The Multiverse Concept

[chas]

There is an interesting five page article in the The New Yorker magazine's November 7m, 2022 issue titled "The Never-Ending Story: Can The Multiverse Keep Expanding Forever?" that traces the past development and current popularity of the concept. This has gone from a wild fictional and scientific theory decades ago to an omnipresent idea in our recent film and literature, and the way many of us now look at the cosmos in reality.

The idea first became big for me during my old role playing days, when a few pals and I came up with our own system. Alternate universes lay behind our general cosmology, and of course was a great method in world building and generating characters.

I'll also note that the concept plays a major role n my recent Kickstarter backing, the board game Dune: War For Arrakis (CMON, by the designers of War of the Ring). Although it is restricted to the period of the Atreides-Harkonnen War in the first book of the series, almost all of the popular characters from the first book are included as optional alternate universe outcomes, so most of them can be featured in the game (occasionally one precludes another). What if Duke Leto had survived his kidnapping and assassination? What if Dr. Yueh had had a change of heart at some point and remained a loyal Atreides retainer? What if a living character had died but been replaced by another, to take a larger role than the new replacement did in the book? Etc. In this way you can play them for a significant role in the game, and of course get a Cool Mini for them.

What do you think of the article? What has the Multiverse concept meant to you? How have you applied it in your hobbies? What do you think of the Marvel comic or cinematic universe (or DC for that matter) using the idea?