Help with the Abyss

[captainstan]

So I am running a game on Roll20 and I am in the process of creating a bunch of maps for the Abyss since my party decided to enter a demonic portal and want to try to play it out. The problem I am having is actually envisioning what this is going to look like terrain wise. Some of the things I am picturing is almost like a WWII type landscape with trenches, not much vegetation, dangerous gases about, machinery or ruined buildings and what have you strewn about various maps. I also picture some of the tiny demons acting as though they are like rats to some degree, hiding in areas so they are not seen by their big bad brethren and killed. I know there are infinite layers and each vary quite a bit so here have been some of my thoughts for some other layers. Any feedback would be very much welcome.

A very thick/dark forested plane
One that the land feels like it has give to it and if torn apart (almost like a thick carpet) there is like a rotten frame holding everything up. Below it is a seemingly endless pit.
One where fire and ice are almost at odds at any part. So like there would be a small frozen pond and lava keeps spewing up from it yet the ice is cold enough to fend off the lava so there is no real expansion or contraction on either side. That being said this plane would be have elements of a winterland and a fire land type set up.
Another one would be basic, more just some plains and hills with demons roaming.
A pit that seems to wind down endlessly and has beings trapped in the walls.
One rich with vegetation.

Those are just some basic jumping off points. Not every plane is necessarily "ruled" by a greater demon, but many are. Also within each plane there are beings from other planes outside of the Abyss that have either ventured there on purpose or not.

Thoughts?

[damascoplay]

A layer where the soil is black and corrupted, almost looking like burnt flesh. Jagged rocks rises to the top over the barren wastelands while the skies are filled with crimson clouds and flying demons. The land creates giant sinkholes wich are filled with spikes like needles and others are filled to the brim with blood pools that tears the skin apart of creatures and demons alike, while the walls look like the insides of a creature. Most of those sinkholes are covered by a thin layer of burnt flesh to fool preys to walk into it. This layer is filled with deep underground caverns wich the entrance greatly resembles an open mouth. And the constructions and ruins are entirely made out of bones and teeths of giant demons.

Blood golems are created by the own Abyss to annihilate outsiders, and it's own native creatures indiscriminately.

:smallsmile:

[Honest Tiefling]

The DMG states that most layers of the Abyss embody perversion, gruesomeness and chaos. Your first idea sounds good, but the others just need a bit of oomph. So let's go over your planes and inject some of that...


A very thick/dark forested plane

What, did we venture into Corellon's backyard? I think the simplest way to fix this is that it is a giant forest of decaying trees. You could have one fall onto the party if they are not careful, and instead of flattening unfortunate PCs, they are covered in rot, fungus and all sorts of creepy-crawlies. Add in some razor-sharp thorns and venomous plants, and we got some encounter ideas.


One that the land feels like it has give to it and if torn apart (almost like a thick carpet) there is like a rotten frame holding everything up. Below it is a seemingly endless pit.

I like this idea...But I don't think it's good for a layer of the Abyss. I think this is an encounter. After all, the Abyss is chaotic, so why wouldn't it rearrange itself once in a while?


One where fire and ice are almost at odds at any part. So like there would be a small frozen pond and lava keeps spewing up from it yet the ice is cold enough to fend off the lava so there is no real expansion or contraction on either side. That being said this plane would be have elements of a winterland and a fire land type set up.

This seems a bit too much like the Elemental Chaos. Perhaps if the water and fire represented too very different forms of corruption? The water could be home to various undead or demons roaming the murky depths, and will cause any mortal that drinks or touches it to sloooooowly turn into one of the demonic undead themselves. The fire is the fires of pure destruction and do not consume normal fuel, but rather, emotions or souls or somesuch. The flesh would not burn, but the sanity will. There's also the idea that anyone who drinks from it could become an abyssal tiefling, or lead to the creation of a new abyssal bloodline. Or even that the waters reduce willpower, which is why it opposes the flames. Drinking or getting dunked into the water could make one more susceptible to demonic magic...


Another one would be basic, more just some plains and hills with demons roaming.

I think this is rather dull, but you might have need for a layer that is a bit of a breather. I suggest replacing the dirt of the hills with bodies stitched together. Could have things like trees growing out of a mound of bodies and grass growing from eyesockets. Still a bit more peaceful, but still has some Abyssal charm.


A pit that seems to wind down endlessly and has beings trapped in the walls.

Problem is, what happens to a PC that falls? Is that an insta-death?

[captainstan]

The DMG states that most layers of the Abyss embody perversion, gruesomeness and chaos. Your first idea sounds good, but the others just need a bit of oomph. So let's go over your planes and inject some of that...



What, did we venture into Corellon's backyard? I think the simplest way to fix this is that it is a giant forest of decaying trees. You could have one fall onto the party if they are not careful, and instead of flattening unfortunate PCs, they are covered in rot, fungus and all sorts of creepy-crawlies. Add in some razor-sharp thorns and venomous plants, and we got some encounter ideas.



I like this idea...But I don't think it's good for a layer of the Abyss. I think this is an encounter. After all, the Abyss is chaotic, so why wouldn't it rearrange itself once in a while?



This seems a bit too much like the Elemental Chaos. Perhaps if the water and fire represented too very different forms of corruption? The water could be home to various undead or demons roaming the murky depths, and will cause any mortal that drinks or touches it to sloooooowly turn into one of the demonic undead themselves. The fire is the fires of pure destruction and do not consume normal fuel, but rather, emotions or souls or somesuch. The flesh would not burn, but the sanity will. There's also the idea that anyone who drinks from it could become an abyssal tiefling, or lead to the creation of a new abyssal bloodline. Or even that the waters reduce willpower, which is why it opposes the flames. Drinking or getting dunked into the water could make one more susceptible to demonic magic...



