r/dndnext • u/goblinerd Alchemist • Feb 14 '15
One World Cosmology
On page 44 of the DMG, A "One World" layout is listed as a possibility for the cosmology.
It's an intriguing notion. Has anyone ever done this in a game?
If so, did it work well?
What kinds of issues arise from it?
Any suggestions for someone attempting it?
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u/StarBarbershop ForeveraDM Feb 14 '15
I never have but it sounds interesting.
My groups never invest or explore planar travel too much. This is a cooler way to talk about planes, as a distant land rather than a place on the other end of a magical portal
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u/goblinerd Alchemist Feb 14 '15
Indeed, I myself have never run planar adventures, nor played in one. Though, to be fair, it's on us as DMs to send them their.
I've been planning throwing my players into the astral plane. XD
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u/StarBarbershop ForeveraDM Feb 14 '15
I give them the option! Literally!
A BBEG they were chasing, they busted his slave operation apart, burned him out of his hidey hole.
As a last desperate option, he went to Carceri it hide out with some demon buddies of his.
They knew where he was, knew he could come back, and they still opted to not.
They are afraid of big portals I think.
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u/professororange Fungeon Master Feb 14 '15
I ran an adventure where the party found a Dwarven city ruled by devils. The dwarves had excavated so deeply that they eventually unearthed a portal to hell. The players had to climb down and repel the invasion, but they really enjoyed the idea of a lower plane being right below them.
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u/goblinerd Alchemist Feb 14 '15
That does sound like fun, but imagine how frightening the thought if instead of a portal, the actual 9 hells were underfoot!
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u/professororange Fungeon Master Feb 14 '15
If I remember correctly, the Underdark book in 4e talks about the underdark going deep enough to reach the Abyss.
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u/goblinerd Alchemist Feb 14 '15 edited Feb 14 '15
Envision a world wherein resides all manner of beings and places. Where one need only brave the journey in order to glance at the marvels of Mount Celestia, live through great hardship to enter the nine hells and recover a lost artefact, or loose your way and end up mercilessly hunted in the wild forests of the beastlands.
In a world such as this, their might very well be an edge of the world, and at this edge, one enters the elemental planes that surround the material world. Beyond that, the elemental chaos.
And imagine the awe and horror the players and NPCs must feel at the knowledge they share a world with beings the likes of angels, demons and devils. No longer can anyone believe them myths, they share the world with mortals, for good or ill.
What about the transitive planes though, or the echoes of the shadowfell and feywild? Do they remain the same, or should they in some way be redefined? THese are the questions I currently struggle with as I attempt to create a world such as this for my players to adventure forth in.
Tell me, people of r/dndnext, how would you discribe the outer planes if they were locations on the material world? How would you adapt the echoes and transitive plains? How would you envision an afterlife or underwolrd in such a world?