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Atcote
2012-03-13, 06:23 AM
I had some downtime recently, and was planning out my game-world.
This place has had quite a history; previous campaigns have shaped the political, cultural and historical values and events of the world. We know many of the major cities and three continents on which various events have taken place.
Eventually, I stepped back. And I thought about the world.
And I decided. It does not take place on a planet.
It's never come up before, but it will in the next campaign. This world never ends. The place in which these things happens stretch out into infinity. You start at one end, wander towards the other, and you will never come back home. And I liked this idea, and, in my proxy-God role, it was so.

What about everyone else? Do your campaigns take place on planets? Clearly in Sci-Fi it's far more likely that the shape of where you're going will come into it, but does it have to be a round ball? Does anyone travel to Discworld (turtle and elephants optional)? Or ringworld? Does it ever come up? Does it matter at all? Should all worlds take place on a ball, or are there advantages to shapes and planes?

Calanon
2012-03-13, 07:08 AM
a Self-contained shape [Finite plane] can be counted as a planet, unless you literally go to the edge of the map and stumble into a complete environment change (Elemental Plane of fire to the Elemental Plane of Ash)

prufock
2012-03-13, 07:20 AM
Yes, mine take place on a roughly Earth-sized planet, with one moon, circling one sun. It was a conscious decision to keep this very vanilla for my main campaign setting, because I wanted my stories to be about the things that happened to my PCs, not about a setting gimmick.

At this point, however, even my most high-level PCs have not explored more than a single continent. In my current game the PCs are only level 2 and haven't even left their Duchy yet, let alone their kingdom.

On the grand scheme of things, it hasn't mattered. At least not yet. No PC has gone beyond the bounds of the continent, and there is plenty happening within that continent to occupy them. Maybe someday I will see epic PCs that conquer the globe - if that happens, maybe it's time to expand.

Other interesting setting gimmicks:
- Infinite plane, like yours.
- Infinite sea. The "land" of the world is a single floating continent on a neverending (at least as far as anyone has found) sea. It's akin to Waterworld. Basically serves one of 2 functions - sea adventures, or keeping the adventure local (in the latter case, it's conceptually identical to a finite plane).
- Small finite plane. This is a chunk of the material plane that has somehow separated from the rest of it. It's a finite world smaller than a planet. Yes, the horizon does end in a drop off, and you fall off the end of the world. Objective gravity: down. There is no "other side" of the plane. If you go to the other side you drop into nothingness.
- Inside a planet/planetoid. "Gravity" is actually centrifugal force as the planetoid spins, holding you to the inside of the crust. If you look up, you see land waaaaaaay off in the distance. There is a magical "sun" in the centre that dims and brightens to account for "days."

dsmiles
2012-03-13, 07:41 AM
Generally, yes.

Though I took my knowledge of SCIENCE and applied it to shake things up a little:
The current campaign features a planet just slightly larger than Earth, with a 28-hour day/night cycle with two moons. Trade is mostly overland, due to unpredictable tidal shifts in the small inland seas (two moons + accelerated tectonic activity). There are lots of volcanos, with the poles being a temperate zone (with a sub-tropical zone, a tropical zone, and a super-tropical zone). The planet has a strong connection to the elemental planes of fire and earth, and a weaker connection to the planes of air and water. The positive and negative energy planes, and the outer planes are unaffected.

Mastikator
2012-03-13, 07:54 AM
I once played in an Exalted game and I have it on good authority that Exalted does in fact not take place on a planet.

But beside that, yes, planets. I'm planning on space however.

Rorrik
2012-03-13, 09:41 AM
I've got a very intricate planet that I use for campaigns I know will be fairly short lived or where the group isn't expecting anything to specific or outlandish, or basically any time the campaign will fit into the planet. The continents are spread out enough that the campaigns I've started on three of them may not ever cross into territory familiar from other campaigns, but they could, and that tickles me.

Elemental
2012-03-13, 10:13 AM
Most of the worlds I create are usually planets, though now I have an interesting idea for a flat world that drifts through an unending void of darkness, somehow connected to another realm on one side.

My fingers itch for paper and pencil...

