Sailors on the River of Worlds- Update

[Psion]

I see you refer to it as a river, not a sea (1). This to me means you have a begining and an ending; which means you can map points between, the question is will you have other rivers feeding your main, creating a vast system.[/b]

I refer to it as a river because that is what the book calls it. The book calls it a river because it has a definite direction of flow. But it really has no bounding banks unless you count the worlds within it.

That said, I do see it having links to other planar pathways of the same sort, like the River Styx and the River Oceanus.

I see your river as a neutral thing, the feeder rivers could lead to elemental planes, demon planes, inner and outer worlds. Like a short story by Zelanzy (I think it was called the Exit on the Forever Highway), it can have stops on the way that travellers meet and discuss what is happening and going on on the next leg, sell maps, and trade goods.

I had planned trade outposts, but it may be a while before the players find one. I want them to spend a little time wandering before they stumble on to one.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Adventures before meeting other folk, myth - legends and stories come to life on the river, the players have to deal to ghost ships, sea monsters or flying creatures.

Places in time, if you move away from a reality (material plane or such) you move through its ripples, many will just be faded shadows but some will be solid enough to adventure in, allowing the players to gather trade goods.

I think I would have some form of common foe that they always find about, call them wreakers; creature that pull items and people from their realities to feed on, use as slaves or somelse.

 

[Sherlock]

This reminded me of a great book that I read. Endymion by Dan Simmons. Set in the Hyperion universe, the main characters travel on a river which is connected by hyperspacal gates to different planets. Same river but it is on several worlds. You pass through a Arch from one world to the next.

 

[Kestrel]

Dan Simmons

That's exactly what I thought of when I read the title of the thread. Dan Simmon's Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion. In these books, they have devices called Farcasters, which are basically portals between different planets. One major device in the books (Especially Endymion and Rise of Endymion) was the River Tethys, which was river that flowed down seperate worlds through farcasters.

Great books and something (although it is SF) that would be great inspiration for a game.

 

[Psion]

Okay, I've never read these books, and probably won't have time to do so before the campaign begins. Any plunderable plot ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Hob Marshmallowfoot]

A few suggestions from a similar campaign...

Let me first say that while I hardly ever post, this looks like too good an idea to pass up thowing in some commentary. I have an ongoing campaign that is along the same lines, although without the river of world concept (The ship and campaign are called the Silver Blade). I have tons of plot devices I've used to created some very interesting on-ship and off-ship situations for the characters, so I'll throw a few out there and if you like them, maybe a few more.

For starters, I designed the campaign on the basis that the PCs were hired on to the crew in various positions according to thier talents for an expeditiona of trade and exploration by an anonymous patron. People had old characters from previous games that they wanted to play, so that allowed some familiar faces to explore what would become a variety of very unusual settings.

Also, I decided to make the ship part of the exploration process, so it essentially wound up having tons of extradimensional space inside behind a variety of locked doors/ hatches etc. Of course I didn't design them at the start, but it left a ship full of msteries, strange powers, and some on-board passangers the PCs didn't know about. Of course I mapped out the ship and made a lot of effort to give it unique and exotic character to intrigue everyone a bit...

Finally, I made an effort to create a bunch of quirky Pcs to crew the ship, many of them humorous, and several with their own, occacionally insideous agendas.

These above factors allowed me to utilize the new places visited to unfold the overall plot, which had to do with who had funded the Silver Blade expedition and for what purpose, not to mention who/or what else was on the ship, who was really in charge etc...

 

[Psion]

Greetings Hob, and thanks for chiming in.

I was already thinking about having a mysterious but not absent beneftactor on the mission that leads the characters to the river of worlds who knows the secrets of getting to and from the river... and having him die and leaving the PCs stranded. But I had mostly planned it as a hook. Your idea of having it be a background plot has excellent possibilities, and I am thinking of doing something similar now that you mention it. Thanks!

 

[Kestrel]

Okay, I've never read these books, and probably won't have time to do so before the campaign begins. Any plunderable plot ideas?

Thanks!

Well, its a Science-Fiction series, dealing with catholicism, the writing of John Keats, and the ideas of Teilhard. (evolution of god to the omega point). Its got some great ideas, but not so many that will fit in a dnd setting. I also wouldnt want to give spoilers in the overall plot (mainly because Im not sure if would fit and I would hate to ruin a really good read if you wanted to pick it up)

Ideas to use? Probably the worlds that the main characters travel to.

Mare Infinitus: A water-world, with no landmasses. Populated by typical sea creatures, but most notably the Lamp Levithans. Huge (like three or four oil platforms together) creatures from deep underwater that have many tentacles tipped with light sources (like huge versions of the creatures at the bottom of our own oceans)

Draconis Septem: Ice planet with northern climes having solid atmospheres of ice. The atmosphere above the ice is near vacuum. Bands of Tribal hunters and Artic Wraiths, which live symbiotic lives of feeding off the other. Everything the hunters live off of come from the wraiths, and the wraiths feed off hunting the tribesmen. The wraiths (which are not undead) have two life-cycles, the larvae stage are large furred creatures (sorta like an incredibly fast hoth wampa) that particularly enjoy eating the tribesmen children. This is the form the tribesmen hunt. The older stage of the wraith is a huge burrowing worm that leaves tunnels in the ice. These tunnels are what the tribesmen use for travel.

Maui-Covenant: Vacation world, sorta like a planetary hawaii, that had settlers from old earth who brought the dolphins with them. No continents, but had large motive islands that moved through the oceans of the world. Dolphins communicated with the natives of the world and were considered equals. In the books, Maui Covenant is fighting a rebellion against the Worldweb to keep from billions of folks from ruining the planet by turning it into a vaction place.

Gods Grove: Planet of huge redwood forests, sorta like the wookie planet in SW. Populated by the Templars. This race of people are like a religious Sierra Club (perfect for Druids), believing in the sanctity of all life (plant, human, and otherwise) and feeling it thier duty to "seed" the universe with life. The central tree on Gods Grove is the Worldtree, a huge tree whose trunk spans kilometers.

Also, there were 9 labyrinth worlds. These seemingly normal planets were tectonically dead and underground were world-spanning labyrinths. Carved passages in the bedrock of the planet.

 

[Hob Marshmallowfoot]

Hey no problem...

Actually in the aforementioned game, the mysterious benefactor was a PC from a previous game that everyone really liked whop had become a nation-renown hero then just disappeared. As one of the plot twists, I had him actually on the ships the entire time, making appearances from time to time. He turned out to be half-mad and searching for an artifact of great power etc , so really he became the main villain for the campaign (or will at some point in the future), although in a subtle way as he progressively pushed the ship and crew into more and more perilous situations in his quest for said artifact.

Of course this was going on amidst a power struggle between the captain, who was an unlikable leader due to a strict demeanor and a well-spoken, well liked first mate who had the support of the crew, who was actually a demonic servant of a sorcerous faction also out to get the artifact.

If your players like this kind of intrigue, it could be great fun, with the added element of traveling to different planes of existence (which, by the way, I think I’ll make use of in the later stages of the campaign, once I get around to running another session)

 

[Psion]

Bump... I am jumping into this campaign proper (from the time when it was still Plots & Places) so perhaps the general audience might have a few ideas.