Set pieces, sites, asteroids, and demiplanes
Zen
First Post
'Conduit' Demi-Plane
I'll begin.
I recently came off of a homebrew set on a demi-plane distinct from the Prime Material, but similar in most ways to a typical D20 fantasy setting-- elves, dwarves, what have you. The kicker was the plane was originally sealed off from other planes. The deity who had created it gave various kingdoms to his divine offspring (nine demi-gods each corresponding to an alignment) who after thousands of years decided they wanted to travel to other planes or realities.
All nine set about trying to break the bonds set by their greater deity father, and some succeeded in opening permanent portals to other planes and even establishing their own demiplanes.
One such plane was a nameless 'blister' of reality that spanned the original demiplane and Thanatos.
This was a small, dark, deadly and cold place, and it became the tomb of the demi-gods who forged it, as they were no match for the abyssal lords (Orcus) whose realms they had trespassed upon.
The PC's were following in the god's footsteps and trying to find a way off of their demiplane and onto the Great Wheel, which was known to them only from legends. For me as DM, it was a chance to use and combine an insane amount of material from Frostburn and Libre Mortis. The PC's were greeted by a Chaarl who followed them at a distance, always fading back when they tried to confront it. They had no idea what it was and it freaked them out. The negative-energy dominance, the extreme cold, the icy terrain, the darkness of the place, the idea that is was a football-shaped reality with the PC's on the inside, their own plane on one end, the Abyss on the other, with negative energy flowing through and poisoning their world, and the knowledge that two gods had fallen here, made for some very intense sessions.
In one encounter the PC's were badly injured while trying to cross a river of slow-moving, half-frozen blood (I borrowed heavily from the 'Well of Many Worlds' adventure 'To Hell and Back.' ) They had been heading towards a small light that glowed in the darkness. When they arrived, their cleric unconscious and all of them injured, they found an unusual ally: a vampire spawn who was once a neutral good cleric. She had been brought to this plane by evil cultists and allowed to die from the negative energy. She offered them shelter for the night, and I was able to use the LIbre Mortis 'Unholy Cravings' rules to see if she could control her hunger. She failed, and dealing with a vampire spawn when your cleric is down is no picnic.
Before she went mad, she told them of a passage to Sigil, carved by explorers seeking to harvest Godsflesh (Malhavoc's Requiem for a God) but of course the abyssal lords knew of it as well, and it was guarded by the undead remains of the last 'heroes' who tried to stop the flow of negative energy from the Abyss- a paladin and his brass dragon mount, now both wholly evil undead. I had lots of fun slapping several templates onto the dragon-- skeletal, chaotic, etc.
In the end the team was able to survive the horrors of the place, seal the portal to Thanatos, thereby sparing regions of thier home demiplane from the effects of negative energy, and escape to Sigil, having succeeded where the (demi) gods had failed. Then of course they had to go back through the blister to get home-- the negative trait was gone, but the place was still cold, dark, and was being devoured by Divinity Parasites (Requiem, again), the small blister plane now no more than the last physical remains to two dead demigods.
--Z
I'll begin.
I recently came off of a homebrew set on a demi-plane distinct from the Prime Material, but similar in most ways to a typical D20 fantasy setting-- elves, dwarves, what have you. The kicker was the plane was originally sealed off from other planes. The deity who had created it gave various kingdoms to his divine offspring (nine demi-gods each corresponding to an alignment) who after thousands of years decided they wanted to travel to other planes or realities.
All nine set about trying to break the bonds set by their greater deity father, and some succeeded in opening permanent portals to other planes and even establishing their own demiplanes.
One such plane was a nameless 'blister' of reality that spanned the original demiplane and Thanatos.
This was a small, dark, deadly and cold place, and it became the tomb of the demi-gods who forged it, as they were no match for the abyssal lords (Orcus) whose realms they had trespassed upon.
The PC's were following in the god's footsteps and trying to find a way off of their demiplane and onto the Great Wheel, which was known to them only from legends. For me as DM, it was a chance to use and combine an insane amount of material from Frostburn and Libre Mortis. The PC's were greeted by a Chaarl who followed them at a distance, always fading back when they tried to confront it. They had no idea what it was and it freaked them out. The negative-energy dominance, the extreme cold, the icy terrain, the darkness of the place, the idea that is was a football-shaped reality with the PC's on the inside, their own plane on one end, the Abyss on the other, with negative energy flowing through and poisoning their world, and the knowledge that two gods had fallen here, made for some very intense sessions.
In one encounter the PC's were badly injured while trying to cross a river of slow-moving, half-frozen blood (I borrowed heavily from the 'Well of Many Worlds' adventure 'To Hell and Back.' ) They had been heading towards a small light that glowed in the darkness. When they arrived, their cleric unconscious and all of them injured, they found an unusual ally: a vampire spawn who was once a neutral good cleric. She had been brought to this plane by evil cultists and allowed to die from the negative energy. She offered them shelter for the night, and I was able to use the LIbre Mortis 'Unholy Cravings' rules to see if she could control her hunger. She failed, and dealing with a vampire spawn when your cleric is down is no picnic.
Before she went mad, she told them of a passage to Sigil, carved by explorers seeking to harvest Godsflesh (Malhavoc's Requiem for a God) but of course the abyssal lords knew of it as well, and it was guarded by the undead remains of the last 'heroes' who tried to stop the flow of negative energy from the Abyss- a paladin and his brass dragon mount, now both wholly evil undead. I had lots of fun slapping several templates onto the dragon-- skeletal, chaotic, etc.
In the end the team was able to survive the horrors of the place, seal the portal to Thanatos, thereby sparing regions of thier home demiplane from the effects of negative energy, and escape to Sigil, having succeeded where the (demi) gods had failed. Then of course they had to go back through the blister to get home-- the negative trait was gone, but the place was still cold, dark, and was being devoured by Divinity Parasites (Requiem, again), the small blister plane now no more than the last physical remains to two dead demigods.
--Z
