D&D: GM Journal Session 13 – The Planes of the Gods
It is the highest accolade and reward a believer can receive in my Dungeons and Dragons homebrew campaign: to once visit his god’s plane of being and to pray in the highest temples. But what happens when young adventurers end up on a god level through a random chain of events?
Visiting Elysion
You remember: In the captain’s cabin of the sunken ship Calypso, Nadia, Castiel and Arianna found a flashing glass ball with the power to teleport several people to the storm tower. To the storm tower! The main temple of the storm god Talos, located in one of the six levels (plans) the Gods. Because an opportunity like this doesn’t come along every day, even in a fantasy adventure, they decided to head there on the spur of the moment.
Don’t get struck by lightning when you visit the Storm God Plains! For a better idea of the location, an artwork of “Rift: Storm Legion”.
Source: Trion Worlds
At the gates of the mighty storm tower, they were met by an acolyte of the Brotherhood of the Storm and, after a short discussion about the order, led directly to the supreme stormcaller. Because no one gets to the planes of the gods by accident! The bronze dragon that watches over the tower was then quite impressed by the long chain of events through which the adventurers got to the teleportation orb and made them a unique offer: visit the home planes of all six gods and join one of them at the end because it must be your destiny to fight for the gods – otherwise you wouldn’t be standing here now!
Said and done. Before the heroes could raise any objections, the dragon took them to the burial grounds, a place of worship in the plane of Loviatar, goddess of the dead. There they spoke with necromancers, ministers and necromancers and learned many things that turned their worldview upside down. Deep, philosophical conversations about mourning, the afterlife (after death) and life and death as a journey shook the three adventurers and so they were happy to visit the forest shrine of the Mielikki after this dark level.
For the druids, hunters and tamers in the forest, life in harmony with nature is very important. To be simple without looking for meaning. Finding happiness in simple existence. At the end of the day, Castiel, Nadia, and Arianna feasted, sipped strong wine with satyrs and dryads, and nibbled on psychedelic mushrooms that made their senses dance.
Then, with a headache the next morning, they decided to leave that plane behind and head to the Colosseum of the God of War next.
mood is everything
At Loviatar’s home, things look as you’d expect: tombs and crypts in the gloomy mists as far as the eye can see. Compare it to the icon image from Fable 2 and you’ll get a pretty good idea.
Source: Buffed
With such a high density of information and the quick visit of several places one after the other, it is very important in my opinion that everyPlans gives a unique feeling. These emotions should stick in the mind of the players and ultimately help them to make the right decision for their respective character.
It’s not just about the requirements and rewards of each cult, but what it’s like to live among them. Which views of life and philosophies are represented? What mood prevails in a place?
Each level has its own color scheme, architectural style, scenic features, appropriate music, and residents who follow a specific fashion trend. While the hippies in the forest shrine are relatively motivated and in a good mood, there is a serious, solemn atmosphere at the burial ground – and the Storm Brothers simply convey madness and feelings of fear. All this should result in a coherent overall picture for each place, which is created to be memorable and to make sense.
The agony of choice
When Sven has to describe important scenes for Nadia, he tends to pantomime them as well.
Source: Buffed
Although my two players have only seen three of the six levels, they can hardly decide now. Of course, in theory (outside the game) they knew about this mechanic and even roughly knew the rewards of the different faiths. As a result, they developed preferences in advance. But now that they are beginning to actually see and understand the places, those preferences have faltered.
I’m very curious how they will ultimately decide, because this step is incredibly important for the further development of their characters.
What about Medea and Davlin?
Originally, Saskia and Lukas announced that they would not have time to play with us in November. At the beginning of November, however, a shocking WhatsApp message came from them that made me stunned: The two were planning to no longer play in the campaign at all. The reasons they gave were varied: private reasons, not identifying enough with their own characters, not really investing in the story and the world.
That last reason in particular still makes me resentful. I mean, it’s logical that you can’t really engage with a character and a story if you’re never there – but the cat bites its own tail here. If you only watch every third episode in a series, you will also miss important parts of the story progress.
The solution for D&D is obvious: be there more often. Well, apparently not being there is also a solution and our group has shrunk to three people. We’ll see if we find new players in the future, actually invite guest players, or if we really just run the campaign as a threesome and I tweak the balancing here and there afterwards. More players actually always mean more fun and that’s why I find this development really sad and a shame.
Reference-www.buffed.de