The new front page story includes a video about Planescape the 2024 Rule Books.

In the video, they talk about how Planescape "unites all the settings that are used with D&D" -- and they do mean more than just the "official ones". While I do understand the whole marketing standpoint, it still really gets under my skin -- because my world is NOT part of the D&D Multiverse.

So there is a subtext that suggests to me -- and this is not the first time, as this has gone on since planescape was first introduced for 2e, so this is not a knock on WotC specifically -- that if your world is not part of the cosmology, that you are not running a D&D world.

I don't use the alignment or cosmology systems that Planescape is built on. I cannot use Planescape as a part of my game. Some of the elements of Planescape in the past work in direct opposition to things about my world that are set up for real reasons. Now, granted, that's my problem, and I am well aware that it is an emotional thing on my part and that anyone who tells me I am not playing D&D is usually in for one of my long ass posts. But, it did get me to wondering.

So, is your world part of the D&D Multiverse?

I think you're maybe overthinking the statement about Planescape uniting all the settings that are used with D&D as an imperative. It's not a statement about if your game is D&D or not based on being part of the wider cosmology, it's a statement about how Sigil is the setting that can connect any D&D setting with any other setting. But that doesn't mean your setting "isn't D&D" if that isn't true of your setting.

Also I think you might be misunderstanding what is meant by a D&D multiverse. That's just referring to multiple planes where these planes represent different settings or setting archetypes. For example, while my D&D setting includes the worlds of Exandria, Krynn, Eberron, and even Athas, these are not the settings of Critical Role, Dragonlance, Keith Baker, or Dark Sun. They are my versions connected to a world of my design via my version of Sigil. But Sigil does serve the same role; a nexus point through the multiverse. I don't use alignment the way Planescape does, nor do I use the Great Wheel cosmology the way any of the books present. This is why I can't answer your survey; to the first question it'd be "It's part of a D&D multiverse, but not the D&D multiverse" and to the second question it'd be "Combination of some of the above"

So maybe try viewing the front page story as being less telling you how to run your game and more suggesting how you could use Sigil to expand out your setting.

I'd define being in the D&D multiverse as playing D&D - either using it's lore or using the D&D engine(s) (I'm being intentionally vague on the definition of "lore" and "D&D engine", given the variety of . You're in one of the parallel universes. It's not necessarily possible to travel from your universe that you're playing in to another by any means - or you can, by any means as determined by the DM. It is as integrated and connected (or separate and disconnected) as you want it to be. 

I'm curious as to what it is that leads you to the statement that it's definitely not part of the multiverse? I don't use anything from Planescape (never even read it) and the cosmology of D&D gets added...as I read it and if I want to. My version of FR is still part of the multiverse though. Unlike what some on the forums like to claim, your game doesn't have to match up with officially released content. It just means it's another version of the setting...which is mandated anyway since it's a game and not a fixed story.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

So, is your world part of the D&D Multiverse?

I couldn't vote in the first poll because honestly, I haven't decided yet

The initial campaign world is very much a limited space -- an island about the size of Great Britain, surrounded by magical storms that are impassable unless the god-like entities who keep it isolated want to let you through -- but the current arc might result in either the island being opened up to the outside world, or the party transported elsewhere

As someone presently running a world completely divorced from the D&D multiverse (and also a group very much engrained therein), I honestly think you are finding offence where none exists.

Wizards is fair in their statement.  Planescape does connect every world in the D&D Multiverse—the operative world being “multiverse”.  They do not claim to connect every D&D world—only the ones tied into the multiverse itself and the greater cosmology of D&D.  At no point do they claim “worlds not part of the multiverse are not ‘D&D worlds.”  To put it in simple terms, Wizards said “this is a way to group any quadrilateral that is also a square”—they are not saying that your trapezoid is not a quadrilateral, just that it falls outside of this particular subgroup. 

My impression was that AED was just trying to preemptively head off any gatekeeping from folks who like to find reasons to claim something isn't "real D&D", rather than taking a shot at WOTC

Quote from Davyd >>

I think you're maybe overthinking the statement about Planescape uniting all the settings that are used with D&D as an imperative. It's not a statement about if your game is D&D or not based on being part of the wider cosmology, it's a statement about how Sigil is the setting that can connect any D&D setting with any other setting. But that doesn't mean your setting "isn't D&D" if that isn't true of your setting.

