Does D&D have world wonders?

[Buufreak]

Continuing on my never ending goal of an organic world to play "dnd: the civilization simulator," and modeling bits here and there of off previously existing world builder games, the thought occurred: are there any specific things from the various campaign settings and world that you would consider to be "wonders?" Be they man-made or be they naturally occurring. What would you consider to be the wonders of our beloved material plane(s)?

[AvatarVecna]

Continuing on my never ending goal of an organic world to play "dnd: the civilization simulator," and modeling bits here and there of off previously existing world builder games, the thought occurred: are there any specific things from the various campaign settings and world that you would consider to be "wonders?" Be they man-made or be they naturally occurring. What would you consider to be the wonders of our beloved material plane(s)?

I'm not sure if it should count cuz it's very difficult to make into a tourist attraction exactly, but...Undermountain?

[Bullet06320]

I thought Undermountain was a tourist attraction

[MesiDoomstalker]

I would say a lot of places have world wonders; they are usually high lighted in setting books as interesting adventure locations. These are places that have legends about them told by bards across the land. And this includes things in civilized areas, like your Eiffel Tower and Big Ben equivalents.

[AvatarVecna]

I thought Undermountain was a tourist attraction

The Yawning Portal is a tourist attraction and people get dared to go down the hole and touch the bottom and most of the time that's just safe enough for them to survive. Undermountain itself attracts a lot of adventurer interest in plundering it for loot, but that's not quite the same thing. Like, imagine there's a "museum" full of priceless artifacts, but it's filled with heavily armed security guards who actively try to murder anyone who sets foot inside. And people try to go in anyway because if you can manage to steal anything, it legally belongs to you now. Calling that museum a "tourist attraction" wouldn't be completely inaccurate, but it's not really true either.

[Daisy]

Check out the Manual of the Planes and the Planar Handbook. The former details interesting places on the planes, whilst the second has planar touchstones which are sort of like natural wonders.

[Kurald Galain]

Sure. For instance, Golarion has a number that you can copy or take inspiration from for your world, such as
The Starstone
Skyreach
Xin-Grafar, the city of gold
The Worldwound
The Eye of Abendego
The Hao-Jin Tapestry
Irespan, the Giant's Bridge


And a bunch of others. Not all of these are safe to visit, at all. Check https://pathfinderwiki.com/ for background and details.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Check out the Manual of the Planes and the Planar Handbook. The former details interesting places on the planes, whilst the second has planar touchstones which are sort of like natural wonders.

The Planar Touchstones are more "the seven Wonders of the Multiverse", but each Plane is big and diverse enough to have seven wonders on its own. Even in the positive energy plane, the most hostile plane of them all, there's the bastion of broken souls, the Fortress of Life, Hospice, the Imprisoning Cells, and the Refuge of Color, the Heart of Light, the Eye of the Plane of Lightning, Adrift and many more if you count the Quasi-elemental Planes around it..

[Chronos]

Waterdeep has a collection of a half-dozen giant statues that are certainly worth visiting. Legend has it that they occasionally animate, but the last time that happened was in the ancient past (like, at least three years ago), so it's unclear whether they really do.

There's another town in Faerun (I can't remember the name) that has a second sun permanently hovering high over the town, so it's always lit.

[Kurald Galain]

the last time that happened was in the ancient past (like, at least three years ago)

So how many editions ago is that? :smallbiggrin:

[Kol Korran]

Some wonders from Eberron (In no particular order. Many of which are not that safe):
--------------------------------------------------
# Sharn the city of Towers: A city of skyscrapers, reaching towards the sky, with a whole floating neighborhood above. The city resides on a zone that links to a sort of air dimension (Syrania) and thus enables and powers a lot of air based magic, which helps support it's many wonders.

# The floating academy of Arcanix in Aundair: A magical university on floating isles.

# Church of The Silver Flame: Within it there is a rift from which direct divine fire constantly flow, and you can hear the voices of the divinity within.

# Argonth: A humongous mobile military fortress.

# The numerous ruins of the mighty giant empires in the continent of Xen'dric.

# The head of Eberron: A mile or more long rock in the form of a dragon's head of unknown origin, which the dragons of Argonnesen revere.

# The Labyrinth and Ashtakala, the city of demons in the Demon Wastes.

# Oalian the mighty awakened oak which resides on the Eldeen reaches. The moat powerful and wise druids (and one of the most powerful casters) in Khorvaire.

# Stone town in Droaam: A small settlement built and inhabited by Medusa architects and their pets.

# The court of the undying in Aerenal: A place where the ancestors of the elves have transcended, and still guide the elven nation.

Those are samples form the core Eberron book. The are many more in expansion books. (And probably in the core book as well, I am writing from memory alone).

D&D worlds are often full of wondrous locations. But that raises the question- What constitutes a wonder, especially in a magical world?

[AvatarVecna]

Oh remembered a weird thing from SKT: there is something in the sword coast called The Stone Bridge. It is a dwarf-made bridge that crosses the Dessarin. It is a single arch: 2 miles long, up to 400 ft high, and 20 ft wide. There are no railings to keep someone from falling off. It's a cool enough showing of dwarven masonry that it also doubles as a temple of Moradin.

[Bullet06320]

Dragon mag 297 has stone henge and other megaliths, and the sphinx altho thats an epic golem

[Bohandas]

The demesnes of the gods that are publicly accessibe would probably qualify

[Tzardok]

I know you said "publically accessible", but I couldn't help imagening tourist guides leading their groups through Vecna's secret fortress and disturbing him all the time when he's plotting. :smallbiggrin:

[atemu1234]

I know you said "publically accessible", but I couldn't help imagening tourist guides leading their groups through Vecna's secret fortress and disturbing him all the time when he's plotting. :smallbiggrin:

Twoflower wandering aimlessly through the Tomb of Horrors sounds like a fun time

[Bullet06320]

I know you said "publically accessible", but I couldn't help imagening tourist guides leading their groups through Vecna's secret fortress and disturbing him all the time when he's plotting. :smallbiggrin:

probly written by Volo, heavily edited by Elminster of course

[Buufreak]

I know you said "publically accessible"

Actually I didn't. And generally it can be strategic, either to amass culture and tourism or to keep other players from gaining certain boons, to make them very not public and hoard the holy bells out of them.

[Tzardok]

You didn't, but Bohandas did. And my post was an answer to Bohandas' post directly before mine, so I saw no reason to quote him.

[ShurikVch]

How about the Fantastic Locations (https://index.rpg.net/display-series.phtml?seriesid=721&nomaster=1) series?