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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 2:53PM
#21
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Date Joined:
May 18, 2003
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Did anyone else notice how both the Feywild and Shadowfell echoed the Shadow World from Birthright. They may not be perfect mirrors of that, but they seem very simlar.
I did. Even commented on it in one of the other 6 million threads discussing the new article.
I like it. A lot. But then, that particular aspect of Birthright (along with a few others) makes Cerilia one of my favorite "old" settings. And it's one I unfortunately never played because:
1) they overemphasized the "playing kings" aspect of the setting, which I wasn't all that interested in.
2) it died too young.
Of course, Rich Baker was a big Birthright supporter and contributor, so maybe he's managed to influence them to use some of its flavor in 4e- making this more than just coincidence.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 2:58PM
#22
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Date Joined:
Aug 19, 2007
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Nautilus Wrote:
[INDENT]"No mention of the ethereal, but I assume that the Feywild and Shadowfell are doing its job. Now I wonder how travel between the major four realms is handled, and whether we still have astral projection & silver cords."[/INDENT]
Sorry, could not get the quote button to work correctly for some reason.
Anyway...
Based on prior articles, blogs, convention info, etc. I think they have intentially killed the "ethereal" as we know it and as I posted previously, the closest we will be getting is the FeyWild and Shadowfell.
My reasoning is based on the fact that they have said that certain types of magic in 3.0/3.5 and earlier editions started to make certain types of play extremely difficult. And ethereal travel is one of those. Because it so closely mirrored the mortal world, upper level play meant that one had to guard/shield on both the mortal realm and ethereal plane to "hide" things. The last long campaign I played in that ran 1st through 25th or so, show-cased that concept. Blocking scrying, physical movement, and other aspects had an Nth dimensional consideration.
If one does not have the near planes (FeyWild and Shadowfell) mirror so closely the mortal realm, then one does not need to go through such extreme measures and complexity, for better or worse.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 2:59PM
#23
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Date Joined:
Aug 21, 2009
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This article presents an uncluttered and workable summary of how the cosmology works. I have always been a bit intimidated by the history that one must know in order to manage: "what happens in the planes?"
It seems like there the Feywild and the Shadowfell are easy to get to. In the sense that adventurers of low levels will be able to experience the planes. But, it seems there is still much design space in the planes. The Elemental Chaos, while being composed of many elementals could be easily subdivided into the repective Realm of Flames when needed.
The Astral Sea fits in with my personal concept that the astral plan connects the many different Demi-planes (to borrow an earlier term). With the concepts as presented, I am free to consider the Astral Sea as "Space" and be able to travel to distinct worlds / planes.
Thanks for clearing that up Rich Baker.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 3:32PM
#24
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Date Joined:
Aug 17, 2007
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I like how they pretty much had a Feywild from at least as far back as Manual of the Planes (could be longer, but I started at 3.0, so what do I know). But yeah, it sounds pretty solid, I'm looking forward to this new cosmology.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 4:27PM
#25
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"The Shadowfell is the land of the dead, where the spirits of the deceased linger for a time in a dark reflection of their previous lives before silently fading beyond all ken"
Did we, perhaps, just get a hidden sneak peak at the whole raise dead / resurrect mechanic? Is it possible that players have a limited time to retrieve dead comrades from the Shadowfell before they fade completely from existence?? I could be reading too much into it, but it makes me wonder...
I thought that too. I also like that (in the article, anyways) there's room for the DM to decide what happens when souls fade from the Shadowfell. I also really like the ideas floated around for 'questing to the Shadowfell to retrieve a fallen comrade.' Very greek mythology. Very cool.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 4:46PM
#26
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I thought that too. I also like that (in the article, anyways) there's room for the DM to decide what happens when souls fade from the Shadowfell. I also really like the ideas floated around for 'questing to the Shadowfell to retrieve a fallen comrade.' Very greek mythology. Very cool.
I've already started thinking about how to integrate this into my campaign. I like soem of these aspects enough to rewrite my fluff a bit, including how I handle Limbo/early afterlife/before being claimed by their deity.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 4:48PM
#27
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Um White Wolf called,
They'd like their Umbras back.
lol
That's so true.
I always wanted to run a game of lycanthropes using the rules for "companion spirits" from the DMG II. But this is a much better cosmology to do it in. :P
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 4:52PM
#28
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Of course whenever you have a reflection, the question come up "What happens when a drastic change happens to one terrain in a short period of time?" I don't know what the official explanation will be, but I figure that major differences makes the area "soft." Which, incidentally, is how you cross over. And that's why mines and such are so dangerous; the unreflected holes in the ground make the area really "soft," allowing all sorts of things though.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 5:05PM
#29
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Date Joined:
Oct 16, 2006
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Um White Wolf called,
They'd like their Umbras back.
I noticed that, and a pathetic attempt too.
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6 years ago ::
Sep 26, 2007 - 5:27PM
#30
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Date Joined:
Aug 10, 2009
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This article and the material in the launch speeches that talked about the structure of the D&D world being built around small pockets if civilization with great expanses of wilderness between concern me in that they represent a particular style of play. As reflected in the comments about the names of the realms I am getting a munchin sense from this material. I have a concern that this may shape the mechanics of classes in ways the start to loose something of the essence of the game as it has been played for a long while. I see a reflection of some later third edition material which seems to be looser and places a greater emphasis on power gaming. I can see links between these cosmology ideas and earlier articles on encounter design which give me the sense that the material is aiming for a more playable modular cosmology. I have a feeling that this is all positive and will make for a better game i just hope it all still feels like the game i've been playing for twenty odd years when it all comes together.
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