Also I think you might be misunderstanding what is meant by a D&D multiverse. That's just referring to multiple planes where these planes represent different settings or setting archetypes. For example, while my D&D setting includes the worlds of Exandria, Krynn, Eberron, and even Athas, these are not the settings of Critical Role, Dragonlance, Keith Baker, or Dark Sun. They are my versions connected to a world of my design via my version of Sigil. But Sigil does serve the same role; a nexus point through the multiverse. I don't use alignment the way Planescape does, nor do I use the Great Wheel cosmology the way any of the books present. This is why I can't answer your survey; to the first question it'd be "It's part of a D&D multiverse, but not the D&D multiverse" and to the second question it'd be "Combination of some of the above"

So maybe try viewing the front page story as being less telling you how to run your game and more suggesting how you could use Sigil to expand out your setting.

 
It is probably less "overthinking" and more "hypersensitive" to it, but I  don't think they intended it to come across that way, nor do I think most people will read it that way. Like I mentioned, this is something that has been going on a very long time. It is a kind of ongoing challenge that I encounter often.

And I do like Sigil and planescape -- I have liked the previous versions, so odds are good I will like this one -- and there is a "brightness" to this version that fits well with the large 5e style and makes me chuckle.

Quote from Caerwyn_Glyndwr >>

As someone presently running a world completely divorced from the D&D multiverse (and also a group very much engrained therein), I honestly think you are finding offence where none exists.

Wizards is fair in their statement.  Planescape does connect every world in the D&D Multiverse—the operative world being “multiverse”.  They do not claim to connect every D&D world—only the ones tied into the multiverse itself and the greater cosmology of D&D.  At no point do they claim “worlds not part of the multiverse are not ‘D&D worlds.”  To put it in simple terms, Wizards said “this is a way to group any quadrilateral that is also a square”—they are not saying that your trapezoid is not a quadrilateral, just that it falls outside of this particular subgroup. 

 
ok, to give you an idea of how this could happen, your comment made me realize that my cosmos is a d4 wrapped in a d24.

Quote from AntonSirius >>

My impression was that AED was just trying to preemptively head off any gatekeeping from folks who like to find reasons to claim something isn't "real D&D", rather than taking a shot at WOTC

 Preemptive might be a bit off (given it started with the release of the original), but there was definitely a lot of that involved.

I have no excuse, but I was up past my bedtime...

Honestly, the language doesn't bother me. Why? Because at my table, the only opinions that matter are mine and those of my players. We decide what our D&D is doing, and nobody's going to publish something that takes that away from us. The same as people can still play 1e AD&D, and nobody can stop them. It's a null discussion.

"Is your campaign in the official multiverse?" is a great question and something to consider for every word-building DM out there.

My current campaign is set in the official multiverse but also outside the normal boundaries, as it's a prison for an elder power that threatens all of existence across the multiverse. My players don't all know this, but some campaign threads lead to the discovery and options to open/close that prison. Probably over years of gaming as they get to do anything they want within the world space.

Nothing's truly original, but I'm having fun with my ideas set, and the new Time Dragon is being worked into the topmost level of the campaign, even if players never know in character.

I love worldbuilding and questions like this. :)

As a player, I'm in a couple adventures set firmly within the D&D rules and worlds.

Having recently taken on the mantle of Game Master, again, I'm working with another gaming system. My game world is sci-fi heavy, gritty, and a higher chance of sudden PC death than the current D&D rules are designed for. This other system seems to work better for a tech heavy, non-magical world like mine.

As for the concerns and arguments that have been presented by others here, I have no opinions on them strong enough to warrant my writing them down.

 I'm too lazy too watch the video, but my guess is that Wizards just misphrased it, and their goal was to state that you can still use Planescape to connect your homebrewed realms to official and unofficial ones.

