World Serpent Inn & Ebberon [Archive] - Wizards Community

World Serpent Inn & Ebberon [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ChaosVirus
08-22-07, 08:10 AM I was reading through issue 351 of dragon, and saw that the Queens Kiss in the city of Fairhaven is a permenant connection to the world serpent inn.

I was wondering about this, as I thought there are no official connections between eberron and the great wheel. Which this seems to contradict.
Fabius Maximus
08-22-07, 09:06 AM It's purely optional.
ripvanwormer
08-22-07, 09:48 AM The Paizo staff was deliberately trying to subvert the "separate cosmologies" notion with Dragon #351. Not overturn it, but subvert it from within.
awaken_D_M_golem
08-22-07, 05:01 PM a.k.a.

The rats (hivemind) were leaving the sinking ship.

Or they had access to a Divination spell that gave them the correct answer.
Or they had access to a Clairsentience power that gave them a material display (pink slip).

I think 4th Edition might keep you busy, Rip.
lint trap
08-22-07, 05:26 PM What's the World Serpent Inn about, if not exceptions? Hell, if you can get to Athas you should be able to get to Eberron.
Salla
08-22-07, 05:58 PM What's the World Serpent Inn about, if not exceptions? Hell, if you can get to Athas you should be able to get to Eberron.

It was an article in a Dragon Magazine a year or so back ... basically, each of the Inn's 'back rooms' went to a different Material Plane (aka game world), and there were short articles about several out-of-print settings like Al-Qadim.
TalonofTiamat
08-22-07, 06:09 PM 7 months does not a year make.
Salla
08-22-07, 06:17 PM 7 months does not a year make.

It does if you're rounding up to the nearest year. :D
TalonofTiamat
08-22-07, 08:06 PM It does if you're rounding up to the nearest year. :D
I suppose...
Johnny_Angel
08-22-07, 09:26 PM It does if you're rounding up to the nearest year. :D

lol, but by RAW you're supposed to round down :P
Thanael
08-23-07, 03:58 AM It was an article in a Dragon Magazine a year or so back ... basically, each of the Inn's 'back rooms' went to a different Material Plane (aka game world), and there were short articles about several out-of-print settings like Al-Qadim.

I think he already knew that.

BTW the World Serpent Inn is also featured in this web enhancement to the Manual of the Planes (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20010921a) and in the 1E accessory Tales of the Outer Planes. (http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD1/adventures/v5748btpy7mc2)
dfarnsworth
08-23-07, 06:23 PM ...Nice bit of trivia...
TalonofTiamat
08-23-07, 10:52 PM It was also briefly mentioned in the last issue of Dragon in the "Elminster vs Raistlin" article.
ripvanwormer
08-24-07, 02:39 AM That article also mentioned the aurumach rilmani Goalkeeper, from the Downer comic, which I thought was a nice touch.
Khadmus
08-25-07, 04:39 PM Off topic, rip, your location is a nice reference. I can't call upon decades of D&D trivia, but I do know my invader zim.
ArcTan
08-25-07, 09:12 PM The Inn is supposed to be a fourth-wall-breaking device, of sorts. It's like the World's End in Neil Gaiman's Sandman (and may in fact be a reference to it). Random people from all kinds of different cosmologies sit down and talk, without being able to affect anything or each other.

The Inn is an acceptable inter-cosmology bridge mainly because it's designed so that it's hard to imagine it actually ever becoming a *thoroughfare* between cosmologies, or even making it easy for your PCs to intentionally go from one cosmology to another if they want to (they are very likely to get sidetracked along the way, like most of the Inn's more permanent denizens have been).
Gray Richardson
08-26-07, 11:01 AM The Inn is supposed to be a fourth-wall-breaking device, of sorts. It's like the World's End in Neil Gaiman's Sandman (and may in fact be a reference to it).The World Serpent Inn predates Gaiman's World's End by a number of years. Tales of the Outer Planes came out in 1988, that Sandman issue came out circa 1993.

While it is certainly possible that Gaiman might have read OP1, he was doubtless influenced by other great trans-planar bars in fiction and comics, such as Munden's Bar in Ostrander's GrimJack Comic, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson, Tales from Gavagan's Bar by L. Sprague DeCamp and Fletcher Pratt, Lord Dunsany's Jorkens stories and also his story The Exiles Club (http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1423.pdf), The Vulgar Unicorn from the Thieves World anthologies, Arthur C. Clarke's White Hart, and many other fantastical taverns from literary history.
ripvanwormer
08-26-07, 02:17 PM Off topic, rip, your location is a nice reference. I can't call upon decades of D&D trivia, but I do know my invader zim.

Someone got the reference! Yay! That makes me really happy.

On topic, another possible inspiration for both the World Serpent Inn and Neil Gaiman's World's End is A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson, published in 1974 (a sequel of sorts to his seminal Three Hearts and Three Lions, which gave the D&D game its paladin, troll, gnome, its Law-Chaos alignment axis, and the kingdom of Caer Sidi). The Old Phoenix tavern in that novel connects to various alternate realities, and the barkeep, known as Taverner, accepts no money, only stories.

"And here may come, from every time and clime, aye, every cranny of reality, whoever finds a way to find the door and brings uncommon tales wherewith to pay."

