Hi guys, new here but love the setting.
Just thought I'd mine you all for ideas.
Looking for ideas for portals and their keys, to and from and round about the multiverse.
Portal Ideas
Mon, 2008-08-18 15:25
#1
Portal Ideas
Mon, 2008-08-18 18:53
#3
A portal that can be used
A portal that can be used only if nobody knows that you are using it in a certain moment.
That is a problem if you are in a party. 
A portal that you can use only if you are poisoned.
A portal that you can use only if you have never killed any person (or viceversa).
A portal that you can use only if you are running away from someone.
Mon, 2008-08-18 19:35
#4
Felenthir Enthelion wrote:
A portal that you can use only if you are running away from someone.
Or a portal you can use freely UNLESS you are running away from someone.
What can I say, I'm that kind of GM. 
Mon, 2008-08-18 23:38
#5
Felenthir Enthelion
A portal that you can use only if you have never killed any person (or viceversa).
A portal that you can only use while killing someone.
Tue, 2008-08-19 01:10
#6
Bob the Efreet
A portal that you can use only if you have never killed any person (or viceversa).
A portal that you can only use while killing someone.
Heh, like the divination spell key in some of the lower planes (Carceri I think, except there it needs to be someone who trusts you)
edit- ooh, there's an idea - A Bar/Shop door that is a portal to Carceri with the key being having an unpaid bill/stolen item. Highly sought after real-estati I'd imagine.
A portal to Arcadia that requires that you publicly confess your sins as a key (Making it a popular hangout for Mercykillers).
Tue, 2008-08-19 08:50
#7
Portal to planar library
Portal to planar library that requires donation of rare book, scroll or script (librarian is actualy part of portal and of key).
Portal to Mechanus that require solution of complex mathematical formula (wich changes with every solution).
Portal that opens only for sentient constructs (modrons, inevitables, warforged, robots...)
Portal that opens only if someone says his true opinon on someone.
portal is hole in street wich must be circled in gold (or other waluble materials) before it opens.
Key requires that you shake hands with planar being of opposite aligment of yours.
Portal is in center of garden maze, portal opens only to those who solve the maze.
This is fun... 
Tue, 2008-08-19 12:04
#8
I had an idea for a
I had an idea for a character whose background involved escaping his home world right before it got destroyed, simply because he accidentaly stumbled into a portal to Sigil whose key was that the person had to be doomed.
Tue, 2008-08-19 13:34
#9
All good ideas guys, keep em
All good ideas guys, keep em coming. May some for paricular planes or gatetowns.
Tue, 2008-08-19 13:45
#10
A public bathhouse bathtub
A public bathhouse bathtub that once you've stepped into it becomes a portal to the plane of Water or varous planar waterways( e.g. the River Styx), dropping the person into said watery plane without any clothes or equipment.
A portal in the door to a shop that's key is thinking of what you want in the shop, much to the exasperation of the shop keep.
A portal the the para-elemental (quasi?) plane of sludge in a lavatory, the key being the use of the lavatory to dispose of waste.
Tue, 2008-08-19 13:55
#11
A portal in the tap room of
A portal in the tap room of the Bare Bones Saloon in the Lower Ward. When one throws a rib bone into the tap room first, it becomes a portal to Ribcage, gate-town to Baator. The owner had lost one or two dogs before realizing it and removing ribs from the menu.
The trapdoor of a gallows is the portal, while a hangman's noose around the neck is the key. May lead to Carceri, or Gray Waste, either way your situation has likely not improved.
Tue, 2008-08-19 15:11
#12
Wyrmwood wrote:
The
The trapdoor of a gallows is the portal, while a hangman's noose around the neck is the key. May lead to Carceri, or Gray Waste, either way your situation has likely not improved.
Oh, the Mercykillers would love that.
Tue, 2008-08-19 19:02
#13
I've used this before: a
I've used this before: a portal that doesn't exist until the bounded space is created. Examples:
- An access port in a bar where a board comes down, causing a (short) bounded space.
- A clothesline strung across an alley.
- A sandwich that needs to have a bite taken out of it then placed on the ground to create an arch (good for a portal from Xaos to Sigil)
- A split-door (what d'ya call one of those?) where the whole door opened up isn't a portal, but the upper or lower portions alone are. Even better: two portals in the same doorway, depending on whether the top or bottom halves are opened up.
Tue, 2008-08-19 22:00
#14
A portal to pandemonium
A portal to pandemonium who's key is a living lunatic. (Did this to a party of mine. Turns out the party's bard qualified.)
Wed, 2008-08-20 08:19
#15
a crumbled arch or doorway
a crumbled arch or doorway that isnt complete, and the only way to activate it is to span the portal with something (thats destroyed as soon as something passes through)or someone (more fun if they have to be a certain race, "you want HOW MANY HALFLING HIRELINGS?!?")
a portal thats too small for anyone bigger than the small size catagory, but needs to be "poked open" by something Large.
a portal to the elemental plane of funk (the key is a mirrorball)
a portal to a room with a moose.
a portal to a plane full of sleeping terrask (where one of them acts as the portal out)
a portal made of bone, that has to be covered in flesh (or leather) to activate it.
an ordinary door, with an ordinary key, but activating it by turning the key the wrong way (thats a great accidental one)
"Puddles" as portals.
