Small multiverses in fiction.

[halfeye]

Long ago, In a galaxy far, far away... Nope, it wasn't in this universe at all, there is no "Force" here. Why is the real universe so durn tooting huge? We don't need it to be so big for anything we plan to do, ever, and it's not going to last forever anyway (probably).

So, for stories, I suggest small multiverses, say seven universes with seven stellar systems in each one, with gates between places that take you to any one destination within the multiverse for any particular gate, there's a gate at the exit, but it doesn't necessarily take you back, if it does, you can see through, if not it's blank. My gates are too small for an adult elephant to go through, even squirming, not that elephants squirm much. I'm thinking maybe three or so habitable planets per stellar system at most. All of the stars in one universe should be close together, within say ten light years of the nearest, but the geometry between them would vary, and dim stars might not be visible from any other system.

There are multiple multiverses, because in one magic exists, in that one each universe has different levels of magic, one nothing, one super powerful, the rest in grades in between, no two the same. Another multiverse, all the planetary and bigger bodies are alive, and talk to the characters, and do things, but are limited by their physicalities, they are not gods though they may claim to be. In a third multiverse, there are gods. In a fourth, there is one god called Enid who is in control of everything. In a fifth, there is no magic and no gods. There may be other multiverses.

These multiverses are good for stories of travel, and returning home by long journeys, maybe quests, they are probably not so good for wars.

I want to read these stories, but I don't have much inclination to write them, and I don't have the time to write all of them, obviously anyone can change these multiverses then write their own stories, I might write some of mine one day, so don't use them as is or there might be conflict, but altered versions should be fine (I am not a lawyer, and this is not qualified legal advice).

[MetroAlien]

This .... basically sounds like core premise of Kingdom Hearts?
but maybe not the aesthetic you're looking for.

Maybe there was a LEGO game that allowed you to go to different LEGO worlds...
Or maybe I only dreamt of that...

[Rynjin]

There's plenty of dimension hopping stories where the universes may as well just be one planet. Piers Anthony's Mode series for example, or David Drake's Northworld.

Not too many stories of the type very interested in space travel at all. Kind of...adjacent genres? One kind of takes the role of another. If there's space travel you can just make Planets of Hats. If there's multiple universes you don't really need space travel.

This is likely why you haven't seen anything exactly like this before.

[MetroAlien]

I think OP's point is that the multiverses follow different rules?
That's why they are multiverses as opposed to "planets of hats", but maybe the distinction is only semantic...

Actually, speaking of the different levels of magic in each multiverse, there's the manga series which does that: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Some multiverses are entirely based on magic, others on technology, etc... and the characters have to follow certain rules in each of them.

Sadly, the anime adaptation it got veered very well off the intended plotline.
Like, it's straight up just a different story past a certain (quite early) point.
There are some decently high-quality OVAs (direct-to-video releases) but they are nigh incomprehensible without familiarity with the source.
And they only cover maybe like 1% of the story.

I have seen it sold here occasionally.
However, given how old it is, idk if many official translators still stock/sell it abroad.
but I would never advocate you "sail the grand line"...

[Mechalich]

Not too many stories of the type very interested in space travel at all. Kind of...adjacent genres? One kind of takes the role of another. If there's space travel you can just make Planets of Hats. If there's multiple universes you don't really need space travel.

Pretty much. In general, whether utilizing space travel or multiverses the device has the same purpose, get beyond the boundaries of Earth, and both can be as limited or expansive as necessary. Settings using FTL can make it highly restrictive, allowing access to only a handful of star systems (naturally occurring rare wormholes is often used for this method), or massively expansive allowing stories to operate on galactic scale (theoretically one can go beyond that, but it's largely irrelevant to do so). Restricted multiverses are also possible, with only some small number of planes of existence in total (many mythological realms are like this).

There are some highly expansive universes that include massive space travel and also multiple dimensions/timelines or other factors that qualify them as a multiverse, though this is rarely their focus. For example, the Culture Universe includes references to a multiverse, such as the titular Excession, but is primarily concerned with galactic society. A limited universe with both would be very rare, I believe.

[Rynjin]

I think OP's point is that the multiverses follow different rules?
That's why they are multiverses as opposed to "planets of hats", but maybe the distinction is only semantic...

