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1 year ago ::
Jan 31, 2012 - 4:35PM
#51
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I'm working on a small 4e project. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. 
Nobody has approached me wrt anything 5e, but I wouldn't object if they did. Please?
That should be fixed.
I think Wotc could work on a GW+4E cosmology, with no much effort.
- Shadow and Faerie stay as parallel to the Material Plane.
- Elemental Chaos as just a hub where all elemental planes bleed over each other, thus having both options.
- Astral Sea is cool. Instead of dominions inside of it we could bring back the concept of planar entrances to other places.
- Bring Back Mechanus... and Modrons \o/
Etc...
If I manage to did it on my Homebrew, Wotc can do it.
But, please, enough of every city in the world being "City of X..." and restore Sigil to its former glory of multiverse's center.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 31, 2012 - 4:37PM
#52
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Oh, and reality layers inside each plane... :P
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1 year ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 9:40PM
#53
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2008
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For people who want the World Tree back, I like the idea of the mirror planes all reflecting this tree. In the Shadowfell it was Mount Letherna, and in the Feywild it's the Spiral Tower. All three places are adventure sites that allow a DM to communicate a perilous journey to the Astral Sea.
The Spiral Tower in my version is like undermountain, it's an uber dungeon whose Story is that it was Correllon's Palace when he was the greatest of the Archfey, he filled it with fabulous treasures he found on his journeys and put beasts and magical traps to guard it. He abandoned it, yet strange magic causes it to slowly but continually to grow and spiral towards the heavens of the Feywild. Current Eladrin mages use it as both school and proving ground, and it's shifting passages and extradimensional interior eventually open into the Astral Sea if probed far enough.
(The roots of the World Tree led to the Elemental Chaos, as did the River Styx which passed from the hells through the Shadowfell and into the Elemental Chaos, while my most contrived idea is that the Demonweb pits are a pathway that extend from the Feydark to the Abyss not a layer themselves.)
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1 year ago ::
Feb 03, 2012 - 3:09AM
#54
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I'd rather leave all cosmology stuff to campaign settings. The Great Wheel can be relegated to a Planescape campaign setting book or as one of a few examples in the DMG explaining how to create crazy cosmologies of our own and how they affect normal play. 4e's and Mystara's Hollow World cosmology could be used as examples there, too, if not in their own campaign settings.
Cosmology stuff only invades the campaign-generic stuff when in the fluff of monsters and certain races, but you needn't say something is from the Feywild/Faerie to make it feel more fay; you could say it's from a realm out of time or from a childhood's forgotten fancy and be more evocative and less cosmologically specific at one stroke.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 27, 2012 - 8:03AM
#55
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Date Joined:
Dec 26, 2009
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I'd prefer they maintain the default axis cosmology but upgrade it. Redo the goofy naming convention for The Shadowdark, etc. Fix some of the minor flaws. That sort of thing.
I actually really liked the default cosmology, naming conventions aside. It managed to make the elemental planes interesting with their amalgamation into the Elemental Chaos. The Astral sea and the integration of Spell Jammers made the realm of the Gods an actually interesting place rather than a series of dimensions you were jumping between. It gave it a sense of physicality. Likewise the end of the Blood War and its replacement with smaller conflicts like the fued/ war between Bane and Gruumsh wre far more immediate and meaningful to the players (The risk of giant eternal wars is that eventually they get so big/ important they cease to be relevant to those furthest down the chain). I also adored how Sigil was integrated into the setting.
And I actually liked how the Feywild and Shadowfell functioned. Not so much as oppositese, but as unique entities in their own right. I liked how the Shadowfell functioned as an afterlife. I like how it also was a diverse territory with areas of relative safety and danger. I liked how it was the perfect repository for all those nasty undead creepy crawlies and "negative energy" monsters, without invoking all that old Negative Plane junk. I liked how the Feywild was a place full of wild and fabulous nature and ruins and creatures. I loved how rather than cram one mortal realm with all the various creatures of the franchise setting, you had multiple worlds/ areas to fence off various types of critters. Thus when you visited one or the other you had a dramatically different experience.
4e had a good cosmology, it was just split between a million auxiliary supplements.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 27, 2012 - 10:15AM
#56
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Date Joined:
Mar 26, 2007
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Likewise the end of the Blood War and its replacement with smaller conflicts like the fued/ war between Bane and Gruumsh wre far more immediate and meaningful to the players
Not to my players. the Blood War is big poo-poo, much bigger, interesting and more meaningful than the conflict between two single gods.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 27, 2012 - 11:33PM
#57
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Date Joined:
Dec 26, 2009
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I respect that, but what exactly about the Blood War actually mattered or affected the players in any significant way or consequence? I've tried to get a feel for it, but the actual importance constantly escapes me. It just seems like a contrived excuse for why Demons and Devils haven't overwhelmed the mortal world, and any hypothetical significance is undermined by the fact that the very nature of the conflict is beyond the scope of most mortal minds. To them, the Blood War might as well not exist, seeing as how the Blood War is happening... yet has always been happening, since forever, with little actual consequence. The war is ultimately an abstract concept fixated on the notion of infinity - yet how can anyone truly grasp the scale or importance?
You seem to be very fond of the story element. Could you please explain to the uninitiated why the Blood War was so important? My own understanding of it is stunted.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 28, 2012 - 7:08AM
#58
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I'd rather leave all cosmology stuff to campaign settings. The Great Wheel can be relegated to a Planescape campaign setting book or as one of a few examples in the DMG explaining how to create crazy cosmologies of our own and how they affect normal play. 4e's and Mystara's Hollow World cosmology could be used as examples there, too, if not in their own campaign settings.
Cosmology stuff only invades the campaign-generic stuff when in the fluff of monsters and certain races, but you needn't say something is from the Feywild/Faerie to make it feel more fay; you could say it's from a realm out of time or from a childhood's forgotten fancy and be more evocative and less cosmologically specific at one stroke.
I'm with you brother man (sister woman?). At the most throw a few samples in the DMG, I want things more generic in the core books so it will apply to all types of games.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 28, 2012 - 9:22AM
#59
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Date Joined:
Aug 25, 2007
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i might also want to see a book with multiple cosmolegies and sugestions for cosmolegies in it.
for people to use in their homebrew campaigns
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1 year ago ::
Feb 28, 2012 - 11:40AM
#60
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Date Joined:
Mar 26, 2007
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I respect that, but what exactly about the Blood War actually mattered or affected the players in any significant way or consequence?
They (the players) are now liaising with the Efreet who are trading Genie Magic with the Devils in order for the Devils to gain an edge over the Demons (in The Blood War), and the Efreet gain Devil mercenaries in their fight vs. the Djinn (the whole Wind Dukes of Aqqa action).
Also, sometimes a concept like the Blood War transcends the party/characters in a campaign, and gives it more depth, the cosmology didn't spring into existence for them to plunder.
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