Wed, 2008-08-20 09:32
#16
One excellent source of
One excellent source of ideas for Portals is Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers series. There are a number of different pocket worlds (demi-planes) where the central characters use portals to get around. There are some rather innovative portals in the 5-book series, including some nasty portal traps, triggers, etc.
Wed, 2008-08-20 10:59
#17
One I once did was portal
One I once did was portal to Limbo that was activated by voluntarily doing something that had no purpose. So, if you want to do it to open the portal, no chance. If you do it because someone tells you to... no chance. That was a hard one.
Wed, 2008-08-20 17:23
#18
Frogretoric wrote:A portal
A portal to pandemonium who's key is a living lunatic. (Did this to a party of mine. Turns out the party's bard qualified.)
That's funny. I bet it's a lot of fun having the group search for some wierdo to hire or to kidnap him to serve as a portal key.
Wed, 2008-08-20 20:44
#19
My favorite portal that
My favorite portal that I've had players use was a portal located in a rock outcropping in Avernus that led to a demiplane they needed to reach. The key was that the first person to walk through it had to be witnessing something that they believed to be impossible. They played around with that portal for two full sessions before they finally decided that the best way through would be to travel to a prime, kidnap some clueless peasant and keep a bag over their head till they got back to the portal. Then they whipped off the bag, spun them in a circle, and kicked them through the arch.
We had to suspend play for a few minutes because no one could stop laughing.
For the record I let it work, although they now had to babysit a terrified middleaged turnip-farmer for the duration of their quest.
Thu, 2008-08-21 04:28
#20
Wyrmwood wrote:
A public
A public bathhouse bathtub that once you've stepped into it becomes a portal to the plane of Water or varous planar waterways( e.g. the River Styx), dropping the person into said watery plane without any clothes or equipment.
i have had dreams like that.
a portal that is always open, but changes destination every hour.
a portal that can only be activated if you cannot see it.
a portal that the key involves everyone who is going through it to be singing in a barbershop quartet style (if you can get the players to do this, its hilarous)
a portal that is just a drawing of an archway (like a greek or roman style mural thing on a wall) that you need to run at and keep your eyes open as you go thorough (concerntration is a GOOD skill)
a portal that can be opened by any key that you believe will work (the key is the belief in the key, hows that for a paradox)
a portal that is a cannon (only for games with gunpowder in obviously) and the key is setting the fuse (its all about timing there)
a portal that is a specific street, and the key is to draw a circle on the floor and jump into it.
a painting that needs to be facing the wall for the portal to be active. (or for fun, have the last people to go through this one appear in the image)
Thu, 2008-08-21 11:07
#21
Another odd
Another odd portal/demiplane idea occurred to me - Danny the Street. Danny the Street was from the Doom Patrol, and was essentially a sentient street that led wherever he wanted. It had stores along its path, and pretty much looked like a normal street, but would mysteriously lead to wherever.
Within the comic book, it was a convenient way for the primary heroes to get around. But within a Planescape setting, Danny could be an interesting being itself.
Tue, 2008-08-26 12:08
#22
The Painting that Ate Paris
The Painting that Ate Paris is another example of wierd portals in Doom Patrol. Planescape is quite a sureal setting much like that series.
Wed, 2008-08-27 03:08
#24
Yemeth wrote:Thank you for
Fri, 2008-09-19 11:10
#25
THREAD REVIVAL!
Here
THREAD REVIVAL!
Here are some ideas:
-A shifting portal to Limbo. The portal's entrance in Limbo is stable, and it is home to a Slaad who likes to scare children for the lulz. The shifting Sigil side is always in a kid's room - under the bed, inside the wardrobe, etc. The key is a kid who is afraid of the dark.
-A portal to the Gilded Hall's grand kitchen from one of the most dirty and wretched kitchens in the Hive. The key is a piece of silverware.
Fri, 2008-09-19 13:31
#26
This thread is
This thread is awesome.
A portal in the window of a collapsing building in the Hive. The portal is only accessable from the outside, and barring crawling through razorvine, the only way to get to it is by jumping from another window 2 stories above it. The key: Yelling "Geronimo!! (or something equivalent."
Side note: the window is small, so precise jumping required. At least you have razorvine to break your fall 
Fri, 2008-09-19 16:50
#27
A portal that requires you
A portal that requires you to perform some humiliating act (which will vary depending on the personality or race of the user... what's offensive to a human won't neccesarily be offensive to an orc, and visa versa... someone who's very modest might have to strip nude in order to use the portal, while a different key would be required for a less modest person. Or maybe the portal requires that you perform an act against your alignment (i.e. Paladin must commit a chaotic or evil act!) Or maybe an act in conflict with your Faction's rules or beliefs...
Sat, 2008-09-20 18:36
#28
A portal to the Hells that
A portal to the Hells that only opens for someone who doesn't want to go, and a portal to Celestia that opens for someone who belives they don't deserve to go.
Sun, 2008-09-21 08:45
#29
A portal that requires two
A portal that requires two opposite things at once, like;
-A bowl of water on fire
-A huge amount of wealth carried by a beggar with no intention of keeping it
-Square peg in a round hole
-A large tome carried by someone who is completely illiterate
-An Athar and a Priest going through at the same time (sounds like the beginning of a Sigilan joke, doesn't it?)
Have a portal in something's mouth. And like, a swindler that passes out fake keys for the amusement of watching berks climb in and get eaten.
Conversely, the key to such a portal may be complete and utter faith that it IS a portal and will take you to the intended destination. Failure to believe in the portal completely results in your consumption.