Actually, speaking of the different levels of magic in each multiverse, there's the manga series which does that: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Some multiverses are entirely based on magic, others on technology, etc... and the characters have to follow certain rules in each of them.

Sadly, the anime adaptation it got veered very well off the intended plotline.
Like, it's straight up just a different story past a certain (quite early) point.
There are some decently high-quality OVAs (direct-to-video releases) but they are nigh incomprehensible without familiarity with the source.
And they only cover maybe like 1% of the story.

I have seen it sold here occasionally.
However, given how old it is, idk if many official translators still stock/sell it abroad.
but I would never advocate you "sail the grand line"...

Tsubasa is good fun, but you get into the issue of not just having to read that, but also xxxHolic (it's not porn I swear) and swap between them at relatively hard to determine times to get the full plot...which kinda goes off the rails about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through both of them anyway.

[Clertar]

This is part of the premise of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

[Morgaln]

"The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter might fit what you are looking for. So might "Interworld" by Neil Gaiman.

[The Glyphstone]

I could see a potentially interesting variation if you assumed each planet existed in each universe, but altered according to its local rules. That would sorta still be the same end result as simply having X universes/planets rather than X planets copied across Y universes, but somewhat more tightly themed.

[Aeson]

Maybe there was a LEGO game that allowed you to go to different LEGO worlds...
Or maybe I only dreamt of that...
Sounds like LEGO Island 2.

[DataNinja]

Sounds like LEGO Island 2.

Could also be Lego Dimensions.

[Seppl]

Star Trek has exactly one parallel universe, the mirror dimension where everyone is their evil (or good) counterpart. Which highlights one of the potential problems with the idea: The multiversum plot device is usually handwaved with the multiversum interpretation of quantum mechanics, giving the authors a convenient excuse for visiting a what-if-scenario. That handwaving requires both, infinite universes and that the differences be small (at least at the point of divergence). A limited number of universes with highly specific rules needs an explanation of why this specific set of universes exists because it looks too much like intelligent design (which, of course, it is, because the author constructed it that way :smallwink:). That might not mesh well with settings that go for a more scientific feel in their worldbuilding. Star Trek has just enough god-like beings in the setting that might explain why all dimensional travel goes to the one parallel universe that evolved exactly the way to contain an evil twin for everyone currently alive. But then again, the inclusion of literal gods always felt strange in Star Trek.

[Prime32]

There are some highly expansive universes that include massive space travel and also multiple dimensions/timelines or other factors that qualify them as a multiverse, though this is rarely their focus. For example, the Culture Universe includes references to a multiverse, such as the titular Excession, but is primarily concerned with galactic society. A limited universe with both would be very rare, I believe.
Dragonball Super has exactly five timelines, more of which are created by unstable forms of time travel. Each timeline has a set of 12 universes (created in pairs which share the same planets) plus pocket dimensions. Each universe has life on multiple planets, and FTL space travel that can theoretically be used to reach divine realms like Heaven and Hell (they're just very distant regions of space with special properties). Though sometimes it seems like the "universes" are just galactic clusters with incalculable distance between them.

And then spin-offs introduce their own rules so that they can have dozens of extra timelines which don't count as part of the main set.

[Ramza00]

Dragonball Super has exactly five timelines, more of which are created by unstable forms of time travel. Each timeline has a set of 12 universes (created in pairs which share the same planets) plus pocket dimensions. Each universe has life on multiple planets, and FTL space travel that can theoretically be used to reach divine realms like Heaven and Hell (they're just very distant regions of space with special properties). Though sometimes it seems like the "universes" are just galactic clusters with incalculable distance between them.

And then spin-offs introduce their own rules so that they can have dozens of extra timelines which don't count as part of the main set.

What are the five timelines? Gokus reality, Future Trunks, what else?

[Aotrs Commander]

Why would they even need to be multiverses? Nothing in the OP particularly suggests the idea couldn't be done in different planets.



Mind you, I would never be the target audience, because I WANT to try and impress on people an Understanding of Scale and how truly enormous the universe is, and how complicated and messy and difficult to explain it is, and so be able fully appreciate the grandure and complexity for what it is. Metaphorically, that one clip of Samuel L Jackson (presumably for Pulp Fiction) about wanting someone to acknowledge that miracle that just happened.

