D&D Adventures on the Moon

[CrazyMage]

Sam and Max go to the moon:

Sam: So let me get this straight. We can breathe here then?

Max: I guess those candy-butt astronauts didn't have the stones to try it.

Sam: I could never say that about an astronaut.

 

[shadow]

Does anyone remember the old SNES game Final Fantasy 2 (or Final Fantasy 4 in Japan)? Toward the end of the game, you went to the moon. The moon in Final Fantasy 2 was the home of the race of Lunarians. Also it was home of Bahamut the king of the dragons, who would allow you to summon him if you could defeat him in combat.

 

[Gellion]

I agree with mouseferatu. I hate it when people rant about how you cant do this, because of some reason. Its fantasy, the whole point is for it to be different from our boring world. Hell, in my world i am creating, you can breathe in space.

 

[Dark Magus]

everyone else has had some great ideas, but I you were to put cute, cuddly, little bear like servants of Selune on the moon, you'd be sure to get a kick outta the group, and possibly a massacre of the lovable little guys, depending of the personal preferance of your PC's.

 

[Marimmar]

According to the Realmspace accessory, the moon is hidden from normal view by a powerful illusion spell. Underneath the illusion lives a violently paranoid elven race that kills all that come from Toril because they fear invasion.

As for realism, there is vacuum and no gravity. I couldn't resist to put some fear into our barbarian when he just wanted to let go of the moonladder and use his ring of feather fall to float down. I just told him that he just floated slowly away from the ladder and that it grows colder and colder. As for an atmosphere on the moon, I say why not? It's maybe a lot thinner than on Toril (like in a high mountain range) but I would deny myself and my party of a potentially memorable adventure experience if I put too much realism into the game.

I'll have to take a look at the 'Return of the Eight' module (bought it but never read it ) to see what it has to offer.

~Marimmar

 

[Steverooo]

Who sed dat?

I find this sort of thing is really only accurate part of the time. In a lot--one could even argue most--fantasy settings (be they RPGs, books, or what have you), this is accurate. I know that, for most of my own campaign worlds, it's accurate.

But it's hardly the only way to play.

Did somebody say it was? Who sed dat?!?

If someone wants to run a truly fantastic world, where the laws of physics/science are simply changed, where the world is a disk on the back of four elephants, or is a single endless river, or exists only in dreams, or has ladders that go to a moon which has breathable air--I have no problem with it.

Heck, my current campaign world is shaped roughly like an egg, not a sphere. It has east and west magnetic poles, and rotates north to south. I'm aware that this isn't really feasible, but so what?

Actually, it isn't all that unfeasible, at all. I could posit explanations for how the world could be that way, and its effects...

Heck, in a previous campaign, something happened to isolate the sun god from the world. So the goddess of the moons made the moons shine more brightly during the day, in an attempt to make up for it. Sure, that's impossible in the real world, since moonlight is reflected sunlight. But in the real world, people who worship the sun as a god can't cast fireballs, either.

Nowhere did I say "You can't do that!" What I said was, that in the abscence of Magic, the world works as we know it.

Why? Because the players are pretty intimately familiar with this world. Their PCs are pretty intimately familiar with a small portion of their own worlds. By creating a world which is too small and light to maintain the minimum molecular weight of the atmosphere, and then give it one, strains suspension of disbelief.

Does this mean that it can't be done? No. Show me where I said that it did.

What it means is, there should be an explanation, even if the PCs never learn what it is. This is necessary (I maintain) for the suspension of disbelief, and for just plain knowing what happens when characters try to DO something...

In my world, you know that, if you shoot an arrow into the air, it will fall back to earth in a certain amount of time, based upon how fast it went up... Does it work this way on a flat Earth? Who knows? Are physics the same, there, other than cartography?

In the real world, you can ajudicate the probable success of your actions based upon your knowledge of how the world works. In a fantasy world where things work differently, the PCs cannot do this. Their actions will often be wrongly counter-intuitive.

Now sometimes that can be fun... The PCs go somewhere else, find things work differently, and must figure out the way the (Astral Plane, for instance) works. That's okay... but you will find it brings up many unanswered questions, and probably some paradoxes, as well. Some GMs like those. Others find them horrifying. I dislike them; YMMV.

