Pimp My Planet

[Daegann Darrow]

Please excuse the title of the thread, it's just so darn catchy.

Anyways, my friend Konr and I have been kicking around an idea for the past couple months while we abuse each others characters in our respective games, his Half-Orc Fighter/Hulking Hurler developed a seriously fanatic case of animism so my Human Ranger/Assassin was afflicted with a terrible case of claustrophobia, and we decided that there's one thing that most campaigns are missing.

What is the planet really like?

Continents and islands are easily mapped for a world map, and you might have four moons, but seriously, what is going on with the planet?

Now you might say, "Daegann! You are long winded and overly interested in planets!"

Well to that I say, Meh. What's better than running your very own campaign you worked on for six months? Running your very own campaign you worked on for six months on a planet whose moon is a giant blob of mercury! So the many seas of the planet are tidal like ours, but way, WAY more. And during paragee (Moon is at its closest) the tidal forces of the malleble metal will cause sweet tidal waves of destruction!

Now, some of you might say, "But Daegann, mercury is a liquid at room temperature, so it would be solid in space! And you're being insensitive to the victims of the semi-recent tidal wave that hit Asia!"

Well to that I say, "Well you're playing D&D so some scientific principles can be ignored, and my bad."

After making you read all that, maybe, I'll sum it up so you feel angry. Cool planets make cool campaigns even COOLER.

Anyways, I'm interested to hear/read your ideas as well as share some more of my own. (Tidal Ravagers attack during the full moon!)

[Xuincherguixe]

One thing, you don't need to have your campaign "world" a "planet". Maybe if you walk far enough, you might find yourself in a place where all rules and sense breaks down. Or there's the idea of "the edge of the world". Sail a ship far enough and you'll fall off.

For my upcoming campaign, I'm not sure how I'll handle things. Since the gods (who are antagonists) will be represented with a sun, moon, and other planets the campaign setting should probably be a round planet too. But my thought is that there will be parts where the normal rules break down and one will be able to walk to spiritual realms. Maybe the border areas taking some characteristics of the target? So you'll be lost in the forest of illusion until you concentrate on where you want to be.

Other than the fantastical elements, it'll be a mostly earth like world. I think if I made it too alien, I wouldn't be able to express the messages (it's got a couple themes to it)

[Daegann Darrow]

So your world is flat, so to speak? And the celestial plane is just a long walk that-a-way?

That's pretty neat:smallbiggrin:

[TheGrimace]

My world is a cone...
the transition from the sides to the flat is all oceanic, and is barely noticed when on ship (you just, fall for a second)...
The tip of the cone is a mountain.
So, if you think about it, that mountain is literally the size of the entire world.

[Xuincherguixe]

So your world is flat, so to speak? And the celestial plane is just a long walk that-a-way?

That's pretty neat:smallbiggrin:

Well, I'm still fairly undecided on my own campaign setting. Mostly I was just trying to point out the world doesn't have to fit into a modern scientific view.

[Attilargh]

One of my best ideas ever had a world whose underworld (as in, the place where the dead go) was literally under the world. You could dig in deep enough and oh gods what is that? Oh, sorry, dad. Aren't you dead? Similarly, if you climbed high enough, you could find yourself going down an entirely different mountain and meeting some pretty astonished deities.

Add some Alien Sky (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlienSky) and you're done. Just don't think about the dimensions too hard.


Another neat idea I had was a campaign entirely underground. No sun, no sky, nuthin'. Pour into a mould (spherical is easiest, although a Klein bottle could be pretty damn cool) and add an ice age frosting on top.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Mine goes on and on and on. Mostly it's sea, but after a while you will reach land. And that land is... Well, it's where gods live.

Yes, you can sail to the gods.
And yes, I just thought of that a few minutes ago. I think I'll make this island in the...

Lets see, south is Norway, more south is Greenland/Northern Canada, and then, i think you just keep going on ice after that. I might have some underice, undersea cultures there.

North is South/Central America.

West is Hawaii, and further than that is China/Japan

So looks like it's east.

[Ulrichomega]

I've toyed with the idea of an infinite Earth.

It goes on and on in all directions, so every part is a new adventure.

[Heliomance]

Would it have a crisis?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Be careful about adding too much bling to your planet. Eberron got carried away and wound up with way too many satellites for an Earthlike planet to possibly have. It's got a ring, for Mr. T's sake.

[FlyMolo]

It doesn't matter if the moon is solid. It still exerts gravity almost the same way.

And in any case, it doesn't have to be solid. Tidal forces exerted by the earth squash and stretch the moon anyway. That would heat it up. Or you could have radioactive isotopes decaying in the middle, making heat. It could still be globby. And the coolest part is there would be counter-tides on the moon, except huge. So that would enhance earthly tides. Eventually, the moon could even get slowly pulled apart!

That'd make a cool side quest. Teleport to the moon, buff the party with an endure elements spell, and have fun on the surface. Remember to include solid chunks of frozen mercury on the surface(a la earthly sea ice), giant tide-waves, and moon beasties. Your PCs need either special equipment or to be undead. Get a vampire to bite y'all, then stab him. That'll do it. If you have druids, wildshape elemental will work too. Also remember damage from the vacuum and will saves to avoid insanity. mercury fumes make ya crazy, remember. And if someone complains, remind them that the earth is also in space, and that the middle of earth is molten. And stone is a lot harder to melt than mercury. (fyi, mercury melts at about -80 celsius, maybe -120 F.)

But yeah. Maybe solars and such could live on the moon. And devils on the dark side of it.:smallwink: Maybe even a homebrew thingie called a floyd. They'd come in a lots of colors, blue, green, pink, red.

[martyboy74]

Which one is pink?

[DraPrime]

Have you seen my campaign setting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48579&highlight=Halves)? It's the coolest (and hottest) planet out there.

[Cryopyre]

He's not talking about the fact that it's a liquid, but mercury is extremely heavy and dense, so it would exert massive gravitational energy if there was an entire moon made out of it, which is probably why it wouldn't distort much.

The planet might even orbit around the mercury moon the gravity would be so strong, that would be weird, especially since it could be smaller than earth.