(But having written exceeding quarter of a million words on that sort of thing (and ironically noting in variety the sort of diversity between worlds or powers in the OP's multiverse suggestions), which I can only verify has been 100% read by two other people (both from this forum, thank you Thanqol and Rater202), it rather confirms I am in a minority of asymptoting to one. I'd be more self-deprecating, but I'm sort of past the point it is self-deprecating humour and more the bitter truth, so...)

[Willie the Duck]

Star Trek has exactly one parallel universe.

I stopped buying consoles after the SNES era, so I don't know where things went after that, but The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past is similarly 2-worlds.

[Rynjin]

What are the five timelines? Gokus reality, Future Trunks, what else?

There are two Future Trunks timelines in Z; the one where Cell ambushes him after he gets back from the first time jump and the one where he comes back and kills the Androids and Cell.

In Super there's the timeline where Beerus uses Hakai on Zamasu, and the one where he doesn't...which creates a THIRD Future Trunks timeline.

And the timeline where he doesn't obliterate Zamasu splits into the timeline we see and the split he yoinks Goku Black from.

These are the four I THINK besides the "main timeline" (which is in and of itself a dplit from the true "original" timeline, Future Trunks' timeline), but this **** is overly complicated. No wonder Beerus has the response of "kill first, ask questions never" on time travel bull****.

Technically there are more, because Dragonball time travel lore is basically that just using time travel creates entirely new timelines, you can never truly change anything in a specific timeline. There's an entire wall of rings that represent created timelines just in the Universe 10 (where Zamasu is from) realm of the Kais.

[KillianHawkeye]

I feel like the issue with designing a setting with the specific goal of of encompassing several different styles or genres of stories is that most authors don't want to write several different genres of fiction. Writers, like most artists, tend to specialize in a particular style, or maybe go through phases from one thing to another as their interests change and evolve over time.

This idea might work as a means for a group of authors to do some sort of interconnected storytelling, like how Marvel brings together magic and space and spy heroes in one story, but that takes a lot of work and planning.

[halfeye]

This .... basically sounds like core premise of Kingdom Hearts?
but maybe not the aesthetic you're looking for.

Maybe there was a LEGO game that allowed you to go to different LEGO worlds...
Or maybe I only dreamt of that...

I was thinking of text stories rather than games, but games could be good.


There's plenty of dimension hopping stories where the universes may as well just be one planet. Piers Anthony's Mode series for example, or David Drake's Northworld.

I don't remember reading either of those, if they're recent I probably never did.


Not too many stories of the type very interested in space travel at all. Kind of...adjacent genres? One kind of takes the role of another. If there's space travel you can just make Planets of Hats. If there's multiple universes you don't really need space travel.

This is likely why you haven't seen anything exactly like this before.

Planet of hats sounds bad, the idea (in the levels of magic multiverse) would be that the no-magic universe could be explored by a high technology civilisation, but they couldn't conquer the rest of the multiverse because magic. Another idea is that someone from a low magic universe gated into a high magic one tries to light a fire, and woops, scary mega-fireball. It's probably mainly a setting for journeys, or pursuits, the paths from gate to gate can be mapped, but the gates only have one destination, so there might be a short cut through gates, or the way back might be thousands of kilometres, then ten, then hundreds, then thousands, then thousands, depending on which gate went where.


"The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter might fit what you are looking for.

It's good, but it's nothing like this.


So might "Interworld" by Neil Gaiman.

I haven't read that. Oddly, the Chronicles of Morgaine also feature gates, but those are different, they're bigger, they can be targetted, and they allow (disastrously) time travel. A good set of stories.


I could see a potentially interesting variation if you assumed each planet existed in each universe, but altered according to its local rules. That would sorta still be the same end result as simply having X universes/planets rather than X planets copied across Y universes, but somewhat more tightly themed.

That's a valid possible variation.


Why would they even need to be multiverses? Nothing in the OP particularly suggests the idea couldn't be done in different planets.

I wanna.


