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keftiu
Senior Scribe
656 Posts |
 Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 12:23:40
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Have any of you ever crossed over your Realms with another published setting? I’m curious to hear about Planescape or Spelljammer takes (or other ways besides, like what I think I read about the plane of shadow, or the Mists).
Ideally we keep this to other canon D&D worlds, though I’m sure it was cool when your party met Batman and Optimus Prime.
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4e fangirl. Here to queer up the Realms. |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3741 Posts |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 15:46:58
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quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Ideally we keep this to other canon D&D worlds, though I’m sure it was cool when your party met Batman and Optimus Prime.
I did read part of a fanfiction, once, that had the Sailor Moon scouts get dropped in various places in the Realms -- generally near one of the Seven Sisters.
Only read the first chapter, though. If the author did more, I didn't see it -- not really a fanfic person; I'm not sure why I even read that one. |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1151 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 19:21:32
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| IMHO the days of regular crossovers was the golden age of lore. I know it can still be done and occasionally is (Exandria characters in a product that begins in FR) but the discussion over it is nothing like was in 2e. The multiversal meta story will hopefully come back strong one day. |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
955 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 20:35:07
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| My old 1990's campaign shifted often between Toril and Sigil. |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4438 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 21:03:51
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| While I have crossed over to Faerûn from Earth, I have not crossed with other settings. But now that you mention it, I think it would be really interesting to cross over Forgotten Realms with the Magic:the Gathering settings for some interesting combinations |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 21:58:08
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| WAAAAAYYYY back when my character turned NPC Sleyvas was in use, I DM'd a campaign in which he had crossed into Ravenloft and he was an enemy for the players. Then, while doing fanfic with a fellow realms fan in the 90's, I wrote that he had crossed into the ravenloft "masque of the red death" setting, where he met a "witch" and learned of the American Old West that was more supernatural. He then came back to the forgotten realms with a pair of six shooters and an interest in smokepowder as well as spellcasting. Now, I see the cheesiness of that NOW... twenty five or so years later... but I still maintain that to be his history. Of course, now I have him living on as an artifact living spellbook with ties to both the gods Deneir and the Red Knight (said book being "The Red Book of Spell Strategy") that is both able to fly and talk and change shape into a "wheel of spells" deck and a sword with the property to change shape into any kind of single handed weapon.... whose friend is a snooty Sai named "Lorey" who is a historian with a love of poetry and psionics..... so I still love cheese. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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keftiu
Senior Scribe
656 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 22:15:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
IMHO the days of regular crossovers was the golden age of lore. I know it can still be done and occasionally is (Exandria characters in a product that begins in FR) but the discussion over it is nothing like was in 2e. The multiversal meta story will hopefully come back strong one day.
I’m so sad that Eberron comes well after this trend, and hasn’t had crossover outside of the World Serpent In. |
4e fangirl. Here to queer up the Realms. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 23:08:08
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If I was running a Realms campaign, I'd not be adverse to including Planescape or Spelljammer elements -- because really, it's all one big setting.
The same logic could be applied with Ravenloft, but I'd not include that -- horror just isn't my thing.
I'd also include other little one-off outside bits, too... Some characters I've played in non-Realms campaigns have gotten rebuilt or imported into the Realms, and I've a number of NPCs based on toons of mine from MMOs.
One of the Lords of Waterdeep that I wrote up has amnesia, with only vague memories from his lost past. I left that past blank, when I detailed him, but elements I did include pointed to the past I had in mind: a former Davion MechWarrior, who was somehow sent to the Realms. He's obviously sans Mech, and doesn't remember being a Mechwarrior; I just felt like running with that idea.
