On the Other Side of the Portal

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

I have said before that in game when the players run into a portal or say six portals at the same time I can see what is on the other side as I wait to see if they will choose to go through a portal or do something else. My players often go through portals, sometimes fleeing into a portal and other times after serious deliberations. I thought that here in this thread I would run a little experiment. 

The players are in a dungeon and they have some to a large room. The hallway there were in dumps into this room and none of the doorways has a door, this room is more of a nexus than anything else. There are eight equally spaced hallways/corridors opening into this 60 by 60 room and in the center of the room there are eight shimmering portals/doorways each one facing one of the corridors. Each is 6 feet wide and 8 feet in height. They are all shimmering and are hard to look directly at. Each one is a different color and the color is very faint:

1.) Red
2.) Blue
3.) Green
4.) Yellow
5.) Orange
6.) Silver
7.) Purple
8.) Red-Gold

What I am going to do is make 8 posts after this one and you will be able to see with the time stamps how long it took me between the first one and the last one to do them. I can see the world beyond each portal and what I am going to do is to tell you what I see for each and then I look forward to your feedback and any other comments or similar posts by yourselves.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

1.) Red: The world is medium sized a bit smaller than Earth. There are three major continents and a multitude of islands. There are no ice caps and the world is almost universally warm, but livable.  There is a fair amount of volcanic activity and it is a living world. On the smallest continent (Africa size) there is a broad plain on the southern end and if the PCs go through they will be a few miles outside a large city in a small badlands area that is rather desolate. The ground here is very rocky and infertile which is at odds with the rest of the plain.  There are a few (about 20 bandits) holed up here and the PCs will come through the portal within a few hundred yards of them. Their arrival will create a loud pop and alert the bandits to their arrival. 

This world is highly magical and the magic-users in the group will feel more powerful then usual. The magic sword in the possession of one of the fighting-men will be suddenly eager and urging him to battle. The time is early morning just at daybreak. There is a light warm rain and the PCs will be momentarily disoriented.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

2.) Blue: This world is about 20% larger than earth. It is mostly (80%) ocean with one large Pangaea of a continent with a large very tall range of mountains running north to south across the center of the continent. Around the continent is a number of Greenland sized islands and then a who host of islands in the 20-100 square mile size. The rest of the world is unbroken ocean. This world is a dinosaur world with no intelligent humanoids anywhere. The raptors that run in packs in the 200-300 lb range are becoming quite intelligent and are telepathic. Their "hands" on their forelimbs are becoming more dexterous every generation and they are become more and more bi-pedal. They will be highly curious and will attempt to communicate with the PCs, but will become enraged if attacked. The landscape in this area is a combination of grassland and swampy areas with the occasional rolling hill area and the occasional forerunner of trees in the form of very large ferns. The PCs will arrive within site but several hundred yards away. The raptors will immediately start for the party and a quick decision will have to be made as to how to treat the raptors and their approach. Behind them the portal will be open and glow for about 20 minutes after their arrival until it fades out of existence.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

3.) Green: The PCs arrive in a long dungeon corridor and whether it is the same dungeon or not they do not know (the ref knows it is the same dungeon, but two levels lower down). Looking to the front they see what looks like torch light approaching them, behind them they see a door on either side of the corridor and down the corridor itself only darkness. The solid rock floor is covered with about an inch of sand and it feels oddly slick under their feet. If they wait for the torch light to approach they will meet a dozen large bronzed hairless men armed with bronze staves that glow at either end with a blue light. They can attempt to talk with these men or if they choose to attack, these men are of unarmored AC 2, and attack at 8 HD monsters. They will be immune to any spells that may be cast.

If instead they listen at the doors the one to their starting left will have the sound of running water behind it, sounding like a good sized stream. Behind the other door they will hear a wailing and moaning and the sound of something heavy being dragged around. If they flee into the darkness of the corridor they will travel 100 feet and come to a four way intersection.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

4.) Yellow: When they go through this portal they will be on a mountainside over looking a forest below. The air will be thin and they will not be able to move very fast or they will collapse for shortness of breath. There is a path leading around the mountain and it looks well traveled thought not recently. If they stand around and wait, a small group of mountain trolls will come to investigate. These monsters will be covered in long thick hair about 8 inches long and rock colored. They will be about 12 feet in height and enormously muscled. These trolls are not intelligent as such but are superb hunters with a great sense of smell. They will be hungry and they will attack.

If they follow trail they will pass through a ruined and deserted village after traveling about a mile. Everything in the village will be very broken with many signs of violence and with skeletons scattered about. Passing through the village about a half mile later it will angle down the mountain side. Just past the trail there will be a waterfall that falls a long way down, a very long way. The trees they will find are at least a mile in height and the base of the trunks up to 500 feet in diameter. There are large vines in the trees and an abundance of wild life and other things in the trees.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

5.) Orange: Passing through this portal is very disorienting and they will feel like they have been turned inside out. Once the transition is completed they will be sick and only interested in emptying their stomaches for a few minutes. Once the nausea passes they will see they are in a room glowing with an orangish-greenish light and every surface is covered with a spongy growth of some kind. The air will have a rotten smell to it see no openings out of the room. If they do a search they will find a concealed door in the northeast corner. They will have to pull the spongy fungus material off of it to open the door. They will be sneezing and their eyes running from the spores in the air. (there will be no lasting harm, but their symptoms will get worse for several hours before they get better). Once they get out of the room they will be in a corridor and after traveling about 300 feet they will come to a branch in the corridor one branch leads up at a 10 degree angle and one leads down at a 10 degree angle. This area outside the room is all dark and their is nothing else to differentiate the two branches of the corridor. What they don't know is that the one that seems to go up really goes down and vice versa.

