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<blockquote data-quote="Keldryn" data-source="post: 5985483" data-attributes="member: 11999">I don't have any particular love for the &quot;Great Wheel&quot; cosmology.&nbsp; I started D&amp;D with BECMI, and it had its own cosmology:&nbsp; the prime material plane, the four elemental planes, the ethereal plane, the astral plane, an infinite number of outer planes, the dimension of nightmares...&nbsp; So it's definitely not a necessary part of D&amp;D, nor is it something that has always been part of D&amp;D.I first encountered the &quot;Great Wheel&quot; in Best of Dragon Vol. 1, I think, which is pretty similar to how it appears in the AD&amp;D Player's Handbook.The positive and negative energy planes never really made a lot of sense to me, and the various para- and quasi-elemental planes that were added later in 1e strike me as rather silly.&nbsp; The alignment-based outer planes feel very rigid and all of the real-world pantheons living side-by-side doesn't appeal to me.I very much prefer the idea of each campaign setting having its own cosmology.&nbsp; Eberron has a cool setup that fits the world much better than would the Great Wheel.&nbsp; Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous presents a cosmology that is very reminiscent of the Great Wheel, but modified and stripped-down to fit the religions contained in the book.While I'm not a big fan of the system, I really like 4e's &quot;World Axis&quot; cosmology.&nbsp; I think it is better suited for providing interesting adventuring locations than does the Great Wheel.&nbsp; It also feels more inspired by real-world myths and less by gaming constructs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Keldryn, post: 5985483, member: 11999"] I don't have any particular love for the "Great Wheel" cosmology. I started D&D with BECMI, and it had its own cosmology: the prime material plane, the four elemental planes, the ethereal plane, the astral plane, an infinite number of outer planes, the dimension of nightmares... So it's definitely not a necessary part of D&D, nor is it something that has always been part of D&D. I first encountered the "Great Wheel" in Best of Dragon Vol. 1, I think, which is pretty similar to how it appears in the AD&D Player's Handbook. The positive and negative energy planes never really made a lot of sense to me, and the various para- and quasi-elemental planes that were added later in 1e strike me as rather silly. The alignment-based outer planes feel very rigid and all of the real-world pantheons living side-by-side doesn't appeal to me. I very much prefer the idea of each campaign setting having its own cosmology. Eberron has a cool setup that fits the world much better than would the Great Wheel. Green Ronin's [i]Book of the Righteous[/i] presents a cosmology that is very reminiscent of the Great Wheel, but modified and stripped-down to fit the religions contained in the book. While I'm not a big fan of the system, I really like 4e's "World Axis" cosmology. I think it is better suited for providing interesting adventuring locations than does the Great Wheel. It also feels more inspired by real-world myths and less by gaming constructs. [/QUOTE]

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