D&D 5E Exploring Eberron's Map of the Planes

Artist Marco Bernardini created the map of the planes in Keith Baker's new Eberron sourcebook (Keith will be on our podcast in two week with three hardcovers to give away). You can grab it from the DMs Guild in full resolution.

 

[doctorhook]

Personally, I like the map as is. It means all of the teleporting is happening by means of the ethereal plane.

I am curious how much is intentional and how much is accidental from the stylization.

One really important thing to know about Eberron’s planes is that they move in cycles, like orbits. Occasionally they touch the material plane directly. When they’re close to the material plane, they have stronger effects, and weaker effects when they’re at their furthest. Each plane has its own period, so some cycle a lot faster than others. Also, a couple of the planes (Dal Quor and Xoriat) are magically prevented from cycling (each one has different circumstances, but no spoilers here).

 

[Erdric Dragin]

It appears to me as if Baker, besides Greenwood, made the mistake of signing total control over to WotC. Why they let that happen to their own creations is beyond me. If D&D wanted to sell my campaign, I would require I be involved in the decisions of the design and future design of my creation no matter who owns the property. If I can't get that contractual agreement, they would never get my campaign.

 

[ChaosOS]

It appears to me as if Baker, besides Greenwood, made the mistake of signing total control over to WotC. Why they let that happen to their own creations is beyond me. If D&D wanted to sell my campaign, I would require I be involved in the decisions of the design and future design of my creation no matter who owns the property. If I can't get that contractual agreement, they would never get my campaign.

I don't think you're particular familiar with the nature of Eberron - it was made purely in response to the WotC competition, in full collaboration with them. It's not like FR at all, where it was Keith's home game before it was sold to WotC. Lots of stuff in the original ECS were the invention of James Wyatt and Bill Slaviscek - halflings on dinosaurs for example were allegedly because James' son was into dinos at the time.

 

[MarkB]

One really important thing to know about Eberron’s planes is that they move in cycles, like orbits. Occasionally they touch the material plane directly. When they’re close to the material plane, they have stronger effects, and weaker effects when they’re at their furthest. Each plane has its own period, so some cycle a lot faster than others. Also, a couple of the planes (Dal Quor and Xoriat) are magically prevented from cycling (each one has different circumstances, but no spoilers here).

Yeah, the best way to look at it is to imagine this image as a snapshot - that's how the planes were situated at the time of drawing, with Lamannia and Dolurrh both close to being coterminous with the material plane. A few weeks or months later, the planes' relative positions will have changed, with some growing closer and others more distant.

And this is all effectively metaphorical. Scholars in Eberron use the Orrery model because it's a useful way of visualising how the planes interact with material reality, but there's no real suggestion that the planes are literally spheres gliding through an extradimensional void. They could just as easily be visualised as waxing and waning in influence, or directing their gaze toward or away from the material plane.

 

[ChaosOS]

I'd especially emphasize that the orrery is a "useful fiction" based on ExE - while there is some regularity to their transit, the book also highlights that planes can become unexpectedly coterminous/remote during their larger cycles. So you can run games both about planned events and about surprise global effects

 

[MarkB]

I'd especially emphasize that the orrery is a "useful fiction" based on ExE - while there is some regularity to their transit, the book also highlights that planes can become unexpectedly coterminous/remote during their larger cycles. So you can run games both about planned events and about surprise global effects

Indeed. It's rather reminiscent of the old geocentric models of the solar system in that regard. Maybe the people of Eberron wouldn't find the planes' movements so unpredictable if they didn't assume they were all orbiting around the material plane.