looking for a different cosmology

[LazerPointer]

Hey guys, I'm looking for different ways to organize the planes for my homebrew. I'd like to distance myself from the alignment-based system, and I don't think the great wheel is right for the setting. What arrangements have worked for all y'all in past campaigns?

I'm trying to get a hold of some Planescape books, too, cause it looks like there are some cool ideas there.

 

[Crothian]

Planscape is the great wheel, although I agree the books are just awsome.

You could do something really odd like have the prime material on the back of a really big turtle that swims through the heavens.

 

[AIM-54]

I'm currently building a world that is relatively simple. There's the Material Plane and a spirit plane. Haven't worked out all the details completely, yet, but essentially I wanted to get away from the alignment stuff as well as do something different from the standard. Essentially, spirits can play any non-material role needed and, because they aren't as clear cut as angels and devils, there's some interesting opportunities since one can't ever be sure what one of those things is out for That's the hope, at any rate. It's all still in-process.

 

[Wombat]

Consider this sort of situation:

What if every major culture in your campaign (much like our own reality) has a different cosmology, due to its religion and social mores.

How does that affect the Great Wheel? Knock it off its axis? Each only see part of the equation?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I've gotta say, having just picked up the book and skimmed through it, the Eberron cosmology looks really cool. You could do far worse than to steal it.

 

[Dogbrain]

Some classic themes:

The Three Worlds.

In the middle is the world of mortals.

Beneath this is the world of the dead, punished chthonic entities, etc.

Above all is the world of the gods and fortunate spirits.

Running through all of this is the World Tree or the World Pole (axis mundi, Yggdrasil, etc.)

There are also many "worlds between" that are not one of the major three worlds. Space seems to be "complex" in some of these views. For example, it's hard to place specifically where Niflheim and Musspellr fit into the Three Worlds cosmology of Norse cultures, although Alfheim is presumed to be near Asgard and Vanaland.


Classic Theme II:

Dreamtime.
Permeating our own world is the Dreamtime, which is where all dreams happen, where the spirits live, and where the Gods live. The Dreamtime is present, past, and future. Great and powerful people can enter Dreamtime and go back to the "time" of the myths, take part in them, and gain powers therefrom.

 

[Dogbrain]

What if every major culture in your campaign (much like our own reality) has a different cosmology, due to its religion and social mores.

How does that affect the Great Wheel? Knock it off its axis? Each only see part of the equation?

That's easy: The "Great Wheel" simply doesn't exist.

 

[Vrecknidj]

AIM-54

I'm currently building a world that is relatively simple. There's the Material Plane and a spirit plane. Haven't worked out all the details completely, yet, but essentially I wanted to get away from the alignment stuff as well as do something different from the standard.

Wow, that's what I did for a campaign I've been running since 3.0 came out. The party didn't know that they'd moved to a new place (a long boat ride to another continent was all they thought was happening, but I was actually pulling them out of the old cosmology and into a new one).

I have a prime plane, a spirit plane, and a darkspirit plane. The spirit plane is some mixture of astral, ethereal and shadow elements. Some of the PCs and NPCs who've been reduced to -10 have risen later as ghosts, and I let them keep playing (I've established rules for what ghost abilities they can and can't get, and have associated LA changes to them if they want the more powerful attributes). The darkspirit plane is somewhat like FR's Underdark stuff with a bit of shadow and ethereal mixed in.

So far, my players have liked the change. The characters think they're in the Abyss or something--they're sure they're being tricked and are on a plane that they've heard of before.

Dave

 

[Wombat]

That's easy: The "Great Wheel" simply doesn't exist.

Well, I've actually always been good with that concept

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Well, there's the cosmology of Urbis. It does use alignments, but with a little modification you can use it nonetheless.

The full writeup is here. Basically, it posits that there are ten fundamental, cosmic forces: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Good, Evil, Chaos, Law, Positive Energy (or Life) and Negative Energy (or Death). These forces are represented as points in Methaphysical Space.

These points are not planes - anything close to them would soon be sucked into them and utterly annihilated. However, stable planes can form at the "halfway points" between two non-opposed "Cardinal Points" - these planes take on characteristics of both cosmic forces adjactant to them. So you could have a plane of "Chaotic Fire" or "Evil Life" - but not one of "Fiery Water", because Fire and Earth are opposed.

So you don't want to use alignment. No problem - just find one or more new set of characteristics, either dualities (Light and Shadow, Sun and Moon, etc.), or something more complicated. And by combining these forces you will have a large number of planes to play around with...