One World: In this model, there are no other planes of existence, but the Material Plane includes places like the bottomless Abyss, the shining Mount Celestia, the strange city of Mechanus, the fortress of Acheron, and so on. All the planes are locations in the world, reachable by ordinary means of travel - though extraordinary effort is required, for example, to sail across the sea to the blessed isles of Elysium.
- Dungeon Master's Guide (p. 44)
The Crossroad Realms are a high-magic fantasy world. Each of the Realms is converted from a Plane of Existence in the Forgotten Realms, and has its own 'personality'. The whole place is thick with evocative plot hooks and cool people and places to meet and explore.
Some personal favourites:
- As your ship passes through the marshlands of Belierin, your guide whispers that a great evil—a maimed god, or a forgotten archdevil, or maybe the Terrasque itself—sleeps below the surface, held back only by the magic of the River Oceanus.
- Huge and ruined slabs of stonework litter the north plains of Primus, long-since overtaken by nature. The smashed remnants of floating palaces and glimmering temples are all that remain of the Old Empire in this part of the world, but beyond the Swirling Sea, their descendants plot the restoration of this bygone age.
- In the depths of the Abyss, in the maddening death-city of Zelatar, in a studio showcasing visceral effigies in the throes of torment, you find the local chapterhouse of the Planeswalkers' Guild.
When you add your character to the realms, you'll bring your ideas and personality with them, and I'm so excited to expand the Realms with you!
Your Character
To make sure your character works and feels the way you want them to, it might be a good idea to explore a few key aspects of their relationship to the setting.
Your Species
All fantasy species exist in the crossroad realms, though some are found in greater numbers than others. Every species has an ancestral homeland, but it's been a long time since the beginning of the world, and now everyone lives everywhere.
If you like the idea of your character standing out in a crowd, we can figure out a place/species combo that makes you distinct even among the diversity of the most cosmopolitan city of the realms.
Your species' page on the Sapient Species List (if it has one yet!) can give you optional ideas about where you might be from, what cultural groups you might be connected to, and more.
Your Home
Travel between Realms can be done by normal means like walking or sailing a non-magical ship, though it might be a long and arduous journey. Your character doesn't have to be from the Earth-like Realm of Primus; feel free to pick a fantastical outer-realm homeland!
You and the Gods
In base D&D, part of the reason the planes are so hard to get to is that the gods live there, and it messes with game balance if players can easily approach and challenge a god. In the Crossroad Realms, the gods live among their mortal subjects. This changes the way people relate to their deities.
Most gods have a positive relationship with people who care about the same things as them. It's like being in a fandom; you may not directly know the influential figures in that fandom, but you nevertheless have a sort of kinship with them.
The Game Setting
The best way to get to know the setting is to head over to
the World Map and just click around. The outer realms all appear as spheres, because most of them don't have static borders, which makes them awkward to map. But they are otherwise regular countries. Weird, magical, border-shifting countries, but still places you can fly, sail, or walk to.
If you're interested in how the cosmology of how the Realms differs from the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk cosmologies they borrow from, then keep reading.
Transitive and Echo Realms
The
Ethereal Plane maintains its function as an alternate mode of transportation, and as a destination for restless spirits, as well as a homeland for ethereal beings such as Phase Spiders and Blink Dogs. It overlaps all the Realms.
The
Astral Sea is this world's outer space, and a suitable setting for games that dip slightly more into Science Fantasy adventures.
Similarly, the echo realms of the
Shadowfell and
Feywild seemed wasted as overlays of the Prime Material alone. In this cosmology, they overlap the entirety of the Realms, though crossings are more common in some places than others. They Fey holds stronger sway in the chaotic and good axes, and the shadow in the lawful and evil axes. In the Fey echo, the Unseelie Court holds sway in the LE corner, while the Seelie court rules the CG corner.
Inner Realms
The "Prime Material Plane"—which, in the Forgotten Realms, is the "normal" world where most adventure happens—is
Primus. Together with the elemental realms of
Ignia,
Terra,
Auria, and
Oceanus comprise the Inner Realms.
The Inner Realms are distinct for their stability and relative neutrality. Being pulled less strongly by the cosmic forces of law, chaos, positivity, and negativity, the Inner Realms seem tame, and their Realm Magic is not as apparent compared to the Outer Realms.
Outer Realms & Afterlives
The Outer Realms are affected more extremely by the cosmic axes of positivity/negativity and law/chaos. They also comprise the Edge of the World, bordering on the Realms of Positivity and Negativity—vacuous spaces of pure concept. In the Forgotten Realms, the outer planes are far-off otherworlds that most adventurers could only dream of. In the Crossroad Realms, you can just hop an airship and fly right over.
In base D&D, the purpose of the Outer Realms is partly to serve as an afterlife. That second part becomes a bit awkward when the Outer Realms are just a sailing-trip away. Miss your dead loved one? Take a road trip and visit! Just kidding, death is still an end here. But if your dead warrior doesn't go to valhalla, where *do* they go?
What becomes of a mortal soul when it leaves the body varies widely. Some souls reincarnate, either starting life over in an endless cycle or taking a new, eternal form, sometimes as a favored creature of their patron deity. Then, of course, there's the undead. For most, life simply ends unless something—or someone—intervenes.
Other Dimensions
Extra dimensions still exist in the Crossroad Realms, though they are harder to reach. The fabled and maddening Far Realm is one such other dimension, as well as the
Feywild,
Shadowfell, and Ethereal planes, though these are anchored to the physical Realms.
In addition, pocket dimensions such as the Domains of Dread, the entire realm of
Carceri (And arguably (
Baator, and the retreats of various powerful wizards are considered extradimensional.
