Area Ideas

[Twohand]

Do you have any cool area ideas? Say, things like "I wish the Burning Shores ruin was a Kobold guildhouse", "I think a mysterious grove area with a circle of stones in the vicinity of the Forest Despair would be fun for evil characters to practice evil rituals at", and "How about the Krusty Krab as a diving bell location in the sea?". I can't promise anything brought up here will be added at all, but I think it could be an interesting brainstorming exercise. Remember, the suggestions forum is closed, and this thread doesn't mean the gates are open again though.

[TurningLeaf]

More Underdark sailing type areas would be neat. With like, sail checks so you don't crash into the rocks. I feel like these areas are alluded to a lot and would be fun to see come IG.

[Rei_Jin]

I do wish the burning shores ruin was a kobold guildhouse

Totally.

I also wish for a kobold guildhouse more generally; Shadowclaw has been an active force in the UD for literal RL years and there's no kobold warrens, while the Svirfneblin have their own super-special un-assaultable grotto and there are very few of them.

[Mattamue]

A district of Sigil.

Portals to other far-flung areas that are self-contained somehow. You don't even necessarily need an in-world reason. Just player buy-in that there's only this one corner of Tethyr and it isn't a social space to hang out. It's a dungeon. Or only open when a DM is there to run a guard and keep people contained or something.

More astrolab locations. Feels like there's a lot of possibility to go crazy and design whatever you want there. A portal from the Astrolab that goes to an alternate timeline where Myon crashed into the forest. Benwick overran completely. Benwick when it first fell. Could be a fun dungeon. Have it be more like a wave survival or a moba than a normal crawl through the map. I just realized I'm describing timewalking dungeons, but it doesn't have to be that constrained.

Some opportunity to expand the planes. If I remember right most of them (besides shadow and a few of the hells) are 2-3 area zones and then they're done? Not sure what to expand. Maybe a redesign to use some more modern techniques and keep them small.

Encounters with NPC parties. A lot of walking around is mowing down goblins and the occasional rp. Maybe have a level check and spawn a party with some dialogue. If it goes hostile, have the party be actual player classes and some basic AI to vs. Maybe named parties that'll rez so they're not just one and done. Save in a database who they kill and who kills them, or other interactions.

[MissEvelyn]

I'm always a fan of planar travel, so more destinations within the different planes is something I'd love to see - and explore!

[Exordius]

Maybe a divine version of the arcane tower, a large temple where all the divine classes can hang out, do divine stuff, and rp. Make it neutral like the tower and let it cater to at least most of the faiths aside from fiends, warlock patrons, and maybe the most nasty of chaotic evil gods.

[Kalthariam]

"I wish the Burning Shores ruin was a Kobold guildhouse"

Yes.

All of the Yes.

[Twohand]

More Underdark sailing type areas would be neat. With like, sail checks so you don't crash into the rocks. I feel like these areas are alluded to a lot and would be fun to see come IG.

There were a few things planned and written by a previous contributor who unfortunately has left the team awhile ago, absolutely brilliant stuff. I won't say more to respect their work, I don't think they'd want people talking about it without their permission.

I do wish the burning shores ruin was a kobold guildhouse

Totally.

I also wish for a kobold guildhouse more generally; Shadowclaw has been an active force in the UD for literal RL years and there's no kobold warrens, while the Svirfneblin have their own super-special un-assaultable grotto and there are very few of them.

Yeah, that burning shores place has been in my mind for a while. No promises if it'll happen, but yeah, it's something I'd like to make, although I'd need permission from higher powers first. Guildhouses pose a few considerations.

A district of Sigil.

Portals to other far-flung areas that are self-contained somehow. You don't even necessarily need an in-world reason. Just player buy-in that there's only this one corner of Tethyr and it isn't a social space to hang out. It's a dungeon. Or only open when a DM is there to run a guard and keep people contained or something.

More astrolab locations. Feels like there's a lot of possibility to go crazy and design whatever you want there. A portal from the Astrolab that goes to an alternate timeline where Myon crashed into the forest. Benwick overran completely. Benwick when it first fell. Could be a fun dungeon. Have it be more like a wave survival or a moba than a normal crawl through the map. I just realized I'm describing timewalking dungeons, but it doesn't have to be that constrained.

