Why They Can't Just Stay on the Other Side of the Portal

jayoungr · Aug 17, 2018

I'm starting a new dimension-hopping campaign for my group. "Home base" is a sort of pocket dimension, the "Bermuda Triangle of the Multiverse"--a demiplane where people end up due to botched spells and the like, with an aesthetic sort of like the Hollow Earth from HEX crossed with the junk planet from Thor: Ragnarok. It's easy to get there, but very, very hard to leave; normal plane-shifting magic doesn't work there. The basic structure of the campaign will be that the PCs will figure out how to open portals and use them to visit various other world and settings--essentially, an excuse for a glorified series of one-shots. My players know all of this and are fully on board with it. In fact, we designed the setting together as a group.

But there's a big plot hole in the premise: if they can open portals to different settings, why don't they just stay on the other side? Or set themselves up in business opening portals for other residents?

I don't want to put too many limits on the kind of one-shot adventures they can have on the other side of the portals, since that's the real purpose of the campaign, but I also want the answer to make sense.

Ideas I've considered:

The portals only stay open for a certain length of time and will suck the PCs back through when they close. Downsides: puts a time limit on excursions, possibly lowers tension if the players know that they can always wait out a threat.
Being in the "home base" plane changes their nature somehow so they have to return there. Downsides: means the PCs can never escape permanently, so no "happy ending" way to retire a PC; probably also would lead to a time limit, although it could be a long one.
The inverse of the above: they can only stay permanently if they succeed in reaching their home plane. Downsides: some of the PCs don't want to go home; also, group has requested that some new PCs be acquired by visiting their home planes, and they also want to revisit places they've already been to, so those PCs would be able to come and go freely.

Any ideas how I can make this work?

Mort · Aug 17, 2018

jayoungr said:
if they can open portals to different settings, why don't they just stay on the other side?

Because life in the current plane is pretty good? Sure a PC may want to eventually leave, but if you make staying attractive it's not an easy choice.

Ways it can be attractive to stay:
- healing magic is plentiful on the plane, couple of ways to implement this - such as regeneration or make rests shorter on the plan (10 minute short rest 1 hour long rest for ex.);
- steal from Thor Ragnarok further. While on the plane you don't age or age very very slowly;
- Make it clear that they are welcome here as opposed to other planes which could be dangerous/unknown - good for adventure but staying? - not an easy choice.

jayoungr said:
Or set themselves up in business opening portals for other residents?

If you make the plane attractive (see above) the residents may not want to leave. In fact they may look at those that leave as anything from a bit odd to downright crazy.

Of course that creates the inverse problem of why wouldn't people want to come to the plane? Answer to that could be, not only is it difficult to find but only people of a certain attunement can actually go back by the portals created.

Thoughts?

MechaTarrasque · Aug 17, 2018

I would have something like Inevitables show up after a while. If they catch the PC's, they give them a choice "become a resident of where you are" (in which case no more portals, but you can retire) or "go back to the home base." The first couple of ones might be like low-level modrones, so the PC's have a good chance of avoiding the issue (maybe have a low level NPC get caught to illustrate what will happen), but eventually you will be running away from something like a Marut. That keeps the time limit, but it is more "you get another problem" than automatically get 'ported back.

Sorcerers Apprentice · Aug 17, 2018

I think this is best solved as a campaign premise. Tell the players that they are going to play plane-hopping adventurers, and have them provide their own motivations for why their characters don't want to settle on any other plane.

Nagol · Aug 17, 2018

The PCs are looking for something specific. No matter how nice the other side is, they eventually discover it doesn't have what they need and the best chance of finding what they need comes from portals opened from the home plane.

pukunui · Aug 17, 2018

This sounds like a cool idea. I wanted to do something similar a while back: a plane-hopping campaign inspired by Sliders. It ended up looking like it was going to be too much work so I shelved it. I might revisit it someday.

AmerginLiath · Aug 17, 2018

Sorcerers Apprentice said:
I think this is best solved as a campaign premise. Tell the players that they are going to play plane-hopping adventurers, and have them provide their own motivations for why their characters don't want to settle on any other plane.

I’d combine this with MechaTarrasque’s idea, such that the player’s have their own internal character motivations (which mesh with the DM’s plans for constant movements — although one or two PCs settling down and being replaced over time could work) but they have to stay one step ahead of Inevitables seeking to counter mortals having such an effect across worlds (perhaps an effect which can only be multiplied from the ‘Home’ world envisioned here).

Shiroiken · Aug 18, 2018

One simple option is to have all the portals the players open be to planes that actually suck. They may adventure there for a bit, possibly trying to find something comfortable, but eventually return. The downside of this is that it limits what kind of worlds you can use, since you have to make a reason that the party won't stay for each one.

Another simple option, especially as a campaign premise, is to tell all of the players that they have family, friends, possibly loved ones that they want to return to. Since no character would have perfect knowledge of their entire world, they'll need to explore each new world, just to make sure it isn't their homeworld. This works best if the PCs are not from the same homeworld, because then you can allow characters to retire by finding their homeworld (allowing new PCs to be introduced). A twist on this is that the PCs have to perform specific missions on each world (such as gathering pieces of an artifact that can take them home or doing favors for the demi-god overlord of the base world so he'll eventually send them home).

77IM · Aug 18, 2018

jayoungr said:
Or set themselves up in business opening portals for other residents?

This is exactly what they do -- during downtime. It's a pretty good life.

But sometimes "troubleshooting" is needed on the other side of a portal, and that's where the adventures come in.

Capn Charlie · Aug 18, 2018

You could always have them run into a group of magically powerful parasites infesting humanoid bodies and using their immense magical power to pose as gods, let the players run afoul of these entities and make enemies with them, and spend the rest of their time looking for allies and magic to deal with their threat, while avoiding their armies of brainwashed minions hunting the party, all the while they have to not let them into the base area, perhaps with some sort of portal sealing mcguffin.

Why They Can't Just Stay on the Other Side of the Portal

jayoungr

Legend

Mort

Legend

MechaTarrasque

Hero

Sorcerers Apprentice

Hero

Nagol

Unimportant

pukunui

Legend

AmerginLiath

Adventurer

Shiroiken

Legend

77IM

Explorer!!!

Capn Charlie

Explorer

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