I don't remember if they originated on a Prime world or the Plane of Air.

In older canon other than 4E, the Wind Dukes originated from the Plane of Air, but their empire extended to other worlds, including some on the Material Plane. In 4E canon, however, apparently they were created by Bahamut.

They certainly could retcon them to originate from the First World (or the First World's analogue to the Plane of Air, if they want a compromise option).

 

[vecna00]

In older canon other than 4E, the Wind Dukes originated from the Plane of Air, but their empire extended to other worlds, including some on the Material Plane. In 4E canon, however, apparently they were created by Bahamut.

They certainly could retcon them to originate from the First World (or the First World's analogue to the Plane of Air, if they want a compromise option).

Thank you!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Now I am thinking if after the Feywild and the Shadowfell the next plane to be added to the D&D cosmology. It would be an "echo plane", but this plane is a "echo from the past". It wouldn't be an ersatz of the Feywild, but we would see prehistoric beasts, elemental monsters and primal forces. Why not to be explored and settled? Too many natural disasters as twisters, unknown epidemics, floods, meteor rains, earthquakes and even planar invasion by aliens. A true nightmare for humanoids with longer lives. A good place to hunt really big pieces, but a hell to live there.

 

[teitan]

Played Baldur's Gate 2?
Jan Jansen
Tinker gnomes may officially be specific to Dragonlance (and Spelljammer), but in practice it's a common D&D trope to portray gnomes as crazy inventors.

Even Kynn gnomes, if you get away from the work of W&H, build stuff that does work. It's W&H who are specifically cruel.

Thank you!