D&D 5E DMG Preview: The Multiverse

[gribble]

I like SkidAce's picture better anyway. Where's that from?

I agree - it is a cool picture. Though it could be for either a torus, or a "bicycle tire" city, with the opening on the tire off the left hand side of the picture.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There certainly is verbiage stating the only way in or out is via portal, which if it was open would not be true...you could fly.

IIRC, the big thing against flying is that if you flew up from, say, the Outlands, up the Spire, you'd have to fly infinitely high to get to Sigil. Meaning, one can't. One could fly between opposite ends of the ring just fine (that is, within the city).

The CS describes Sigil as a "tire" (no hubcap or wheel rim, lying on its side). It mentions that if you try to go "outside" the city, you probably just get hurled to a random plane. It's closer to a torus than a ring, but it's not exactly either.

 

[Dire Bare]

The difference in practical terms... <snip>

You've gone into more detail distinguishing a torus from a ring, but quite frankly, if you have to break out the calculus and the word curvature with adjectives, then I'm not seeing the improvement. Yes, a torus is not the same thing as a ring, I get it. Still don't see why describing Sigil as a ring is that big of a deal.

A more common nane for the torus is "donut", BTW

Thanks. And? I suppose describing the city as a "donut" might help my player's visualize it more clearly, but not much more clearly than "ring" and describing my favorite gritty city as a pastry seems dissonant to me somehow. And it makes me hungry.

Well, it's not properly a torus - but if you imagine the inside of a bicycle tire, with the "sky" where the open part is, you get a city that's got no end in one direction but has walls on the sides.

If it's actually the inside of a tyre, than I agree with [MENTION=18182]Dire Bare[/MENTION] - describing it as a ring (especially if the edges of the ring have walls) seems like a very minor difference of little practical significance.

Yup. Sigil is on the inside of a cosmic tire. A torus, not a ring. This thread has pretty much convinced me to drop the word "torus" when describing Sigil and stick with "ring". I think me and my players will be okay.

 

[Dire Bare]

View attachment 65144

For those asking the source of this pic, forget the exact book, but it's 4E. Look at the flamey angel bottom right!

To me, this picture is just as "non-canonical" as the one in the OP, but in a different way. It implies a closed, true torus. Sigil is an open torus (if such a term actually exists) like the inside of a tire. But, whichever concept works best for ya, ring, torus, sorta-torus, not much practical difference any which way.

To me, in addition to the closed torus implied, this pic makes Sigil look too small. Sigil is small enough where you can notice the curvature as you're walking around, but not to the extreme degree shown in the pic. I normally really like this artist's work, but this one doesn't do it for me.

 

[Mouseferatu]

But, whichever concept works best for ya, ring, torus, sorta-torus, not much practical difference any which way.

I prefer Ford Torus myself.

 

[MasterTrancer]

I don't really follow this - can you explain with a bit more detail? What do you mean by "sideways"? And what do you mean by "building on either side [either side of what?] have no windows facing 'outward' [what direction is outward, given the whole thing is on the inside of a torus?]"?

Sorry for the late answer, but differing timezones can be annoying...as I've seen, many people have clarified what I was trying to convey: Sigil was described akin to a tire laying on its side, the tire "shoulders" are what I was referring to, i.e.: the building on either side...and you're right, I should have made clear that I was referring to the ring version, and not to the torus interpretation.

 

[MasterTrancer]

Thanks. And? I suppose describing the city as a "donut" might help my player's visualize it more clearly, but not much more clearly than "ring" and describing my favorite gritty city as a pastry seems dissonant to me somehow. And it makes me hungry.

I was just referring to what you said about this being the first time you've heard the word "torus", sorry...

Without resorting to arguments bordering towards the off-topic, let's say that the main differences between walking on a torus and on a ring are similar to the ones that differentiate walking on a log and on a plank, with the due differences in scale.

 

[SkidAce]

I like SkidAce's picture better anyway. Where's that from?

Not sure, had it in my picture gallery.

 

[Zhaleskra]

Some of my college friends and I joked about the setup of the Great Wheel cosmology including Sigil. The Outlands is a pancake, The Spire is syrup, and Sigil is a donut. Which raises the question of why you're pouring your infinite syrup through a donut?

 

[Dragonhelm]

To me, this picture is just as "non-canonical" as the one in the OP, but in a different way. It implies a closed, true torus. Sigil is an open torus (if such a term actually exists) like the inside of a tire. But, whichever concept works best for ya, ring, torus, sorta-torus, not much practical difference any which way.

So Sigil is an inner tube.

So with this preview, what do you guys think is the future of the various campaign settings? It sounds to me like we might get a couple of adventure books and then a adventure companion book to cover them.

Thoughts?