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#1 zombiegleemax Sep 27, 2007 22:23:01

What follows below was first written for the 4E forums as a kind of elaboration on what may be the merits and drawbacks of the new Great Sea cosmology as it has been presented so far in various bits and pieces, in particular in regards to how it may lend itself to varying playing styles. As I began realizing that the post was not quite as short as I had first intended, and that it may be written from too specifically a PS perspective, I decided to just post it here instead: With that being said, if I were to elaborate on the quibbles I do have with the utility of this model, I would say that the main one would be the implied Sea configuration of the features that up until now have been the Outer Planes. Basically, if we are to presume that the spatial representation of these concepts has an impact on how they can and will be used, then I am not entirerly sure that taking all things and tossing them into the same box is entirerly wise (I would say the same for the treatment of the elements, but that is far more a matter of different tastes). The old arrangement basically consisted of a number of separate boxes, with a more or less clear internal scale (plane-layer-realm-site) and no actual space "in between" them. The new set-up begins blurring the distinction between the previous units of scale, and I wonder if the "all in the same sea" concept, if it indeed is written as it "sounds", will not begin to push the implied size of planar locations downwards (much the same way that interstellar sci-fi scenarios have a way of treating planets like countries) and make them tend towards being more specific locations rather than general enviroments. Regarding then the distances that may exist between these planar locations then, it may or may not begin making explicitly planar campaigns more difficult. Travel times per se is not an issue (it would not be any planar enviroment worth the name if we could not simply handwave away such a thing) but the _medium_ with which one conducts such travel may have great effect on how adventuring and campaigning will look, and it could become an issue if we are right in presuming that the new format encourages planar locations to be smaller and separated by Astral Sea. Of course, travel is by no means an insurmountable challenge. Several options exist, including one or several Sigil-like planar hub or things like the Infinite Staircase (which however will then be more needed than ever), the strategic presence of portals in all or most planar sites, or even Astral vessels of some kind (the latter strikes this poster a potentially exciting idea, as it could form the basis of a "Planejammer"-type of setting, but it alas seems a little too particular to be something that WotC would actually sink money and development time into). Nevertheless, the fact that planar sites may be fragmentarized rather than coherent, "close" or "connected", may be an indication of that this is not the direction things are going. In short: the Astral of tomorrow may in fact more than anything resemble the Ethereal of today: many disconnected locations, most of which are more geared towards one-shot visits rather than sustained interaction, and with travel between them holding potential for being peculiar and interesting in small doses, but not neccessarily offering great room for variety. The astute reader may at this point have noted that what is described above mostly is an issue for the concept of planar _campaigning_, whereas planar one-shots with the Material Plane are perfectly viable and even encourages. Raid the evil planar sorceror's tower? Yes. Trace the evil planar sorceror's nefarious plot across several locations in the same adventure, and revisit his home plane for a new bout of adventuring? Maybe not so much. In short, the "new" cosmology may be perfect for the way many DMs and players who currently state indifference or hostility to planar matters might conceive of actually using them, but thus undercutting the planes as a campaign setting to such a great extent may seem a bit harsh... One wonders then, if this is really the ideal compromise between the casual and dedicated approach to planar adventuring. If the Great Wheel could seem imposing and have issues with being static and dependant on symmetry and establishes themes, then it also had the benefits of a rather clear sense of scale and encouraged dynamic and synergetic use of planar locations. The Great Sea can be used for quickly introducing new elements, but seems to rely upon breaking everything into little pieces and spreading it out far apart, which may have inadvertedly made the D&D cosmology more aimless and ironic than ever. In the compromise between connection and flexibility, then, it may in fact be that (of all things) the Forgotten Realms' Great Tree began showing the path for how one balances the two, in so far as it offered a more easily altered cosmology where it may not be neccessary to make the Seldarine bunk up with the Olympians or put Moradin on the fifth layer of Mt. Celestia because there is (so one is perhaps intuitively inclined to feel) only so much space to go around when placing things out, while at the same time having been written in such a manner as to make sceptical observers wonder just why "Thor's Shack" needs to be a plane unto its own and in some sense seeming to be on the same conceptual footing as, say, the Nine Hells. The question is also, of course, whether such a thing can be happily transferred to a more general and overaraching planar setting (for that reason, for example, Eberron's Grand Atom seems unlikely to have much use beyond a cosmology that revolves around a single world). /end And hereabouts, whatever train of thought that I may have had began trailing off. I was to wrap things up with some kind of defining, unifying question or suggestion, but since I just didn't come up with one that seemed quite right, I shall just have to make a general inquiry regarding what thoughts people might have had on the above themes, what other interpretations of the implications of the 4E cosmology that there might be, how a Planescape applied to it may look, and so on, and so forth.