Some opportunity to expand the planes. If I remember right most of them (besides shadow and a few of the hells) are 2-3 area zones and then they're done? Not sure what to expand. Maybe a redesign to use some more modern techniques and keep them small.

Encounters with NPC parties. A lot of walking around is mowing down goblins and the occasional rp. Maybe have a level check and spawn a party with some dialogue. If it goes hostile, have the party be actual player classes and some basic AI to vs. Maybe named parties that'll rez so they're not just one and done. Save in a database who they kill and who kills them, or other interactions.

I'm always a fan of planar travel, so more destinations within the different planes is something I'd love to see - and explore!

I enjoy planar stuff and would love to add more of it. I've got a new dungeon finished and it involves travelling to another plane, although it's something of a short interaction.

Maybe a divine version of the arcane tower, a large temple where all the divine classes can hang out, do divine stuff, and rp. Make it neutral like the tower and let it cater to at least most of the faiths aside from fiends, warlock patrons, and maybe the most nasty of chaotic evil gods.

Personally, I'd rather make a more focused temple than a generic one. Say, something like a temple-guildhouse place for the Maztican gods in the Southern Peninsula.

[Wrips]

Expansion of Lunia, receiving some kind of Dis treatment.

[Edens_Fall]

Something to do with Unseelie Court. We already have a wonderful collection of areas for Druids, Elves, and Summer Fey, but I always loved the idea of an area for the dark Fey packed & followers of the Court to gather/visit/interact with the Gloaming court.

Perhaps an addition to Pandemonium (which is likely due for an update anyway), where the Court is held? That area isn't used much for anything other than the short dungeon that's there (as far as I know). Would also need to add a surface location to enter, as not everyone can visit Andunor.

[Twohand]

Something to do with Unseelie Court. We already have a wonderful collection of areas for Druids, Elves, and Summer Fey, but I always loved the idea of an area for the dark Fey packed & followers of the Court to gather/visit/interact with the Gloaming court.

Perhaps an addition to Pandemonium (which is likely due for an update anyway), where the Court is held? That area isn't used much for anything other than the short dungeon that's there (as far as I know). Would also need to add a surface location to enter, as not everyone can visit Andunor.

I've always thought the shadow woods in the Arelith Forest, where you find [redacted] and a mysterious passage blocked by branches, could be the cool starting point for an evil Fey dungeon.

Expansion of Lunia, receiving some kind of Dis treatment.

How about a dungeon there instead?

[Disaster Lesbian]

I'd like to see more areas within the Lost Desert. A different oasis - where it could just turn into a trap from some of the local, hostile life- or a second one that is a serene break in the various different scapes.

I also think the Forest of Despair could use something as simple as a hut- perhaps a story revolving around a Hag kidnapping lost adventurers or luring people to her aid, only to be met with a terrible fate. It'd be a perfect excuse for environmental storytelling, and perhaps going as far to even possibly have a Shadow Door there leading towards the Forest of Weir.

On the thoughts of planar travel - I've always felt as though a dungeon stemming from the Astrolabe would be a neat idea as well. As the converging point of various different planarscapes- a dungeon that delves through the twisting, turning corners, paths and roads that has you fending off various guardians or threats to their respective planes all culminating to find some Eldritch Horror at the end before throwing you back out into the Astrolabe once more.

[perseid]

As long as ideas are being explored I think there's some legacy areas that could represent low-hanging fruit.

*As far as I'm aware (though maybe I'm wrong and just havent figured out that there's a new mechanic) the scrying machine in the Lowerdark has been broken since the CnP server split for example and it was actually a pretty neat thing to play with. Even just adjusting the targets to interesting UD locations would be pretty neat imo.

*The Plane of Water in the Astrolabe is very resource intensive as laid out and causes crashing pretty often as laid out atm in my experience.

