Gazetteer - The Ghost Worlds

“The Ghost Worlds lie beyond Aquerria, beyond Time and Beyond Space, linked to the world by only the most tenuous of bonds.  There, on the torn Ghost Worlds, live ghosts and mortals – those who are like humans and those who are unlike any person – those who know that their fate is to live without Time, and those who are unaware of their doom.  They are the worlds to which sorcerers sometimes go in search of alien wisdom, and from which they draw allies of horrible powers and disgusting deeds.  It is said that within those worlds an initiate may meet their long-slain comrades, who may sometimes help them; their dead loves and dead kin, and particularly their enemies – those whom they have caused to die.  Malevolent enemies with great powers – or wretches who are half-souled and incomplete dwell beyond the veil of the mortal world.

-- (paraphrased from The Eternal Champion, Michael Moorcock)

I love how Michael Moorcock describes his multiverse of the Eternal Champion Cycle, going way back to his stories written in 1963.  Many of his tales talk of worlds beyond a veil of varying thickness to a multitude of worlds, and worlds that drift closer and further away … where only imagination is your limit to the lands that can be viewed and travelled, or allies or enemies can be summoned from.  Sometimes these other worlds can be glimpsed, or its denizens heard, and sometimes a brave soul can tread these alien landscapes.

DCC’s Core Rulebook obliquely mentions more than once other planes of existence, but does not lay out much detail – there are a few references to astral projection and ethereal travel, and a brief paragraph on ‘The Great Wheel’, but they say that Judges should make it their own creation – and I absolutely agree with that.  With Moorcock as my muse and inspiration, and thinking back to the various planar cosmologies listed in AD&D, or more specifically the D&D 3^rd Edition Manual of the Planes, I picture my ‘Great Wheel’ more like a chain of soap bubbles, drifting and shifting positions, overlapping and passing through each other, affecting magic and offering extraplanar flavour to my campaign world. 

When you start thinking about creatures that can be summoned, powerful gods or patrons and where they abide, or even monsters and demons and their lands of origin, it’s easy to start making a list of these extraplanar worlds.  Below is a list of some of my cosmology, as it were, and some guidelines on how my players can interact with those planes of existence.


How To Get There

The Core Rulebook offers Planar Step as a transportation spell, and Binding and Demon Summoning as examples of calling or tying extradimensional creatures to the campaign world.  All of those (mostly) exist as written in my world.  However, there are other methods of travel I would make available to the brave or learned, some of which I can account for here.

The Hungry Sea is told to have swallowed whole ships in the blink of an eye, but in fact it’s tied to the Astral Sea, and there’s a 1% chance of any voyage travelling more than a half-mile from shore, per day, that a thick fog my rise up and a hapless ship might accidentally cross over.

The Grey Tower exists in both this world and the Ghost World of Elfland.  There are doors and windows in this crumbling tower that act as a passage to the other realm, and within the tower, those within exist in both realms at the same time.  Those who dare explore the tower may view a glimpse of another world if the time of day or the season is right, or the brave traveller carries a talisman that will help tune the tower to a specific destination.

Deep within what remains of Threegate, where no dwarf has stepped in a generation, there is a gateway, a terrible rift that leads to the foul Lower Hells, where demons tread, and Dagos the Night Serpent waits, just beyond the threshold, for its chance to cross once again into this world and wreak its revenge.


The Shifting Veil

So at any given point, the first time a character interacts with any given world, the distance between Ghost Worlds has to be determined to determine it’s effect on summoning or travel by Planar Step or similar spell checks detailed under each plane listed below – roll a d8: (1) worlds are not adjacent, and affected spells or communication fail, (2) worlds are distant, -1d, (3) worlds are tenuous, -1, (4) worlds are nearby, +0, (5) the veil between worlds grows thin, +1, (6) the veil has parted, +2, (7) the Ghost Worlds approach conjunction, +1d, (8) planar conjunction!  Any can attempt to call to the adjacent world emulating Planar Step, a summoning spell, or the like with +2d, or an untrained initiate or devout acolyte can attempt it with a mere d14 and some crude ritual.

If ongoing contact with a Ghost World needs to be determined, the shifting veil remains as it is for 1d20 x 1d20 days, and then roll a 1d6: (1-2) shift further away one step, (3-4) no change, (5-6) shift closer one step.


The Worlds

The Ghost Worlds are without number, but some are more known than others.  Here is a catalogue of some of those worlds known to scholars and sorcerers.
 

