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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    No one who falls off ever comes back. No resurrection spells ever work.
    Why is that?

    Further, what kind of sages would gather at the edge. Maybe at an observatory.
    what would they be researching?

    this all just came to me a moment ago. What kind of adventure would be set at the edge of the world? it would have to be something epic.

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    EvilClericGuy

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    The Midgard Campaign Setting by Kobold Press has a world similar to this, bounded by the world serpent. There are a few adventures that detail what happens at the edge of the world...

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    Dwarf in the Playground
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    I recall a story- it might or might not have been by Michael Moorcock, but it was the sort of story that might have been by Michael Moorcock if it wasn't. That had the edge of the world being not a ledge that you could fall off of, but a dissolution into Chaos, with the note that extraordinary individuals were capable of imposing some sort of form and order upon it, thus extending the world and pushing the edge of it back.

    Alternatively, the Discworld variant, where you're lowering a bathyscope over the edge as part of a scientific endeavor to discover the sex of the turtle on whose back the world rides.

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    You have to be very careful with your gravitational slingshot around the turtle, or you might end up smacking into the back end of an elephant.

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    No one who falls off ever comes back. No resurrection spells ever work.
    Why is that?

    Further, what kind of sages would gather at the edge. Maybe at an observatory.
    what would they be researching?

    this all just came to me a moment ago. What kind of adventure would be set at the edge of the world? it would have to be something epic.
    I would just make it so you can't, none-aetherial matter won't pass beyond the edge. You can't pass by digging as eventually none-rock matter won't go any further.
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    EvilClericGuy

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Got the adventures I was thinking of for Midgard.

    To the Edge of the World (PF1):
    https://koboldpress.com/kpstore/prod...-of-the-world/

    Journeys to the West (PF1):
    https://koboldpress.com/kpstore/prod...athfinder-rpg/

    Summary of the two, with an eye on 5E:
    https://koboldpress.com/from-the-arc...-of-the-world/

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    Dwarf in the Playground
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    You fall from the sky right onto the place where you fell off of it, 24 hours later.

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    PirateCaptain

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    You fall off.

    And then, when you pass the middle of the disk and end up over the other edge, you land very, very hard when gravity reverts the other way.

    Of course, if you add too much lateral force to your fall, you slingshot around the rim, break orbit, and sail into the astral seas.
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    Laserlight's Avatar

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ajustusdaniel View Post
    I recall a story- a dissolution into Chaos, with the note that extraordinary individuals were capable of imposing some sort of form and order upon it, thus extending the world and pushing the edge of it back.
    I've never actually read the Exalted setting text but I gather the forces of Chaos can unmake the edges of Reality.

    John C Wright's Last Guardian of Everness has a character imprisoned in a cage dangling over the Edge. The city where that takes place also had nets to catch fish, wrecks, etc, before the Waterfall took them over, and observatories perched on the edge to try to peer into the Deeps. It's a fantastic book.

    I can imaging cliff dwellers living on the side of the edge, working mines and generally being crazy. If the world is surrounded by Ocean, then they mightsail or fish.
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    Ettin in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ajustusdaniel View Post
    I recall a story- it might or might not have been by Michael Moorcock, but it was the sort of story that might have been by Michael Moorcock if it wasn't. That had the edge of the world being not a ledge that you could fall off of, but a dissolution into Chaos, with the note that extraordinary individuals were capable of imposing some sort of form and order upon it, thus extending the world and pushing the edge of it back.
    That sounds a lot like Exalted 2nd edition's setting.

    In summary:
    At the center Creation is the Elemental Pole of Earth, which basically keeps Creation stable and solid. In the 4 directions are Fire, Air, Water, and... forget what word they use, but Plants. Leaves?
    As you move towards the edge of the world, things become looser as you leave the solidity of proper created reality and enter the Wyrd. At first things are still solid Creation but more focused on the element (e.g., it's hotter near the Pole of Fire). Then, things get stranger and more conceptual, eventually changing into a pure elemental chaos.
    The inhabitants of the Wyrd can try to 'attack' Creation, pushing it back and unmaking it. This has happened; I think the current Creation is a small percentage of what used to be. On the other hand, there's abilities to solidify reality and make more Creation--just those who can do so aren't usually in a place to be able to at the current time.

    (The original super-gods who made Creation aren't super-gods anymore, but are baddies--either demons imprisoned in a hellscape or dead-gods wanting to destroy everything in the netherworld. So, um, they aren't any help to making more Creation.
    I'm not sure, but I gather the current gods aren't strong enough or don't care enough. But at least the Solar Exalted have Charms to expand Creation, albeit it at a slow pace.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    No one who falls off ever comes back. No resurrection spells ever work.
    Why is that?

    Further, what kind of sages would gather at the edge. Maybe at an observatory.
    what would they be researching?

    this all just came to me a moment ago. What kind of adventure would be set at the edge of the world? it would have to be something epic.
    I think the Colour of Magic book gives some good ideas, based on what they encounter near the end.