Mind you, I would never be the target audience, because I WANT to try and impress on people an Understanding of Scale and how truly enormous the universe is, and how complicated and messy and difficult to explain it is, and so be able fully appreciate the grandure and complexity for what it is. Metaphorically, that one clip of Samuel L Jackson (presumably for Pulp Fiction) about wanting someone to acknowledge that miracle that just happened.

The real universe is too big. It's inhuman. I don't think anyone really gets the scale of the thing. Just the Milky Way is too big, and there are a billion of it.


(But having written exceeding quarter of a million words on that sort of thing (and ironically noting in variety the sort of diversity between worlds or powers in the OP's multiverse suggestions), which I can only verify has been 100% read by two other people (both from this forum, thank you Thanqol and Rater202), it rather confirms I am in a minority of asymptoting to one. I'd be more self-deprecating, but I'm sort of past the point it is self-deprecating humour and more the bitter truth, so...)

Actually writing is difficult.


I feel like the issue with designing a setting with the specific goal of of encompassing several different styles or genres of stories is that most authors don't want to write several different genres of fiction. Writers, like most artists, tend to specialize in a particular style, or maybe go through phases from one thing to another as their interests change and evolve over time.

This idea might work as a means for a group of authors to do some sort of interconnected storytelling, like how Marvel brings together magic and space and spy heroes in one story, but that takes a lot of work and planning.

I'm not thinking of a multiverse being for multiple genres, I'm not thinking of more than one multiverse appearing in one story (if they do, doesn't that just make it one bigger multiverse?) I'm thinking of the story being about the journeys across the lands between the gates, not about the details of the rests between journey stages. I particularly do not want long and vaguely detailed descriptions of food eaten at various stops, nothing wrong with people wanting that if they do, it's just not me.

[Rynjin]

The series are pretty recent in the cosmic scheme of things, but most people don't refer to the early 90s as "recent" anymore. =p

[Rodin]

There are two Future Trunks timelines in Z; the one where Cell ambushes him after he gets back from the first time jump and the one where he comes back and kills the Androids and Cell.


The Trunks that died supposedly let his guard down because he thought everything was finished. There's also the question of why Cell didn't just eat the Future Trunks androids.

The way I saw it explained was this:

Timeline 1: Original timeline where Goku dies of a heart attack. Bulma invents a time machine and sends Trunks back.

Timeline 2: Same as the Prime timeline, except Cell isn't around. Bulma invents the remote detonator for the androids, and they are successfully used to blow up the androids. Trunks does not grow significantly stronger as he never needs to fight the androids, they're just blown up. Trunks returns to Timeline 1 and uses the remote detonator on the future androids. Cell discovers this, ambushes Trunks and kills him, then steals his time machine.

Timeline 3: A.k.a. the Prime Timeline, where the show happens. Cell arriving causes it to split off from Timeline 2 around the point where they discover the second time machine and Kami senses Cell drinking people. After everything is done, Trunks returns to Timeline 1 and kills the androids with strength rather than the remote detonator, and is ready for Cell's ambush and eliminates him.

Not sure if that's totally accurate (it's been a loooooong time since I watched myself) but it does track and leaves us with the correct number of Trunks and Cells running around.

[Rynjin]

Yeah, that may be it. I know theres a 3/2 split somewhere between Z and Super, but not exactly where.

[The Glyphstone]

Have you ever looked into the Hell's Gate series by David Weber+Linda Evans? Its setting conceit is a multiverse linked by planar rifts/gates between parallel worlds, and what happens when the inhabitants of two different universes - one with steam-age tech and psi talents, the other with medieval tech and magic - encounter each other and end up going to war. One thing they quickly learn is that the more 'verses they move from their home universe, the weaker their respective powers get, and vice versa.

[runeghost]

While it's a gaming setting with a lot of campaign material, but not a lot of fiction, the cosmology of Harnworld is very close to what the OP describes. Here's a "map" of the different worlds (each one being pretty much one solar system), connected by "godstone" gates, and various other mechanisms

https://i.ibb.co/k2Q0JGM/Kelestia.jpg

[KillianHawkeye]

I'm not thinking of a multiverse being for multiple genres, I'm not thinking of more than one multiverse appearing in one story (if they do, doesn't that just make it one bigger multiverse?) I'm thinking of the story being about the journeys across the lands between the gates, not about the details of the rests between journey stages. I particularly do not want long and vaguely detailed descriptions of food eaten at various stops, nothing wrong with people wanting that if they do, it's just not me.

