Journeys To Other Planes

[SHARK]

Greetings!

How popular are such adventures? Do you use them a lot in your campaigns? On one hand, I really like them, as they offer opportunities to go different places, encounter unusual creatures, as well as bizarre environments; and yet, on the other hand, it seems like to me, at least sometimes, that such adventures can *of themselves* form a sort of distraction and erosion to the integrity of the campaign world if there are characters hopping through different worlds like going on a trip to the corner shopping mall, you know? Like Forgotten Realms, in some ways.

What do you think?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Fenes 2]

It depends. In my Shadowrun campaign, I use metaquests as a sort of plane hopping, change-of-style sidetreks, where I get to use any setting I fancy - I used the worlds of a dozen SF and fantasy novels, movies or comics, or derivates from those, as well as completely made-up worlds for the Shadowrunners to adventure in.

I also started once a sort of Stargate-Campaign, but it did, due to scheduling, not take off for long.

In D&D I used plane-hopping as special adventures when scheduling conflicts prevent all players from attending, giving players the opportunity to play different characters and explore other settings.

 

[LuYangShih]

As long as the characters in the campaign have suffecient motivation and reason to continue adventuring in the core world, plane travel should not be that much of a detriment. It is only when they lack anything that truly interests them in the core world that they will begin planehopping in search of adventure.

 

[Olive]

As long as the characters in the campaign have suffecient motivation and reason to continue adventuring in the core world, plane travel should not be that much of a detriment. It is only when they lack anything that truly interests them in the core world that they will begin planehopping in search of adventure.

Well, the only campaign i've ever played in, it was nothing of the sort. It was simply a good plot hook.

 

[La Bete]

Greetings.

The campaign I am currently running is a multi-planar campaign, which has had the players travel to several other alternate material planes. Before I started this campaign, I identified some issues which could cause problems - one of them being the "shopping trip" issue.

Other potential issues:

"If it's Tuesday, Then it Must be Hades" - too much travelling planes tend to make one blase about the whole thing.

"It's Kewl Here, Let's Stay" - you spend days creating a cool campaign world, have them travel to another world that you've sketched out on the back of a napkin - guess which one they want to stay in?

"Que Hable Colt ManHunter?" - It can be very frustrating for players to travel to another world, and then be reliant on the mage for the tongues spell, because the natives don't speak Common.

Ways I resolved these.

1. Make travel to other worlds difficult and/or dangerous. For example:

Gates to other worlds require Gatekeys, which are generally difficult to get hold of, and often only loaned to the PCs.

Keys normally are only keyed to one destination.

Travelling through some gates can result in "gatesickness", a temporary energy drain.

2. Have the players "rooted" thoroughly in a small area (or village) in your campaign before they travel. Players will often be loathe to permantly abandon their friends and contacts.

Also, have some of these worlds be undesirable to stay in long-term. I am using the magic version of the "armaggedon threshhold" - the common sci-fi concept that a large percentage of civiliations destroy themselves once they reach certain tech levels.

3. Either give the party items which can translate, or in my case I used a variation of the cosmology - can't recall the name - from Manual of the Planes, where Material Planes 'clump' together. Nearby planes may have similarities - languages, races, histories etc, whereas faraway planes may be very different.

Cheers

 

[enworldatemylogin]

I love planar adventures and there is nothing saying you can't start out your campaign doing so.

Depending on the cosmology you choose or create you will of course need to start somewhere that is essentially "normal" or at least safe for beginning level characters.

For example you could start in the City of Brass, as servants to the efreeti's or as resident who grew up in the city. The plane of fire itself is dangerous, but if you keep the adventures within the city, as it provides protection from the elements, then they can gradually get their feet wet elsewhere.

Vice versu you could begin in the City of Glass, which I believe is an underwater city in the plane of water.

Or the pastorl fields of a heavenly plane.

Or an acropolis with philosophers or legions of hoplites, etc.

You also don't have to feel like a planar adventure should be "way out there" with water flowing upward and trees perpetually burning.

 

[Ashy]

I sure hope so! My D20 company, Enkwell Press just co-released a plane-spanning adventure, The Love of Art: Drawn to Gehenna with DireKobld.com!

 

[s/LaSH]

I'll throw adventurers into other planes on occasion, but never with any good warning, nor any explanation. They just happen to find themselves in some weird, weird place with something that's trying to kill them. Mostly they don't even know where they are at the time, and that's the way I like it.

They'll start planehopping eventually, I suppose, but even then they'll find that they're out of their league because I've altered the cosmology to the point where the Astral Plane is interstellar space. Magic still has the normal effects, but there's a lot more out there than even remotely imaginable...

 

[green slime]

the Astral Plane is interstellar space. Magic still has the normal effects, but there's a lot more out there than even remotely imaginable...

On the Astral Plane, no one can hear you scream?

I like planar adventurers. But they are there to be different. There must be a purpose for the travel, and good story links to the home plane, binding the characters there. La Bete has lots of good points and ideas.

 

[WizarDru]

In my game, planar travel is common (as you might expect it to be, by 20th level). However, there are several things you can do to control it. La Bete suggestions are good ones, and definitely ones to consider.

For my players, planar travel is, for the most part, undesirable. Other planes are generally unpleasant, alien or too hostile to consider long term stays. The players have made a sales contact in Sigil, and two of the players are fairly well-versed with the City of Doors...but none of them would want to live there, full time. The City of Brass was an interesting diversion, but the same applies.

They have far too many ties (friends, enemies, lands, families) to the prime material to want to leave it, and they have little to no power off-plane, comparatively speaking. On the Prime, they're some of the most powerful beings alive...on the Elysium Fields or the abyss, they're just powerful interlopers.

The trick is to make sure that the other planes are different, and a little uncomfortable, at least for some. The cleric considers the Elysium Fields to be a paradise, and looks forward to spending his days there. The wizard, rogue and druid have no such desire, and some find it very constricting. The rogue and wizard love Sigil, but the Paladin finds it distasteful and the druid nearly had a series of fits while there. And so it goes.

One trick is to make sure and vary the rules from plane to plane, especially with use of more obscure layers of the outer planes, and custom demi-planes that are far more unpredictable. Sure, the alienist knows the rules of engagement on the elemental plane of Fire...but what about the Demiplane of Durance Vile?

In short, planar adventures, if handled well, can be a lot of fun. But they also need to be used with restraint, or players will burn out on them.