    Though, for resurrection spells, I would make an answer like that magic only works properly within the boundaries of the world. So, for something outside the world, they can't be impacted.

    Alternatively (and a worse fate, in most eyes): outside the world, time isn't really a thing. Like the astral plane in D&D 3.5. You don't age or die (at least, it's hard to die) if you leave the edge of the world, so you can't be resurrected because you aren't dead. You're just falling for all eternity in a vast nothingness. Or at least that's what scholars guess.
    Last edited by JeenLeen; 2020-12-07 at 01:58 PM.

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    No one who falls off ever comes back. No resurrection spells ever work.
    Why is that?

    Further, what kind of sages would gather at the edge. Maybe at an observatory.
    what would they be researching?

    this all just came to me a moment ago. What kind of adventure would be set at the edge of the world? it would have to be something epic.
    It could be an ordeal and an adventure just to reach the edge. A discworld with realistic gravity would feel as it it were the inside of an enormous bowl - like a central valley ringed with mountains - because gravity would pull towards the middle of the disc. Therefore reaching the edge would be mostly a sheer climb and would have plenty of space to fit in all of the standard mountaineering adventure cliches. They could go through fantasy!Tibet and the fantasy!Andes and meet dwarves and drink Coors Light and be caught in an avalanche and get their arms stuck in crevasses so that they need to be amputated
    Last edited by Bohandas; 2020-12-14 at 02:00 PM.
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    When someone falls off the edge of the discworld they fall onto the other side of the world, the land of the dead. Spirits and the souls of the dead live in this shadowy, gray reflection of the world above. It is ruled by the Pale King, lord of death and disease.

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    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Deeper than the deepest crevice, darker than the darkest lake, exists The Hunger gnawing biting clawing, the very roots of the world worn away. The gods of old has stated its hunger but it slowly returns. The Angels and demons propagate their cults, harvest as many souls, knowing that their time will come.


    The world trembles with its renewed hunger. The Drow, who's kingdom is being devoured, rise up to safety. The Dwarves, having long forgotten the shadow, descend back down to the darkness and do battle with the Drow. All too soon the dwarves will run screaming to the heavens as the land is peirced by the shadow, by The Hunger.


    As the last mortal is consumed the high heavens and the low hells tremble for they are next. There is no stopping The Hunger.

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    Planetar

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    No one who falls off ever comes back. No resurrection spells ever work.
    Why is that?
    1) As you fall away from the world, time slows down more and more. It is technically incorrect to say that resurrection spell will never work, but resurrection spells only work on dead persons, and by the time you die of thirst (3 days), hundreds of centuries have past.

    2) Under the world is the primal chaos, from which everything is created, including souls. As you fall in, you are dissembled in most atomic parts, and the bricks of you soul re-enter the cycle of life as parts of new souls.

    3) The god-that-lives-under-the-world claim the souls of anyone that fall from it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    Further, what kind of sages would gather at the edge. Maybe at an observatory.
    what would they be researching?
    (1) The basic experience is to put something at the end of a rope (object, animal, human, etc), and try go lower and lower until it becomes unsafe, or until something is found.

    (2) Some rare materials from deep below the surface of the earth might be easier to get access to from the edge of the world

    (3) Some stars are only visible from the edge of the world, as they are "bellow" the surface of the earth, and those stars play a vital role in divination through astrology.

    (4) That's a pretty good place to build your secret fortress (or hide world-ending relics) if you don't have access to high level magic to create a private plane.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    this all just came to me a moment ago. What kind of adventure would be set at the edge of the world? it would have to be something epic.
    Depending on what happen when you fall, willingly falling to rescue someone who fell and climb back can be a pretty epic journey (very similar to the classical "going to the afterlife to save someone you love and come back with him/her")

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    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by MoiMagnus View Post
    1) As you fall away from the world, time slows down more and more. It is technically incorrect to say that resurrection spell will never work, but resurrection spells only work on dead persons, and by the time you die of thirst (3 days), hundreds of centuries have past.
    I really like this.
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    DruidGuy

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    I'll second this. Gotta love when the afterlife is a physical place you can go to.
    Quote Originally Posted by Erik the Bard View Post
    When someone falls off the edge of the discworld they fall onto the other side of the world, the land of the dead. Spirits and the souls of the dead live in this shadowy, gray reflection of the world above. It is ruled by the Pale King, lord of death and disease.
    Or, stealing from some heavily absused physics, what if the gravity of the pull is explained by a small (relatively speaking) black hole below it? Looking over the edge you see the light of astronomical bodies twist and smear and only a complete darkness where you know you should be seeing the stars passing through the seasonal cycle below.

