Design and Development: Cosmology

[Doug McCrae]

Feywild/Shadowfell closely resemble Birthright's Shadow World.

 

[helium3]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20070926a

This is simply going to further inflame the ongoing conflict between those who want them to keep the Great Wheel and those who don't.

Me? I like the sound of this. Feels much more mythic and properly spiritual to me.

It's actually pretty similar to my own home-brew cosmology, which makes me happy that it'll be an easier sell when I start running a game again in the near future.

It makes me sad though that my players will think I just cribbed WOTC's notes.

 

[bording]

I have to say that I really like what has been described in this article. We have a much more manageable number of planes (quick, who can rattle off the the exact names of every single plane in the Great Wheel? I know I can't) but they are varied and open-ended enough to still provide a lot of different locales for plane-hopping goodness.

I really like the idea of the Shadowfell being the land of the dead. It reminds me of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series. Being able to travel there and bring back someone? Sounds good to me!

The openness of the Astral Sea is also really appealing. Instead of the codified Outer Planes, we have the ability to toss in any number of dominions out there in the sea. Got an idea for a strange new plane? Toss it in the Astral Sea and there you go!

 

[Glyfair]

Feywild/Shadowfell closely resemble Birthright's Shadow World.

I was thinking that the Shadowfell wasn't too far from Birthright's Shadow World. If halflings come from there, then it will be a lead pipe cinch.

 

[Aage]

The Feywild’s many vistas can catch your breath with beauty, but the Feywild is far from safe. Heroes visiting to Feywild might encounter:
A mossy forest glade where evil druids spill the blood of hapless travelers over the roots of the thirsting trees;
The tower of an eladrin enchanter;
A fomorian king’s castle in the dim, splendid caverns of the faerie Underdark; or
A maze of thorns in which dryad briarwitches guard an evil relic.

I totally I'm reading to much into the emphasised part... But my hope is somewhat restored

Edit: Oh, and by the way, I'm loving the article

 

[BryonD]

I like it.

nice and open-ended


They appear to have applied the points of light idea to the planes as well as to the main world.

 

[Desdichado]

While it may sound strange, I don't mind the article as much as I thought I would. I still have no intentions of using the new cosmology (as in, EVER), but I can now relate to its premise - to simplify the Great Wheel to make it more accessible to younger (or, rather, easily bored/impatient) players and those who dislike planar adventures and material in general.

I'd like to think that disliking the Great Wheel does not automatically make one younger or more easily bored or impatient.

One (of many, IMO) complaints about the Great Wheel is that it doesn't easily allow for other planes to fit in, other than the clumsy patch of "just make it a demiplane!" This set-up allows me to use whatever plane I want. If I want a more Beyond Countless Doorways approach (which frankly, I would), where I can insert any plane I can come up with, then this specifically faciliates it.

 

[Lackhand]

Well, the origin of the Abyss already has a known legend, from the Demons and Devils article:

Legend says that the Chained God, Tharizdun, found a seed of evil in the young cosmos, and during the gods’ war with the primordials, he threw that seed into the Elemental Tempest. There, the evil seed despoiled all that came into contact with it (some say it tainted Tharizdun himself) and created the Abyss as it burned a hole in the very structure of the plane.

I'm using the wrong words, but I'm thinking more "vertically" or "geometrically" than that.

But the word "burned" there is kind of helpful.


It occurs to me that, maelstrom or no, unless they give me a few really good ideas, I'll be mostly using Fire, intermixed with Air and Earth. Very little water in that maelstrom. That seems sad.

I hope they have some good ideas. It's mostly due to interesting encounters; anything I might want to use Water for, I can generally get away with an actual underwater adventure for. It's usually much better, in fact, because then there can be Prime pirates and sunken treasure and friendly sea-life and stuff; it doesn't make as much sense on the elemental planes.

Yet?

 

[Desdichado]

Then we can both be right, the article and I; the elemental planes are the accretion disk, while the Abyss is the manifest will of entropy.

The elemental planes are the accretion disk, and the Abyss is the supermassive black hole at the center.

 

[BlackMoria]

Is the Plane of Shadow still around or did the Shadowfell kill it and take it's stuff?