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DM’s Guide to Jumping Dimensions and Planes of Reality

ByDungeon Mastering Team
5 Comments
Jumping Dimensions and Planes of Reality
Jumping Dimensions and Planes of Reality

This post was contributed by Chris Kentlea of Ennead Games. This post is for those DM’s who need to create a quick random plane for those dimension jumping heroes who just love going off the beaten track and messing around with the whole of the universe. This is a sample from his upcoming “Lexicon of the Planes”. The full version will have more charts, some sample planes, some equipment that may help and more!

There are many different layers of reality, know as Planes. In some planes, the rules are not the same as at home. Magic works differently. Time flows faster and a second here is a year at home. The very environment itself may have an effect on the travelers. Sometimes even simply getting to a particular plane is in itself a dangerous course of events.

There are several types of planes

The Prime Material Plane The home plane
The Parallel Material Plane Variants on the home plane. A event occured here that didn’t in the home. Sometimes minor, sometimes major.
The Astral A plane of nothingness, with random islands of matter. Considered by some to be a transit or travel plane.
The Ethereal Co-exists along with the Material Plane(s). In some places, overlaps the Material.
The Elemental These consist primarily of one type of matter (Air, Fire, Earth, Water plus others)
The Energy Positive And Negative Energy abound here. There is rumored to be others.
The Demiplanes Covers all extra-dimensional spaces that function like planes. Have measurable size and limited access.
The Others Covers all other types of planes and pocket-dimensions.

There are generally 8 categories which the Sages apply to planes:

Gateway How to get to this plane.
Connection Direct from the Prime Material Plane (PMP) or do you have to go via another plane first.
Environmental How different is the environment from the Prime Material?
Magical How is Magic affected here. This applies to Clerical magical, and Psionics as well.
Spatial Is this Plane infinite? Does it loop around or does it have clear well defined borders?
Temporal The Passage of time on this plane, compared to the home plane.  This can be the most dangerous as there is no indication that time passing here is going any faster or slower then on the home plane.
Technological Does technology function here? If so is it better? Is it worse? Does it function at all?
Weirdness/Quirks There are some things you only find in one place in the whole of creation.

For the generation of random plane features, roll the appropriate dice, or pick.

Gateway (D10)

1 Artifact/Item A powerful item is needed to breach the planer barriers.
2-9 Spell/Ritual A spell, miracles or Psionic power.
0 Location Finding the right location at the right time makes it as simple as just walking there.

Connection (d100)

01 – 79 Direct with Prime Material
80 – 89 Through the Ethereal
90 – 94 Through the Astral
95 – 96 Through an Elemental
97 – 98 Through a Energy Plane
99 – 00 Through another Plane

Environmental (D10)

1 Oblivion Nothing material can exist here. If you don’t leave within 10      rounds…neither will you.
2 Torment This plane touches onto the Negative Energy Plane. If you’re not      classed as undead, you soon will be. You cannot heal at all.  Sleep provides NO benefits. Clerics cannot contact their deity. Your     worst nightmares are made flesh.
3 Tainted This plane is hostile to life, but it is possible to exits here. Rest time     needed is doubled.
4-8 Normal Conditions are the same as the home plane.
9 Enhanced This plane is good for life
0 Paradise Any Death, Disintegration or such like is negated. To live here is to be     immortal and free of suffering.  Any diseases are cured. Any curses     are put on hold until you leave.

Magical (D10) [Applies to Spells/Miracles and Psionics]

1 None No Magic can exist here. Anything brought into the plane from outside looses it ability’s within 1d10 days, this include classes.
2 Forgotten No Magic is active here, but if brought in can still function as normal. However it can’t be recharged or spells memorized etc. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
3 Diminished Roll a D10

1 – 9 The number rolled is the maximum level of spells or spell like ability’s that can function here.
0 Magic energy is unreliable. Roll A D6 every time a spell or item ability is used.

Odds Doesn’t Work. Charges/Spells still used up.
Even Works as normal.
4-8 Normal Works the same as the PMP
9 Enhanced Roll a dice

1 Spell/charge is not used, neither are components. Effects are 2d6 levels higher.
2-3 Spell/Charge is not used, but components are. Spells are 1d6 levels higher.
4-0 Used as normal, but at 1d4 levels higher.
0 Wild Items when used (D12)(Roll each time)

  1. Gain a Charge – Free use
  2. Gain a charge – 1d4 Charges
  3. Lose an extra Charge
  4. Lose an extra 1d4 Charge
  5. Are Fully Recharged
  6. Lose all Charges
  7. Lose all Charges, then turn to ash
  8. Start Recharging at a rate of 1 Charge per round. When they have reached twice normal maximum they explode, all charges are cast on user, normal saving throws allowed. The user has 1d4 rounds to get rid of the item whilst it starts to hum at a increasing pitch
  9. Nothing Happens – No charges used
  10. Nothing Happens – Charges used
  11. Item functions as 1d6 levels higher(for effects)
  12. Item functions as 1d6 levels lower(to a minimum of 1)

