D&D 5E Building Setting - Portals

[Hand of Evil]

Been working on setting, it is a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Mostly isolated city states that are just starting to rebuild, surrounded by poisonous and dangerous wilderness. The villains in the game are gnomes and halflings that are using superior tech and farming practices to kingdom build, they will make contact, land grab, assassinate, power behind the throne plot, enslave and take over. Tech they use are air ships and hobgoblins as ground troops.

What I want to do, is create a portal system that is mostly a transitive plane that compresses travel from weeks into days, so I can still have adventures within that plane.

Some of my thoughts:

• Portal opens to the transitive plane
• 30 miles equal 3 miles within the transitive plan but gates need to be 300 miles apart in the setting, this would mean a party would have to be in the plane for at least one day and limit number of gates
• Travel in the Transitive plane require a scout/device/navigator
• Transitive plane look and appearance: bad lands, foggy, always dusk
• Creatures - leaning to wights, frost giants and cloakers as the major foes within the plane

Any ideas and thought would be helpful.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Some thoughts:

Have the portals operated by a guild - only they have the knowledge to create and operate the portals, and this gives them power and influence within all cities to a limited extent. A bit like the portal system in Eberron.

The transitive plane is a 'random' alternate version of the world that the characters live in. So any journey between portals can be anything between deadly, terrifying, eventful, enlightening or boring. You could even put together a random chart that the players roll against for what world they enter - they have broad outlines and you have the details. Even though it is an alternate world, each one is kind of dreamlike as they are not really there, so travel is fast. They can still be killed though, and they have a limited time to get to the next portal or it fades away.

In other words, portal travel is fast but you'd only use it when it is really needed.

 

[Jester David]

The shadowfell works as a transitive plane, and this has been established by prior lore. There are spells like shadow jaunt. Travelling just at the edge through a dark, fragmented realm.
Or it could be the Feywild evoking some Dresden Files.

Or both. Different factions use different planes, so there's no portal overlap.

 

[Li Shenron]

Been working on setting, it is a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Mostly isolated city states that are just starting to rebuild, surrounded by poisonous and dangerous wilderness. The villains in the game are gnomes and halflings that are using superior tech and farming practices to kingdom build, they will make contact, land grab, assassinate, power behind the throne plot, enslave and take over. Tech they use are air ships and hobgoblins as ground troops.

What I want to do, is create a portal system that is mostly a transitive plane that compresses travel from weeks into days, so I can still have adventures within that plane.

Some of my thoughts:

• Portal opens to the transitive plane
• 30 miles equal 3 miles within the transitive plan but gates need to be 300 miles apart in the setting, this would mean a party would have to be in the plane for at least one day and limit number of gates
• Travel in the Transitive plane require a scout/device/navigator
• Transitive plane look and appearance: bad lands, foggy, always dusk
• Creatures - leaning to wights, frost giants and cloakers as the major foes within the plane

Any ideas and thought would be helpful.

Sounds fine to me.

We have used in the past the Plane of Shadow, Plane of Mirrors and the Infinite Staircase for the same purpose. Different flavors but mostly they work almost the same for the such purpose.

 

[Rabbitbait]

How about:

The portals lead to the astral plane (2e version) and you need to find the correct coloured pool to find your desired location. It is best to go with a guide, but occasionally they will get it wrong and the pool you take will take you somewhere else. You can navigate by yourself, but it requires a high intelligence check to find the right pool.