Lastly, another NPC concept I've fiddled with: a Warhammer 40k Space Marine who winds up in the Realms. Obviously, his power armor won't work, and even if his bolter worked, he'd run out of ammo for it -- so the focus is on the dude himself. He becomes convinced that the Emperor is an avatar or aspect of Torm, and becomes a priest of Torm. (Helm, as a guardian, might work better, but the Imperium places a heavy influence on duty, and what is more dutiful than the Emperor being half-dead and yet still looking out for his people?). |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 23:09:29
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| A canon crossover: I don't think it was mentioned just how she got to the Realms, but it is canon that there is a Nehwon ghoul (from the Lankhmar setting) in the Realms. |
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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1536 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2020 : 23:45:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Lastly, another NPC concept I've fiddled with: a Warhammer 40k Space Marine who winds up in the Realms. Obviously, his power armor won't work, and even if his bolter worked, he'd run out of ammo for it -- so the focus is on the dude himself. He becomes convinced that the Emperor is an avatar or aspect of Torm, and becomes a priest of Torm. (Helm, as a guardian, might work better, but the Imperium places a heavy influence on duty, and what is more dutiful than the Emperor being half-dead and yet still looking out for his people?).
...I have to admit, the idea of Torm 'imitating' Big E is kind of hilarious, especially considering the popularity of The Emperor has a Text to Speech Device.
Maybe a few paladins snapped after Torm died and ended up becoming counterparts to the Fabulous Custodes.
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4438 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 00:43:57
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I'm not sure how long an actual Astartes would live in a world populated by so many Xenos? Every elf, he'd see as an Elder. Every Ork (his term) as a corruption/infestation in need of exterminatus. And every human that lives with them a traitor to the Empire. He'd expend his bolter within the first day and while his power armor isn't "powered" it's still amazing by Realms standards. His combat armour is composed of shaped Adamantium and Plasteel plates, encased in a Ceramite ablative layer.
Assuming he can't use any of the internal functions like the life support or enclosed environmental suit, it'd still would be - at least - adamantine full-plate. His size would rival that of Goliath's and/or minotaurs and he'd have a base strength of about 26-30. He'd also have regeneration and probably some sort of acidic spittle attack.
Now, I love the idea because I really love WH40k, I'm just cautious how it would be feesible in the Realms setting and have a longer game? |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 02:29:35
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| I've played in or or run Realms-based campaigns which included "Oriental Adventures" and Zakhara, led into all over and under Planescape, visited the Arcane Ages, visited the Savage Coast (but "not" in Mystara), ended (badly) in Ravenloft, flew away in Spelljammer, and even briefly intersected with Greyhawk or a goatee-infested "mirror" Realms. Plus some short and long mini campaigns which somehow magically brought a bunch of characters together (usually in the Realms) from all sorts of official and unofficial settings. One DM was particularly fond of Eternal Champion stuff, another of Darksword, another two of "real" historical campaigns, so elements from all these were semi-frequent crossovers. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 03:29:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Diffan
I'm not sure how long an actual Astartes would live in a world populated by so many Xenos? Every elf, he'd see as an Elder. Every Ork (his term) as a corruption/infestation in need of exterminatus. And every human that lives with them a traitor to the Empire. He'd expend his bolter within the first day and while his power armor isn't "powered" it's still amazing by Realms standards. His combat armour is composed of shaped Adamantium and Plasteel plates, encased in a Ceramite ablative layer.
Assuming he can't use any of the internal functions like the life support or enclosed environmental suit, it'd still would be - at least - adamantine full-plate. His size would rival that of Goliath's and/or minotaurs and he'd have a base strength of about 26-30. He'd also have regeneration and probably some sort of acidic spittle attack.
Now, I love the idea because I really love WH40k, I'm just cautious how it would be feesible in the Realms setting and have a longer game?
Well, if the Emperor is an aspect or avatar of Torm, then the humans of the Realms don't know of and are thus not betraying the Empire. Torm set up the Empire where the Marine came from, but he's opted for a different approach in the Realms.
I figure he would have gotten his defunct armor modified to be more like regular armor. So it'd not be fully sealed and all that, but it would, as you say, still be amazing by Realms standards.
He would still be something like 8 feet tall, and have the regeneration and acid spittle and all that -- it's likely people would mistake him for giant-kin.