Abilitys Used (Roll each time used)

  1. Nothing happens – No power/spells used
  2. Nothing happens – Power/Spell is used up
  3. Ability is used – Lose another random spell/power points of same as one just used(or next highest)
  4. Ability is used – Gain A spell BACK of the same level or power points as the one cast.
  5. Absorb – Start gaining Spell/Power back with out resting. The rate of gain is the lowest spell level first then working up. Once the maximum has been reached however, start losing HP at the same level as the spell/power as the spell used.
  6. Discharge – Start losing spells highest first at a rate the       highest level spell or 10 power points.

Spatial

1-3 Infinite The planes stretches to infinity in all directions
4 Layered Each Layer of this plane is connected to the one above and one below. This is known as the Stack. There are 1D10 Layers in the stack.

Access to the Stack is though:

1-3 Top layer

4-5 Bottom layer

6 Random layer
5 Looped Go far enough across the plane and you end up where you started.
6 Finite There are clear well defined borders. These planes are normally small enough to travel across with basic transportation.

Temporal (D100)

Local Time    =  Prime Material Time

01 1 Week   = 1 Sec

02-03 1 Week   = 10 Seconds

04-05 1 Week   = 1 Min

06-10 1 Week   = 10 Min

11-15 1 Week   = 1 Hour

16-20 1 Week   =  6 Hours

21-25 1 Week  = 12 Hours

26-30 1 Week   = 1 Day

31-49 1 Week   =  1 Week

50-59 1 Week  = 2 Weeks

60-64 1 Week  = 1 Month

65-69 1 Week  = 2 Months

70-75 1 Week  = 3 Months

76-80 1 Week  = 6 Months

81-85 1 Week   = 1 Year

86-90 1 Week  = 5 Years

91-95 1 Week   =  10 Years

96-97 1 Week   = 20 Years

98-99 1 Week  = 50 Years

00 1 Week  =  100 Years

Technological (d10)

1 Dead Zone Technology Doesn’t Work while here – At all, not even fires.
2-3 Diminished Technology works 1D10 x 10% worse then it does on PMP
4-8 Normal Tech works the same as it does on the PMP
9-0 Enhanced Tech works 1D10 x 10% better then PMP (energy cost are lower, amour works better etc.)

[Note : The definition of what is classed as Technology is deliberately left vague]

Weirdness/Quirks (d10)

1-2 None
3 A Material common to the PMP (e.g. Iron) does not exist here.
4 A Class common to the PMP (Wizard, Bard) does not exists here. Class ability’s still    work
5 A Race common to the PMP doesn’t exist here (E.g. Human)
6 The Dominant race here is a Monster race (Dragons, Orcs, Owlbears…)
7 Detection spells don’t work
8 Colors in this plane are either;

1-3 Muted and grey

4-6 Very bright and colorful and …not the same (eg pink sky,       black grass)

[There is no effect with this, but don’t tell the players…]
9 Animals can talk in a parrot like mimicry
0 DM Choice

How could you use this system in your next gaming session? Let us know by commenting below.

This post was contributed by Chris Kentlea of Ennead Games. He is denizen of London, UK. He has one evil cat and far too many RPG books. His Magnum Opus, Easthalen is a mixture of magic, hi-technology and some weird stuff that mankind was not meant to know! He has a fondness for generic system-less ideas that can be adapted to any game systems with little effort. He loves spending all day creating a truck-load of random tables and charts…for something that could take 5 minutes otherwise. If you need some ideas, hints and tips then he’s your man, but he can’t be held responsible for any breaks in the fabric of reality.

The Dungeon Mastering Team gathers many adventurers who have contributed to the site since its inception more than 10 years ago.

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5 Comments

  1. Pingback: DM Guide to Jumping Dimensions | Ennead Games

  2. Yocewyn : Thanks for pointing that out. I honestly didnt notice i’d not included the Temporal chart.
    As for spacing, , well i thinks thats just a problem with conversion from my writing program to the blog post. Will have to look into that.

  3. I like this article but there are some technical issues:
    -> Some tables are no tables at all. (Temporal Table). This makes it look not very nice.
    -> Sometimes there are a lot of spaces. (I would suggest to remove double spaces with a simple replace statement).

    The content however is good. Here is an extra table.

    Temporal (D120)
    0 – 100: See original table
    101 – 104: Backward, time is running backwards (compared to other planes). Reroll for speed. Also think about what the players could have done in their future to upset the plane.
    105 – 109: Finite, There are clear well defined borders of time.
    110: Looped, Go far enough across time and you end up where you started.
    111 – 120: See next posts, hopefully

  4. AlphaDean says:

    This was an awesome post. Thanx guys

  5. Pingback: Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Friday Five: 2010-09-17

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