Out of curiosity best described as idle, has anybody actualy figured out a way to carry out an interdemensional telephone service?
Actualy, in a move of cosmic irony, you could always say "It's magic."
S'what my dad told me when I was five.
Interdemensional phone service
Sun, 2005-10-30 02:19
#1
Interdemensional phone service
Fri, 2005-11-11 07:13
#3
Interdemensional phone service
Portal relays with use of sending spells? Or perhaps use of a cantrip level electric spell to carry the signal?
Fri, 2005-11-11 10:50
#4
Interdemensional phone service
Cell phones. Badly working cell phones. Cell phones that usually contact the correct plane of existence, but sometimes unexpectedly get the Abyss or the ghostly parts of the Border Ethereal Plane. Or the past and future.
The phones are all free. No one knows who offers the service or what their motivation is. It's not clear who else is listening on the other end.
(inspired by Simon Green's Nightside books)
Sun, 2005-11-13 01:59
#5
Interdemensional phone service
Glancing through the PSMCI... The translators perhaps... with less divine-influence. A derivative construct that is mass produced by a multiversal corporation reponsible for planar-wide (tele)communitications.
Sun, 2005-11-13 02:05
#6
Interdemensional phone service
Then again, travel times might cause considerable delay in discussions. This might be more approrpiate for a planar-based messenger service. It just doesn't have the speed or "real-time" aspects like rip's suggestion above for a cell phone service.
Thinking further about rip's idea though, a strange idea quickly occured to me about the Spire being the multiverse's largest cell phone tower...
Wed, 2005-11-16 05:15
#7
Interdemensional phone service
All you need to do to get to the top is teleport an infinite distance straight up and then fly a thousand miles in. 
Sun, 2005-11-27 16:43
#8
Interdemensional phone service
The only way I've really thought of to do it is to just shove the signal through the plane of Cyberspace if it needs to get to another plane, or an infinite distance across the same one.
Maybe an insane descendant of VoIP is in order?
Sun, 2005-11-27 19:28
#9
Interdemensional phone service
Interplanar phone service works even with bog standard magic. You use scrying (which works across planar boundaries, albeit with a Will save bonus) to connect and then message to speak to the target.
Off that basis, a similar effect that's audio-only, two-way, and automatically detectable by the target is more or less a bog standard 4th-level spell. Base cost of around 10,080 gp for an item usable once per day on command. For something usable only on a single plane ("I'm sorry, sir, Astral roaming charges do apply"), pay 5400 gp. Whether this drops when mass production and magical industrialization drop into the mix is an open question.
Figuring out how to bill your clients by the minute for this service is another question, natch... 
Sun, 2005-11-27 19:58
#10
Interdemensional phone service
Problem with that is we're deliberately avoiding industrialised magic. Any solution shoud, ideally, rely on planar 'physics' and believable technology.
Sun, 2005-11-27 20:51
#11
Interdemensional phone service
If industrialized magic is being "deliberately avoided", then just use book rates. The prices I quoted are using by-the-book 3e magic item creation rules, and don't rely on any efficiency improvement in magical item creation whatsoever.
And you'll have to forgive me if I missed the memo from On High stating that industrialization of magic is a no-go. The recent suggestion of hamatula legions carrying holy water SMGs suggest it may not have been fully propagated to everyone else, either. 
Sun, 2005-11-27 22:18
#12
Interdemensional phone service
But then we still have the same problem of magical telephones, which is a little bit silly.
And, my bad. On High is back now, and I can send you a copy if you'd like. Recent suggestions of holy water SMGs can be harmlessly ignored, much like you would the idea of a Ballpoint Pen Of Fiend Slaying.
Sun, 2005-11-27 22:38
#13
Interdemensional phone service
*chuckle* Speaking of 'On High' - do we have a To Do list yet?
Sun, 2005-11-27 22:43
#14
Interdemensional phone service
I'm thinking that's the next step after seeing who's still about, and then people can actually have things to do. (yey!) I know that I've got things I'd like to get posted, sooner rather than later.
I have this theory that it all might work a lot better if I try to be more managerial about the whole thing. This might be because having actual things to do should help fight off apathy.
In game terms? Without using magic?