Has Anyone Ever Used Crossroads?

[Palanan]

When I was first discovering the Forgotten Realms, I was especially taken with the notion of the crossroads, as described in Magic of Faerûn. I loved the idea of a secret skein of passageways, access to which had to be earned rather than simply forced.

Sadly, I've never found a DM who's even heard of these, much less incorporated them into a campaign. Are these simply too obscure to have seen much use? Were the listed locations too limited? Or did some people actually use them, back in the day?

[Venger]

When I was first discovering the Forgotten Realms, I was especially taken with the notion of the crossroads, as described in Magic of Faerûn. I loved the idea of a secret skein of passageways, access to which had to be earned rather than simply forced.

Sadly, I've never found a DM who's even heard of these, much less incorporated them into a campaign. Are these simply too obscure to have seen much use? Were the listed locations too limited? Or did some people actually use them, back in the day?

I've been playing for years and this is literally the first I've heard of them. They are awfully interesting from a fluff perspective.

I'd definitely attribute it to obscurity. As far as balance goes, they seem fine. There's more obstacles to using them than normal means of fast travel/teleportation, so they don't really offer any tangible advantage over something like wind walk or tree stride, so even for people who do know about this rule, I can see why it's not discussed

[KillingAScarab]

When I was first discovering the Forgotten Realms, I was especially taken with the notion of the crossroads, as described in Magic of Faerûn. I loved the idea of a secret skein of passageways, access to which had to be earned rather than simply forced.

Sadly, I've never found a DM who's even heard of these, much less incorporated them into a campaign. Are these simply too obscure to have seen much use? Were the listed locations too limited? Or did some people actually use them, back in the day?I was only familiar with portals. I found a DM mentioning using them in some (http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4663) topics (http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8069&whichpage=2) on Candlekeep, as well as one prestige class (http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16019) with a class feature which duplicates the create crossroads spell as a spell-like ability.

[Rangô]

I have read a lot about Forgotten Realms, novels, books, even I own the 2ed vademecum, so it's a well-known world to me and I'd assure that if you're not involved in the world as player you won't enjoy it.

Well, as DM I used crossroads inside my FR campaign, I love it. To get access to, I presented some challenges to my party, Fey Guardians, Mermaids, puzzles, riddles, even bardic songs... they had to earn the privilege to cross. I let them chose how to face the challenges, rewarding with extra XP if it wasn't fighting the guardian. Guess what? they didn't fight.
During the travel across the portal they could find new-old magic, creatures and monsters that just were part of the world not the main story.
All that mixed with network of 'normal' FR portals. As DM I did what I had liked to face as player, after the sessions I didn't see that the party really enjoyed, neither bored just a mere formality. I spoke with them and the opinions were disparated so I left it behind and started using normal portals... I regret it, I think it was so fluffy.