What's this about all campaign settings being linked through the Plane of Shadow? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

What's this about all campaign settings being linked through the Plane of Shadow?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Dec 26, 2005 12:47:32 I keep hearing that all cosmologies are linked by the plane of shadow. While I do only posess a "standard" library of D&D materials (core+complete+EberronCS+FRCS), I haven't found any mention of this anywhere. And am suitably intrigued, of course

Some players would be mighty appreciative of the ability to start in one world and end in another. Running from the destruction of the last war and winding up in the forgotten realms. A curious bard might make it his life's quest to write the comparative biography of Elminster and Mordenkainen. Searching world after world for ways to resist the daelkyr. Explore the true origins of the mind flayers and similar.

So, where did this rumour get started?
#2
bob_the_efreet
Dec 26, 2005 15:57:23 That's from the 3e Manual of the Planes. Since Shadow is a full-fledged plane now, they made it the link between cosmologies. Of course, you could just use the phlogiston or Sigil to hop between prime worlds, but now we have a third way to do it (rule of three, see?).
#3
zombiegleemax
Dec 28, 2005 18:51:33 however, sigil is always the same, isn't it?
#4
old_sage
Dec 28, 2005 19:10:33 Sigil is Sigil is Sigil...

In the 2e PLANESCAPE campaign setting, the City of Doors rested at the peak of the infinitely tall Spire centred in the Outlands (the basis of the Great Wheel cosmology). In 3e, Sigil does still exist as the City of Doors, but it now occupies a completely separate planar environment all its own inside the Great Wheel of the 3e D&D core cosmology. What is special about this individual plane inside the Great Wheel (and atop the Spire) is that the independent nature of the plane in which Sigil rests allows this Sigil to be the only Sigil in the entire multiverse -- thus, the Sigil of the Great Wheel is also the Sigil of the Great Tree for the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting as well as the Sigil for the DRAGONLANCE campaign setting.
#5
zombiegleemax
Dec 28, 2005 19:20:45 Thanks God
#6
zombiegleemax
Dec 29, 2005 20:07:25 In 2nd edition planescape all the different campaign settings all had realms in existing outer planes. In the 3rd edition, nothing has changed... :D
#7
bob_the_efreet
Jan 02, 2006 3:21:14
In the 2e PLANESCAPE campaign setting, the City of Doors rested at the peak of the infinitely tall Spire centred in the Outlands (the basis of the Great Wheel cosmology).

I don't think we really knew that, completely. It's just one of those things people assume. There's been nothing to contradict such a belief, though.
#8
manowater989
Jan 16, 2006 10:44:10 I think the significant thing about this is suppose to be that The Plane Of Shadow doesn't just connect campaign worlds within the multiverse, but actually connects one multiverse to another. IIRC, the 3e MotP as much as comes out and says this directly, I seem to even recall an illustrative diagram clearly showing this. Of course, MotP stuff never has been PS canon- so as far as hard-corers are concerned, there's just one multiverse: The Great Wheel. Everything else is either big demiplanes, Clueless misconceptions, or more crystal spheres in the Prime. Or possibly unexplored parts of some of our familiar planes, like Mechanus, The Astral or The Ordial.....
#9
taotad
Jan 17, 2006 6:58:53 I think the properties of the Shadow Plane is more mysterious than most people give it credit. In the line between darkness and light lies the twilight of the Shadow Plane and functions as a barrier between what's seen and what's hidden.

To see the multiverse as a whole is probably beyond even the greybirds of Sigil, and to spot the bigger picture in a place filled with shadows is nearly impossible. The Plane of Shadow is a sort of connector and at the same time a seperator of all the multiverses. It doesn't say if all the multiverses are all part of one big happy megamultiverse or not, it just hides the bigger picture from all of us to see. Maybe its really arranged like the great wheel or as Yggdrasil, or maybe everyone sees into the shadows and see the shapes they want to see in there?

I really like the Shadow Plane seen like this because it brings back mystery into Planescape. No one is right, but no one is wrong either.

