Forked Thread: The Great Wheel

[Arnwyn]

I don't want to take a language course just to understand what a PS fanatic is saying at the gaming table, or simply to be able to get through a book about the planes.

"I'M SO CLEVER WHEN I IGNORE FACTS"

Mmmm.... irony.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Mmmm.... irony.

You know exactly what you are talking about!

 

[Keefe the Thief]

The cant ensured that i became interested in Planescape and that most casual gamers i knew said "wtf" and ignored the setting from then on. It´s the great divider: fits perfect as an artistically designed part of the setting, alienated loads of people who simply couldn´t be bothered.

 

[Umbran]

And of course, no Great Wheel discussion is complete without Professor Cirno and his "I'M SO CLEVER WHEN I IGNORE FACTS" cosmology picture.

However, the discussion can be complete without folks getting personal and dismissive. This one will be so, as you won't be posting in it any more.

Folks - we expect you to show respect for your fellow posters and their opinions, no matter how much you disagree with them.

 

[Arnwyn]

You know exactly what you are talking about!

I know I do, thanks!

 

[malraux]

But seriously... You've got 38 infinite planes, quite a few of them with multiple infinite layers, and people can't think of anywhere they want to go? Then where are they planning on going in 4e's cosmology that's so vastly different from this?

IME, the 38 infinite planes, with multiple layers, leads to analysis paralysis. Unless the players are somewhat familiar with the planes, ie they are into the PSCS, then there is too much info for a DM to pass along. Making the default setting a bit simpler helps make plane-hopping relevant to more players and thus more groups.

And certainly, just as I could ignore the great wheel if it were the 4e cosmology, you can add it back in.

Anyway, to me PS as a setting is like curry powder. In the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, it makes a great tasting dish, assuming everyone in your group likes indian food. But if you are trying to make a different kind of dish other than indian, curry powder just isn't right.

 

[avin]

Anyway, to me PS as a setting is like curry powder. In the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, it makes a great tasting dish, assuming everyone in your group likes indian food. But if you are trying to make a different kind of dish other than indian, curry powder just isn't right.

Looks right. To some people D&D is elves, dwarves and floating chicks on some ring city is thrash.

For me Planescape is freedom of movement, more than 4E cosmology. More options are always welcome. More stories, characters and places, more fluff than 4E is showing us.

Don't get me wrong, I lke this fourth edition, I'm DMing it and having fun... except for the lack of "curry" Planescape had.

PS. I hate indian food, could we compare it to brazilian barbecue?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

It's very easy to ignore the cant in PS, I recommend a few approaches.
1. Ignore the cant completely, and use modern day normal everyday American English speech.

2. Use modern day English speech, but based on very vulgar slang words. For example replace the word "Berk" which is rhyming slang for "Berkshire hunt" with the word that begins with C that it actually rhymes with. "Sod" which is a shortened form of "Sodomite" with a 3-letter word beginning with F.

3. Resort to the slang of modern day England.

4. Make up your own words.

 

[Obryn]

I loved the 1e version of the Great Wheel. The 1e Manual of the Planes is, in my mind, one of the best RPG books ever written - and certainly in my top 5 best D&D books ever.

With that said, most of it was unusable in my games. In fact, I know that I never used it. Still, it was fascinating and wonderful, and made every plane - even the potentially boring ones - interesting.

I also loved the BECMI/RC planes. There was a lot of cool stuff there, including very interesting discussions of planar dimensions. It was completely fascinating and alien, but again, I never used it.

On the other side of the coin, I just never got into Planescape. The setting did absolutely nothing for me, so I mostly ignored the Planes in 2e and 3e, except when I couldn't. (The only planar adventure I ran, as such, was Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. I ran an other-planar Arcana Evolved game, but it wasn't related to the Wheel at all.) It was good to open up the planes to more adventuring, but without the inherently hostile environments, it did nothing for me.

I'm also mostly ignoring the 4e cosmology, but it works better for me than the Planescape wheel. I love the Feywild, like the Shadowfell, like the Astral Ocean, and am ambivalent about the Elemental Chaos. Again, I don't expect to run many planar adventures, so it's no big deal to me. Still, I get the sense I can cram whatever I feel like into the framework, so it will work just fine!

-O

 

[Umbran]

More stories, characters and places, more fluff than 4E is showing us.

Not that this should be surprising. 4e is only a bit over a year old. It hasn't had time to have the same level of development in either alternate rules or fluff.