Little is known about the Far Realm. In Dungeons & Dragons, it is a place that exists beyond known reality. It is also the home and birthplace of all manner of eldritch horrors, including patrons that may preside over Great Old One Warlocks. Bits and pieces of information regarding the Far Realm can be found in D&D's various editions. Here's a close look at what may be the game's most nightmarish setting.
The Far Realm: A Place Beyond the Known Multiverse
Forget what you know about the various planes of existence in D&D. The Far Realm is beyond the planes themselves, and according to the Dungeon Master’s Guide, might well be a separate universe existing outside of the D&D multiverse. Just as we can’t exactly fathom what exists beyond our own universe, the majority of denizens from D&D’s various worlds have no idea what lies in the Far Realm. Learned mages and daring githyanki sailors of the Astral Sea might have an inkling of this unfathomable cosmic space. But even then, those who strive too hard to understand it risk shattering the limits of their mind.
While information on the Far Realm in fifth edition remains sparse, D&D’s third edition Manual of the Planes delved into the impossible geometry behind this extradimensional space. In short, both gravity and time are absent in the Far Realm, and instead of the normal rules of physics, the Far Realm is composed of an infinite array of translucent layers that seemingly meld into each other. Inhabitants of the Far Realm can pass from one layer to another simply by willing it, and landmarks—encompassing everything from alien seascapes to forests of giant floating tentacles—might stretch across multiple layers.
Chances are, travelers to the Far Realm will be flummoxed by the place’s strange geometry, only comprehending bits and pieces of lifeforms and landmasses depending on which layer they stand on.
Monsters of the Far Realm
The Far Realm first originated in the 1996 module The Gates of Firestorm Peak, for D&D’s second edition. There, adventurers learned of a portal that ancient elves had once opened to the Far Realm, freeing a host of deadly alien creatures. That portal has long since been closed, but the monsters born from the murky goop outside of the multiverse have over time found their way into D&D’s various worlds.
When considering creatures either native to the Far Realm or touched by its energy, think of aberrations—including D&D mainstays like the Beholder, Illithid, and Aboleth, as well as lesser-known entities like the Neogi and the Nothic. 3rd Edition D&D also featured the Kaorti, an alien race who had once been wizards of the Forgotten Realms but were transformed into unnatural, desiccated humanoids by one of the Elder Evils, the greatest of Far Realm creatures.
The Elder Evils of the Far Realm
The Elder Evils are hinted at in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes as “beings set apart from what mortals consider reality,” as well as the masters behind the sinister heralds of doom known as Star Spawns. Usually incapable of leaving the Far Realm, the Elder Evils’ influence leaks out into the worlds of the Material Plane, often influencing the actions of power-hungry cultists.
Examples of these horrific, primordial forces include
- THARIZDUN — the Chained Destroyer god who created the Abyss
— KYUSS - the Worm That Walks, a giant supposedly composed of a mass of slithering maggots.
Fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos will find the Elder Evils familiar, since Lovecraft wrote of unfathomable titans that existed beyond the fringes of reality, dwarfing all human conceptions of good and evil. Any Dungeon Master looking to portray these immense beings might do well to investigate Lovecraft’s writing or read the sections on cosmic horror and fear and stress in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
Visiting the Far Realm
The Far Realm is unkind to creatures from the D&D multiverse. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything includes a rollable table of environmental effects for the Far Realm. A character could suddenly find the ground has turned into writhing flesh or that they are compelled to complete a ritual that will conjure a Death Slaad.
"Rrakkma" , an introductory adventure to Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, includes a punishing mechanic that shows how quickly the Far Realm can warp a character's mind:
"Each round the adventurers are in the Far Realm, they must each make a successful DC 15 Wisdom saving throw at the beginning of each turn or suffer the effects of confusion that round. The chart has been modified from the one in the Player’s Handbook to more accurately reflect the effects of the Far Realm."
CONFUSION BEHAVIOR
D10 | BEHAVIOR
1 | The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. The creature doesn't take an action this turn.
2–7 | The creature doesn't move or take actions this turn.
8–10 | The creature uses its action to make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach. If there is no creature within its reach, the creature does nothing this turn.
Adventures in the Far Realm
While the Far Realm might seem difficult to grasp, its nebulous nature also makes it a compelling sandbox for DMs who want to make their players’ heads spin.
Consider the following three hooks for adventures involving the Far Realm:
1. The Far Realm’s most direct link to the characters is the Great Old One Warlock patron. The reasons behind why this ancient entity might share its power could be the stuff of an entire campaign, particularly one starring warlocks who all serve the Great Old One. Perhaps this elusive patron is a benevolent deity of the Far Realm, and is in fact seeking to get the characters to travel to its domain to defeat the encroaching forces of the kaort!