So long as the players know from the beginning that the world may not be "our world + magic," there's no problem with it at all. Doesn't mean everyone has to enjoy playing that way, of course, but Marimmar's god what I think is a really cool idea going here.

Players may know that the world is different, but do they know how that affects game play? See above, on ajudicating their own actions, and counter-intuitiveness.

Did someone say Marimmar's idea was uncool? Who sed dat?!?

Actually, I have played a scenario on an aired moon, with "Boom-boom Fruit" bushes growing there... I thought it was fun, but entirely silly. How the world worked that way was never explained, and we all knew: it was totally at the whim of the GM.

As for Marimmar's ideas, I tried to offer solutions to the problems I see with a scenario like that, but it wasn't what he wanted. So let's try it, again...

He wants an aired world, with normal gravity, life, and connected to Earth by a magical ladder (once a month)...

Okay, if he rejects the idea of the magical rainbow bridge transporting them at hyper speed, then the magical ladder could use the 1e Distance Distortion spell, making one step equal seven miles, or some such. That covers the distance nicely. I still say the PCs need protection from Heat/Cold, airlessness, radiation, and pressure differential, but...

As for the moon, there are a couple of ways to handle it. Ancient, Artifact "Shield Generaters" could be producing a sphere around the moon to keep the air in (disaster, if they ever stop)! A horde of spellcasters could be doing the shield, piecemeal, on a daily basis (the world dies if even one of them ever messes up)! Or, the moon could be larger and farther away (only the same apparent size when seen from Earth), and actually have about the same size and gravity. Then, it could naturally have an atmosphere all its own...

Any of those should cover it. The latter is probably most in line with what Marimmar seems to want.

[Edit: Misspellings]

 

[Steverooo]

So, Steverooo, I guess you wouldn't play in a campaign set on a flat world, either?

See above post.

I would think it was silly, yes (ever plot the gravity of a disk? Y'know that, depending upon its mass, mines are only possible near the center?) If the world was otherwise good, however, I would be able to swallow the premise, in order to get to the story... (kinda like swallowing that first bite of crust to get to the rest of the pizza).

I would still rib the GM about it, though!

 

[Steverooo]

Who sed DAT, II?!?

I agree with mouseferatu. I hate it when people rant about how you cant do this, because of some reason.

Someone sed you can't do dat? Who sed dat?

Its fantasy, the whole point is for it to be different from our boring world. !Bleep!, in my world i am creating, you can breathe in space.

 

[diaglo]

yeah, Return of the Eight is a good start.

so is one of the Undermountain add ons.


S
P
O
I
L
E
R

the one Halaster Blackcloak. where he is captured.

 

[Marimmar]

Re: Who sed dat?

As for Marimmar's ideas, I tried to offer solutions to the problems I see with a scenario like that, but it wasn't what he wanted. So let's try it, again...

Well actually I very much liked your idea of having a cthulhuesque city/civilization on the moon.

He wants an aired world, with normal gravity, life, and connected to Earth by a magical ladder (once a month)...

Okay, if he rejects the idea of the magical rainbow bridge transporting them at hyper speed, then the magical ladder could use the 1e Distance Distortion spell, making one step equal seven miles, or some such. That covers the distance nicely. I still say the PCs need protection from Heat/Cold, airlessness, radiation, and pressure differential, but...

Well, since the PCs already went up half the way, it's a magical ladder and as long as they stick to it, they are completely protected from the hostile environment around them.

As for the moon, there are a couple of ways to handle it. Ancient, Artifact "Shield Generaters" could be producing a sphere around the moon to keep the air in[...]. Or, the moon could be larger and farther away (only the same apparent size when seen from Earth), and actually have about the same size and gravity. Then, it could naturally have an atmosphere all its own...

Any of those should cover it. The latter is probably most in line with what Marimmar seems to want.

Well I was thinking along the line, that the atmosphere around the moon would be thinner but still breatheable. Your suggestions at explaining why something is possible although it's impossible in the real world aren't really needed in a fantasy world, at least not IMC. My players wouldn't feel 'at the GM's whim' or something.

What I was looking for were actual adventure modules that take place on the/a moon. So far I got a very interesting IronDM entry and two tips for modules I actually own but had forgotten about as well as an idea to maybe include a bit of Cthulhu. Thank you all very much.

~Marimmar