Look at it this way every d&d film,novel,cartoon,comic,video game and rpg boxset will never have a single continuity so by saying multiverse this allows a single canon for every one of those and if your campaign is set in FR fo example yes thats definition of the dnd multiverse

It can also be a way to allow cross overs between the old films and new ones much like how the mcu is embracing the multiverse opening the door to 2 or 3 other hulks 2 or 3 other spidermen 1 other daredevil 3 fantastic 4 teams etc

I run Eberron now and find the cosmology in that world much more compelling than the Great Wheel and see no need for any other multiverse elements. The planes of Eberron provide enough outside Eberron itself that I don't feel the need to give access to other material planes.

Are we talking D&D multiverse or WotC multiverse? I've played D&D for 40 years and only recently has the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ebberon etc that I read in novels (and still do) been introduced as D&D lore or Canon. Having been a fan of the books since they were first printed by TSR, it wasn't a big stretch to see them introduced as D&D realms. Truth be told if you're playing homebrew, mass produced modules, partner modules such Kobold Press, or straight out of Icewind Dale and Drizz't do 'Urden then you are part of the D&D multiverse. 

Quote from Azmodeus666 >>

Are we talking D&D multiverse or WotC multiverse? I've played D&D for 40 years and only recently has the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ebberon etc that I read in novels (and still do) been introduced as D&D lore or Canon. Having been a fan of the books since they were first printed by TSR, it wasn't a big stretch to see them introduced as D&D realms. Truth be told if you're playing homebrew, mass produced modules, partner modules such Kobold Press, or straight out of Icewind Dale and Drizz't do 'Urden then you are part of the D&D multiverse. 

 I'm very confused as to what you mean by "only recently has the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ebberon etc that I read in novels (and still do) been introduced as D&D lore or Canon". Dragonlance was part of D&D lore and canon as a setting since 1984. The Forgotten Realms has been part of D&D lore since 1987. Dark Sun has been in the game since '91 and Eberron since 2004. None of those are recent by any standard.

If you're talking about them being interconnected as a multiverse, that's been the case since Spelljammer back in 1989 which originally connected Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Mystara, and Forgotten Realms settings, and Planescape further affirmed this interconnectedness in 1994.

Having been a fan of the books since they were first printed by TSR, it wasn't a big stretch to see them introduced as D&D realms.

I'm likewise perplexed by this statement. They were printed by TSR as D&D realms, they weren't printed as something non-D&D and later introduced.

Basically I'm somewhat confused as to what you're saying about D&D settings and their lore

Quote from Azmodeus666 >>

Are we talking D&D multiverse or WotC multiverse? I've played D&D for 40 years and only recently has the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ebberon etc that I read in novels (and still do) been introduced as D&D lore or Canon. Having been a fan of the books since they were first printed by TSR, it wasn't a big stretch to see them introduced as D&D realms. Truth be told if you're playing homebrew, mass produced modules, partner modules such Kobold Press, or straight out of Icewind Dale and Drizz't do 'Urden then you are part of the D&D multiverse. 

 
You'll have to explain the distinction you are drawing.

I started in 1979, and I remember Forgotten Realms being introduced in the early 80's in Dragon Magazine, the coming in later as an official realm. I recall how Planescape and Dark Sun are deeply influenced and somewhat dependent on each other in a design sense. I recall, and have, everything that TSR put out relating to all of those worlds as official places and spaces -- including additional ones, like Kara-Tur, Al Qadim, and Maztica, that were later subsumed into the Forgotten Realms, but all of those were official worlds under TSR.

Blackmoor, Mystara, Greyhawk, Ravenloft (it's own world initially), Dragonlance, Kara-Tur, Forgotten Realms, Al Qadim, Maztica, Spelljammer, Dark Sun, Planescape, Birthright (Aebrynis), -- all of these predate Wizards taking over and all of them were official worlds of TSR. While some retconning has gone on to collate several of them into FR since then, many are still mentioned in different places.

Indeed, the original Planescape (2e) was created explicitly to draw every world you mentioned into a single larger system (and *that* started with the original Manual of the Planes by Grubb) -- I listed those in order of publication, or as close as I can recall lol.

• Truth be told if you're playing homebrew, mass produced modules, partner modules such Kobold Press, or straight out of Icewind Dale and Drizz't do 'Urden then you are part of the D&D multiverse. 

Based on this, I presume your initial statement to mean that the D&D Multiverse is "anything that uses D&D rules" -- and by that standard, then yes, my stuff is definitely part of that, lol, and I appreciate the inclusive sentiment.