I think this is rather dull, but you might have need for a layer that is a bit of a breather. I suggest replacing the dirt of the hills with bodies stitched together. Could have things like trees growing out of a mound of bodies and grass growing from eyesockets. Still a bit more peaceful, but still has some Abyssal charm.



Problem is, what happens to a PC that falls? Is that an insta-death?

Really appreciate the feedback man! I just need to somehow get this onto a map that could be usable for roll20 ha. I love it though. Thank you so much.

[Honest Tiefling]

Actually, I have more. You seem to have a thing for bottomless pits, but the problem with that is that they become instant-death traps. One failure and you're dead. But why not tweak the idea? I mean, you need a way to get from one of these set pieces to the other, right? You could use that pit with the bodies (perhaps they are decaying, yet entirely aware of the process?) as a gate from one layer to the next. Failure isn't being unrezzable, but instead, getting to the next layer a little early.

[captainstan]

Actually, I have more. You seem to have a thing for bottomless pits, but the problem with that is that they become instant-death traps. One failure and you're dead. But why not tweak the idea? I mean, you need a way to get from one of these set pieces to the other, right? You could use that pit with the bodies (perhaps they are decaying, yet entirely aware of the process?) as a gate from one layer to the next. Failure isn't being unrezzable, but instead, getting to the next layer a little early.

Honestly that was kind of where I was going to go with it. Either another layer or a big baddy is waiting down there. I am also planning on there being plenty of "tears" that are visible that act as portals to wherever. Maybe back to the material plane or maybe somewhere that is a little more grotesque you know?

[Honest Tiefling]

Honestly that was kind of where I was going to go with it. Either another layer or a big baddy is waiting down there. I am also planning on there being plenty of "tears" that are visible that act as portals to wherever. Maybe back to the material plane or maybe somewhere that is a little more grotesque you know?

Pfft. If your Abyss isn't as grotesque as it gets, your Abyss needs to get WORSE. This is where fiends come from, after all. Don't give your primary antagonists a downgrade!

Perhaps a baddy is indeed stuck down in the pit...But you can only access it by falling, else you sloooowly become a part of the pit as you climb down. Perhaps a PC who is too reluctant to fall starts to notice that their hand is starting to coalesce with the pit, forcing them to either give in (and die) or rip their hand off and suffer a bit of an injury. How much damage you take in your fall and how long it takes are unrelated and random.

[captainstan]

Pfft. If your Abyss isn't as grotesque as it gets, your Abyss needs to get WORSE. This is where fiends come from, after all. Don't give your primary antagonists a downgrade!

Perhaps a baddy is indeed stuck down in the pit...But you can only access it by falling, else you sloooowly become a part of the pit as you climb down. Perhaps a PC who is too reluctant to fall starts to notice that their hand is starting to coalesce with the pit, forcing them to either give in (and die) or rip their hand off and suffer a bit of an injury. How much damage you take in your fall and how long it takes are unrelated and random.

That's actually been kind of implemented. The whole reason the party is in the Abyss at this point is because they found a rift, fought a demon and one of them said "hey I wanna go down there". Did so and was captured almost immediately and taken to what I am calling the pit. From there he is pushed against a wall and is captured as rock engulfs him. Ultimately he dies because in my book you can't go down into the Abyss at a very low level and on your own and expect to just walk out. Prior to him dying though he did notice a lot of other scrap demons in the same situation as well as other beings from other planes, some he was familiar with some he wasn't. He spent his waking moments watching the rocks that had engulfed him squeeze out his insides onto a makeshift plate for a demon to feast off of. Badass ending to his character even if it was unfortunate.

[Droodicus]

You could make the bottomless pit circular like I believe it was tarturus in the dark elf trilogy. So if somebody falls in the pit they fall out of sight and as the party gives up and gets ready to leave the pc falls from the sky back into the pit. Now the party has to figure out a way to catch them as they fall past again. But what else heard the screaming.....

[Celcey]

I highly recommend reading the Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. It's a 3.5 book all about the Abyss. Full disclosure: I've never read this Fiendish Codex, only Tyrants of the Nine Hells, which is the second one. But that had a ton of fluff about devils and the Nine Hells, so I can only imagine this one is the same. You can find the PDF pretty easily if you Google it, and it should have tons of fluff stuff you can use.

[hamishspence]

Pfft. If your Abyss isn't as grotesque as it gets, your Abyss needs to get WORSE.

Works well for most layers - but sometimes it can be fun to have a layer which seems very normal (or even paradisiacal) in most respects but having something creepy or sinister "underneath".

[dreast]

There are a LOT of resources you can use to build abyss layers left over from previous editions of the game (chapters in the Manuals of the Planes, Planescape source books, etc.). You can also pull from every version of Hell that ISN’T inspired by Dante’s Inferno that exists in popular culture (anime is good for this). Note that the Abyss has infinite layers, so as long as it’s unpleasant and full of demons, the sky’s not even the limit (You could easily have a layer based on the Upside Down from Stranger Things, for example.). When a Prime Material world falls to demonic hordes, the result is another layer of the Abyss (Diablo’s world, anyone?). Let your imagination run wild!

[Unoriginal]

You could have one layer that's being rearranged to be a parody of the other Planes. Like, the Demons are busy creating this enormous pile of machines, each higher-ranking one acting as the lead engineer for their own small part while their subordinates struggle to build something (as a parody of Mechanus), with various engines being used to create flames, lava pools and smoke (Elemental Plane of Fire), aquariums and pools filled with dubious hazardous substances, creatures and condition (Plane of Water), enormous area full of minerals and the like being endlessly twisted in various shapes or transformed into other matters (Plane of Earth) and machines constantly blowing strong winds, serving as cooling system for the other machines, and wacky flying engines roaming the sky (Plane of Air).