If one universe is sci-fi and another universe is high fantasy and another universe is gritty low magic sword & sorcery, those are all settings usually associated with particular genres of fiction. If you write a story where low-magic warrior hero must travel via gates through big magic fantasyland and then has to go through high tech spaceland to get back home, that's a multi-genre story IMO. And if the universes don't cross over, there's no point in them being in a shared multiverse.

Not sure what your comments about multiple multiverses or long descriptions of food are about. Neither of us mentioned either of those things.

[Aotrs Commander]

The real universe is too big. It's inhuman. I don't think anyone really gets the scale of the thing. Just the Milky Way is too big, and there are a billion of it.

That's a positive, both in terms of fiction and otherwise. Even just talking about fiction, that just means there is always narrative room.

Knowing the limits of everything makes everything instantly boring. The unanswered questions, the unknowns, the "what's out there," that is often the most compelling thing or hook. (Paizo's decision with Golarion to explcitly have unanswered questions is one of the thing that makes in unquestionably the best non-homebrew setting (for any RPG, not just D&D) in my opinion. (Another major part is actually having a solar system and not... *shudder* Spelljammer's reductive nonsense.)) Or is that drive, that curiosity, not a thing that motivates people anymore? And if it is, why try and set limits to it?

(If is genuinely isn't, then I really, really have nothing left in common with humanity.)

[snowblizz]

That's a positive, both in terms of fiction and otherwise. Even just talking about fiction, that just means there is always narrative room.

Knowing the limits of everything makes everything instantly boring. The unanswered questions, the unknowns, the "what's out there," that is often the most compelling thing or hook. (Paizo's decision with Golarion to explcitly have unanswered questions is one of the thing that makes in unquestionably the best non-homebrew setting (for any RPG, not just D&D) in my opinion. (Another major part is actually having a solar system and not... *shudder* Spelljammer's reductive nonsense.)) Or is that drive, that curiosity, not a thing that motivates people anymore? And if it is, why try and set limits to it?

(If is genuinely isn't, then I really, really have nothing left in common with humanity.)

Personally, I found that when they started answering background questions and narrativising Warhammer and Warhammer 40k they killed much of the "magic" of the settings and created the "comic book problem"* for themselves.


*for those who don't know my terms that would mean constantly having to 1-up things creating a narrative bloat cluster and repeated cyclical re-boots regurgitating the same stories endlessly

[Millstone85]

Star Trek has exactly one parallel universe, the mirror dimension where everyone is their evil (or good) counterpart.In the original series, possibly, but otherwise Star Trek has many timelines. Some of these coexist while others have erased each other, depending on this week's flavor of time travel / dimension hopping.

The franchise also has things akin to planes of existence, such as:

Subspace: Primarily used for interstellar communication but sometimes said to contain lifeforms. Might also be related to "out-of-phase" technologies like the Romulan cloaking device.
Fluidic space: A dimension entirely filled with organic matter and home to nigh-invulnerable telepathic shapeshifters called the Undine, better known by their Borg designation of Species 8472.
Q Continuum: At once the name of a civilization of godlike entities and the higher realm in which they seem to live. The latter is perceived as a road, its true form impossible to process.


I stopped buying consoles after the SNES era, so I don't know where things went after that, but The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past is similarly 2-worlds.One of the great pastimes of the TLoZ fandom is trying to figure out the branching timelines. This notably involves the MM/WW split:



Ocarina of Time
--->
Majora's Mask
--->
Twilight Princess



--->
The Wind Waker
--->
Phantom Hourglass


And that's again before going into worlds that just exist in their own spaces, like Termina, Lorule or the Twilight.

[KorvinStarmast]

To answer the OPs question, Philip Jose Farmer had separate realities, IIRC referred to as pocket universes, in World of Tiers series. I only read five of them, in the 70's, and until I did a search today had not realized that he released a sixth one in 1993.

