Going Extraplanar

[Greenfield]

Our campaign is now running at 14th/15th level and it's time to step it up a notch. I want to take the adventure (and the PCs) to another plane.

The Plane of Shadows is an interesting sort of place, where the real world appears in a distorted form.

I'm thinking of something like that, but in reverse: A plane where events that take place are mirrored in the real world, albeit in a somewhat distorted form.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

[Dandu]

We could call it the Shadow Realm, and the PCs would have to duel evil villains bent on world domination with children's card gamee.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

This would me a plane that has affects upon the Material Plane?

Perhaps a Plane of Dreams?

Perhaps a Plane of the Gods.

Perhaps a Mirror Plane, where everyone's Evil twins exist.

Hm... this Plane, having it's affects upon the Material Plane, would is a way be superior to the Material Plane. If there is a one way effect, this Plane would be "real" and the Material Plane would mimic it, in a sense.

A Dream Plane could inspire people to act in a way to make what's shaped within the Dream realm into the real world.

A Deity Plane would be able to affect the Material in that whichever god is active or currently in control affects the alignment and areas that are included within that god's portfolio. However the gods fight/negotiate/manipulate each other for supremacy. If a Neutral Evil god of pestilence has gained the upper hand in the godly realm, the Material World will look differently than if the Chaotic Good god of fertility is currently running things.

With the Mirror Plane, each plane would effect each other in a way. This concept always seems to break down under reasonable scrutiny, but as long as you don't think about it too much, there can be a world where everyone's got an opposite twin, and yet the events of history unfold similar enough.

How about a Feral Plane, similar to The Beastlands, where the world is as is, only without sentient life? All continents and climates are the same but no cities, no roads, and all the critters are bigger. When civilization rises to large or people start abusing nature to harshly, that plane presses into the Material Plane and some degree of chaos brings things down.

 

[Greenfield]

I was actually hoping for suggestions about a documented plane.

And yes, it would be "superior", to the Material plane (i.e. a higher plane) just as the Plane of Shadows is "inferior", i.e. a bit lower on the scale of things.

If bad guys want to influence major events in the world, this might be where they can pull strings from. Of course, the residents of this plane don't take kindly to having their world messed with. To cause chaos on the Material plane, you'd need to upset an apple cart or two over here as well.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I don't know of any such Plane existing, but my knowledge is limited to 3rd edition and mostly Greyhawk cosmology. The Material Plane is prime, central to the effects of everything else. While the other Planes contribute to the Material Plane in various ways, the Material is the be all and end all of the focus of the rest of the multiverse. Meh, I don't think it's that hot.

Perhaps The Outlands? Not that what happens there affects the Material Plane directly, but because of all the doors in Sigil connecting to everywhere else and how all other Planes connect there. As political movers and shakers go, this is the place where people would have effects on the rest of the Multiverse.

Hm... I'll take a look at Deities and Demigods though, might have some ideas there, they have Cosmologies I'm not familiar with.

Is this for your ongoing round-robin campaign? I got the impression that campaigns' planar cosmology was simpler.

 

[Greenfield]

After some thought, and considering that ours is a Greko/Roman game world...I like the idea of a Plane of Dreams, but not quite. It isn't the plane where sleepers ramble, but more the plane that reflects the dreams and ambitions of men, the place of ideals.

I think it was Plato (I'm probably wrong) who speculated that "reality" as we knew it was itself a dream, an illusion. That a chair we might see is simply a poor shadow of the "ideal" chair that exists somewhere else.

So, in D&D terms, I'm thinking of a Plane of Paragons, were everyone and every thing is simply the best possible version of themselves.

Every monster the party faces gets the Paragon template, every situation is the fantasy ideal of that situation, etc.

That raises the CR of everything they face, and keeps the world challenging.

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Oh... Socrates World of the Forms, which yeah, Plato wrote about.

That would be really cool.

 

[Greenfield]

Thinking about this some more...In the setup story, the adventurers who discovered the gate were reported to have died on the spot.

Relating this to Plato's writings on the subject, he suggested that we saw only shadows of reality because we were trapped within our physical forms. Suppose they didn't die, at least not right away. Instead they left their physical forms behind, as per Astral Projection. They only died because there was no one to give their bodies water and protection while they were off on their adventure.

That would work well for my story, mechanically, since they'll need to leave someone behind to tend to their bodies while they're away. It would also give me a way to control how much "paragon" loot they bring back to the Material plane.

So this "Ideal" plane is a near-upper plane, higher than the Material, yet not quite the realm of the gods.

In this place the forests are deep and rich, the game abundant but always a challenge to track and bring down. The roads are works of art, with every stone perfectly fitted to all of it's neighbors, as if nature had shaped it for no other purpose. The air is clear, allowing a man to see for miles without losing detail, and when it rains... Well, as Plato put it, I'm trying to describe the world to men who have only known shadows.

And it's fitting that the only way to describe it all would be through poetry, because that carries not only the hard facts, but also the feeling of the place.

I'm going to like writing this one up...

 

[VariSami]

I think something like Plato's world of ideas (or a plane of perfection / higher state of being) is central in the Planescape adventure Doors to the Unknown. Basically beings from there are more or less demigods and can only be harmed by things from that plane. I'm not sure how the plane would react to "inferior" beings, though. I've only skimmed the adventure since the idea did not appeal to me.

 

[DanotheSlender]

Greenfeild, have you ever read the Amber novels by Zelazny? Amber is a "prime of the prime material" all other realities in the prime material are shadows or reflections of it, slightly different the "closer you are to Amber" and getting more skewed the farther away you are. Even physics and chemistry can get changed...regular gunpowder doesn't work in Amber, but a few shadows away it is normal. Only the royal family and a certain few others can traverse the shadows of Amber...and some can force changes upon others (like your group...) Also all times are but shadows to Amber, interesting stuff for game plots..

Game On!!