TuggyNE
2012-03-13, 05:47 PM
The current campaign features a planet just slightly larger than Earth, with a 28-hour day/night cycle with two moons. Trade is mostly overland, due to unpredictable tidal shifts in the small inland seas (two moons + accelerated tectonic activity). There are lots of volcanos, with the poles being a temperate zone (with a sub-tropical zone, a tropical zone, and a super-tropical zone). The planet has a strong connection to the elemental planes of fire and earth, and a weaker connection to the planes of air and water. The positive and negative energy planes, and the outer planes are unaffected.

More volcanically active than Earth? That's actually rather impressive... :smalleek:

Knaight
2012-03-13, 06:18 PM
It depends on the campaign. I GM a lot of space opera, which tends to involve several planets, space stations, so on and so forth. However, some space opera campaigns have taken place all one one planet (how many depends on how you count geosynchronous orbit). I also GM some fantasy, which tends to be on planets, but usually within a smaller area, so there is still the matter of ambiguity. Does a small archipelago which contains the campaign count as a planet, even if it is certainly on one? What about a single continent? So on and so forth.

Calanon
2012-03-13, 07:48 PM
More volcanically active than Earth? That's actually rather impressive... :smalleek:

I'm more into Astronomy then Geography :smalltongue: wish I spent more time studying Astronomy then I did play D&D though :smallredface: ah well...

If anyone knows a good SpellJammer 3.5 Pbp send me a link... I feel like a spelljammer game will be in my near future

Altair_the_Vexed
2012-03-14, 04:36 AM
I prefer that the setting's prime world is a planet, so that the otherworlds - whatever they may be - are more exotic and strange.

Elemental
2012-03-14, 05:00 AM
Or, you create a world where everyone lives near the centre, and they don't realise there's an edge.
Or, they're being tricked by epic level magic into thinking it's a planet.

Calanon
2012-03-14, 05:50 AM
Or, you create a world where everyone lives near the centre, and they don't realise there's an edge.
Or, they're being tricked by epic level magic into thinking it's a planet.

And the Archwizard raised his hand and whispered "Superb Dispelling" and the world was ripped asunder in just a moment...

...And just as all life on the plane had ended the Archwizard lowered his hand and whispered "World Weave" and in mere moments the world had been restored to its glory

oOo ideas, ideas~ :biggrin:

Mr.Moron
2012-03-14, 08:20 AM
Well, I run most of my games in preexisting settings which tend to be planets.

In terms of the one sort of homebrew setting I've been working on every now and again, it's not a planet. It's a hemisphere with the sun sitting in a fixed position over the pole. This means things get hotter and the days get brighter the closer you are to the pole, and colder near the edges. The world has quite literal, dark underworld. Given the flat side never gets sunlight. Nighttime comes with the sun goes out like a light bulb on a dimmer switch.

Morithias
2012-03-14, 02:36 PM
My campaign world takes place on a flat planet about earth's size. If you jump off the edge of the world however, you get shifted to a plane of existence depending where you jumped off. A place with lots of holy energy will send you to the heavens, a place with lots of unholy energy sends you to the abyss (please not this teleportation does not kill you).

There is a place similar to what you said, a plane called "Potan" which was the result of a genesis spell gone wrong. The plane is ever expanding and has infinite resources, (however anything made and then removed from Potan require a fortitude save to avoid destruction the plane is VERY unstable).

The only people to ever see the edge of Potan are two Flash expys call "The blur twins", who have superspeed. According to them, jumping off the edge of Potan does the same thing as jumping off the edge of the world.

Dimers
2012-03-14, 02:49 PM
My gameworld is a planet (one located much closer to the galactic center than Earth is) with two moons and a sun. The campaign centers around a "hollow earth" phenomenon which is an invasion/infection by chthulic creatures from far away in space. Characters can also eventually travel to other planes of existence -- Spirit and Dream will be important, Thought and Shade and Death less so. Potentially they could also visit one of the two moons. How they'd get there, I don't know. Players tend to find ways to do crazy $#!+.

One world, many campaign settings: planet, hollow planet, spirit realm, dream realm, moon.

kieza
2012-03-14, 03:35 PM
Mine takes place on an earth-like planet, but with seven moons and a faint ring. The ring doesn't do much (that the players know about...), but the multiple moons, some of which are quite large, cause some really nasty waves and tides. As such, ocean travel is...difficult.