Beyond your comment, in general, I acknowledged that my immediate reaction was an emotional one, not a reasoned one. It may come as a shock to some, but I am excited by the release of Planescape for 5e.

I may have little use most of the time for such resources as an individual, but anything that expands and provides possible creative examples of "cool new stuff you can do" is always of value. Many folks who have created their own worlds lament the seeming absence of worldbuilding systems and tools within the game as a whole, and as the poll shows with its very limited sample size, a lot of folks position their custom worlds as lying within the great wheel -- making it one of those tools, and Planescape expands and builds on it.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

The new front page story includes a video about Planescape the 2024 Rule Books.

In the video, they talk about how Planescape "unites all the settings that are used with D&D" -- and they do mean more than just the "official ones". While I do understand the whole marketing standpoint, it still really gets under my skin -- because my world is NOT part of the D&D Multiverse.

So there is a subtext that suggests to me -- and this is not the first time, as this has gone on since planescape was first introduced for 2e, so this is not a knock on WotC specifically -- that if your world is not part of the cosmology, that you are not running a D&D world.

I don't use the alignment or cosmology systems that Planescape is built on. I cannot use Planescape as a part of my game. Some of the elements of Planescape in the past work in direct opposition to things about my world that are set up for real reasons. Now, granted, that's my problem, and I am well aware that it is an emotional thing on my part and that anyone who tells me I am not playing D&D is usually in for one of my long ass posts. But, it did get me to wondering.

 

So, is your world part of the D&D Multiverse?

 Do you mean the real world, that is, the world where we sit around a table and play dnd?

Are you asking if we Break the Fourth Wall in (at least one of) our campaigns?

Quote from DragonRiderHN >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

The new front page story includes a video about Planescape the 2024 Rule Books.

In the video, they talk about how Planescape "unites all the settings that are used with D&D" -- and they do mean more than just the "official ones". While I do understand the whole marketing standpoint, it still really gets under my skin -- because my world is NOT part of the D&D Multiverse.

So there is a subtext that suggests to me -- and this is not the first time, as this has gone on since planescape was first introduced for 2e, so this is not a knock on WotC specifically -- that if your world is not part of the cosmology, that you are not running a D&D world.

I don't use the alignment or cosmology systems that Planescape is built on. I cannot use Planescape as a part of my game. Some of the elements of Planescape in the past work in direct opposition to things about my world that are set up for real reasons. Now, granted, that's my problem, and I am well aware that it is an emotional thing on my part and that anyone who tells me I am not playing D&D is usually in for one of my long ass posts. But, it did get me to wondering.

 

So, is your world part of the D&D Multiverse?

 

 Do you mean the real world, that is, the world where we sit around a table and play dnd?

Are you asking if we Break the Fourth Wall in (at least one of) our campaigns?

 
No, I mean your game world.

Well, unless your game world is the current real world. WHich, I mean, okay...

Oh, well I have way too many of those for a definitive yes or no answer

On average though, I like to play around with the lore already in Dnd. So on average I play within the Dnd cosmology, typically in the “great wheel” format.

I have trouble distinguishing Elemental chaos and Limbo however, maybe there are a lot of Limbo crossings in the Elemental Chaos? Vice versa?

Honestly though, if you are using the Dnd game rules, dnd stat blocks, and other things from Dnd to run your game world, you are playing dnd, even if it is not within the official cosmology. After all, playing a homebrew campaign (a.k.a. not an officially published campaign) in one of the official dnd settings still counts as playing dnd. So there is no reason why your world has to be one of the official worlds for it to be dnd, or even part of the official cosmology. Your players could have zero way of getting to Eberron, or any of the other official worlds, to them they could all be as fake as it is to us, or not even exist in the imagination.

Quite simply, Dnd is designed to be a fluid game. Malleable. Changeable. The base premise of the game is DM discretion. Only around half of even the published campaigns actually have any dragons! Even fewer have dungeons!

In short, if you are playing under at least Most of the rules in the Basic Rules handbook (which includes homebrew cosmologies, dieties and worldbuilding) you are playing dnd, and anyone who says otherwise probably doesn’t know how chairs work.