They are in a dungeon in another world and the branch that appears to go down will lead them to the surface from the 5th level they are on. After traveling a little ways they will encounter a multitude of direction options, doors and encounters.  The other branch that seems to lead up will lead them down to the 12th level and the sense of unease will grow with every step, but the one fighting-mans magic sword will be telling him of vast treasures if they continue. They will be a couple of encounters that they can easily overmatch and then they will find something deadly and unique. A magic mouth will warn them to turn around about a 100 feet before they are fully committed.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

6.) Silver: As they come out of the portal they will be beneath a sky of extraordinary beauty. When they look up they will see a dozen silvery full moons in a night sky. This is a different world in a different dimension. They will see sliver and gold and gems everywhere they look, just laying around untouched. If they start filling their packs and sacks, they will hear a moaning voice saying "Grreeedy! Grreeedy!Grreeedy!" and then they will begin to sink into the ground and be held fast.  If they take a couple of handfuls and start exploring the area, they will not be hindered. They will soon find a path that will lead to a village where they will find that the silver, gold and gems have no value at all. But their ability to make or build things (if they possess such) will be in high demand. The portal will stay and they an choose to go back though it. If they stay the villagers will soon urge them to go elsewhere. If they try to harm the villagers or out stay their welcome shapes will come out of the ground to fight them.

If they travel past the village them will come to a place overlooking a valley with a vast ruin covering the valley floor.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

7.) Purple: If they choose this portal they will come out on a busy street in a bustling city. To their surprise no one will seem to notice their arrival.  To the north along the street they are on they will see the central towers of the city rising high into the sky. To the south behind them they will be looking downhill (slightly) and see in the far distance the city walls, beyond that fields and beyond that forest. They will see a river that crosses between the fields and forest. Off to the southeast the river swings and turns toward the city and to the east they can see that the river seems to run along the length of the east side of the city and they see warehouses and surmise their are docks beyond.  They can tell that the center of the city resides on a very large low rounded hill and they are about halfway up it. To the west they see the fields wrap around from the south until it is hidden by the slope of the hill. Where they are at businesses line the street and a busy street market is also in progress. The noise and the variety of smells are all around them. Just ahead they see and smell the aroma of cooking and they realize they are starving.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

8.) Red-Gold: They pass through this portal into a blazing hot desert and the sun is high over head. It is not the yellow they are used to but it is a much whiter yellow and the temperature is way hotter than they have ever experienced. The air feels hot in their lungs and they immediately start to sweat. They quickly realize it is urgent to find shelter and if possible water. The ground is dry and cracked where exposed and their are sandy areas here and there.  There is an old trail and bleached bones adorn the ground. One party member points and the other look and see what looks like trees to the north in a tiny area. To the south it looks like a lake shimmering in the distance. To the east and to the west in the distance it looks like sand dunes are present.

[Admin Pete]

The Perilous Dreamer wrote:

So you can see that the second through the ninth posts in this took about an hour to do. I made the first post as a placeholder and updated links in another thread and then came back and completed the first posts and then made the next eight posts over about an hour or so time and the typing is what took so long. This is what I consider a bare bones of what is on the other side of each portal that I come up with while the players are deciding what to do. That does not include what is down the other seven corridors. Once they make a decision, then I start fleshing it out on the fly. It makes me wish I could type a lot faster or that writing did not make my hands cramp.

[mormonyoyoman]

Wait. Where did our responses go? We want to drive you crazy by getting ourselves killed in New and Unusual Ways.

[xizallian]

 Unbelievable! Stunning! Incredible! Enough to run eight gaming sessions in 70 minutes. I bow to the Master DM!! Have an exalt Mr Dreamer!

[Q Man]

Your players get that many choices?

[Bartholmew Quarrels]

That is something else, you should post more for us to steal err borrow.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jun 21, 2018 8:11:52 GMT -5 xizallian said:

 Unbelievable! Stunning! Incredible! Enough to run eight gaming sessions in 70 minutes. I bow to the Master DM!! Have an exalt Mr Dreamer!

Thanks for the flattery, but nothing unusual about this, just a sample.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jun 17, 2018 1:36:15 GMT -5 mormonyoyoman said:

Wait. Where did our responses go? We want to drive you crazy by getting ourselves killed in New and Unusual Ways.

Not sure where your responses went, but you'll have to try harder than that to drive me crazy.  Or wait, maybe you don't have too!

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jun 21, 2018 17:03:45 GMT -5 Q Man said:

Your players get that many choices?

That many and more!

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jun 28, 2018 14:11:09 GMT -5 Bartholmew Quarrels said:

That is something else, you should post more for us to steal err borrow.

 This was back when I had to step away from the forum for a while and I missed these replies to my post. And yeah, I was still the admin when this thread was made.

[Admin Pete]

TPD I added "The Perilous Dreamer wrote:" to each of the original posts o help make it clear that it was you and not me that did it.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jan 21, 2021 2:38:19 GMT -5 Admin Pete said:

TPD I added "The Perilous Dreamer wrote:" to each of the original posts o help make it clear that it was you and not me that did it.

Thank you!

[Admin Pete]

No problem, I will try to remember to do that from time to time as it comes up.

[The Editor]

The Perilous Dreamer you should do more threads like this on different subjects, that is pretty enlightening.

[youngbuck]

Eight worlds in about 70 minutes, right now I cannot imagine doing that in several weeks. But since I know it can be done, it gives me something to shoot for.