*I know there's been chatter in the past about big additions to the Plane of Shadow but imo even just some love for what's already there would go a long way. The Shadow Door in the crypts of Shadow Cordor has been broken for a long time as an example and there's quarters with doors that aren't configured correctly and probably just need a box ticked somewhere in their settings.

As far as new ideas though, I think a 'fancy' quarter or guildhouse in Dis would be awesome. I think it was mentioned once that there was more planned for Dis so maybe that's already in the cards but imo something like a penthouse or 'office space' on top of the bank would be amazing and add some variety since the current quarters in Dis are neat but also sort of small or aesthetically dingey (not that the perks don't offset that).

A Paush themed dungeon or boon shrine would also be rad imo (or boon removal shrine to represent Paush spiting you, since I don't think there's a way to swap out boons besides waiting for them to expire). I don't have any specific vision for this but something I've come across is that a lot of people (myself included) who beat Paush end up on unspoken curiosity quests to see what his key goes to. But the dissapointing answer I saw suggested once was that the key is likely just a relic from his old area (which was redesigned into its current state). Given Paush's place in Arelith's lore I think it'd be pretty cool if there was a followup dungeon that could only be accessed with the key gained from downing his avatar.

Edit: Flashing my wildmage bias for a moment, a wildmage-only quarter at the Lonely Tree would also be thematically incredible even if a bit expensive to reach.

[Edens_Fall]

Something to do with Unseelie Court. We already have a wonderful collection of areas for Druids, Elves, and Summer Fey, but I always loved the idea of an area for the dark Fey packed & followers of the Court to gather/visit/interact with the Gloaming court.

Perhaps an addition to Pandemonium (which is likely due for an update anyway), where the Court is held? That area isn't used much for anything other than the short dungeon that's there (as far as I know). Would also need to add a surface location to enter, as not everyone can visit Andunor.

I've always thought the shadow woods in the Arelith Forest, where you find [redacted] and a mysterious passage blocked by branches, could be the cool starting point for an evil Fey dungeon.

Sounds like a good plan!

[Babylon System is the Vampire]

Just off the top of my head-

Both forests could use more mystery and adventure in them, but especially the arelith forest. It just feels more like the woods behind my house then the largest forest on the island.

The planes could use some love. Some of them are perfect candidates for pretty hacks because you don't have to do much on them, meaning functionality is nowhere near as important as say a dangerous dungeon.

You can never have too many islands. I always thought some sort of tribal themed island, perhaps folks originally from maztica that got marooned generations ago and just started life there, could be cool. I would even give them a dialogue where you could use personality skills to get boons (access to decent gear, high level spells, ect) or just tell them you are here to take their stuff sending them immediately to hostile. Bad guys like screaming victims after all, though I wouldn't make them push overs. Sailing groups tend to be large and powerful.

If you really want to go nuts, I always thought an NPC run pirate cove would be amazing from a story standpoint. Similar to the shadovar trade post, it could be a neutral ground and it could also host a major npc or two that the dms could break out for pirate themed stories without them being omnipresent on the cliff.

I also want to second the idea of just sprucing up what already exists in the shadow plane and would even extend that to the skull crags, in particular the newer areas. They have a great shell on both accounts, but they fall well short of immersive because there is little to it save some paths and monsters to kill.

In a similar vein, the areas around the river need more to pop as well, but here I think it's more that the players just need a reason to be there.

And last but not least, the bannite temple. I think this would be well served by making it more in line with what zhentil keep is, as opposed to some temple near the undead where the ebol guys laugh manically all day until they unleash their massive plot (read pvp) on the world. Having some form of trade that is valuable enough that players have to make the decision is on theme and having a small society building up around them will do well to portray that there are people who just prefer to live under absolute law and order, even if that means tyranny.

And since like my favorite song by Amy Ray goes, "I'm a liar", one more thing. Expand the thayan enclave in new guldorand into something pc thayans could use for their home base, if something like that doesn't already exist.

[riffraff]

Personally I'm far more interested in places, objects and NPCs that are going to spur more RP on than dungeons/writ areas. Stuff people can find to give them strange powers, or accidentally (or deliberately!) unleash more horrors that people have to deal with, or ritual sites. Things explorers and wanderers can stumble upon.

