The Great Wheel Cosmology as an "assumed part of a D&D world"

[Plane Sailing]

The nedless homebrew cosmologies

My homebrew cosmologies have always been nedless.

Come to think of it, I can't remember any cosmologies that included neds, whether purposefully or gratuitously.

Creators of nedful cosmologies, stand up and be counted!

 

[Baby Samurai]

My homebrew cosmologies have always been nedless.

Come to think of it, I can't remember any cosmologies that included neds, whether purposefully or gratuitously.

Creators of nedful cosmologies, stand up and be counted!

The Bluebird of Happiness long absent form Ned's life, he was now visited by the Chicken of Depression.

 

[Irda Ranger]

My homebrew cosmologies have always been nedless.

Come to think of it, I can't remember any cosmologies that included neds, whether purposefully or gratuitously.

Creators of nedful cosmologies, stand up and be counted!

Here.

 

[Arnwyn]

Even though she wasn't specifically part of Dragonlance, the 2nd Edition Dragonlance accessory Wild Elves detailed the Valley of Perfect Silence where Spelljamming drow elves had settled from the planet Nightlock. There were even Spider-Dragons thanks to good old Llolth.

Actually, that wasn't Lolth - the spider-related stuff was due to the villain: Jiathuli (or something), a "Handmaiden of Takhisis" (who just happened to like spiders, and had nothing to do with dragons).

It was an awesome adventure, BTW - probably one of the worst adventures for Dragonlance, but a fantastic one when transplanted into the Forgotten Realms. Weird.

 

[Baby Samurai]

Actually, that wasn't Lolth - the spider-related stuff was due to the villain: Jiathuli (or something), a "Handmaiden of Takhisis" (who just happened to like spiders, and had nothing to do with dragons).

Ah, totally – I was working off of memory from the early 90's – thanks!

But there were Spider-Dragons in that module, though, right (I remember the art)?

 

[Hussar]

With this new multiverse, there is no great cosmic order, Lawful PC's don't have the in-game solace of knowing that the multiverse itself is an orderly place, with every element having it's place, with every belief having it's exact place that you could pretty much geometrically plot out.

Oh come on. Does anyone actually play like this? I cannot possibly imagine a single player even tangentially mustering an iota of existential dread over the shape of the multiverse. "In game solace"?

Paladin: Yes, I am beset on all sides by devils, demons and things under the bed, but, I shall stay true to my resolve because the planes look like a box with lots of little boxes inside.

*snort*

 

[jodyjohnson]

The Great Wheel diagrams are just a way to describe the multi-dimensional nature of the D&D multi-verse in a two dimensional diagram.

Just because it matches the planar city locations on Concordant Opposition doesn't mean they are all laid out in the multi-dimensional sense in that way. The multi-verse as written isn't two or even three dimensional.

It's just a way of depicting it to relay the idea.


I consider the Great Wheel to be the Table of Periodic Elements of the D&D multiverse. Their real two dimensional or three dimensional relative position is irrelevant and meaningless - they are planes of existence not just another place on the map.


The Seven Heavens and Abyss could be coexistant in multidimensional space but it would be irrelevant if there is no means to cross from one to the other directly (i.e. via planar portals).

 

[dmccoy1693]

The Great Wheel isn't Core.

Umm... its in the 3.5 DMG; the planes are in the SRD. I'd call that as 'Core' as it gets.

EDIT: Just because it is underutilized by both Wizards and most 3rd party publishers, and most gamers for that matter doesn't mean that it is not core material.

 

[Desdichado]

Solace in the natural orderliness of the universe? WTF? Why would there be a natural orderliness in the universe? I thought the conflict between law and chaos was supposed to be one of the primary components of a cosmology so heavily focused on alignment.

If anything, that's a major black mark against the Great Wheel, not a reason to keep it.

 

[Arnwyn]

Ah, totally – I was working off of memory from the early 90's – thanks!

But there were Spider-Dragons in that module, though, right (I remember the art)?

Yep - your memory is spot-on for everything else. They were damn cool, too. (I've updated that entire module for 3e, including the nifty monsters like the spider-dragon, and put it in FR where it fits better.)