[Willie the Duck]

One of the great pastimes of the TLoZ fandom is trying to figure out the branching timelines. This notably involves the MM/WW split:



Ocarina of Time
--->
Majora's Mask
--->
Twilight Princess



--->
The Wind Waker
--->
Phantom Hourglass


And that's again before going into worlds that just exist in their own spaces, like Termina, Lorule or the Twilight.

I, uh, recognize most of the individual words there (minus specific nouns, which are clearly person and place names).

[Millstone85]

I, uh, recognize most of the individual words there (minus specific nouns, which are clearly person and place names).Some are also game titles.

Ocarina of Time was the first TLoZ game on a 3D console, the Nintendo 64. Midway through that game, the Hero of Time is sent 7 years into the future. Then, at the end of the game, he is sent back to his original time period.

Majora's Mask was the second TLoZ game on the Nintendo 64. It takes place right after the events of Ocarina of Time, with the same main protagonist, but makes it clear that things are no longer headed toward the future that the Hero of Time witnessed.

Then there was The Wind Waker, on a new console called the Nintendo GameCube. This game takes place several generations after Ocarina of Time, with a new protagonist called the Hero of the Wind. But here is the kick: It is further into the future that the Hero of Time witnessed!

Phantom Hourglass was a game on the handheld Nintendo DS. It is a direct sequel to The Wind Waker, again featuring the Hero of the Wind.

Twilight Princess was released on both the Nintendo GameCube and its successor the Nintendo Wii. It features a new protagonist, the Hero of Twilight, and is harder to place in the TLoZ multiverse but is most likely taking place after Majora's Mask.

So there you have it: two timelines, each getting its own sequels. And that was just an example. There are other forks in the timelines.

Also, yes, all the heroes end up dressed in green and, while you choose their names when creating a save file, all are considered to be "Link" on some mystical level that may involve reincarnation or being the mortal avatars of some ancient heroic spirit.

https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comics/comic594.png

[GloatingSwine]

One of the great pastimes of the TLoZ fandom is trying to figure out the branching timelines. This notably involves the MM/WW split:



Ocarina of Time
--->
Majora's Mask
--->
Twilight Princess



--->
The Wind Waker
--->
Phantom Hourglass


And that's again before going into worlds that just exist in their own spaces, like Termina, Lorule or the Twilight.

And then it turns out they faked us out and there were three timelines, with Link to the Past, the Oracle games, Link Between Worlds, and Zelda 1 and 2 following on from the Game Over screen of Ocarina of Time.

The only game that isn't explicitly placed on one of them is Breath of the Wild.

[Rynjin]

And then it turns out they faked us out and there were three timelines, with Link to the Past, the Oracle games, Link Between Worlds, and Zelda 1 and 2 following on from the Game Over screen of Ocarina of Time.

The only game that isn't explicitly placed on one of them is Breath of the Wild.

Isn't Breath of the Wild part of a fourth timeline in continuity with the Hyrule Warriors games?

[GloatingSwine]

Isn't Breath of the Wild part of a fourth timeline in continuity with the Hyrule Warriors games?

There isn't anything to suggest where Breath of the Wild lives on the timelines. But obviously now it has two of its own (because Age of Calamity you win the war 100 years ago instead of losing it).

OG Hyrule Warriors is its own separate timeline.

[Prime32]

Isn't Breath of the Wild part of a fourth timeline in continuity with the Hyrule Warriors games?

There isn't anything to suggest where Breath of the Wild lives on the timelines.
BotW has a sidequest where you help three archaeologists with different theories of Hyrule's ancient past, each of which sounds like one of the official timelines. In the end you find evidence for all of them, and they agree that they may never know for sure.

[Millstone85]

And then it turns out they faked us out and there were three timelines, with Link to the Past, the Oracle games, Link Between Worlds, and Zelda 1 and 2 following on from the Game Over screen of Ocarina of Time.Oh yeah, I forgot about that!


BotW has a sidequest where you help three archaeologists with different theories of Hyrule's ancient past, each of which sounds like one of the official timelines. In the end you find evidence for all of them, and they agree that they may never know for sure.Also, a plot point of WW is that the fish-like zoras were transformed into the bird-like rito so they would stay away from the great evil now lying on the bottom of the ocean. But in BotW, the rito are somehow coexisting with the zoras.