There would have to be a long learning curve for the guy, before he eventually learned that elves were not eldar and all that... I may have it so that for some reason, his hypnotraining either didn't quite take fully, or maybe something about being in the Warp for a long time broke that training.
But that's all something in his backstory. The intent is for him to just be an NPC -- there's no way to use him as a PC without breaking the game.
If the PCs were to encounter him at all, it would likely be in a temple, and they likely would have already heard rumors about the giantkin priest and his "enchanted" armor.
Really, the whole idea is mostly just a bit of fun for me. It's a "hey, this would be cool to do!" idea more than anything else... There is way, way too much potential for problems with the whole concept, unless the Marine is watered down dramatically (power armor doesn't have power and he's limited to weapons that exist in the Realms) and then kept in the background.
If anything, I'd use him as a bit of flavor, and the players would likely never know his background.
It's kinda like my idea of the Lord of Waterdeep that's a former Davion MechWarrior: it pleases me to have that information, and it has no bearing on anything in-game. |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4438 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 04:41:06
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I really do like the idea, and certainly there are ways of breaking down the mental protections of hypnotraining, like maybe they were eradicated by his exposure to the Weave when he entered Realmspace?
I've been looking for a good WH40K supplement with 5e but the few I've seen aren't all that appealing. I do like Torm for the job of big E though |
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keftiu
Senior Scribe
656 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 04:43:29
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| So that "let's stick to D&D settings" thing was a doomed request, I see :p |
4e fangirl. Here to queer up the Realms. |
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lookatroopa
Acolyte
Netherlands
38 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 10:45:52
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| Outside of "nexus points" like the Dock of the Wu Pi Te Shao Mountains or Nimbral, I tend to keep onworld crossovers in the background (like the case of the Minstrelwish family, which shows up on both Toril and Mystara and has even had members come to Earth in the past) unless they figure into the backstory of a PC or are otherwise central to an ongoing plot. Out in Wildspace and the planes, though, I will often orchestrate encounters with bands of wayward groundlings/primes coming from a variety of settings, including the Realms. |
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Barastir
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1600 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 18:25:47
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Canon references are the adventure series "Castle Spulzeer", which crossovers with Ravenloft, and the "For Duty & Deity" series that crossovers with Planescape, as far as I remember.
As for my Realms campaign, I intend to have a DragonLance/PlaneScape crossover in the future. Cult of the Dragon agents exchanging rituals with followers of Takhisis. I'll probably make them meet the PCs from my DragonLance Campaign, if it persists until them (my Realms campaign is already established, the DragonLance one is newer). |
"Goodness is not a natural state, but must be
fought for to be attained and maintained.
Lead by example.
Let your deeds speak your intentions.
Goodness radiated from the heart."
The Paladin's Virtues, excerpt from the "Quentin's Monograph"
(by Ed Greenwood) |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2020 : 19:03:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
Canon references are the adventure series "Castle Spulzeer", which crossovers with Ravenloft, and the "For Duty & Deity" series that crossovers with Planescape, as far as I remember.
As for my Realms campaign, I intend to have a DragonLance/PlaneScape crossover in the future. Cult of the Dragon agents exchanging rituals with followers of Takhisis. I'll probably make them meet the PCs from my DragonLance Campaign, if it persists until them (my Realms campaign is already established, the DragonLance one is newer).
Is the Cult looking to make draconians? |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2020 : 01:28:43
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quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
So that "let's stick to D&D settings" thing was a doomed request, I see :p
lol, what did expect from a fantasy game which often includes robots, spaceships, guns, lightsabers, and mutant superpowers?
I'm surprised nobody seems to have tried any Middle Earth in Forgotten Realms. I guess because low magic. And I guess because smashing orcs is no longer politically correct. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
955 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2020 : 01:32:42
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The Planescape Hellbound adventure had one major repurcussion in other D&D settings at the time. Fiends (temporarily) lost their ability to teleport. This came into play in the Spellbound adventure in the Unapproachable East. I do not know whether the rhyme between box set names was intentional or not.