See The Shadowlie for a more in-character description of what I mean.
#10
zombiegleemax
Jan 18, 2006 0:36:12 Well in existing Planescape as of second edition Shadow was a mere Demiplane, formed of the combination of equal amounts of Negative and Postive Energy.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Dec 26, 2005 12:47:32	I keep hearing that all cosmologies are linked by the plane of shadow. While I do only posess a "standard" library of D&D materials (core+complete+EberronCS+FRCS), I haven't found any mention of this anywhere. And am suitably intrigued, of course Some players would be mighty appreciative of the ability to start in one world and end in another. Running from the destruction of the last war and winding up in the forgotten realms. A curious bard might make it his life's quest to write the comparative biography of Elminster and Mordenkainen. Searching world after world for ways to resist the daelkyr. Explore the true origins of the mind flayers and similar. So, where did this rumour get started?
#2 bob_the_efreet Dec 26, 2005 15:57:23	That's from the 3e Manual of the Planes. Since Shadow is a full-fledged plane now, they made it the link between cosmologies. Of course, you could just use the phlogiston or Sigil to hop between prime worlds, but now we have a third way to do it (rule of three, see?).
#3 zombiegleemax Dec 28, 2005 18:51:33	however, sigil is always the same, isn't it?
#4 old_sage Dec 28, 2005 19:10:33	Sigil is Sigil is Sigil... In the 2e PLANESCAPE campaign setting, the City of Doors rested at the peak of the infinitely tall Spire centred in the Outlands (the basis of the Great Wheel cosmology). In 3e, Sigil does still exist as the City of Doors, but it now occupies a completely separate planar environment all its own inside the Great Wheel of the 3e D&D core cosmology. What is special about this individual plane inside the Great Wheel (and atop the Spire) is that the independent nature of the plane in which Sigil rests allows this Sigil to be the only Sigil in the entire multiverse -- thus, the Sigil of the Great Wheel is also the Sigil of the Great Tree for the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting as well as the Sigil for the DRAGONLANCE campaign setting.
#5 zombiegleemax Dec 28, 2005 19:20:45	Thanks God
#6 zombiegleemax Dec 29, 2005 20:07:25	In 2nd edition planescape all the different campaign settings all had realms in existing outer planes. In the 3rd edition, nothing has changed... :D
#7 bob_the_efreet Jan 02, 2006 3:21:14	In the 2e PLANESCAPE campaign setting, the City of Doors rested at the peak of the infinitely tall Spire centred in the Outlands (the basis of the Great Wheel cosmology). I don't think we really knew that, completely. It's just one of those things people assume. There's been nothing to contradict such a belief, though.
#8 manowater989 Jan 16, 2006 10:44:10	I think the significant thing about this is suppose to be that The Plane Of Shadow doesn't just connect campaign worlds within the multiverse, but actually connects one multiverse to another. IIRC, the 3e MotP as much as comes out and says this directly, I seem to even recall an illustrative diagram clearly showing this. Of course, MotP stuff never has been PS canon- so as far as hard-corers are concerned, there's just one multiverse: The Great Wheel. Everything else is either big demiplanes, Clueless misconceptions, or more crystal spheres in the Prime. Or possibly unexplored parts of some of our familiar planes, like Mechanus, The Astral or The Ordial.....
#9 taotad Jan 17, 2006 6:58:53	I think the properties of the Shadow Plane is more mysterious than most people give it credit. In the line between darkness and light lies the twilight of the Shadow Plane and functions as a barrier between what's seen and what's hidden. To see the multiverse as a whole is probably beyond even the greybirds of Sigil, and to spot the bigger picture in a place filled with shadows is nearly impossible. The Plane of Shadow is a sort of connector and at the same time a seperator of all the multiverses. It doesn't say if all the multiverses are all part of one big happy megamultiverse or not, it just hides the bigger picture from all of us to see. Maybe its really arranged like the great wheel or as Yggdrasil, or maybe everyone sees into the shadows and see the shapes they want to see in there? I really like the Shadow Plane seen like this because it brings back mystery into Planescape. No one is right, but no one is wrong either. See The Shadowlie for a more in-character description of what I mean.
#10 zombiegleemax Jan 18, 2006 0:36:12	Well in existing Planescape as of second edition Shadow was a mere Demiplane, formed of the combination of equal amounts of Negative and Postive Energy.