    The black hole's astrophysical jet is a blast of energy and matter right into the centre of the disk - right below a region on the surface of wild magic and dangerous radiation which ultimately suffuses to fuel the cycles of the world's magic and is in turn fueled by that which falls over the edge into the darkness. Those jets come in pairs too, so maybe the downward jet that can't be seen is fueling something else. Maybe the sun orbits under the disk and you can see it being sapped by the black hole at night but when it passes through the beam it suddenly becomes much brighter - creating the seasons of the disk which I'm sure must be very weird. Oooh, maybe the only safe time to travel in the central region is during "spring" nights when the sun blocks the jet. No idea what'd happen to the moon - if there is one. Obviously, ignore all of that if you're using the middle of the disk for something other than knock-off Chaos Wastes.

    The reason souls never return is because not even spirit can escape the pull of oblivion. These unlucky dead remain trapped within the singularity until they too are churned up to fuel the jets. Eons of captivity leading to oblivion.

    The sages that observe these sights study how light bends and are master illusionists or develop elemental magic with a cosmic flair. Or maybe they hear whispers of what lies on the other side of the darkness and learn great secrets of power while going quite insane. Or maybe they help predict the seasons like the Maesters in Asoiaf by keeping track of the sun's path relative to the jets (if you want to use that part).
    According to easydamus, I'm a 4th level CG elf wizard. Str 9 - Dex 11 - Con 9 - Int 18 - Wis 14 - Cha 16.

    Homebrew setting (or part thereof): Phaunia and the Twilit Between

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    not much to contribute here apart from !!!! Discworld???!
    Pretty sure that in The Light Fantastic, the Sea Troll recounts falling off of the edge of their world and hitting the disc..
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    Quote Originally Posted by Waterdeep Merch View Post
    Use your smite bite to fight the plight right. Fill the site with light and give fright to wights as a knight of the night, teeth white; mission forthright, evil in flight. Despite the blight within, you perform the rite, ignore any contrite slight, fangs alight, soul bright.

    That sight is dynamite.

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    My first thought is, what are you falling towards? Obviously it's a fantasy-world so gravity can work however you want it to, but if it's not just an infinitely bottomless chasm (boring), then there has to be a bottom/floor/center at some point, right? Maybe it's a super-massive black hole, that's so dense not even magic can escape (hence why resurrection and divination spells don't work. Or maybe it's just a magic-eating monster.
    Last edited by Deepbluediver; 2021-01-03 at 05:16 PM.
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    Pixie in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ajustusdaniel View Post
    I recall a story- it might or might not have been by Michael Moorcock, but it was the sort of story that might have been by Michael Moorcock if it wasn't. That had the edge of the world being not a ledge that you could fall off of, but a dissolution into Chaos, with the note that extraordinary individuals were capable of imposing some sort of form and order upon it, thus extending the world and pushing the edge of it back.

    Alternatively, the Discworld variant, where you're lowering a bathyscope over the edge as part of a scientific endeavor to discover the sex of the turtle on whose back the world rides.
    90% certain you're right. Was this story about a knight who has to fight a golem and defeats it by making it look in a mirror? The story you're thinking of is "The Dream of Earl Aubec".

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    Pixie in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops08 View Post
    No one who falls off ever comes back. No resurrection spells ever work.
    Why is that?

    Further, what kind of sages would gather at the edge. Maybe at an observatory.
    what would they be researching?

    this all just came to me a moment ago. What kind of adventure would be set at the edge of the world? it would have to be something epic.
    They become comets. Falling through space, flesh, and bone and blood are shriven from them, until only will and mind are left. Blazing trails behind them, such burning beings are seen as comets. Some cannot maintain the sense of self, and burn up in the atmosphere, the ambient will becoming the raw stuff of magic (and the root of the "wish on a falling star myth"), others master themselves, free of mental hinderances like "glands" and thoughts limited to the speed of neural pathways, they ascend, becoming stars. Why would such an entity WISH to be resurrected?

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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Quote Originally Posted by RedFred View Post
    They become comets. Falling through space, flesh, and bone and blood are shriven from them, until only will and mind are left. Blazing trails behind them, such burning beings are seen as comets. Some cannot maintain the sense of self, and burn up in the atmosphere, the ambient will becoming the raw stuff of magic (and the root of the "wish on a falling star myth"), others master themselves, free of mental hinderances like "glands" and thoughts limited to the speed of neural pathways, they ascend, becoming stars. Why would such an entity WISH to be resurrected?
    Gosh.. that's.. metal.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Waterdeep Merch View Post
    Use your smite bite to fight the plight right. Fill the site with light and give fright to wights as a knight of the night, teeth white; mission forthright, evil in flight. Despite the blight within, you perform the rite, ignore any contrite slight, fangs alight, soul bright.

    That sight is dynamite.

  22. - Top - End - #22
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    ClericGuy

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    Default Re: Flat/Diskworld. What happens when you fall off the edge?

    Have you ever read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? It's got a pretty good take on things. Instead of falling forever, the edge of the world is where the spirit world and mundane world blend together. Things get weird and magic seems almost normal. Perhaps the sages at the edge of the world are studying the deeper nature of the metaphysical or seeking to capture spiritual beings for research. Maybe the quest at the edge of the world revolves around maintaining the barrier and preserving reality itself!

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