Dungeons and Dragons 4E Cosmology and Core World
One of the massive changes taking place in Dungeons and Dragons 4E is the creation of a core world. Up to this point, D&D has only ever provided players with elements of a core world or core cosmology - such as the old Greyhawk Deities in D&D 3E.
This change is a long time coming. Think about it: you’re a new D&D player. You pick up the core books at Barnes & Noble, and you want to run D&D for your friends. As it stands today, you either have to buy a campaign setting or create your own world from scratch. Do you know how overwhelming it is for a first-time DM to do either one of those? With the number of campaign settings, the neophyte won’t even know where to begin. Even if he does, what if he picks a crappy setting? He and his cohorts will write D&D off altogether. And don’t get me started on how lost the new DM feels trying to create a world. I’ve been DMing for almost three decades, so I enjoy campaign creation; and that new DM will too, in a couple of years.
Including a core setting and cosmology doesn’t forbid anyone from creating their own. In fact, WotC is now making the various campaign settings part of core. This means you can have a near-infinite number of settings and cosmologies without breaking the game. That’s a sweet deal, and it’s overdue.
For some other thoughts about these changes, check out this article at Critical Hits: D&D 4e: A Whole New World.
So, what do you all think? Is this a good move, or not?
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6 Responses to “Dungeons and Dragons 4E Cosmology and Core World”
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Awesome Deals!
I’m definitely psyched about this particular change to the core book content, and I think it’s a very good move too. It isn’t something that is forced on the player or necessary to play D&D, but it provides such an invaluable resource to new players and DM’s alike, and I think it will enrich the whole experience for new players and help the community to keep growing.
I’m still wondering what’s going to be in the Manual of Planes though, and how much they’re keeping / getting rid of from the old cosmology.
Bartoneuss last blog post..YouTube of the Week: Lost an Evil Floating Head Edition
@Bart - Thanks for the comment!
I’m very interested in seeing MotP. My relationship with the planes has been spotty. For the first 15 years of DMing, I never used them. Randy (he posts here sometimes) turned me on to Planescape, and I love the setting. However, I’m not tied to it, and I think I’m just as fond of “planar” as I am of “Planescape.”
Back when I started gaming we had no setting and it didn’t stop us. First there was a cavern and people looting it. Then there was a village and orcs and golems attacking it. So on. There was no elaborate setting required.
Nowadays, I still prefer playing in place with no definitive, detail-oriented setting, but a setting created in play to conform to a few themes and guidelines.
I think D&D has such a strong implied setting that a definitive one is not needed. It may be useful to many gamers, I wouldn’t know.
Tommis last blog post..A small idea: Scope of effect
Tommi -
You’re in luck, then, since all that 4e actually gives is a cosmology, and an implied setting. There is a town fully detailed in the DMG (for new groups, or old ones, to utilise as they see fit), but very little beyond that.
Grahams last blog post..Pathfinder 12 - Fort of Ogre Decapitation
I think that Ed Greenwood said it best in his interview with The Tome. I highly recommend googling it and giving it a listen.
These things are there so that the GM can concentrate on the story and creating all this stuff from scratch. Use it if you feel the need or make your own version (of the reams in this instance) if you want to. This is your world, do what you want.
With the plethora of information from D&D, AD&D, 3.0 and 3.5 I see no shortage of dungeons or cityscape maps and layouts for those that need them.
Some of the best adventures I’ve had were in generic dungeon A that was created in the shape of whatever our artistic GM could think of that looked cool on the old grid paper. The real key to any successful campaign is harmony between the GM and players and alot of imagination.
Don’t get caught up in the commercial side of the hobby unless you want to.
Graham,
That’s good to hear. The cosmology, from what I have heard, sounds pretty nice, too, and hopefully they are not spoiling it with too much annoying minutia.
Tommis last blog post..A small idea: Scope of effect