Other planets can be seen circling in the night sky above. Sometimes, mighty archmages - and now, the members of the Astromantic Society and others following in their footsteps - have visited them, bringing back tales of strange and fantastic places if they bother to tell about their exploits at all. And sometimes, the inhabitants of these far-off worlds come to visit this one.
Planets of the Solar System
The following planets are known to exist, from those closest to the sun to those the farthest from it.
Adventure Ideas
Designer's Notes & Resources
I always thought that the ability to explore other planets with magic was rather underdeveloped in fantasy settings, apart from the late, lamented Spelljammer setting. After all, the idea of traveling to such worlds is very old indeed - didn't Johannes Kepler write of a journey to the moon in his Somnium?
But while Urbis should by no means be regarded as "hard SF", I wanted to avoid the stereotypical "humans in rubber suits" aliens so common in both fiction and gaming—after all, that's what the standard non-human races (elves, dwarves, Orcs etc.) are for. Instead, I used these other worlds to explain the existence of D&D creatures which look as if they couldn't have possibly evolved in a terrestrial environment (most aberrations, for example) - and I wanted to describe these other worlds as precisely the kind of "strange, alien vistas" that H. P. Lovecraft and others of his generation wrote about.
Nevertheless, the focus of Urbis remains on human exploits, and to be specific, on human exploits in the Known Lands, so for now the other planets will remain only a minor aspect of the setting. But for those GM who want to explore this niche, the possibility of extraterrestrial adventures and campaigns exists.
If you have any good ideas for these locales, don't hesitate to add them in as non-canon material. I likely won't have time to revisit them any time soon. There may also be place for a small Mercury-equivalent planet closer to the sun than Magrith, and perhaps more planets between Ilsur and Calturus.
- GURPS Space - an excellent guidebook for creating planets and ecosystems. The section on creating alien life forms alone is worth it even when you aren't planning to ever run GURPS! Also see this review for further details on how to use it with D&D.
