Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Big J Money" data-source="post: 8171869" data-attributes="member: 70533">I have a lot to think abut based on several replies, and even more to think about based on your last point, but I wanted to reply to this sooner to explain a bit more of the setting:What you're saying makes perfect sense, however: the magic that keeps The Well a secret from all beings is more powerful than the Overlord himself (at least, for now). You might think of it as the Platonic manifestation of "a hidden space".  How the Kumpali (or one of his ancestors? nobody knows) managed to found the city in this hidden realm is a mystery but there is something uniquely special about this realms above all realms. And how he (or someone) was able to wield powerful enough magic to create the tattoos that allow people to find their way back once they leave is also a mystery. That is possibly also older than the Overlord. You might think of this as mind control but that's not even quite right; this power is innate to the realm's existence and is older than sentient minds. It's simply a property of The Well: its knowledge cannot travel from one person to another (not without the exception of the Kumpali's magic).So the answer to that is that truly nobody speaks of The Well outside of it in any other Realm to anyone who is not also a resident. It's as impossible as walking on the sky. Even the thought to try it makes the place remove itself from their very memory before they can act. That isn't to say that someone couldn't make it their goal to investigate and understand more about this ancient cosmic power one day when they are powerful enough. You might think of this as a Deus Ex Machina, but it's not because it's not a part of any plot.  It's simply a fact that is baked into the setting. Your feedback has pointed out to me though that I need to make this much clearer in the initial introduction to the game. I have to be careful not to make things be secrets from the players that are vital to their understanding out how the game will play out.To head off a question: how do the PCs return to The Well from another Realm? They return to the general location where they arrived upon their portal travel, and they are able to will themselves back. There is no visible return portal on this side. To any onlookers they will simply disappear. They could be ambushed on a return trip, however any torture would prove futile and the best answers anyone would receive from them about what they did would be things like, "I don't know", "I departed", or "I wanted to go home" (if they truly believe The Well to be their home).I am partial to this kind of cosmic magic in the setting because it's not the kind of thing we see much in D&D or other fantasy RPGs anymore. Almost everything considerd "magic" is broken down into a system of stats and spells and items and left for the players to wield as a weapon or tool. This is far beyond them (until it isn't, but that would be a campaign-ended deal if it even happened <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> )Edit: Think of The Well like "the Room of Requirement" except much larger, older and unimaginably more powerful (and of course functions a bit dfifferently). The RoR was creted by someone. The Well was not. To even say it's "magic" is a bit of an insult. Its cosmic power comes from a form of lawful proto-magic that swirled and churned long before magic even existed. I obviously don't need to go into this much detail for the players though. "It just is the way things are" is good enough to begin with; they don't need to know the history of the cosmos (but the implications are and how it works in gameplay do need to be crystal clear).</blockquote>

Verification