D&D 5E Multiverse Theory and you

[Tallifer]

I grew up reading Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion cycle, so yes. One of his evocative phrases was the Conjunction of the Million Spheres.

 

[AtomicPope]

I'd like to do a multiverse spanning 'Rod of Seven Parts' campaign, but that would entail learning about (and paying for) far too many campaign worlds for my limited time.

I've run a Rod of Seven Parts campaign and I found it was better to create new worlds rather than take from others. I figured avoiding the clutter and backstory of established worlds (though I did use Darksun) was a good way to narrowly focus on a story and metaplot. The campaign started on Greyhawk and the PCs traveled the Prime Material in a Spelljammer. A young dragon discovered the location of the centerpiece to the Rod, which would lead the PCs to the other pieces. The reason for revealing it to the PCs was because she knew her mother had a part of the Rod and it would reunite them. However, a young dragon can't be adventuring so the PCs can keep the Rod, and anything else they find. It was a great plot hook. Not to mention, the mother wasn't eager to give up her section of the Rod so they had to figure out another way to get it from an Ancient Red Dragon.

 

[Yaarel]

Well, for me, multiple worlds has always felt like the norm. The Magician's Nephew* was read to me when I was around 6, I grew up watching Star Trek and Doctor Who, and I started playing D&D with 1st edition, where alternate prime material planes are discussed in the DMG.

*Origin of The Wood Between the Worlds.

I like the philosophical essays by CS Lewis, but I havent read his fiction. (I did see the movie tho!)

His, The Magicians Nephew, seems like a story that would interest me.

From what I gather, one of the main characters is Andrew Ketterley, a magician. As a character that is both the wizard archetype and the hero of the story, he seems like an early prototype for the Harry Potter novels. Is that so?

 

[Yaarel]

I really just wanted to comment that I don't understand your "shrinking of the universe" comment. No need to explain, I just have a different perspective. The semi-unified multiverse concept doesn't shrink anything for me, but instead expands possibilities. I think the reason I see this differently stems from our different perspectives on "canon."

Speaking for myself.

I want D&D settings that lack gods.

If the current approach to the multiverse assumes that every setting has gods − or more specifically, the gods of Forgotten Realms created every setting in the multiverse, directly or indirectly, whether that setting knows it or not − then the multiverse has "shrunk" to a degree that I find painful to my choices as the DM.

I want D&D to have a multiverse that is big enough for my creative freedom to fit within it.

 

[HammerMan]

So have you done worldhopping as a feature in a campaign? Care to talk about it?

back in 2e (I was a teen) I took the idea of DC's "Crisis on Infinite earths" and a new story I was reading "Zero Hour" and mixed them togather with what I thought was a brilliant idea. I pitched it to a good friend and we CO DMed a ggame in his basement (his mothers basement lol) where the players didin't know that part. We split the players up in half and they thought they were just in diffrent cities near each other for first 3 sessions... until the fissures started to open in space time and someone made a joke "Gee better ask the other what year they are playing in" and got close... so we moved things up and introduced the vampire lord with the same name as a player in the other group... becuse they were not in diffrent times, they were on parralel earths and they were about to meet there own doppleganger but also the other party.

by mid level (about 12 or 13 sessions in) the worlds were merged not just witheach other but with 4 others (and none of the PCs now on 'new world' knew the combined history. It was only semi a shock when matt felt tired, and put his hand toward the sun light and pulled it back in pain. However that lead to the begning of the next crisis when Max (a white dwarf spellcaster) and his palidens all went missing... there holy/arcane energy (since on one world they were wizard on the other knights on merged they were paliden/mages) was being used for time stuff... and it turned out that a good friend of both groups now had gone insane and was trying to wipe out merged world...

it was epic

at the begining of 5e I ran somewhat of a spirtual succesor to that buy with WAY less players no codm and it wasn't as fun (maybe it was only we were young back then)

 

[Voadam]

The Pathfinder 1e Adventure Path Reign of Winter has the party at one point shunted off to other world's in Baba Yaga's chicken-legged TARDIS. When I was running it the party TPK'd before getting to the world hopping but the second world in particular looked like fantastic fun. The first new world was ok but I was considering swapping the default world out for another setting and had not yet decided on one before the unexpected cascading TPK event ended that game and we moved on to another campaign.

 

[guachi]

I find the WotC official stance that all worlds are connected to be very unappealing. It adds nothing to any game I'd ever run or play in or have ever run or played in. It does take up pages in books I won't buy and developer time away from things I might actually buy so I guess it's a net negative.

I don't mind the idea of planes, though. That can give campaigns other places to go or get ideas/monsters from.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I like the philosophical essays by CS Lewis, but I havent read his fiction. (I did see the movie tho!)

His, The Magicians Nephew, seems like a story that would interest me.

From what I gather, one of the main characters is Andrew Ketterley, a magician. As a character that is both the wizard archetype and the hero of the story, he seems like an early prototype for the Harry Potter novels. Is that so?

Ketterley is the magician, but he is a minor villain. The protagonist is the nephew, Digory Kirke, who is Professor Kirke in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If the current approach to the multiverse assumes that every setting has gods − or more specifically, the gods of Forgotten Realms created every setting in the multiverse, directly or indirectly, whether that setting knows it or not − then the multiverse has "shrunk" to a degree that I find painful to my choices as the DM.

This is not the current approach.

 

[prabe]

This is not the current approach.

The idea that all the settings of D&D are descended (so to speak) from one primal world is at least a plausible reading of the stuff in Fizban's and maybe elsewhere. Seems to me to be the intended meaning, but I could be mistaken.