[FR] Do you use the Realms cosmology?

[Maldin]

Heh...
As someone stated before all the tree planes are pretty much wheel planes renamed.

Yes, the tree vs. wheel really are just two different ways of visualizing a complex multi-dimensional matrix within our (DM or players or PCs or NPCs) puny 3 dimenisionally locked brains. ;-) A tree vs. layered wheel or tesseract will depend on whether you emphasize the geography of the plane or the connecting pathways. Personally, I emphasize the planes and not their access points, so my cosmology is the layered wheel+ (the "+" being the things outside the wheel, such as the elemental planes substructure). And of course, as someone has already mentioned, I consider all sorts of variant views (ranging from partially correct to outrageously wrong) to be the false propoganda taught to prime mortals by their deities (who all have their own personal agendas and reasons for deluding their followers).

If anybody is interested in reading a description of how the multiverse came to be (no matter what your cosmological paradigm) and how that explains all the rules of magic and D&D physics, time & space, planar structure, intelligence, deities, elementals, etc., check out my Grand Unified Theory (GUT) on my "Life, the Multiverse, and Everything" page (go to the sitemap for my website http://melkot.com and click directly to the page). While my own campaign is based in Greyhawk, my GUT can be applied to any cosmology with minor modification, since its real purpose is to explain the rules of any D&D campaign.


Denis, aka "Maldin"
=============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Check out the ton of cool Edition-independent stuff on my website, New Spells, Magic Items, Notoriety, Artifacts, Kyuss, secrets of the Twin Cataclysms, the Codex of the Infinite Planes, the Dreadwood, the cities of Melkot, Greyhawk and Irongate, a Grand Unified Theory for all of D&D, magic and the Multiverse, and much, much more!!

 

[Desdichado]

I'm not clear on what "using the planes actively" means though. If I were running FR again at the moment (I'm not, as I've said, it's a bit of a hypothetical question for me) I'd probably have occasional trips to some of the planes, and I'd certainly have extraplanar threats be an important component. I'd call that active use of the planes, but someone else may not. Unless there are regular and frequent adventures that take place in the planes, they may not consider it "active use" of the planes. And at the other extreme (where I've always assumed from various posts of yours that you are, although correct me if I'm wrong) you have "I use the Great Wheel as my setting with occasional use of FR material as the Prime."

 

[Maldin]

You haven't noticed? It has this little brother called Eberron now, who is hogging some of the spotlight.

I think not taking up the whole spotlight is good for the Realms, not a sign of decline. As long as it doesn't get less support.

Realms Fans.... welcome to the world of the Greyhawk Fan

Denis, aka "Maldin"
=============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

 

[Shemeska]

And at the other extreme (where I've always assumed from various posts of yours that you are, although correct me if I'm wrong) you have "I use the Great Wheel as my setting with occasional use of FR material as the Prime."

Aye, about half the PCs IMC are from FR, and about 20% of that campaign took place on Toril itself, the rest on various outer (lower) and inner planes. For the followup campaign it's about the same for PC origins, and so far 1/3 of the plot arcs have been on Toril, though that is likely to be lower slightly as the game continues. I'm more focused on the planes unto themselves, and the 3e FR cosmology, being almost entirely deity centric, rather than the deities having discrete realms within various infinite planes, removes a heck of a lot of opportunity to use the planes as a setting, rather than just 'go visit X deity because it all belongs to them in that plane anyway'. As I see it, it's a detriment to anyone not focused on the prime, while the previous system wasn't a detriment to the inverse.

And yeah, I'll probably do that slightly different poll, just curious to see if anything changes.

 

[Arnwyn]

Folks who want FR + Great Wheel are mostly folks who are more attached to Great Wheel than they are to FR, IMO.

*shrug* Maybe. Not me, though.

 

[kuje31]

*shrug* Maybe. Not me, though.

Not me either.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I've always used the Planescape/Great Wheel cosmology in my FR games. My latest one hasn't gone to the planes yet, but if it does, I'll stick with the Great Wheel.

Cheers



Richard

 

[Aloïsius]

I always disliked the great wheel, thus I was happy with the world tree, that got rid of the "Thor meet Anhur meet Vishnou meet the Lady of pain" of the great wheel. I was less happy when I realized that I had very few information about the planes (until the players guide). In te same way, I won't use the great wheel with Eberron...

 

[Nightfall]

*feels like pointlessly bumping this thread or something...*

 

[seankreynolds]

Sorry, I actually didn't realize you were talking specifically about 3E. I blame ... lack of sleep.