D&D 5E 5e/Next Cosmology

[Herschel]

See; there's no need for that, if you prefer the World Axis action, fine (I enjoy it myself), but do not say the D&D cosmology of over 30 years blew, it takes away any credibility you might have.

There is cosmological room for all of our preferences.

I hated it then, I hate it now.

 

[Argyle King]

I prefer the 4E cosmology to The Great Wheel. However, I prefer some of the 3E gods to their 4E counterparts. I'd like to see the 4E cosmology as the base model, but with more of the personalities from 3E fit into it.


That being said, if the default assumption of D&D Durango is The Great Wheel, I highly prefer The Great Wheel functioning like a clockwork series of gears in which the planes do not have a static place. It's a crude diagram, but I tried to illustrate what I mean below:


...2....A...
1.o.3.o.B
...4....C...

1, 2, 3, and 4 represent a set of planes which revolve around a 'gear' of the wheel (represented by 'o'.) A, B, and C are a second set of planes which also revolve around their gear. As you can see, the two sets overlap, so this creates the possibility of a plane being moved into a rotation and/or location where it normally is not located.

...2....A...
1.o.3.o.B
...4....C...

...1....A...
4.o.2.o.B
...3....C...

...1....2...
4.o.C.o.A
...3....B...

...4....2...
3.o.1.o.A
...C....B...

 

[Steely_Dan]

I hated it then, I hate it now. Get off your high horse.

Ha, what high horse (I was totally reasonable, and you know it, please don't get defensive, I am not "attacking" you).

I was stating that what you do not like does not blow because you don't dig it, many other people do enjoy it; you seem very passive-aggressive and adversarial, is something else bothering you aside from a fantasy RPG's cosmologies?

I say again, there is cosmological room for all of our preferences, want Terry Pratchet style, go for it!

 

[Herschel]

Yeah, I do like some of the 2E and 3E bits/personalities better, I just really, really dislike the whole "Great Wheel" schtick.

 

[Stoat]

I'm not a fan of the Great Wheel, particularly the way it incorporates a grab-bag of real world mythologies. I also dislike its focus on alignment as an organizing principle.

Furthermore, I'm strongly of the opinion that D&D needs a Faery Realm, and I've always been a little surprised that it took 4 editions to get there.

 

[Steely_Dan]

Yeah, I do like some of the 2E and 3E bits/personalities better, I just really, really dislike the whole "Great Wheel" schtick.

Fine, use another schtick that gets your jollies off, no need to discount another preference.

I agree that no one cosmology should be hardwired into the system.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I found the Great Wheel pretty interesting the first time I encountered it in D&D 3E. It was a complex, arcane (hah!) thing. But it also seemed specific and had a lot of areas that didn't really seem interesting from an adventuring perspective - If I was a scientist trying to make sense of the Universe, I might find it illuminating how things all fit together and _of_ course there is a quasi-elemental plane between fire and air or whatever... But these were kinda "planes of hats"...

But the planar setup of D&D 4 resonated much better with me. Particularly due to the Feywild, really. Feys abducting people or people getting lost there was something that I had just been missing. The Shadowfell I am not sure I need (though it also has features that I liked, and the fact that it mirrored the Feywild worked for me on some level. I just always found the Feywild more interesting.)

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm not a fan of the Great Wheel, particularly the way it incorporates a grab-bag of real world mythologies. I also dislike its focus on alignment as an organizing principle.

Just to show folks that it takes all types, I kind of like the way it is a grab-bag of real world mythologies. I like the idea that Zeus and Thor and Lei Gong and Chaac all might get together once in a while and throw a Thunder God Get-Together, or that Set and Hades pal around with each other once in a while. To me, part of the D&D experience is a mythological grab-bag anyway, what with the Kraken and the Chimera and the Coutl and Asmodeus all around.

Furthermore, I'm strongly of the opinion that D&D needs a Faery Realm, and I've always been a little surprised that it took 4 editions to get there.

It's had Arborea since 2e as the location of eladrin (fey-like celestials), elf gods and goddesses, and Seelie Court and suchlikeas. In my PS4e game, Feywild = Arborea.

 

[Imaro]

Personally I'm hoping for the Great Wheel and Planescape to be default in 5e. I didn't really have anything against 4e's cosmology... I just didn't find it inspiring, interesting or all that unique. In fact it seemed very similar to many of the cosmologies used by other fantasy games out on the market (and apparently as evidenced by this thread a multitude of homebrews) . I guess I feel like if you're going to create a cosmology for your game make it different and unique, and that's what the Great Wheel was IMO.

 

[Szatany]

4E cosmology is fine. So is the great ring/wheel/ parallelogram. I don't particularly prefer either.

I prefer the Planar Subway.

Ah yesss, planar travel with sandwiches