Mystical and paranormal without the realms?

[Fredrik Svanberg]

Demons and other outsiders could be natives to other planets or deep space instead of planes. Summoning rituals bring them to the summoner's planet, for a period of time. That's how it works in Call of Cthulhu, after all.

 

[tecnowraith]

Vampires, werewolves and zombies can all be given "scientific" explanations based on viruses, genetic disorders, nerve toxins, etc.

If you make "ghosts" and "magic," the result of psychic manifestation and sufficiently explain psychic power in pseudo-scientific terms those will work too.

Demons on the other hand...not sure.

I have never liked psychics are the same as magic. I was more of them being separate things.

 

[The Green Adam]

In the folklore tradition of many countries, Hell was a place that you could simply travel to, not so much another dimension or plane. As a matter of fact, I never really loved the term plane as I'm unsure medieval Europeans would've used that word to describe places like Arcadia/Faerie, Asgard or Purgatory.

In my Ars Magica campaigns you can reach Hell fairly easily by traveling south (regardless of your origin point) until the ground is hot and the air is cold. Once you're there, close your eyes and sniff for brimstone. Catch the scent and follow it down a long, dark hole to the front gates.*

Heaven can similarly be reached by traveling north until you get the feeling of standing on your head.*

Demons and the unfallen dead can certainly have risen up from the most foul of places, either being released on purpose or trying to escape.

AD

*The inspiration for the directions to heaven and hell come from Russian folklore.

 

[Dausuul]

In the folklore tradition of many countries, Hell was a place that you could simply travel to, not so much another dimension or plane. As a matter of fact, I never really loved the term plane as I'm unsure medieval Europeans would've used that word to describe places like Arcadia/Faerie, Asgard or Purgatory.

Indeed. My impression (admittedly speculative) is that the concept of Heaven and Hell as parallel universes was relatively uncommon prior to Galileo; some philosophers held such beliefs, but for most people, Heaven was a place up in the sky and Hell was a place down under the ground.

And I can certainly envision such a cosmology for D&D. When an evil sorceror summons a devil out of Hell, the earth splits open and the summoned monster rises out of it. When angels appear to bring messages or aid from the gods, they come down out of the sky. Travelers to Hell descend into deep tunnels and pits, and travelers to Heaven climb high mountains. Sailing on the Astral Sea means literally sailing through the sky, amid the stars.

In such a setting, the Feywild and the Shadowfell are not parallel realities. Instead, there are mystical forests and swamps that possess the properties of the Feywild, and haunted wastelands and ruins that possess the properties of the Shadowfell.

Not real sure where the Elemental Chaos or the Abyss would fit into all this, though.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I don't know how far into this i can go with the boards religion restrictions but the bible discusses a physical heaven above the earth seperating the waters of the earth from the waters above heaven.

God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. KJV-Genisis 1:6-8

I take that to mean that and the tower of babel story, to mean that heaven and thus hell were thought about as physical places of the same "plane" as earth.

 

[tecnowraith]

I am think of doing main dimension that explains about heaven, hell, magical/mystical realm (for summoning and magical means) and all that where this one dimension has regions for these explanation. Not if there is a setting=rpg, movie, tv show, anime or comics/manga. Not sure if 4e does this or not and I think Dragon Ball is this as well.

 

[maddman75]

I like the Cthulhu approach.

Yes, there is Another Place that these things come from. Learning about it will drive you insane. No, I can't describe it, because once your character understands it he'll be unable to describe it to someone else.