And it comes full circle....

[dren]

If I can add some ideas to the fray...

Religion
We could try something truely different, no universal religions. Lets say there are twenty standard gods, but there are numerous variations or local cults. Thus a god of strength, could be seen as virtous hero or a thug, CE or LG, or any variation. And the gods, if they exist, are above the fray. They allow worship or appeasement without involving themselves in the acts. Thus each church is small and unorganized and powerless outside it's small circle.

Psionics
Have dead magic areas the size of 100-1000 miles or in specific regions but psionics flourish here. The talented are treated as scum outside of their boundaries. Could we fashion a psion vs magic war? Are the dead magic zones fixed, or could psions be killing traditional magic? Or even vice versa?

Alternative Realities
Fey lands directly bordering the outlands would be cool. Often times the gates between would vanish, and creatures from elsewhere would come into the prime. Could the fey be protectors? Or do they use guardians, good aligned prime souls to help maintain the gates?

Races
All players could be from one of four base-types:
- fey
- elemental
- outsider
- human based

(Hope this stirs the pot, and gets people thinking.)

 

[wighair]

this is a bit different...

how about living emissaries of the gods. where the gods wage war overtly with each other. where users of divine magic need to be within a certain distance of their "rep" to draw power. the further away, the lower the levels of spells available. warring factions would have to send their "reps" in to form bridgheads into other lands. tactical assasinations could leave the church powerless.

Likewise for magic. Certain areas could produce magical fields that boost peoples power there or weaken it in others. there would be lots of people trying to hold onto their magic grottos/islands/mountains/spring leading to further (good for fun) conflict

 

[Cartolis]

you could make a rule that applies to gods avatars so that without an avatar on the ground they cannot answer prayers or grant powers.

in addition to that they cannot return for a specified time if the avatar is killed, like a week or somthing like that.

there would be exceptions, like if another god summoned the avatar back or some powerful artifact was used.

 

[gpetruc]

how about living emissaries of the gods. where the gods wage war overtly with each other. where users of divine magic need to be within a certain distance of their "rep" to draw power

Sounds a bit like the Times of Troubles (FR).
But probably is suited more for high level campaigns: a simple 1st level cleric would have a damn hard life there.

I like dren's idea (different cults with gods not actually showing down): this would also give a broader choice for the clerics (me hates there are lots of Human Cleric of Pelor, domains Good and Healing)

An interesting idea for the alternative reality: because of the fact that gates are open only in some times (very difficult to predict), creatures might be cut off from their home plane and be forced to stay on the other; sometimes this could last even years, and so the outsiders eventually settle down and so there would be some "off worlder" communities.

IMHO feys probably won't pay too much interest in the material world (that is, they won't be protectors or have some fixed role), except that some ambitious ones could instead try to achieve some place of power on the material plane (where they would be more powerful than the averge mortals). While many times the feys won't bother, some of these outsiders could instead be hunted down by the feys (they might be oppositors, traitors, assassin, rebels & so on)

For the races, some more thoughts:
- elemental touched creatures (such as the Genasi from FR)
- Feys: some kind of brownie, centaur and satyr races (maybe using the monster classes, to allow players to take them even at lower levels), and maybe some other unique things (a deer/elf centaur ?)
- others: winged elves (I made a race that is about ECL +0) ?

 

[LostSoul]

How about an attempt to make the standard non-human PHB races act like aliens? I remember posting something way back for Daemonforge about elves who had no concept of ownership because they were Chaotic and really, really old.

 

[dren]

throwing more ideas out

IMHO feys probably won't pay too much interest in the material world (that is, they won't be protectors or have some fixed role)

I was thinking it's one in the same. As in the fey territory is the one in which the gates are located so it's always in their best interest to make sure that those that step through the gates are at least similiar to them.

Gpetruc, your idea of feys hunting down outsiders was exactly the image I was going for.. plus they must team up with or manipulate mortals to do their dirty work.

How about an attempt to make the standard non-human PHB races act like aliens

Lostsoul, would this be some of the PC races, or merely part of the back ground creatures?

where users of divine magic need to be within a certain distance of their "rep" to draw power

wighair, were you thinking rep like a high cleric or perharps a monster/beast that represents the god, like a phoenix for fire, lammasau for wisdom, lilend for music and art, etc. This way when the creatures move, big consequences. Or perhaps the local cult are trying to keep them alive and spread their monsters' numbers in an area to increase their stature.

 

[LostSoul]

Re: throwing more ideas out

Lostsoul, would this be some of the PC races, or merely part of the back ground creatures?

This would be the PHB races. PCs can act however they like, of course, because they're special.