Both forests could use more mystery and adventure in them, but especially the arelith forest. It just feels more like the woods behind my house then the largest forest on the island.

I've always thought the shadow woods in the Arelith Forest, where you find [redacted] and a mysterious passage blocked by branches, could be the cool starting point for an evil Fey dungeon.

I also think the Forest of Despair could use something as simple as a hut- perhaps a story revolving around a Hag kidnapping lost adventurers or luring people to her aid, only to be met with a terrible fate. It'd be a perfect excuse for environmental storytelling, and perhaps going as far to even possibly have a Shadow Door there leading towards the Forest of Weir.

I'd love more excuses to go wandering the forests, so love these. Maybe I just haven't found stuff, but I kept expecting to find something spooky in the shadow woods, what with all the shadow creatures there. But from the [redacted], maybe I have missed something.

I also want to second the idea of just sprucing up what already exists in the shadow plane and would even extend that to the skull crags, in particular the newer areas. They have a great shell on both accounts, but they fall well short of immersive because there is little to it save some paths and monsters to kill.

As someone who fairly regularly wanders the Skull Crags, I'd love to see some stuff there that isn't just giantkin hurling rocks at my head! To be honest, Mattamue's suggestion of random NPC encounters (besides the guard patrols) on the roads would be really nice, even if it was hostile creatures/people that aren't the usual enemies for the area. It would really add something different and exciting for those of us who patrol, couriers or anyone else who uses the roads (and gives a reason to use the roads instead of always portalling everywhere, to boot). Especially if it was reflective of DM events going on - like if there'd been random undead spawns during the latest Twisted Rune stuff, for example. Something that expands on the stories, gives randos things to do and talk about IC, but doesn't actually need a DM to be present for.

I'll also just echo anyone who's brought up expansions for the evil factions (Banites and other evil faiths, Thayvians, Zhents etc). I feel that anything that lets evil characters consolidate on the surface is an ace thing for RP, including aforementioned neutral areas where they can interact with good guys. This may just be my inexperience (and timezone), but it has felt a lot to me that evil stuff is predominantly cordoned off in Andunor until it spills out of there for evil plots, raids etc and I think that's a shame.

[Good Character]

Super glad people also have sentiments for the Forest of Despair and what it offers. I wish we could seem more subtle doom and gloom. The Ravenloft setting (and POTM, specifically, frankly) has a done a wonderful job with injecting a sense of dread into D&D. The best area that Arelith has to offer that offers the same sense of dread is the Endless Battlefield; the first time you go at night you initially treat it as any other area where you just kill the mobs with zero thought. However, you quickly learn you're overcome with swarms of undead from every angle.

I hope we continue to get darker, cramped and unfair dungeons. The Blood Moon fort does this noticeably well. A POTM dungeon that does it well (mind, haven't played there in years) is the one that's hidden behind a mountain. A bunch of NPC mercenaries were meant to clear it out but the undead inside have murdered and trapped them. You have desperate mercenaries trying to escape. Once you get past them, you find that it's no simple tomb crawl; going too far spawns stronger variants behind you that you won't notice until you make the trek back already half-dead.

If we do go with dungeons, I ask we continue to go with multi-area dungeons (i.e. Slime Temple) as it will allow people to slow down and exploit the dungeon for roleplay without deliberately not permitting the dungeon creatures from respawning.

[Arienette]

Do you have any cool area ideas? Say, things like "I wish the Burning Shores ruin was a Kobold guildhouse", "I think a mysterious grove area with a circle of stones in the vicinity of the Forest Despair would be fun for evil characters to practice evil rituals at", and "How about the Krusty Krab as a diving bell location in the sea?". I can't promise anything brought up here will be added at all, but I think it could be an interesting brainstorming exercise. Remember, the suggestions forum is closed, and this thread doesn't mean the gates are open again though.

Castle Gloom has a source portal, but it is locked behind the “inner keep” door. It is in an area reserved for the keeper of the castle and his retinue.

