Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kazbadan 01-29-08, 08:11 AM	How do you see space ( i mean, planets, stars etc) in your cosmology? Sometimes i love to imagine this in my campaigns: if someone goes to space (through magic, etc) towards a planet, eventually i will find that the planet itself its a plane. This is kind of a secret in my campaigns. So, if someone decides to explore the space...surprise! lol There is not only the astral plane to connect, but also the Space and he planets (that are nothing more than planes...but no all the planes, some of them must be achieved through magic). How do you see space in your campaign?
Kazbadan 01-29-08, 02:23 PM	no answers?
Bull-of-the-Pit 01-29-08, 02:54 PM	Well, okay... The cosmology of my game is a little different, but nothing really groundbreaking. White Wolf inspired me a bit, too: Creation is broken down into the Foundation (including the surface world, the underdark, and the oceans), and the Firmament (the sky, the sun, the moon, and the other planets). The sun and the moon are realms, in their own right, as are each of the planets. I haven't fleshed out the various planets, but I figure I could just go with different types of settings (kind of like in Kingdom Hearts, but no gummi-ships). The "space" between these realms is breathable, but very thin and very cold. Gravity does seem to pull in a downward direction, and if one falls far enough one enters another, separate realm, the Abyss (one of the Lower Planes). The deepest reaches of the Firmament bleed into the realm of Shadow (which behaves as written). This accounts for the darkness, though various metaphysical phenomena pierce the gloom with light and energy (the stars). There isn't one blanket cause for the stars...some are tiny, portal-like windows into the Upper Planes (various spiritual hereafters), others are manifestations of various gods or powers, entities themselves, or possibly actual physical locations. Some are benign, some are baleful. Some are a complete mystery as to their nature. Beyond the Vault (metaphysical barrier) of the Firmament lies the Void (basically, the astral plane), which leads to the Upper Worlds.
Kazbadan 01-29-08, 04:15 PM	you have an interesting cosmology! i will steal some ideas for my campaign :) i was thinking on other idea: - in 4 ed we will have "points of light", it seems that the world is destroyed. So, my idea is to make the planet of pcs, humams and everybody else, a small planet like Mars. Everybody think that is the real material planet world but is not. the real one (something like "Earth") is desert now ( i will develop the story). - the real Earth is something like a lost paradise - the actual planet/plane where people live is more like a realm of war, a desert place with red rocky mountains and sky like blood. This is a very embrionary idea.
Lord Karsus 01-29-08, 04:24 PM	-Are you at all familiar with Spelljammer? www.spelljammer.org
Kazbadan 01-29-08, 04:45 PM	spelljamer? no, not at all i will give a look into the link you gave thanks ;)
Lord Karsus 01-29-08, 04:46 PM	spelljamer? no, not at all i will give a look into the like you gave thanks ;) -Spelljammer is exactly what you are theorizing about. D&D in space.
GuyrtheadamantineOne 01-30-08, 08:27 AM	Personnally, my campaign world's origins resolve around a rogue Illithid Spelljammer crashing on a planet. The system is just goofy enough for D&D!:D
Lord Karsus 01-30-08, 12:09 PM	Personnally, my campaign world's origins resolve around a rogue Illithid Spelljammer crashing on a planet. -That's how I explain a lot of the more basic D&D creatures/ideas existin in my homebrew campaign setting. That, and of course, Planewalking.
Bloodsoul 01-30-08, 09:33 PM	I do recall that one version of DooM (wether part of the main series or a spinoff or novel or something) suggested that the Great Red Spot on Jupiter was nothing more than a huge portal to hell, so that can tie in with the "planets are just planes" idea. (and now I feel like statting up a Cyberdemon)
Eldritch_Lord 01-30-08, 09:53 PM	I do recall that one version of DooM (wether part of the main series or a spinoff or novel or something) suggested that the Great Red Spot on Jupiter was nothing more than a huge portal to hell, so that can tie in with the "planets are just planes" idea. (and now I feel like statting up a Cyberdemon) I think that was Doom 3, though I could be wrong. ------------------ I've always liked to play with the planes = planets ideas; I always have scientific explanations for magic in my games, so I usually extend that to weird scientific abnormalities in my cosmologies. So far, my favorite "space"-based cosmology had a material plane orbiting 2 suns, with 2 moons around it and a bunch of planets. Overlaying that were the planes: the Astral was space (ha ha), the Lower Planes were the suns, and the Upper Planes were the moons, so if you hopped in a spelljammer and went near the sun you wouldn't burn up, you'd see into Hell.
DeathlessJuan 02-01-08, 01:25 PM	I am currently running a campaign that has a space-y feel to it. Instead of making the different planes as planets, I took a more ... round-about way. In my campaign, the planes are set as you would expect in a normal D&D universe, save for the Far Realm. We have a basic solar system (ie, sun, earth, moon, sister planets) that is nearly devoid of life (save for the earth). This is much like the IRL solar system. To reach the Far Realm, one has to travel past the outter reaches of the solar system where time and space seem to 'warp'. If you are familiar with the Far Realm, you know that without special 'protections', you will go mad in short order (and still might, even prepared). Now, my campaign takes place past the Far Realm, in a very large and infinite place I call 'the Beyond'. This is where stars and other planets exist where there is life. There are no Gods (they have shielded the 'mortal' realm from the Beyond and only journey to the Beyond when a new God acends. A test of sorts.) There are might creatures that exist in the Beyond and it is the source of all aberrations. I have it as ECL 25+ near the boundaries of the Far and the Beyond. It quickly escalates the farther you get out (ECL 35+).
Tovec 02-01-08, 05:58 PM	Lately I have been moving away from the one world view of my game to an actual solar system or universe in the material plane. Each planet would know of others, possibly see them, but they would have no real way to contact them. The other planets are not other planes, in mine, and are often unbreathable, such as a large Saturn inspired planet which lies close to my primary planet. I find that a lot of problems arise when people try and take a fantasy setting and make it space-faring. I'm not saying good examples haven't been done but I find in general it just becomes too far flung. Primarily if the planets are years and years travel apart, how does the game explain food, recreation, gravity, etc. For now I'm quite content in just letting the players fiddle around on one globe with a half dozen continents, thousands of civilizations and new avenues to explore...
faghter_hero 02-02-08, 11:22 PM	How do you see space ( i mean, planets, stars etc) in your cosmology? Sometimes i love to imagine this in my campaigns: if someone goes to space (through magic, etc) towards a planet, eventually i will find that the planet itself its a plane. This is kind of a secret in my campaigns. So, if someone decides to explore the space...surprise! lol There is not only the astral plane to connect, but also the Space and he planets (that are nothing more than planes...but no all the planes, some of them must be achieved through magic). How do you see space in your campaign? Those aren't planets, they're perfectly smooth balls stuck on tracks, the sun moves along a track in the sky, and stars are bits of glitter on the wall of a crystalline sphere. Behind the sphere is nothing but black water, and if anyone put a big enough hole in the sphere, the water would pour in and drown everyone.