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<blockquote data-quote="KidSnide" data-source="post: 5981310" data-attributes="member: 54710">I have had mixed opinions on D&amp;D cosmology for some time.&nbsp; On the one hand, there has been some very cool design work in the D&amp;D cosmology (e.g. Planescape and some of the 4e work).&nbsp; But on the other hand, I think designers have fundamentally misunderstood (or at least mis-presented) the role of a cosmology in a campaign.The idea that you can have multiple different game worlds and a single cosmology is fundamentally flawed.&nbsp; The cosmology is part of the game world.&nbsp; Yes, it may be nice to bolt-on a detailed and well-designed set of planes onto a custom game world, but that's not all that different from bolting-on a detailed and well-designed city or dungeon.&nbsp; The only real difference between planes and mortal gameworld elements is that planes tend to have specific magic associated with them (usually the magic to get there) and specific monsters (who live there).&nbsp; But, really, that's really no different from a society of wizards that have access to specific types of magic and minions.&nbsp; Making the cosmology part of the campaign choice is a good step in the right direction.The Great Wheel is a fun idea and a nice place to adventure, but it has the tendency to draw characters from their original game world into the Great Wheel.&nbsp; That's fine if you want to run a game where the PCs &quot;transcend&quot; their petty mortal world for the planes beyond, but many games aren't about &quot;planes beyond&quot;.&nbsp; They are about the events in the mortal plane.&nbsp; And if you want to run a game that's about the mortal plane, you are better served by a cosmology that reflects the aspects of your game world that are interesting.-KS</blockquote>

[QUOTE="KidSnide, post: 5981310, member: 54710"] I have had mixed opinions on D&D cosmology for some time. On the one hand, there has been some very cool design work in the D&D cosmology (e.g. Planescape and some of the 4e work). But on the other hand, I think designers have fundamentally misunderstood (or at least mis-presented) the role of a cosmology in a campaign. The idea that you can have multiple different game worlds and a single cosmology is fundamentally flawed. The cosmology is [B][I]part[/I][/B] of the game world. Yes, it may be nice to bolt-on a detailed and well-designed set of planes onto a custom game world, but that's not all that different from bolting-on a detailed and well-designed city or dungeon. The only real difference between planes and mortal gameworld elements is that planes tend to have specific magic associated with them (usually the magic to get there) and specific monsters (who live there). But, really, that's really no different from a society of wizards that have access to specific types of magic and minions. Making the cosmology part of the campaign choice is a good step in the right direction. The Great Wheel is a fun idea and a nice place to adventure, but it has the tendency to draw characters from their original game world into the Great Wheel. That's fine if you want to run a game where the PCs "transcend" their petty mortal world for the planes beyond, but many games aren't about "planes beyond". They are about the events in the mortal plane. And if you want to run a game that's about the mortal plane, you are better served by a cosmology that reflects the aspects of your game world that are interesting. -KS [/QUOTE]

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