2. Previous editions of D&D hinted that psionic power originated in the Far Realm. This is an excellent kernel to explore in an adventure starring character subclasses like the Psi Warrior Fighter, the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, and the Soulknife Rogue. Paint the characters as outcasts who are feared for their Psionic Abilities, similar to mutant heroes like the X-Men. Then, dangle the possibility of them learning the origins of their power in the Far Realm. Perhaps a group of Githyanki—who also specialize in psionics—are willing to transport the characters to the Far Realm, but only if they first assist them in an assault on a Mind Flayer outpost in the Astral Sea!
3. If you want to incorporate a smidgeon of the Far Realm into your game without making it the focus of an entire campaign, try crafting a single dungeon based on this Esoteric Dimension. The characters might stumble into the dungeon via a portal, or perhaps while fiddling with a Cubic Gate left behind in an Aboleth’s treasure horde. Their quest to escape can easily take up several sessions at the gaming table. Reskin one of the levels of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage for a quick start, replacing the monsters with aberrations and setting the dungeon in a multi-layered tentacle forest of the Far Realm instead of the hallways of Undermountain. Your players will be none the wiser, since they’ll be too busy trying to figure out exactly where they ended up!
Cosmic Depths Await You
There’s no time like the present to start planning a dive into D&D’s most bizarre setting.
Just remember to be humbled by the sheer insignificance of your place in the multiverse, for any who dare to investigate the Far Realm will quickly come face-to-face with cosmic truths not meant for humanoid minds!
Sorted through my video games library using Playnite. Sorted by community rating, applied these ratings to my libraries, so that I can avoid playing duds (or even looking at them).
Picked up playing Ōkami, Godhand, Pathologic, and just a tiny bit of Dark Souls. Feels good, but the pro gamers out there already know what is good. I also want to get into Devil May Cry as well.
Currently reading Dune, and Elantris, with a few pages of the Arte manga thrown in as well.
Still no progress doing any (solo)RPG yet, but I am hopeful that this will happen in the presence of the kind of boredom I aim to create for myself, the kind where the internet becomes a sometimes thing to use, not a mindspace to spend my waking hours in.
Like every sane person ever, I am putting a leash on the internet, because reading is a lot more fun than watching.
i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.
there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.
anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.
A Better World - create an alternate history timeline
Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game
Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet
Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games
Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones
Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy
Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface
The Cafe & Diner - mystery game
The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game
Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions
Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game
Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game
Miniconomy - player driven economy game
Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes
BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators
Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil
Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.
if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.
My edition of Ker Nathalas arrived in the mail today, and I want to share a brief impression of a story here:
way back when I played Guild Wars, one specific dungeon has impressed itself upon me, a dungeon where we delved deep into the ground, and there was beauty there (and stairs, vast stairs).
This led me to Ironsworn first. And now, to Ker Nathalas.
Finding minutes here and there and slowly working through the Ironsworn rule book.
Will do the same for all of my books. Ker Nathalas just feels right close to this impression.
during login issues for Destiny 2, I decided to pop in and take note of the following new additions to my (solo) RPG stash:
First, I got Pirate Borg from Sphärenmeisters Spiele, a local seller in Germany (link here, https://sphaerenmeisters-spiele.de/Pirate-Borg), which turns out was a cool choice because they are part of the Bits and Mortar initiative, so I got a couple of PDFs along the physical rule book as well (Character Sheets, Player Character Creation Sheet, Player, Spreads, and regular rulebook versions)!
I bought Pirate Borg because I have been hearing Haddock’s Captain Wolfe’s Journey playing in my head lately, and I want to explore that connection.
Then, following up on a whimsical post made by a certain someone within the scene, I ordered a copy of Mothership from World of Dice, another local seller (link here, https://worldofdice.de/products/mothership-rpg-deluxe-set), as well.
Both have arrived today, and I am looking forward to doing more with them, other than just having them sit around my home.
So, all in all, I am looking at the following games I currently have in my RPG stash:
Apothecaria
Cy_borg
Ironsworn
Mothership
Mörk Borg
Pirate Borg
DSA2 - Die Helden und Magie des Schwarzen Auges
And, since I want to play solo, I have the Mythic Game Master Emulator, to function as my AI.
Looking forward to playing, and building this blog up slowly.
Bought some blank cards to write on for Mothership/NPCs in general as well. Is this excitement which I feel?
I am creating a split, so that I can keep one thing true to itself, the other true to its other self.
This blog here will stick to its theme, code and canvas, that is: graphic design, study of graphic design, increasing my own skills with time and dedication.
The other blog will go its own route, exploring fantasy, and gaming. Roughly, that is the split right there, so I can keep these two separated, for the benefit of you and me.
I will follow all of my ttrpg and rpg mutuals from @geistertrutz, as well as the people who are into fantasy, and adjacent genres, while keeping this blog here what it is: a very crunchy blog.
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