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ChaosVirus 08-22-07, 08:10 AM	I was reading through issue 351 of dragon, and saw that the Queens Kiss in the city of Fairhaven is a permenant connection to the world serpent inn. I was wondering about this, as I thought there are no official connections between eberron and the great wheel. Which this seems to contradict.
Fabius Maximus 08-22-07, 09:06 AM	It's purely optional.
ripvanwormer 08-22-07, 09:48 AM	The Paizo staff was deliberately trying to subvert the "separate cosmologies" notion with Dragon #351. Not overturn it, but subvert it from within.
awaken_D_M_golem 08-22-07, 05:01 PM	a.k.a. The rats (hivemind) were leaving the sinking ship. Or they had access to a Divination spell that gave them the correct answer. Or they had access to a Clairsentience power that gave them a material display (pink slip). I think 4th Edition might keep you busy, Rip.
lint trap 08-22-07, 05:26 PM	What's the World Serpent Inn about, if not exceptions? Hell, if you can get to Athas you should be able to get to Eberron.
Salla 08-22-07, 05:58 PM	What's the World Serpent Inn about, if not exceptions? Hell, if you can get to Athas you should be able to get to Eberron. It was an article in a Dragon Magazine a year or so back ... basically, each of the Inn's 'back rooms' went to a different Material Plane (aka game world), and there were short articles about several out-of-print settings like Al-Qadim.
TalonofTiamat 08-22-07, 06:09 PM	7 months does not a year make.
Salla 08-22-07, 06:17 PM	7 months does not a year make. It does if you're rounding up to the nearest year. :D
TalonofTiamat 08-22-07, 08:06 PM	It does if you're rounding up to the nearest year. :D I suppose...
Johnny_Angel 08-22-07, 09:26 PM	It does if you're rounding up to the nearest year. :D lol, but by RAW you're supposed to round down :P
Thanael 08-23-07, 03:58 AM	It was an article in a Dragon Magazine a year or so back ... basically, each of the Inn's 'back rooms' went to a different Material Plane (aka game world), and there were short articles about several out-of-print settings like Al-Qadim. I think he already knew that. BTW the World Serpent Inn is also featured in this web enhancement to the Manual of the Planes (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20010921a) and in the 1E accessory Tales of the Outer Planes. (http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD1/adventures/v5748btpy7mc2)
dfarnsworth 08-23-07, 06:23 PM	...Nice bit of trivia...
TalonofTiamat 08-23-07, 10:52 PM	It was also briefly mentioned in the last issue of Dragon in the "Elminster vs Raistlin" article.
ripvanwormer 08-24-07, 02:39 AM	That article also mentioned the aurumach rilmani Goalkeeper, from the Downer comic, which I thought was a nice touch.
Khadmus 08-25-07, 04:39 PM	Off topic, rip, your location is a nice reference. I can't call upon decades of D&D trivia, but I do know my invader zim.
ArcTan 08-25-07, 09:12 PM	The Inn is supposed to be a fourth-wall-breaking device, of sorts. It's like the World's End in Neil Gaiman's Sandman (and may in fact be a reference to it). Random people from all kinds of different cosmologies sit down and talk, without being able to affect anything or each other. The Inn is an acceptable inter-cosmology bridge mainly because it's designed so that it's hard to imagine it actually ever becoming a thoroughfare between cosmologies, or even making it easy for your PCs to intentionally go from one cosmology to another if they want to (they are very likely to get sidetracked along the way, like most of the Inn's more permanent denizens have been).
Gray Richardson 08-26-07, 11:01 AM	The Inn is supposed to be a fourth-wall-breaking device, of sorts. It's like the World's End in Neil Gaiman's Sandman (and may in fact be a reference to it).The World Serpent Inn predates Gaiman's World's End by a number of years. Tales of the Outer Planes came out in 1988, that Sandman issue came out circa 1993. While it is certainly possible that Gaiman might have read OP1, he was doubtless influenced by other great trans-planar bars in fiction and comics, such as Munden's Bar in Ostrander's GrimJack Comic, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson, Tales from Gavagan's Bar by L. Sprague DeCamp and Fletcher Pratt, Lord Dunsany's Jorkens stories and also his story The Exiles Club (http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1423.pdf), The Vulgar Unicorn from the Thieves World anthologies, Arthur C. Clarke's White Hart, and many other fantastical taverns from literary history.
ripvanwormer 08-26-07, 02:17 PM	Off topic, rip, your location is a nice reference. I can't call upon decades of D&D trivia, but I do know my invader zim. Someone got the reference! Yay! That makes me really happy. On topic, another possible inspiration for both the World Serpent Inn and Neil Gaiman's World's End is A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson, published in 1974 (a sequel of sorts to his seminal Three Hearts and Three Lions, which gave the D&D game its paladin, troll, gnome, its Law-Chaos alignment axis, and the kingdom of Caer Sidi). The Old Phoenix tavern in that novel connects to various alternate realities, and the barkeep, known as Taverner, accepts no money, only stories. "And here may come, from every time and clime, aye, every cranny of reality, whoever finds a way to find the door and brings uncommon tales wherewith to pay."