Yesterday's post got me to thinking about other ways the Marvel Universe could inform the portrayal of the planes in D&D-type fantasy games. In the "standard model" the inner/outer planes are accessed by means of the transitive planes or direct portals. In the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition, Mark Gruenwald cataloged other dimensions and alternate realities by a method he had initially present in A Treatise on Reality in Comic Book Literature in 1977. If we imagine a sort of random arrangement of planes (throwing out the Great Wheel or the Astral Sea), we can apply Gruenwald's various means of access (leaving out "magic" since all of the ways will be magical):
Vibrational Attunment: This assumes the plane in question is coterminous, but its matter vibrates at a different frequency. In D&D terms, this would mean going ethereal (like via an ethereal jaunt). Plane shift might also work.
Shrinking: Some planes might be microverses. Reaching them would be via spells or magic items that reduce a persons size below visibility by the naked eye.
Astral Projection: Some planes are physical places, but ectoplasmic ones. The spell of the same name comes in handy.
Portal: Some worlds are only accessible by permanent portals found in certain places or by Plane Shift.
Death: Probably the least attractive way of reaching an afterlife realm, but it works. Astral projection is the less permanent way.
7 comments:
Great post. These are some great ways to spur the players on to accessing different planes rather than the normal method. It could been an adventure in its own right.
Comics have excellent mechanics for a lot of things like this :)
" Mark Gruenwald cataloged other dimensions and alternate realities by a method he had initially present in A Treatise on Reality in Comic Book Literature in 1977."
Link?
Use Worldcat to find a copy near you.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5204660
Yeah, it's long out of print and goes for high prices on Amazon.
There might be an interesting campaign in the offing exploring Death-gated realms. The party would need access to body guardians and friendlies with resurrection spells
This is one of those thing I don't think I've considered too much in a campaign. I pretty much have portals or I guess overlapping realms. It's an interesting topic. Gruenwalk sounds like it would have been an interesting read.
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