Cross Worlds [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cross Worlds [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Hellfyre
02-08-05, 10:50 AM Hiya gang,
I'm looking into running a plane-crossing campaign that allows the PCs to interact in most of the WotC published worlds. Has anyone else tried this? How'd it go? :)
Nomad4life
02-08-05, 11:07 AM We tried something similar back in the 2nd Ed days. We could travel around by collecting coordinates for a magic device called “The Cross World Puzzle.” (HA!) It was interesting at first, but then attention waned… I’m not sure why. Maybe because it was difficult to keep a coherent overall “plot” going on when the players can just move from world to world? Or maybe the existence of many different settings made any one particular location seem too “insignificant” to be attached to? For some reason, it all fell apart and we wanted to go back to having one stable setting that we could get into- being able to “leap” from place to place at will was too confusing, and gave very little motivation to become attached to the events of any one place.

Years later, cross-plane adventures do work well as small mini-adventures. Your group might be completely different. I would just ask them upfront what they are looking for. The Wheel Of Time RPG has a good setup for cross-plane travel with “The Ways.” It adds mystery, exploration, and danger to the experience of moving from world to world.
Ogre4Hire
02-08-05, 12:26 PM Hiya gang,
I'm looking into running a plane-crossing campaign that allows the PCs to interact in most of the WotC published worlds. Has anyone else tried this? How'd it go? :)

In 2E, we called it Planescape.:D
Ath'kethin
02-08-05, 04:37 PM In 2E, we called it Planescape.:D

And before that, we called it Spelljammer.
Arcanis the wacher
02-08-05, 06:44 PM i do that all the time i let my players use all of the stuff they have. it is fun but it can be time consumeing to say the least.

I AM THE POWER DM'ER FROM THE FUTURE
now eat peas and die!
iluvdnd47
02-08-05, 08:53 PM This idea has occurred to me as well. The inspiration was the old TV show Quantum Leap. In that show Scott Bakula would travel to different time periods, help some people out and then "leap" somewhere else for the nest episode. All the while he was hoping the next "jump" would take him home. It would work great for a campaign with multiple DMs, as it would allow each DM to plan anything they wanted.

Here's some ideas for how to run it.

The PCs aquire a curse where they are shifted to a new world after a certain period of time or after a specific condition is met. Some condition could be met for them to break the curse. For example, they have to help a certain number of people.

The PCs get a hold of some planeshifting device like the "crossworld puzzle" mentioned in an earlier post. The device is either broken or complicated so the PCs don't have a full grasp of how it works. It would need to "recharge" between uses, meaning the PCs would have time to explore their surroundings before trying another "jump". If you are afraid of them just settling in one particular world, the device "jumps" them whether they like it or not.

Your idea would be a great way to try out a bunch of the published worlds and to use specific sourcebooks like Frostburn or Oriental Adventures. You could even drop them for short stints into bizarre creations of your own or every PCs bane, Ravenloft.
Arcanis the wacher
02-08-05, 08:59 PM old TV show Quantum Leap. .
alsome show

use the sifi show sliders
11d7
02-08-05, 09:10 PM I did but it was like d20 future (not really, before even modern was made but it was future stuff I adapted from 2nd ed D&D, not spelljammers) so world hopping was kinda implied but not the point.
Shemeska the Marauder
02-09-05, 03:18 AM Hiya gang,
I'm looking into running a plane-crossing campaign that allows the PCs to interact in most of the WotC published worlds. Has anyone else tried this? How'd it go? :)

It was called Planescape in 2e, and coming from someone who started playing in 3e and looked back at that material... Jesus Christ was it brilliant... the writing quality in 3e for the most part simply cannot compare. The 3e rules base is better, but it's utterly uninspired compared to that stuff. A single, common multiverse containing all of the various TSR/WotC campaign settings, all set within a common set of planes, only a portal away from each other. All doors lead to Sigil.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Hellfyre 02-08-05, 10:50 AM	Hiya gang, I'm looking into running a plane-crossing campaign that allows the PCs to interact in most of the WotC published worlds. Has anyone else tried this? How'd it go? :)
Nomad4life 02-08-05, 11:07 AM	We tried something similar back in the 2nd Ed days. We could travel around by collecting coordinates for a magic device called “The Cross World Puzzle.” (HA!) It was interesting at first, but then attention waned… I’m not sure why. Maybe because it was difficult to keep a coherent overall “plot” going on when the players can just move from world to world? Or maybe the existence of many different settings made any one particular location seem too “insignificant” to be attached to? For some reason, it all fell apart and we wanted to go back to having one stable setting that we could get into- being able to “leap” from place to place at will was too confusing, and gave very little motivation to become attached to the events of any one place. Years later, cross-plane adventures do work well as small mini-adventures. Your group might be completely different. I would just ask them upfront what they are looking for. The Wheel Of Time RPG has a good setup for cross-plane travel with “The Ways.” It adds mystery, exploration, and danger to the experience of moving from world to world.
Ogre4Hire 02-08-05, 12:26 PM	Hiya gang, I'm looking into running a plane-crossing campaign that allows the PCs to interact in most of the WotC published worlds. Has anyone else tried this? How'd it go? :) In 2E, we called it Planescape.:D
Ath'kethin 02-08-05, 04:37 PM	In 2E, we called it Planescape.:D And before that, we called it Spelljammer.
Arcanis the wacher 02-08-05, 06:44 PM	i do that all the time i let my players use all of the stuff they have. it is fun but it can be time consumeing to say the least. I AM THE POWER DM'ER FROM THE FUTURE now eat peas and die!
iluvdnd47 02-08-05, 08:53 PM	This idea has occurred to me as well. The inspiration was the old TV show Quantum Leap. In that show Scott Bakula would travel to different time periods, help some people out and then "leap" somewhere else for the nest episode. All the while he was hoping the next "jump" would take him home. It would work great for a campaign with multiple DMs, as it would allow each DM to plan anything they wanted. Here's some ideas for how to run it. The PCs aquire a curse where they are shifted to a new world after a certain period of time or after a specific condition is met. Some condition could be met for them to break the curse. For example, they have to help a certain number of people. The PCs get a hold of some planeshifting device like the "crossworld puzzle" mentioned in an earlier post. The device is either broken or complicated so the PCs don't have a full grasp of how it works. It would need to "recharge" between uses, meaning the PCs would have time to explore their surroundings before trying another "jump". If you are afraid of them just settling in one particular world, the device "jumps" them whether they like it or not. Your idea would be a great way to try out a bunch of the published worlds and to use specific sourcebooks like Frostburn or Oriental Adventures. You could even drop them for short stints into bizarre creations of your own or every PCs bane, Ravenloft.
Arcanis the wacher 02-08-05, 08:59 PM	old TV show Quantum Leap. . alsome show use the sifi show sliders
11d7 02-08-05, 09:10 PM	I did but it was like d20 future (not really, before even modern was made but it was future stuff I adapted from 2nd ed D&D, not spelljammers) so world hopping was kinda implied but not the point.
Shemeska the Marauder 02-09-05, 03:18 AM	Hiya gang, I'm looking into running a plane-crossing campaign that allows the PCs to interact in most of the WotC published worlds. Has anyone else tried this? How'd it go? :) It was called Planescape in 2e, and coming from someone who started playing in 3e and looked back at that material... Jesus Christ was it brilliant... the writing quality in 3e for the most part simply cannot compare. The 3e rules base is better, but it's utterly uninspired compared to that stuff. A single, common multiverse containing all of the various TSR/WotC campaign settings, all set within a common set of planes, only a portal away from each other. All doors lead to Sigil.