I won't say what happened in Hellbound in case a scribe or moderator so happens to be running that adventure as I write this entry. |
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VikingLegion
Senior Scribe
USA
483 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2020 : 11:35:01
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quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
IMHO the days of regular crossovers was the golden age of lore. I know it can still be done and occasionally is (Exandria characters in a product that begins in FR) but the discussion over it is nothing like was in 2e. The multiversal meta story will hopefully come back strong one day.
I’m so sad that Eberron comes well after this trend, and hasn’t had crossover outside of the World Serpent In.
Eberron is difficult to justify as a crossover candidate being that they developed their own separate planar cosmology for the setting, as opposed to being part of the "Great Wheel" Planescape cosmology of 2e that accommodates all the other settings. That said, having never touched any Eberron material, I don't know how important said cosmology is to the overall story and feel of adventuring there. Perhaps one can simply ignore it and consider the world of Eberron simply another prime world just like Oerth, Krynn, Toril, Athas, etc.
Darksun also tends to not play nice in that Athas appears to be "cut off" from the rest of the multiverse in some vaguely defined way (the designers didn't want traditional clerics, so there is no flow of divine power from the gods/Outer Planes to that world). That didn't stop me from importing a team of Athasian gladiators into my Realms campaign to go up against the PCs in a bracketed team tournament. How did they crossover worlds? I don't care. It added some nice exotic spice to a quarterfinal match so I just rolled with it.
I was also known to utilize Ravenloft as occasional one-off horror sessions, often in the month of October. I didn't overdo it or use it every year, the last thing you want is for your players to groan every time a fog bank comes rolling in... The beauty of Demiplane of Dread is in its mystery and capriciousness - it can reach out to any other world, pull players in and either keep them there (if that is your desire) or use them for a specific purpose and then eject them.
Lastly, Dragonlance works fine as long as you realize the denizens of that world have their own [flawed] view of the cosmos, in that they confuse the Grey Waste of Hades and The Abyss. I attribute this (and it has been mentioned in other places) that this is because they are more of the backwater hayseed types - with far fewer archmages and highpriests than other settings, and simply don't know better.
My home campaign was Planescape at its bones, the adventure required trips to several planes of existence (mostly the Elemental), but I started it in the Forgotten Realms to make it more accessible to several of the players. They knew terms like Baldurs Gate, Waterdeep, Elminster, the Zhentarim, and so on from video games and some of the early novels. So I gave them that comfort zone to get established as level 1 adventurers, always knowing that as they grew in power the campaign would slowly shift towards one of a more planar nature.
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VikingLegion
Senior Scribe
USA
483 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2020 : 11:42:44
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About 20 years ago my gaming group came up with an interesting concept. We each had a different official setting that we preferred and knew more about. We thought about making an adventure that required the party to search for pieces of an artifact that had been sundered, with each component being placed on a separate world (like the Rod of Seven parts, but one of our creation.) As we world-hopped around, there would be a rotating DM for each world. So, when we traveled to Krynn (Dragonlance), Jay would be the DM for that stretch. When we get sucked into Ravenloft, Mike would handle those duties. When it's your turn to DM you run your own PC as an NPC for that segment.
It never quite got off the ground but it was a fun concept to think about, and laid the groundwork for the campaign I ended up running ~15 years later with mostly the same group. |
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AuldDragon
Senior Scribe
USA
572 Posts |
Posted - 11 Apr 2020 : 04:28:12
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There were some canonical Dark Sun crossovers in 2e (besides the Ravenloft one), primarily in the Planescape MC III. Not too surprising since that focused on the elemental and transitive planes. There's also a little-noticed psionic canine in MC14 Fiend Folio that is all but stated to have come from Athas.
