D&D 5E What's in YOUR Multiverse?

[Shiroiken]

What? No Yerth?

I forgot about Yerth because I added my own Ierth (which would be pronounced about the same). I suppose they're different worlds, but due to the similarity in name, the arch-mages think they are the same

 

[SkidAce]

Yes. I first came to fantasy through Moorcock and so in my mind all settings are part of the multiverse for me, stated or not. This happens often in my mind and my campaigns where resonances, echoes, memes, NPCs and even PCs slip and pop between settings, all and any of them.

That's how I have always viewed fantasy and I extend that to all genres and settings.

However, that's me. As a player I respect the GM and their visions.



Posted by C4-D4RS on the MetroLiberal HoloNet

This is how we do it also.

 

[MechaPilot]

My multiverse if very kitchen sink. The individual games not so much. Depends on which world I'm choosing as the primary world the game is being played on.

 

[Arnwolf666]

Multiple material planes like Robert A. Heinlein, Each material plane is separated by the ethereal. The Outer Planes are completely nonphysical and can not be entered physically, only your mind via some form of Astral Travel. So there are no portals that a physical body can use to go from the Material to Astral and Outer Planes. The Outer Planes are much more complex than in the Great Wheel with an infinite number of planes. The Outer Planes don't have different timelines like the Material Planes. There is also higher dimensional physical Planes like Avalon that don't have multiple timelines. On Avalon I have a city similar to Sigil called Crossing that is extremely advanced technologically, like Justice Legion of the 853rd century, Oa, and Galifrey all in One. The Seelie and Unseelie Courts are on Avalon and Crossing is right in the center of the Plane between the two. The Erlking rules the Unseelie Court and the Oberon rules the Seelie Court. And on and on and on. We frequently travel from Avalon to Wonderland, Oz, Earth various time periods and timelines, Nehwon, Oerth, Mystara, Eberon, etc. Although we do many Camelot settings that rarely touch on cosmology.

 

[Sadras]

My problem is I enjoy many ideas regarding the multiverse and the cosmos and the more time I spend on Enworld the more I find myself borrowing. To enable this fetish I came up with my own over-arching version to include all these wonderful settings.
Please keep in note, I'm coming from a Mystaran background.

Who or what were the Old Ones is unknown.

What we do know is that despite their age, great power, wisdom and intellect, they were not above disagreeing with each other especially when it came to their creations…which include, but not limited to, beings, worlds, universes and realities.
The word universe is sometimes interchanged with the word reality, this is technically incorrect. A reality may encompass one or many universes, also known as a multiverse. Each universe within such reality follows the same cosmic law.

In many instances their creations were similar and at times identical; hence many worlds, universes and realities share identical/similar races, beings and the like. The Old Ones were not above colluding from one another or stealing each other’s ideas (explains Tiamat's appearance in many worlds and her similarity with Takhisis).
Their imagination was limitless giving rise to a countless number of creations (realities, planes, universes, worlds, beings, laws…etc).

Planescape exists within one reality which hosts the universes of OA and Greyhawk.
(Explains the entry in Ao’s Wikipeadia where he answer’s to a higher power, possibly an Old One).

Mystara exists within another.

The World of Krynn existed within one universe but was moved into another universe by Takhisis during the War of Souls Trilogy. However both universes existed within the same reality and so were governed by the same cosmic laws. (Explains how Krynn could have been hidden for a while).

Earth exists within another.
And so forth.

Afterthought: Old Ones could be viewed as an analogue for DMs/GM’s.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

My multiverse includes magic which allows one to travel into stories. Including stories about infinite libraries which contain all stories. But this magic is distinct from the conventional magic of planar travel employed by devils and deities, or even the magic of travel beyond the planes where roam celestial beings who would be insulted with a title as lowly as "god". It operates at a level of reality orthogonal to those, one where the notion of "real" is strained beyond useful meaning. So does my multiverse include everything? It's all a matter of perspective.

 

[Hussar]

I never cared for Planescape; though the art was wonderful and it had some interesting ideas, it always rang as a "gritty reboot" of Spelljammer to me. To my mind, what defines a setting is as much what's NOT there as what IS.

Currently, I run a Primeval Thule campaign, and by necessity my multiverse does not contain high fantasy worlds or elements. As described in the Primeval Thule Campaign Setting, other worlds exist, but serve as a source, not a destination. You can summon a great and terrible genie or demon or fairies or whatever, but you aren't going to visit them at home. Thule defines these planes as parallel dimensions and alternate Earths and I like that idea.

Now, the concept is structured such that you could choose to interpret everything as being part of the Great Wheel or World Axis or wherever you want; after all, just like the people of Krynn coloquially refer to the Nine Hells as the Abyss, the difference between the Parallel Earth That is Made Of Flame and the Plane of Elemental Fire is largely academic. But I like working with constraints, and so I chose a more literal interpretation.

TL, DR; no, my campaign setting is distinct from and does not interact with the D&D multiverse.

This. Pretty much this.

I'm not a fan of the idea that all the settings should be linked. Settings, IMO, should be distinct and what makes them distinct should be kept separate. So, no, I don't want crossover material.

 

[wedgeski]

My multiverse...doesn't really exist. I play self-contained campaigns that have no regard for what has come before unless my players specifically ask for it.

For me it's one of those questions I don't want answered. No "multiverse of infinite possibilities" should ever have a map, or any rules to govern it.

Just a personal preference.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Honestly?

It's turtles, all the way down.

 

[jgsugden]

I use a different cosmology for every major campaign I run. This allows the PCs to uncover the secrets of the universe as they advance in levels. The core is pretty much always the same - and is common knowledge that they have at the start of the campaign. They know there are Heavens where good folk go when they pass, they know there is a place where bad people go when they pass (although the common name differs from game to game). They also know of the Astral Plane, the Elemental Planes, the Shadowfell and the Feywild. However, they have to discover where I've placed Deveils and Demons (Do they reside in the same plane? Am I using the 666 layers of the Abyss and the 9 Hells? Is there a separate afterlife for each felled soul that is populated by creatures determined by how the being led their life?), how you travel between planes, where Gods reside, how hard it is to travel to the Shadowfell or Feywild, and what other planes exist (Far Realms? Ravenloft? Demi Planes of Shadow? Alternate PMPs?)

An educated PC(high Int, Sage background, etc...) may have some of the more advanced answers from the start, but usually they come to understand these things as they become relevant to the game. A new player to the group may get caught up with not knowing and sidetrack the game a bit by trying to get answers to all their questions, but I try to limit that by reminding the player that the player's curiosity at not knowing something about the game world doesn't necessarily mean their character woiuld share the same curiosity - and that this is something their character lived most of their life without knowing. If they really push to get answers, Igive the avenues to discover it earlier, though, so as not to sidetrack things too much.