What if the core setting of D&D was ALL the settings of D&D?

[the Jester]

What if the core setting of Dungeons & Dragons was ALL the settings of Dungeons & Dragons?


One of the more interesting announcements Mike Mearls has made about the cosmology of D&D5 is that the Shadowfell is being replaced wholesale by Ravenloft. Now, Ravenloft has always been an extraplanar setting, although that fact has little to do with campaigns set there. But what if that same idea were applied to, say, Abeir-Toril? What if the Forgotten Realms were not just another prime material world, but were a part of the D&D5 cosmology, with a purpose, embodying a core aspect of the D&D universe?


What if /all/ the official D&D settings, instead of simply being slightly different elf-infested rocks in space with little to no relation to one another, were cardinal points in the greater D&D cosmology, in the same way as the Great Wheel or Elemental Chaos?


What if Abeir-Toril’s Spellweave is the original form of magic, that has now spread out to other worlds? What if Krynn is actually the homeworld of all dragonkind? What if Oerth, home of the original Underdark, is the source of whatever dark impetus fills the worlds of D&D with dungeons, and Mystara engenders that fatal curiosity in their inhabitants that brings adventurers to explore those depths?


What if all conflict in D&D is a reflection of the harsh conditions on Athas, or every technological advancement on a D&D world is subtly inspired by the mere existence of Eberron, or every epic saga ever told is echoed by the world-shaking events on Aebrynis?


What if each of our homebrew worlds exists on a sort of seven-axis coordinate grid, that defines its essence by its metaphysical proximity to these cardinal worlds? I find this train of thought compelling.

Sounds truly awful. I have NO desire to have DragonLance, the Forgotten Realms or Al-Qadim shoehorned into my cosmology.

Especially if I were running an established campaign in an established milieu, like the World of Greyhawk.

The idea that each campaign world somehow represents a specific type of game- story, dragons, etc- is also a turn off. What if I run Greyhawk but run a story-oriented game? What does this connection by world thing even mean?

I guess, basically, what's the point? What does this improve?

Remember, not every D&D player likes every setting, and in fact, I'd wager a lot of us have one or two that we out-and-out despise. Having those shoved into our cosmology is NOT a plus unless the presence of that milieu has concrete benefits that outweigh that distaste, and I just don't see it.

That's kind of fascinating. Is "Ravenloft" really so different than "Shadowfell?"

Yes, absolutely. The Shadowfell is a place of gloom, death and dissipation; Ravenloft is a place of Gothic horror. They are indeed very, very different.

 

[DMZ2112]

Remember, not every D&D player likes every setting, and in fact, I'd wager a lot of us have one or two that we out-and-out despise.

Disappointing, but probably true.

Yes, absolutely. The Shadowfell is a place of gloom, death and dissipation; Ravenloft is a place of Gothic horror. They are indeed very, very different.

That wasn't my question. I was referring to the names themselves. The portmanteaus of appropriately spooky words.

 

[Brock Landers]

Shadowfell and Feywild are a bit Disney for me.

 

[TwoSix]

That's kind of fascinating. Is "Ravenloft" really so different than "Shadowfell?" Is it just the connection to Castle Ravenloft that you object to? It seems to me there could just as easily have been a Castle Shadowfell. Both names suggest a foreboding place of darkness.

I see your Strahd, and raise you a Count Ravenfell Shadowloft.

 

[Brock Landers]

I see your Strahd, and raise you a Count Ravenfell Shadowloft.

...Ravenfell?

 

[TwoSix]

To be honest, this concept seems more like the parallel worlds from Guy Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, where every world is a different reflection of the origin world, Fionavar. Or what Bruce Cordell is doing with The Strange, with modern Earth, fantasy Earth, and far-future Earth all being mashed together.

I do like the idea of a conceptual Great Wheel, rather than the cosmological one, though. You have your base campaign world, then you have the post-apocalyptic mirror world, the steampunk one, the fairy-tale one (which is a good use of the Feywild, actually), the gloomy one (i.e. the Ravenshadowloftfell one), etc.

 

[TwoSix]

...Ravenfell?

After someone shot him, yes.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Hello, Second Edition.

I'm not a big fan. Part of the galaxy of awesome that is the fantasy genre is the idea that the only limit on the story you can tell is your imagination. If you can dream it, D&D should be a place you can do it.

Making everything part of One True Cosmology limits that. It defines things that have no business being defined outside of the individual table. Who are WotC to define what my heavens and hells and whatnot must be? Who are they to tell me that I have to connect to other worlds?

To your example, it's a cool idea, but it's not something I want to be forced to accommodate. I want my city to be my city for me and my group, not just some knock-off version of Neverwinter (or whatever).

It'd be cooler if they took a page out of the monster manuals and just gave examples built on a foundation. The 3e Deities and Demigods had interesting gestures in this direction (for all that it didn't need the god-stats), and most 3e settings did, too (the Orrey in Eberron! The World Tree in FR!). Let me pick a universe (or several!) that works for me.

And for each campaign setting, give them a universe that works for them. Eberron doesn't need to fit in the multiverse alongside FR. They can be their own multiverses. Clearly, that doesn't stop crossover events (*cough*DDO*cough*).

 

[Brock Landers]

After someone shot him, yes.

...or her, could be a female raven...?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The happy hungry hunting halflings of Athas would be well fed, I know that much.