Visual
traditional
very similar to stargate, locking in constellations with a chevron, need 7. And then book a water like puddle opens, you can’t see the other side.
Floor tablets
Runes on the floor that slowly spin up and then you are instantly teleported when the ritual is complete. Thematically would work well with teleportation circles in DnD
Magic mirror
A large mirror. Or potentially mirrors of different sizes. Once triggered the face will shift from reflective to almost be like a clear pool of upright water, the other side will be complete visual throughout. It could potentially be used only to see, either if the other side has some sort of shield or if the mirror on one end is weak.
Mechanics of travel
Singing
In order to initiate a transfer a certain song needs to be played. The song played will determine the location you travel to. This would give a good reason for Bards to be with a party, and give an interesting use for performance checks
Runes
Having to write runes or consolations makes sense. It would be easier to discover than a song it could split into a clear number of checks or rounds depending on the runes.
Time
It should take time to imitate a connection. I’m not sure how long, I’m thinking at least 3 rounds. But maybe as much as 7. It could be a cool element to do this in the middle of a fight
Fuel
This world in general will need some type of fuel. This full will power magic and be able to amplify it. It will be made of liquid typically but the gates will be made of a solid alloy version of it. This will automatically replenish the magical energy required to make a connection. But there will always be an hour gap between connections to recharge. This can be bypassed if extra fuel is near the gate. likely this is being done at the “home” gate
Outstanding questions
- Should travel be 1-1 for worlds? Or should it be gate specific. It being 1-1 in introduces a scarcity to the gates, and limits the society’s need to just take them off of worlds that are less interesting. However it could limit story telling opportunity if i want to visit specific parts of certain worlds.
- can veichles go through these gates? Or only creatures? Small spell jammer ships, wagons or even some big creatures? Need a clear size that can make it through, maybe a large creature, if it has a radius of 10ft
- If i don’t want these moved i could say that moving them causes damage to them, so current societies don’t know how to do this. But then how would our party’s one make sense? Maybe their home country is the place it was originally. So they were able to repair it.