Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AnonymousInternets 10-05-07, 05:50 PM	Has anyone tried DM'ing a non-spherical world (flat or polyhedron)? I'm curious as to how that might affect a campaign. I was almost considering making a campaign setting where the world was a perfect cube. What do you think?
goldomark 10-05-07, 05:57 PM	You might want to ask the question in the Spelljammer section of the board. Different shaped worlds and rules for it, were featured in that long lost campaign setting. To find the Spelljammer section, just click on the Wizards Community link and then click on the Other Worlds link on the botten left.
taradusis 10-05-07, 06:09 PM	When running a Spelljammer campaign I preferred a disk-shaped world with civilisations on other sides of the world.I usually used a sun and moons that orbited the disk rather than have the disk "flip".I also ran a world like a Ziggeraut with three steps the size of continents.I also had a world on the top of a tower 100,000 miles tall and 4000 miles in diameter.But spelljammer notes on mapping and grvity planes is very helpful.RANDOM THOUGHTS.
Eldritch_Lord 10-05-07, 06:12 PM	If you're particularly interested in a cube-shaped world, you might want to take a look at "Cubeworld" by Henry R. Gross; it's a sci-fi short story about the Earth being turned into a cube to survive a catastrophe in the solar system and the problems and scenarios that result. If you're looking for differently-shaped worlds in general, I would also suggest the Planescape boards. If you're looking for my experiences...sorry, I got nothing.;) Hope that helps.
Master_Vega 10-05-07, 07:46 PM	I haven't read the rules the others have mentioned, but I think this might be useful: In your cubeworld game, is gravity spherical, or a cube as well? If it is the former, water might gather in the center of each side. Hiking in any direction away from the center of your current side will be 'uphill'... It would be an interesting effect to have the horizon higher in all directions when one is on the center of a side, then have the horizon 'tilt' as they traveled away from the center. ROFL! You could have the unlearned believe the world is a cup. ;) Edit: On that last line of thought... the Dwarves could think that life is a result of a particular god's (or set of gods') spirits fermenting too long. :P
LadyLindis 10-05-07, 07:59 PM	That's a really, really neat idea. Though I feel sorry for the pour people when the world floods. :P
Aryxbez 10-05-07, 09:19 PM	Makes me ponder when a world is a 3-D version of a Triangle? My world is twice the size of earth and is in the shape of a triangle. Have I had this effect the gravity and such of my game?, not at all, maybe I am just being lazy. Although I do have a mountain at the tip of one of the triangles.
Master_Vega 10-05-07, 09:51 PM	I'm not saying an oddly shaped world has to obey the laws of physics. I was simply throwing out ideas that could make the world interesting. You wouldn't see the difficult climb coming; after all you're used to the horizon being about eye-level... But as your explorers venture away from the 'center', the path becomes much more difficult to travel. They begin to notice they are leaning forward as they walk, no, hike along this flat terrain. They look back and realize the land behind them is roughly in-line with the trail they walk, and that they cannot see any 'level' regions beyond the small hills. This cannot be a mountain, but then what is it? Are the gods divine energies pulling them back to their homes? Have they been transported somehow without their knowledge? Have they really hiked so far up a grate that that mist blocks their view of level ground? What if they continue on too long, will they climb the ground as though it were a cliff? What then if they fall? Granted it will never become a sheer vertical surface, but the PCs can wonder... In fact, it would be a lot of fun to let them discover the edge at their own pace, and not tell the players that the world really is a pancake/polyhedron. Let them think that a magical force holds them in the center, and let them gear up for tough climb to break free from it... Then show them the truth of the world as it unfolds before their eyes. Now all you need is a BBEG and an evil plot to go with. :P
Tovec 10-28-07, 11:14 PM	My worlds ARE flat. Literally it is said that at the ends of the map the world ends. This was true with my (very mythological) first world and my very much more reasonably world that I'm working with now called Saevia. I have had no problems working it. I merely inform my players that the world is flat, and has limits, and move on from there. It requires very little re-tooling, how many games go off into the starts? How many leave the ground at all. In my first world the suns and moons (many suns and moons) travelled in many different directions, so I'll discount it. In Saevia, there is one sun and it rises in the east and sets in the west. Same goes for Saevia's twin moons. I haven't had a problem. I have also ran, briefly, a campaign where the world was a cube facing in on itself. It was very large but the party seemed to think that walking around its sides was a good idea. The fact that I didn't run the game properly encouraged this thought but the point remains. My great cube was inspired by some of the planar descriptions and other worlds that my friends have made. In the cube you could see the opposite sides, especially at night. I had one side with undead, another of a single ocean, and so on. Every time you talk about physics and DnD, God kills a kitten. (or puppy, whichever you like more) Every time you talk about logic and DnD, God kills a bunny. (or turtle, whichever you like more)
Drinkie 10-30-07, 12:04 PM	I think having a ring-world (like in Halo) would be pretty cool. The players can look up and see that other continent they want to adventure to. It'll take them forever to get there though. I have no idea how gravity is supposed to work in a ring-world, however. It would probably have to be spinning, and gravity would really be the ground pushing up at you to counter centripetal force.