This means that, as much as you might encourage settlement citizens to visit the castle and make use of its amenities, the place will get minimal traffic. Because leaving the place requires using a lens, or running through multiple zones of enemies that teleport on top of you, hit you with Slow touch attacks etc.

Moving the source portal from the “inner keep” to a publicly accessible area would be huge for Gloom and making it a more attractive place for people to visit.

[Scylon]

Is it just area ideas?

If so, I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit of the mainland or more island areas.

If not, more Mundane love. There is a huge focus on magic to the masses. I have an idea for an expansion on knight for example, but not sure if that lands in the land of suggestion box.

[WitchyEvil]

Abyssal Trade Hub
Abyssal Quarters

I'd also love it if you had to be an Abyssalist and follow an Abyssal Power to own the Citadel, but I suppose that's a different thread.

There are plenty of places among the Abyss' many layers that are welcoming to travelers and traders, and I'd love to see this expanded for more RP locations and opportunities.

I also might be totally biased.

[Sandrow]

On top of a mountain where you fall towards the sky till you landed on the plane of air, fighting with angry air elementals or break through the vast storm before you finally arrive some place safe

[Subtext]

I think generally expansions to the Astrolabe would be neat.

It's such a cool thing to have but in some ways it feels more like a proof of concept than anything else. But there's so much potential!

Having actual dungeons in those planes or other stuff might go a long way.

[Exordius]

Expanding the abyss would be nice, and a small tradepost or town would be awesome. They have one in Amia and its pretty neat.

[AddledPunster]

Planar Sphere dungeon. Y'know, like the one from Baldur's Gate 2, only not available as a player home. Cool as it would be, it'd also be a bit much. Just an opportunity to use varied planar assets as you jaunt through an evil wizard's research lab. Make it accessible from one of the planes, or from the Astrolab. Heck, if possible, maybe make it accessible via a random plane, like it's hopping around.

A diving bell encounter where you come across a Gnome Merchant running a shop on the ocean floor. He's there to test an experimental bubble creating device that has created a pocket of air on the floor. He's also heard adventurers are diving in these waters, so he's using it as an opportunity to sell his wares. Make him like an underwater version of the Gnomish Trading Boat.

An Evil Treehouse Quarter in the Forest of Despair. Built on one of the living trees that has been ritually subdued, this would be a great place for evil rangers, dark alchemists, unseelie warlocks or hemomancers. Plus a lot of other viable ideas I probably haven't thought of.

The Random Wizard Shop. There is a wizard running a shop, however it only appears in the randomized exploration areas. IE the Lost Desert, the Abyss, the Ocean Floor. Make it a tent. Never elaborate on how he keeps the water out when he's on the ocean floor.

Put an abandoned stone sacrificial altar in the mountains or the forest. Just a place with a stone circle and a slab in the middle that someone can go lay down on. Don't put it at the end of a dungeon or anything, just out removed twist of the Arelith Forest, or in an out of the way corner of the Skull Crag mountains, just to be a setpiece people or DMs can use for RP. Plus, it'll be kinda funny when people start saying "C'mon gang, something fishy is going on at the old Sacrificial Altar!"

A pie vendor in Bendir. I mean, seriously, at this point the town just needs an NPC that just sells pies. Give him/her/them a stall.

Planar Sphere Guildhouse. Yeah I said it was a bit much, but thinking on it more, I think a planar sphere would be a great concept to serve as a faction guildhouse for arcane organizations of ANY alignment looking for an out of way place where their research projects can go unobstructed. Give it an astrolab-like function and a golem workstation.

[Kuma]

Abyssal Trade Hub
Abyssal Quarters

I'd also love it if you had to be an Abyssalist and follow an Abyssal Power to own the Citadel, but I suppose that's a different thread.

There are plenty of places among the Abyss' many layers that are welcoming to travelers and traders, and I'd love to see this expanded for more RP locations and opportunities.

I also might be totally biased.

A Graz'zt-sponsored caravan of merchants in the 363rd from the Triple Realm of Azzagrat operating under Paush's dubious agreement out there in the Endless Wastes could be fun.