The ring is the very fine wreckage of several magitech orbital platforms put in place by the setting's gods/sufficiently advanced aliens. There was a civil war among the caretakers, which destroyed the platforms and a lot of other installations. But, there's still the base on the far side of the moon...

TheThan
2012-03-14, 06:02 PM
I was going to get into two different BESM campaigns that too place on a ship. but both of them fell apart before they got off the ground.

CGforever!
2012-03-14, 06:04 PM
Yes, several actually. Imagine a network of planets all connected by wormholes and portals. The portals are elf work, they work like standard fantasy portals. The wormholes are extradimensional areas, the center of which is an open hole to a different planet. Certain planets are more connected than others, and the "oldest" planet is in the center of it all with the most connections. Some planets have small populations and aren't very advanced, if at all, others are higher tech/magitech. Some are ice worlds like hoth, some are deserts like Dune, some are forests, etc. The neat thing is you could walk (or sail) across dozens of different planets, and possibly not know it.

Each little extradimensional area is called a node. The terrain, climate, flora & fauna of nodes are more extreme than the areas surrounding them. These are where dragons tend to live, as well as giants, dire animals, dinosaurs, etc. Nodes come in various sizes and strengths, only the largest connect to other planets. Some are just larger on the inside than the outside.

Naturally, they make mapping difficult if not impossible, and are difficult to find and navigate through. They also make it easier to get lost if you never intended on finding one.

Some nodes exist only in the sky, the water of an ocean, or underground via tunnels (or even solid rock). Some may even exist in the mantle or in space.

I'm still debating whether or not I want societies/guilds/whatnot that know of these nodes/wormholes and travel through them. If you've ever read A Deepness in the Sky, think of the Qeng Ho. Maybe on foot/mounted/with boats, maybe with airships - I dunno.

Jay R
2012-03-14, 07:55 PM
My last campaign was set on a world based on Ptolemy's astronomy. So, no, it wasn't a planet. There were the seven planets: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and they exerted influence on the earth.

Confused? A star (aster) is a bright light in the sky. The planets (planetes asteroi) are the stars that wander in the sky. Yes, the sun and the moon are planets, and the earth is not (since it obviously is not a bright light wandering about the sky).

RandomNPC
2012-03-14, 08:48 PM
Mine's weird. The poles are deserts, and the equator is an impassible ring of ice. You see sunlight actually takes away heat, and well, my gamers love it. I think I'll send them south to the ice fields.

What's on the other side of the ice? Nobody knows. I'm thinking if I want to run a game with tech instead of magic I'll run it on the southern hemisphere.

Hunter Noventa
2012-03-15, 11:56 AM
- Inside a planet/planetoid. "Gravity" is actually centrifugal force as the planetoid spins, holding you to the inside of the crust. If you look up, you see land waaaaaaay off in the distance. There is a magical "sun" in the centre that dims and brightens to account for "days."

My current campaign is something like this, it's kinda interesting, given that we've been able to get intel on enemy troop movements with a high-powered telescope and such.

And it's going to get weird when our airship is finished.

Thomar_of_Uointer
2012-03-17, 02:43 AM
One toy universe I've thought of is a series of planetoids orbiting a star. Except all the space between them is filled with air, and airship networks are a big deal. Each sphere is relatively small (the largest are 80-100 miles in diameter) and although they spin on their axises, they are held in place relative to one another by astral filaments. Gravity is relative to the closest sphere, except on airships which tweak gravity for propulsion. The most civilized part of the system is where about five of these planetoids are all within spitting distance of one another, which is where all of the major nations have sprung up. Parts of the system are divided by dense curtains of vapor and dust, and you can only see about a third of the planetoids in the sky at any one time. So far only a quarter of the planetoids have actually been explored, the rest can classified into three categories: populated by savages, belonging to a small, backwards empire, or totally uninhabited by humans but likely inhabited by big scary monsters.

boomwolf
2012-03-17, 01:43 PM
While I mostly work with planets, I also had one inverted planted (you are "inside" a ball-shape, with the center being a core of gas similar to the sun, leading to eternal daylight and very warm temperature all the time

Also had a single shapeless world where it simply did not follow any rules of physics humans can comprehend (things are bigger/smaller on the inside, gravity is local,the same "space" can occupy multiple "places", several roads going to different directions might lead to the same place, or two roads leading to the same direction might lead to different places etc...)
Was a nightmare to work with, but was fun like hell...