Ideas for my worldbuilding

hey Veeky Forums, I'm building a "multiverse" where players can travel between vastly different worlds through non-physical means. and when I say vastly different I mean, they could just from a medieval village into a cyberpunk dystopia into a amber wasteland filled with speaking stalks of corn.

I'm having trouble explaining the methods of travel between the world, and also the "why travel between worlds".
perhaps there is some overlaying unifying force between the worlds that connects certain individuals in them together? or perhaps the world are connected by "windows" and barriers between the worlds or collapsing (may be too cliche for me)

brainstorm any ideas?

Are you familiar with the AD&D line 'Planescape'?

vaguely with the game. should I download resources for that?

>game
*video game

If your adventurers are based in Bern, they probably travel by fucking cows in the ass.

Having doors at the bottom of ancient temples or in the basements of castles may sound cliché, but it beats just phasing in and out of realities.

Maybe they pick up an amulet or similar artifact that 'wills' them to a person in need in other realities?

It was an entire setting line in the 1990s. You should at least download the core boxed set and give it a read.

>'wills' them to a person in need in other realities
this is an interesting thought. some universal "force" that connects people who are suffering, or maybe connects them by human emotions, e.g. great despair or joy.
very abstract but it could work.

captcha: sold cottage

Transportation is simple have a hubworld and various means to get there using some sort of "portal" which can vary greatly in how it looks these portals are warps in space-time that allow you travel between universes. Have every world have unique resources, villians, societies, creatures etc but the grand evil is bent on bending all universes to their will.

> where players can travel between vastly different worlds through non-physical means. and when I say vastly different I mean, they could just from a medieval village into a cyberpunk dystopia into a amber wasteland filled with speaking stalks of corn.
>players
>implying you're going to use the setting to run games
How are you going to balance magic, swords, laser guns, and superscience magitech?
What's stopping said superscience magitech worlds from breaking through world barriers and strip mining every world they pass because that's exactly what a resource intensive high tech society would do.

well, only the players can travel between worlds. worlds aren't otherwise connected.

and tech vs magic is balanced by... basically accomplishing the same thing, but in different ways. neither has great power over the other, because tech can only alter the physical world and magic is nonphysical. the player case is diverse so there aren't situations where you have 10 high-tech laser beams being unable to get past a wizard's magic barrier defense.

A vortex opens up in mid-air and you can "slide" through it.

Check Infinite Worlds and Alternate Earths.

>why travel between worlds

Basic reasons:
- Lost and trying to return home
- threat from another verse has to be defeated and they're moving between verses
- team sent to do missions in specific verses as condition of them moving to the next and eventually home
- trying to close connections between verses because travel is dangerous for all of them, so must travel through portals and shut them behind them all the way back to the source of portals
- Trade

>How are you going to balance magic, swords, laser guns, and superscience magitech?
>What's stopping said superscience magitech worlds from breaking through world barriers and strip mining every world they pass because that's exactly what a resource intensive high tech society would do.
As an adherent of the old school, this entire train of thought both amused me in its concern over what I consider a molehill while inspiring me with what a damn cool idea it is.

Perhaps only a rare few can travel between the worlds. Maybe you need to be born with a certain spark for it to work? You could call the different worlds planes or something, and give those with interworld travel powers a fancy-sounding name like "planeswalkers". And the players could be a Justice League of planeswalkers called the Gatewatch or something.

ditch all that shit for speaking corn world

>travel between vastly different worlds through non-physical means
wtf do you mean by non-physical?

They travel "in spirit"? In their dreams?

>I'm having trouble explaining the methods of travel between the world,

Portals, poof-vanish, summoning circle, Transportation chamber, Meditation circle, Magic dance ritual, Literally just dreaming, A police box that vanishes with a funny sound, Doors that open up to a nexus city that defies euclidian space, mirrors that you can walk through. Jesus fuck dude, there has BEEN DONE. Pick one.


> and also the "why travel between worlds".

Looking for something. Chasing people. Running from something. Specifically looking to exploit resources to send back to their inter-dimensional fortress. For shits and giggles. Avoiding the galactic empire that has labeled you as a terrorist and to go get useful seeds you can shove up your grandkid's ass.

Make the rifts between spaces open only in very specific places and times, so that they have to keep in mind when and where they should be to be able to cross. When crossing they have to make sure that ordinary people won't see them do it, or they will realise about plane crossing and ruin the balance of the universe trying to do that.

An other interesting approach would be to make separate characters with separate sheets, abilities and perhaps personalities for each of the worlds - they change into them as they cross.

>non-physical
I mean non-physical?
physical would be: walking across a bridge, flying in a spaceship, taking the bus
non-physical means: wizard spell, teleportation, magic portal, etc

thanks for the ideas guys, good stuff

There are so many ways to do this OP, here's my favorite
>Gods conquered the multiverse from other gods
>Put in their version of a public transit station across the multiverse
>You want to go to another world, you've got to wait with all the other adventurers, traders and warriors at your world's trainstation
>The train is a giant dragon snaking between multiverses

Kill Six Billion Demons did it best with the giant gates thing
As for why you're going to all these worlds, OP, do you even fiction? Multiverse police is a cliche for a reason, it's fucking fun as hell. Investigating and solving mysteries on different planets while fighting monsters and shit is a one-way ticket to a good session

Use corpses as portals, every corpse is a portal, just gotta know the key to follow the soul tube, though watch out crossing graveyards and old battlefields...