[jayem]

This web-comics technically kind of an example, although one that's not explored other universes.
You could possibly count Jasper Ffordes work, though there the different Universes are connected in various ways.

As said above, it requires interest and competence in at least two genres, plus puts quite a constraint on both works, plus the fans will have contradictory demands... (and demand ownership of the meta-universe).
So most people are probably only going to come into it for a novelty 'holodeck' episode and then spin off (or alternatively it blends into their main work).

[gomipile]

This web-comics technically kind of an example, although one that's not explored other universes.
You could possibly count Jasper Ffordes work, though there the different Universes are connected in various ways.

As said above, it requires interest and competence in at least two genres, plus puts quite a constraint on both works, plus the fans will have contradictory demands... (and demand ownership of the meta-universe).
So most people are probably only going to come into it for a novelty 'holodeck' episode and then spin off (or alternatively it blends into their main work).

Is there something missing from your first paragraph?

[Delicious Taffy]

Also, a plot point of WW is that the fish-like zoras were transformed into the bird-like rito so they would stay away from the great evil now lying on the bottom of the ocean.

I always thought the explanation was something like "they evolved into birds to better survive in the flooded world", which obviously makes zero sense. Still a little weird that they didn't just kill the evil thing, but I guess the writers were hellbent on connecting the two races. Zelda lore is weird.

[jayem]

Is there something missing from your first paragraph?

"As said above" was references all the other comments with same themes.

I think that the Giant has made the "D&D based, Order of the stick" World/Universe one of a number of small Worlds/Universes the 'Gods' have made that each follow very different rules. And functionally that sounds like the sort of thing the OP described. Except that we as readers have basically next to no engagement apart from knowing that they 'exist', and the tiniest of tasters and that the 'Gods' take the appropriate form for the World, and lose their fight against the snarl.
(it appears they are embedded in the same time, you could argue the metaphysical nature)

Jasper Ffordes Nursery Crimes series takes place in the Town of Reading (which runs on crime fiction rules) which exists as a Book in Bookworld (which has it's own rules) which Thursday next jumps into from the 'real world' (there's also time travel etc... in this). The series definitely gets it's worth from the different worlds. On the other hand it doesn't have the clean structure of the OP (and is probably now confusing).

[KillianHawkeye]

I think that the Giant has made the "D&D based, Order of the stick" World/Universe one of a number of small Worlds/Universes the 'Gods' have made that each follow very different rules. And functionally that sounds like the sort of thing the OP described. Except that we as readers have basically next to no engagement apart from knowing that they 'exist', and the tiniest of tasters and that the 'Gods' take the appropriate form for the World, and lose their fight against the snarl.
(it appears they are embedded in the same time, you could argue the metaphysical nature)

Except the other worlds in OOTS lore are past worlds, each of which existed sequentially. It's nothing like what the OP suggested of multiple universes through which a character could travel over the course of a story to get from Point A to Point B. The current OOTS world only exists because all the previous worlds have been destroyed. There is only one world in existence in the comic that anyone knows about (mysterious world within the Snarl's rift notwithstanding).

[snowblizz]

Except the other worlds in OOTS lore are past worlds, each of which existed sequentially. It's nothing like what the OP suggested of multiple universes through which a character could travel over the course of a story to get from Point A to Point B. The current OOTS world only exists because all the previous worlds have been destroyed. There is only one world in existence in the comic that anyone knows about (mysterious world within the Snarl's rift notwithstanding).

That said the fiend cooperation council had souls to splice, one of whom was "a powerful [wizard?] who transported armies across worlds". Which would imply at some point there were more of them or something.

[brionl]

To answer the OPs question, Philip Jose Farmer had separate realities, IIRC referred to as pocket universes, in World of Tiers series. I only read five of them, in the 70's, and until I did a search today had not realized that he released a sixth one in 1993.

There's actually seven of them now. But I don't know when the last one was released. I read Red Orc's Rage back when it came out and wasn't too impressed. I read the latest one, More than Fire, a year or two ago, and hardly remember anything about it.
In case anybody is interested, the first five are really good. You can get all seven in ebook form from Barnes & Noble.