World-Spheres - a Community Campaign Setting (Discussion Thread)

[Superfluous Crow]

My main vote goes to normal solar with planes, although i could live with purple sun. Although i can't really see why you think we need it?

[Elemental_Elf]

Its just a potential way of describing why the 'Sky' area exists, plus the image is just cool :)

I'd be happy with either.

[Superfluous Crow]

Hmm, agreed, purple sun is a pretty neat image :)
But wouldn't a source of magic be unnecessarily limiting? And would the rim-world suns be orbiting this central thing then? Also, i don't personally think we have to suspend our belief that hardly to believe that you can breathe in space. Most people probably believed that in the olden days (citation needed).  

[Ghostman]

Since it appears that planes are given some consideration, I'll make this suggestion for a fairly simple framework:

1. All the small worlds are in the planes BUT a single plane can have any number of these smaller worlds within it (depending on how much room there is, how the plane is structured, etc)

2. Besides these world-planes, we have a hub (call it the astral, space, what ever) that is like a (pseudo) solar system. It's small and compact enough and the environment friendly enough that inhabitants from any of the planes will be able to travel in there, though not necessarily easy or without some danger.

3. All the traffic between the planes must go through the hub. This way we'll avoid problems with planes possibly being too incompatible for direct travel from plane to plane. Each plane has one or more entry points in the hub, found in one of the planets or asteroid-like things in there.

4. Two worlds that are located in the same plane can have alternative ways to travel between them. For example, if the plane happens to be a realistic solar system and the worlds in question are planets in the system, then they could use spaceships; they would not have to go through the hub. They'd have to use the hub if they either don't have necessary tech, or if they're going to a world that's on a different plane.

I think this framework would give a great deal of freedom while still offering a reasonably plausible way to travel between the worlds. If a world has to be entered in a particular way, that way will be possible on one of the planets of the hub.

[Nomadic]

What if the Solar System was Geocentric, orbiting around a ball from which all magic is drawn. Think of it like a Purple sun, it glows ominously and has strands ripping off of it and heading to where the magic is needed.

That would be heliocentric :P

Anyhow just to pop in and throw out a comment. I like the concept of a mix of worlds and planes. I will say though that I think it would be better not to have an actual "solar system".

[Elemental_Elf]

Hmm, agreed, purple sun is a pretty neat image :)
But wouldn't a source of magic be unnecessarily limiting? And would the rim-world suns be orbiting this central thing then? Also, i don't personally think we have to suspend our belief that hardly to believe that you can breathe in space. Most people probably believed that in the olden days (citation needed).  

Whose to say all magic is derived from it, or any? Maybe that just what people in the Inner Rim believe?

That would be heliocentric :P

Originally it was going to be a massive planet but I changed it to a sun because planets shouldn't be that big. :)


Ok, it seems the group is breaking up again. We have the 'I want separate planes for MY World' group, and the 'I want a solar system for everyone (save the freaky planes)!' group.

Ghostman's idea of a hub isn't entirely bad, nor incompatible with the Solar System idea. I don't see how having a Solar system act as the spacial/material hub for the planes is a bad concept.


*** PLEASE READ***
 Lets just make the Solar system a normal Heliocentric system. Space is a Vacuum. The Solar System is a mix of High Fantasy and Sci-Fi, with hundreds of planetoids capable of sustaining life. Space Travel is more common towards the center of the system and less common the farther out you go. The System is an acts as an interdimensional hub, ferrying people from one plane to another. Access to other planes is dependent on the Plane you are trying to access, some have weird voodoo rituals, others just allow everyone to come and go as they please. The Planes can be as vast, or as tiny as the creator wants them to be, you have complete creative control in your plane. The Solar System will have several rules and themes that course through it but will attempt to cede as much creative control to the designers as possible.

I think that works out to be the fairest compromise we can make.

[Superfluous Crow]

Hmm, your frame isn't half bad, but do we need to have so strict rules of transportation? Can't we just agree that there are two types of transportation: actual physical transportation by vessel that is limited by the laws of physics only, and portal tech/magic that can break planar bonds and access any other plane. I can't see why we would limit transportation any other way; if you try and go to a hostile plane you brought it on yourself. (although maybe we should limit it so that planes always require force to enter (beyond what is present at creation from water/air pressure).

EDIT: this is a reply to Ghostman

[Superfluous Crow]

I'm all in for Elemental_Elf's. That sounds fine. Go magical spaceships.

[Ghostman]

Can't we just agree that there are two types of transportation: actual physical transportation by vessel that is limited by the laws of physics only, and portal tech/magic that can break planar bonds and access any other plane. I can't see why we would limit transportation any other way.

It's a nod to the idea that each world can set limits on how it can be accessed. Someone creating a world may not want to allow direct links from any and all planes into his world. With a large number of worlds it could be quite a headache to specify which ones can and which ones can't have a portal to a particular world. We'd avoid that if we just use the hub for all plane-to-plane traffic.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I support whatever method results in the widest possible space.  I think limiting ourselves to one solar/star system is missing out on some very good possibilities.

[Elemental_Elf]

Silvercatmoonpaw: how about we run with my idea (not to sound egotistical, it just seems to have some appeal) and see if it needs expanding into other systems?

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I think EE's idea could work.

[khyron1144]

I like EE's suggested framework too.

[Superfluous Crow]

Can't we just agree that there are two types of transportation: actual physical transportation by vessel that is limited by the laws of physics only, and portal tech/magic that can break planar bonds and access any other plane. I can't see why we would limit transportation any other way.

It's a nod to the idea that each world can set limits on how it can be accessed. Someone creating a world may not want to allow direct links from any and all planes into his world. With a large number of worlds it could be quite a headache to specify which ones can and which ones can't have a portal to a particular world. We'd avoid that if we just use the hub for all plane-to-plane traffic.

But wouldn't limiting it to the hub be setting limits?...
If somebody wants a plane farther removed from reality they have to specify how it's further removed from reality. Otherwise every plane will be exactly what you said you wanted to avoid: equally accessible compared to all other planes.
Also, i don't think every plane should be forced to have a permanent entrance as in a gate placed somewhere. That should be up to whoever makes it. Planes can be natural or artificial, but i think the latter would be more normal.

[Ghostman]

Also, i don't think every plane should be forced to have a permanent entrance as in a gate placed somewhere. That should be up to whoever makes it. Planes can be natural or artificial, but i think the latter would be more normal.

I didn't imply a permanent gate. Just that there's at least one location in the hub that can be entered from the plane, one way or another.

Perhaps the best way to deal with limits on plane-to-plane traffic would be for each plane to define which other planes (if any) can have direct travel into it, and by what kinds of methods said travel can happen. A plane can not state that you can go from it to another plane. For example, we have planes A and B, and A does not set any restrictions at all, but B doesn't allow entrance from anywhere but the hub. In this situation you can go directly from B to A, but not from A to B, making links between them one-way only.