elondir 10-30-07, 12:12 PM	Spelljammer Practical Planetology had a few non-standard worlds. There is Torus (a torus), Nivil (a ringworld much narrower than Niven's - I think this one's only 50,000 miles wide with a 93 million mile radius), and Plata (another discworld). Other SJ worlds include Herdspace (a Dyson sphere that is tromped over by 10,000-mile tall animals), and Garden (a bunch of asteroids clumped together and overgrown by tangles of plants). Other planet types are water worlds, fire worlds (stars), voidworlds (like the moon), and air worlds (anything that doesn't have solid ground, and not limited to gas giants). And I am a physicist! And a metalhead! Bwahahahahahaha!
Master_Vega 10-30-07, 02:26 PM	Every time you talk about physics and DnD, God kills a kitten. (or puppy, whichever you like more) Every time you talk about logic and DnD, God kills a bunny. (or turtle, whichever you like more) And every time you ignore logic in D&D, the players kill a DM. ^_^ Seriously though, I wasn't forcing physics on D&D; I simply think it's an awesome concept to play on the physics of a non-spherical world. Ignore it at your preference. I don't really care. :P
Thanuir 11-02-07, 12:33 PM	And every time you ignore logic in D&D, the players kill a DM. ^_^Flawless victory. My default assumption for a fantasy game is that the world is infinite and flat. This means that gravity would work pretty much as it does here, if it existed. It becomes an interesting exercise to explain the sun, moon and stars. Also, other planes of existence become a lot less necessary; depending on how the sun works, it is likely that an extremely hot region exists somewhere, which makes the relevant elemental plane redundant. And so on. Some basic knowledge of topology and geometry do help. Of those, I only have the latter.
Return of the Flumph 11-02-07, 05:40 PM	Okay, here's some random ideas for nonstandard global physics. Some of these might be kind of ridiculous, but its just an intellectual exercise. Astrotubes: The world is a flat slab. There are two tunnels going vertically downward into the ground, each about two hundred feet in diameter, made of metal, and covered by mechanical trapdoors. The sun and moon are each about one hundred feet in diameter, and the trapdoors open and shut every morning and night to let them in or out. No one knows what's at the bottom of the astrotubes. Double Halo: This would be a typical ringworld, except that the outside of it is inhabited as well as the inside. There are cave systems that connect the interior and exterior worlds, allowing travel between them at certain points. Gravity pulls toward the ring from both directions, and gets weaker the deeper you go underground. The deepest caverns of the underdark have no gravity, as the opposed g-forces converge and nullify each other here. The Fountain: This was an idea someone posted on the boards awhile back. The world is a series of discworlds, each one larger than the one above it. Each disc is completely invisible from below, and so the sun and moon can be seen in the skies of every layer at the same time (they orbit the whole wedding cake). The edge of each layer besides the first is closed off by a tremendous waterfall that goes all the way around, feeding into an infinite ocean under the whole world. In the center of each layer is a circular hole, through which a column of water is constantly shooting upward from the Infinite Ocean to refill the top layer. Special ships can use the tube or the waterfall to get from layer to layer.
Cli' San Aquanova 11-06-07, 06:25 PM	As I myself am simply brainpooling for a homemade campaign setting (due to my rejection of Forgotten Realms), and have been wondering about the world's shape and galactic physics, this thread is of relevance to me. ;) I think having a ring-world (like in Halo) would be pretty cool. The players can look up and see that other continent they want to adventure to. It'll take them forever to get there though. I too love [Halo's] ring-world device, especially just how easily you can grasp its vastness. How to get to the other continent? Blast them up there, I say.... ;) I have no idea how gravity is supposed to work in a ring-world, however. It would probably have to be spinning, and gravity would really be the ground pushing up at you to counter centripetal force. This made me think... and what came to mind is this: The ring-world is (just like in Halo) a creation of some unknown, lost, hyperpower race of magic-users. Gravity would be attributed to the ever-beloved by DM handwave, "it's magic." ;) EDIT- :doh: Duh, I just figured out that gravity generation on a ring-world is simple: rotation. Nothing else needed. Flawless victory. My default assumption for a fantasy game is that the world is infinite and flat. This means that gravity would work pretty much as it does here, if it existed. It becomes an interesting exercise to explain the sun, moon and stars. Also, other planes of existence become a lot less necessary; depending on how the sun works, it is likely that an extremely hot region exists somewhere, which makes the relevant elemental plane redundant. And so on. Some basic knowledge of topology and geometry do help. Of those, I only have the latter. Hmm... while it wasn't what you were getting at, what came to my mind is that these "planes" would be essentially other planets. It may have to be a major reworking of normal cosmology, but a sort of magical galaxy could be very interesting. Oh wait, I think just described Spelljammer.... :pbbbtt: Just putting down ideas that came to mind. :) EDITED