Jeff |
My 2nd Edition blog: http://blog.aulddragon.com/
My streamed AD&D Spelljamer sessions: https://www.youtube.com/user/aulddragon/playlists?flow=grid&shelf_id=18&view=50
"That sums it up in a nutshell, AuldDragon. You make a more convincing argument. But he's right and you're not." |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 04:32:55
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| I wonder, does Nigel Findlay sneaking Dunkelzahn into the 2e Draconomicon mean there's a draconic crossover with Shadowrun, or is it just an easter egg and "Dunkelzahn of Candlekeep" is just a plain human? |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 05:20:20
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FASA lore confirmed that Shadowrun's Dunkelzahn was once known as Earthdawn's Icewing. Meaning (s)he lived on Earth some 5000 years ago and didn't originate in the Realms.
(A)D&D lore already connects the Realms and Earth. And mostly assumes (if you overlook edition-calendar anomalies) that the two worlds are "synced" with concurrent passage of years.
Although Shadowrun's Earth evidently isn't our Earth since it already has a divergent history (and powerful magic) compared vs our 2011. And portals in the Realms can connect to specific locations in "Earth's" past. And Dunkel seems like a prime example of Steel dragon species.
I'd say a crossover link is possible. More pointedly, it's not impossible and it's ambiguous.
That's probably exactly what the author intended when smuggling the Dunkel reference. A callout which only players of both games would recognize, an available "canon" link they could leverage.
Or it could simply be coincidence. Dunkelzahn maybe a common name for dragons, just like Conan is a common name for barbarians. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 05:21:51
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quote:
Originally posted by Arivia
I wonder, does Nigel Findlay sneaking Dunkelzahn into the 2e Draconomicon mean there's a draconic crossover with Shadowrun, or is it just an easter egg and "Dunkelzahn of Candlekeep" is just a plain human?
Maybe President Dunkelzahn faked his assassination so he could live out a quiet life as a scribe!
Honestly, it's not the first time I noticed Nigel Findley reusing his own material. I don't recall which ones, but I seem to recall two nearly identical worlds in Greyspace and Practical Planetology -- both of which he wrote.
I don't know how much he had to do with Shadowrun, but I know he wrote one of my fave Shadowrun novels (and that the main character of that novel was later used in at least one other novel, but it was kind of a weird usage). |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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lookatroopa
Acolyte
Netherlands
38 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 12:22:43
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| Since the topic appears to have shifted towards instances of crossover in canon, I recently found an interesting link between the Realms and the micro-setting in Tim Beach's Wizard's Challenge in the form of the characters Dar Malson (father of Ravens Bluff-based wizard Darsson Spellmaker) and the lich Kyristan, originally appearing in the module and later described in Pages from the Mages (also co-authored by Tim Beach, which I'm sure isn't a coincidence). |
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Barastir
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1600 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2020 : 14:40:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Is the Cult looking to make draconians?
That's my idea. And the followers of Takhisis can be looking for the formulae of creating draconic undead or other dracoforms (maybe negotiating for the dracolich potion recipe). |
"Goodness is not a natural state, but must be
fought for to be attained and maintained.
Lead by example.
Let your deeds speak your intentions.
Goodness radiated from the heart."
The Paladin's Virtues, excerpt from the "Quentin's Monograph"
(by Ed Greenwood) |
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Barastir
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1600 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2020 : 14:44:06
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| Another canonic crossover possibility is the existence of a portal to Ravenloft in the Greycloak Hills. It took me YEARS to discover about it. |
"Goodness is not a natural state, but must be
fought for to be attained and maintained.
Lead by example.
Let your deeds speak your intentions.
Goodness radiated from the heart."
The Paladin's Virtues, excerpt from the "Quentin's Monograph"
(by Ed Greenwood) |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
955 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2020 : 14:54:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
Another canonic crossover possibility is the existence of a portal to Ravenloft in the Greycloak Hills. It took me YEARS to discover about it.
Were you thinking about a fallen baelnorn going to Ravenloft and becoming a Darklord? |
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Crossovers/Multiverse
