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Distances on the planes?

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Wed, 2008-04-02 03:30
#1
Kal
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Distances on the planes?

Simple question, how do you handle distances on the planes?

most planar descriptions lack any sort of fixed distance between locations, and with planes changing, is there any point to describing fixed distances? The only distance that comes easily to mind is the outlands - 1000 miles (iirc) between the spire and the gate towns, other than that, not much. An example would be the description for Arborea, between Mount Olympus and the Elven Mountain, I cant find any info on the actual distance separating these two realms? How do GMs handle distances in their PS games, do players care about distances in PS?

Cheers

Kal

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Wed, 2008-04-02 11:35
#2
Zorlax
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Distances on the planes?

i once told my players distances on the planes had something to do with 'spiritual journeys', but you could also tell them noone has a real idea how distances funtion on infinite planes.
that's a fairly simple and practical way Eye-wink

i usually don't talk much about distance in games. usually, the characters have a specific destination on the plane they're on.
someone or something tells them which way to go, and i just put
the places, encounters and/or environment hazards i want them to pass in their way.

some places (planes/layers/realms) have normal daylight and night, others eternal or only slightly changing night/dusk/dawn/day or a constant eerie glow
time measurement - as sigil is the group's home base, i just state how much days have passed in sigil after each session (thats also when i write down what happend into the campaign's own log)

as for your example, i would just make it a few days of travel from mount olympus to arvandor, except you have an idea for some (side-)quest/story of a conflict between those realms. I'd certainly make the characters meet guardians when entering and/or leaving the realms or put in some kind of greek/elven mesh-up place (theater?)

hope i could help you Smiling

Wed, 2008-04-02 14:38
#3
Mechalich
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Distances on the planes?

it depends on what kind of plane you're on.

Some planes, like the Astral, very explicitly do not possess distance, things exist only in relation to the position of other things.

The Inner Planes, being more concrete, are assumed to have quantifiable distances (and elemental pockets have measurable sizes), but those distances are unimaginably huge so the general distance between something is 'really far.'

Distances on the Outer Planes get a little bit funny, because the Outer Planes are based on belief, so that if a place doesn't have any belief to sustain it, is isn't exactly there. Some planes are very concrete, like Acheron, where the distance between everything is established in how long it takes you to march an army there from where you happen to be. Others, like the chaotic planes, are different. Distance on Limbo is certainly an erratic concept, Githzerai probably wake up to see different citadels on the 'horizon' every morning. Each plane has its own way of handling distance.

I seem to recall that it was once stated that, on the Outlands, regardless of how far apart a place was it took a certain variable number of days to get there (6-18 or something) no matter how you travelled.

Fri, 2008-04-04 08:33
#4
Narfi Ref
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Distances on the planes?

3-18 days, otherwise known as 3d6 days between locations.

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