Absalom is the frigid land of the dead, an afterworld where souls unclaimed by the gods go to dwell for eternity.  It is said that it is a frozen reflection of the living world, with crumbling ruins where bustling towns might be, and frozen corpses in the streets and in alleyways where people should gather.  It is also said that only one true city can be found in Absolom, Tanelaan, the City That Sleeps.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Animate Dead, Speak With Dead, Chill Touch, Consult Spirit, Demon Summoning, Invoke Patron (Ahur), Planar Shift

The Astral Sea appears to be a fog filed, endless water where shores can sometimes be briefly glimpsed through the waves of mist filling the air.  There is never a breeze, never a sound, other than the muted slap of waves against your ship.  Each day sailing there is a 1% chance of encountering another world, and a 1% chance of returning to Aquerria, which is always adjacent.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: None while on Aquerria

Cademael, the Silver Kingdom, is a shining land of castles, minarets and banners, where the good king Harlick rules over his Silver Court.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Idol Magic (Law)

Elfland is a dim and shadowy world, mostly forested, occupied by the Elves and other fey creatures.  It is sometimes called the Ethereal Wood, where that which is invisible in Aquerria is visible here.  It is rumored that any that eat the food or drink the water of Elfland will have a hard time leaving.  It is also said that time flows differently in this realm, and while a day might pass in Aquerria, a year might pass in Elfland, or perhaps the reverse is true.  This Ghost World can never be further away than nearby (+0 to planar effects).
     As well, elves that have dwelt a very long time in this Ghost World have the blessings of The Knight In Green – as long as they dwell in Elfland they are immortal and immune to fear, and can see invisible objects and beings when visiting Aquerria.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Illusion magic, Elf magic, Elemental Summoning (air), Gust of Wind, Invisible Companion, Invoke Patron (Ithha, The Knight In Green)

Estrand, the Endless Forest, stretches to beyond a mortal’s imagination, with great trees shielding all who walk beneath their boughs with dappled sunlight.  It is said that Mirr the Worldroot can be found somewhere in this realm, a great tree that dwarfs all others, and with roots that plunge into the rich soil, extending to all of the Ghost Worlds, tying them together.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Animal Summoning, Invoke Patron (Mirr), Wood Wyrding

The God-Forges of Ur-Ungan exist on a series of basalt islands surrounded by a fiery sea.  It is said the God-Forges are where all things were first created, and where all things can be unforged.  Karkath the Fireduke dwells in these seas, and many pilgrims travel to this Ghost World to beg for his whispered knowledge of crafting.  There are many cities of brass and fiery creatures that dwell in this plane.
     Planar Effectjs From Conjunction: Elemental Summoning (fire), Fire magic

Grugenholme, a land of artifice, where clockwork carriages propel themselves over cobblestone roads, and towns with brass shingles and an abundance of clocks can be found.  The population of Grugenholme is mostly made up of dwarf-like people with golden beards.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Breathe Life

The Lower Hells are everything mankind fears – pits of flame, cavorting demons torturing the souls of the damned, with rusted citadels dotting the ruined landscape, rivers of blood, and a sky that contains burning clouds and black winged fiends.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Demon Summoning, Invoke Patron (Bobugbubilz, Dagos)

Lyone, the Land By The Sea, where Umwansh dwells in the waters that stretch forth from the rocky shore, and small villages of humans and halflings live in prosperity, and wizards follow the various schools of the wheel of the six elements of the world.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Idol Magic (Neutral), Elemental Summoning (Water), Invoke Patron (Umwansh), Water Breathing

Meranin, a land with only small refuges of mankind left, living in the rubble of ruined cities, and the sun grows dim and cold.  Here, the Kingdom of Garu-Tet lies, said to have been once the moon in the sky now brought to earth, to form great mountains that reach to the heavens beyond the clouds and limit of sight.  The people of Garu-Tet are tall with white hair and silver eyes, wielding strange weapons and clad in strange armor, warring against the encampments of the nomadic people of mankind.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Invoke Patron (Garu-Tet)

Nibberfell, the space beyond the wounded sky of Aquerria, a realm of Chaos.  It has a dark stormy sky and a giant blood-red moon called Urrekymir with an iris that blinks down upon suffering souls in a blasted desert of black sand, populated by shambling cities of mankind, and preying on them great mournful flying reptiles.  Deep in the black desert, far beyond where a kind of reptilian people reside and mankind fears to tread, is a great basalt chasm called the Abyss or Tarnhem’s Wound where the demon lord Tarnhem abides.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Idol Magic (Chaos), Eldritch Hound, Invoke Patron (Tarnhem)

Urrekymir is said to be the land of the blood moon of chaos, that exists in many realms.  Here it is a green-tinged land with a black stormy sky without sun or stars, and demons and mortals dwell together in relative harmony.  Because of the tear in the sky, Urrekymir doesn’t drift, but is always treated as ‘the veil has parted’, granting +2 to specific spells.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Darkness, Blood magic

The Wanderlands are the home of Rhiger the Helmsman, a plane of rolling green hills, curious brick roads, whitewashed cities with golden towers, and flying gliders.  A great reflective river called Mulhandar flows through the Wanderlands, and golden Archons with the heads of noble stags dwell.
     Planar Effects From Conjunction: Idol Magic (Law)

Obviously there are more extraplanar destinations than just these, but this is a good start and gives you an idea how a strange alien realm doesn’t have to be rules-complicated, but can be a fun place to have the player characters explore, or have an influence on magic in the ‘real world’.

Got questions, ideas, or a Ghost World to add to the list?  Drop me a note at archadethered@gmail.com