Sailing to Hell

In your world, how do the living visit the Underworld?

When Theseus and Pirithous traveled to Hades to kidnap Persephone, they did not take a portal. They took a ship. Sailed right up to the front gates. Olympus itself was often a given name to several mountains, each believed to be the metaphorical (or even literal) home of the gods.

In the Lord of the Rings, do the Elves use a Plane Shift spell to reach the Gray Havens? No, they sailed there on a ship. 

Sometimes, the metaphysical location of a plane doesn't need to be metaphysical. Sometimes, it feels more real if it's just there. In the last world that I wrote, there were 3 ways to get to the Underworld. First was dying. Second was Plane Shift or Gate. Third was taking a physical ship to where the sun sets, riding head first into the horrific whirlpool as the sun was swallowed by the sea, and following it on its 12-hour journey through the Underworld.

In the Forgotten Realms, the Abyss was physically positioned below the Elemental Chaos. If you descended down into it, you would literally find yourself going down, down, down, into an infinite pit of horror. But you could walk to it.

Players love this stuff. Being able to climb the world tree to reach Jötunheim, or ride on a great beast to one of your world's moons. It's exciting. You could have a huge tower that extends all the way up to the Astral Sea, like a space elevator. Portals are cool and all, but consider the fact that without a high-level caster, they'll never be opened.

Don't be afraid to put the really cool stuff in your setting on the map. If you want your game to be grounded, that's all well and good, but if it's going to be fantastic, there isn't much of a reason to hide the most magical parts behind a planar curtain. If they're dangerous, they're dangerous. If they're absurd, they're absurd--but being dangerous, absurd, and right there, just begging to be climbed and sailed and crawled across, is the type of call to adventure that a fantastic environment is made for.

Header image: Sea of Clouds by Colette Curan.