What if moongates were more common, but were dangerous to use?
Moongates are a concept introduced in the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Setting, and supposedly provided a means to travel from Athas to the moons of Ral and Guthay, but the concept was never truly fleshed out. If used in a Dark Sun game, moongates should probably be quite difficult to find, with only a handful of gates to be found on Athas and maybe only one or two each on Ral and Guthay. But, what if they weren’t?
Many feel that a network of teleportation circles or gates would detract from the experience of a Dark Sun game, especially since one of the defining features of Dark Sun is traveling across the Athasian wilderness and dealing with the many hazards that present themselves along the way. But what if opening and traveling through a moongate wasn’t so easy? What if it wasn’t such a “short cut”? What if travel through such a gateway was instead long and arduous?
Imagine gates that require channeled arcane energy or ritual sacrifices to activate. Imagine gates that, rather than safely and instantaneously transporting their users via the Astral Plane, instead sent their users on a potentially dangerous journey through the Gray, the Black, or even the Far Realm.
The Gray is where Athasian souls are consigned after death, doomed to slowly fade away or be consumed by more malicious and powerful undead spirits. The Black is a shadowy reflection of Athas in negative, its ever-changing shadows describing Athas by showing what is not there and also showing shadowy alternative versions of Athas. The Far Realm is an incomprehensible plane of madness that lies beyond the boundaries of the multiverse. Journeys through these planes will be inherently perilous due to the hazardous nature of the planes themselves, but these planar journeys should also feature undead spirits, such as shadows, wraiths, racked spirits, ghostly creatures, and other types of spectral undead. These planes might even be home to will-o-wisp-like creatures that prey upon the lost and foolish. Such creatures likely roam these planes, drawn to and especially hungry for, the life forces of mortals. The presence of these minor undead, however, only serves to herald the arrival of far more powerful creatures, such as death giants, shadow people, nightshades, kaisharga, and possibly even crimsons.
But passing through a gateway such as these, how might a person find their way through a foreign plane to their destination gate? The simplest and most obvious way would be for the route to be marked, perhaps with what is basically a paved path through the plane that only the gate users can see. Another option might be “spirit paths” - roads leading between gates with clearly visible milestones (known as “soul monoliths” in the Gray) set along the path to lead the way. Such milestones might be covered in strange glowing glyphs that either attract or drive off the plane’s inhabitants.
A good way to represent these journeys might be to design the path like a three or four-room dungeon. A clever DM might even add diversions along the path like ruins or even the lair of some type of terrible creature. There could even be a nexus or crossroads of milestones, allowing the PCs to cross from one set of gateways to another.
Making travel by moongate more common and dangerous is an easy way to add danger and excitement to any Dark Sun campaign, and could serve to make them acceptable to DMs who are hesitant to otherwise use them.
Encounter Tables
Monsters
Many types of creatures might be encountered on a journey though a moongate. Below are a few such creatures.
| d100 roll | Encounter |
|---|---|
| Roll of 1-16 | Nothing; just mists or shadows |
| Roll of 17-29 | 2d10+4 Shadows |
| Roll of 30-42 | 2d8+2 Racked Spirits |
| Roll of 43-55 | 2d6+1 Will-o-wisps |
| Roll of 56-68 | 2d4 Black/Gray-Touched Animals |
| Roll of 69-81 | 1d4+1 Wraiths |
| Roll of 82-94 | 1d2 Death Giants/Shadow Giants |
| Roll of 95-100 | 1 Nightwalker or Kaisharga |
Spectral Storms
Spectral storms are condensed pockets of planar energies that replicate the effects of spells or other supernatural effects. Spectral storms are effectively planar weather, and those traveling from one gateway to another should expect to encounter them in the course of their journey.
| d100 roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| Roll of 1-10 | A chill and unsettling wind |
| Roll of 11-20 | Light Spirit rain (Chill touch) |
| Roll of 21-30 | Moderate Spirit Rain (Inflict Wounds) |
| Roll of 31-40 | Freezing Cold Indigo wind (Bestow Curse) |
| Roll of 41-50 | Heavy Spirit Rain (Circle of Death) |
| Roll of 51-60 | Blackfire Tornado (Shadow Conjuration - roll on Monster Encounter table) |
| Roll of 61-70 | Jade Green Ball-lighting (Disintegrate) |
| Roll of 71-80 | Indigo Bale-lightning (Harm) |
| Roll of 81-90 | Spectral Vortex (roll again twice) |
| Roll of 91-100 | Black Vortex (portal to Kalidnay in Ravenloft) |
Oddities
What mysteries might the PCs discover when traveling across another plane?
| d100 roll | Encounter |
|---|---|
| Roll 1-12 | Unintelligible whispers that quickly fade away |
| Roll 13-25 | Stones carved with an alien language that hold strange lore |
| Roll 26-38 | Monoliths graven in a mortal language that detail ancient history |
| Roll 39-51 | A powerful spirit who can answer questions |
| Roll 52-64 | A cursed but powerful magic or psionic item |
| Roll 65-77 | A fragment of wall with spell glyphs on it (treat as 1d4+1 spell scrolls) |
| Roll 78-90 | A pool charged with healing energies (heals 2d4 creatures once, per the spell) |
| Roll 91-100 | A massive stone figure that can be contacted with speak with dead |