Instantaneous vs. Time-Consuming Travel

Travel between worlds could be a
“Poof! You’re there!” phenomenon:
the heroes just have to cast a spell,
push a button, walk under a hill, etc.
Or it might be a slow process, compa-
rable to sea or space travel. Both
approaches have pros and cons.
Instantaneous travel – like the
Jumper advantage (p. 64) and Plane
Shift spell (p. 248) – allows furious,
universe-spanning action, with the
heroes and their foes battling from one
reality to the next. However, some
players will try to avoid enemies (and
Debt, Duties, etc.) this way, sapping
drama instead of adding to it. This
kind of travel also encourages brisk
interplanar trade, which is great fun
. . . until it destroys the campaign’s
economy. In general, if interplanar
travel is to be quick, the GM should
make the means of travel hard to come
by, introduce reasonable risks (e.g.,
nasty surprises on failed Plane Shift
rolls), limit what travelers can carry,
and make it clear that some alternate
worlds are dangerous.
If interplanar travel takes time, the
GM must determine how much time
passes, and at what rate relative to
time in the PCs’ home world. The pri-
mary advantage of time-consuming
travel is that the trip itself is an adven-
ture. The downside is that the cam-
paign can get bogged down in travel.
Many players grow bored if their char-
acters must make long trips to achieve
their goals. If the GM chooses this
option, he should be prepared to build
an adventure around each trip, or let
the PCs spend their time on gainful
long-term projects such as study,
invention, and magical enchantment.
The most
important question
to answer is, “How
do the adventurers
get there?”