PORTALS OF SOS

Portals were invented in 924,212 and began to be distributed in the planets of SOS. They are difficult in the extreme to construct and require materials that are legendary in their cost and scarcity. Thus, there were few of them built, and they were often the cause of war and intrigue. An isolationist faction of mages destroyed all knowledge (so they think) of how the Portals were built, so no more portals may be built.

The first portals were built in heavily defended areas so that the makers of the portal could protect and control this advanced means of transportation. This practice was discontinued when the mages found that if they were ever deposed from the site where the portal existed, that there was little or no chance that they would be able to regain control. Most ofthe portals were then built in open areas so that no one group could easily maintain a monopoly on their use.

During the Isolationist period, many of the portals were damaged or destroyed. Although some of them were repaired, many remain unusable, only partially functional, intermittently operable, or deadly.

All portals look like a doorway in the middle of a room or wilderness that has swirling mists inside that prevents one from seeing what is on theother side. The portals look as though they are made of mother of pearl.They are covered from top to bottom with unrecognizable magic runes, giving them a baroque look. They were built in two main sizes; personal (4X6 feet) and industrial (30X20 feet).

On some planets, there may be many portals, but most of the portals that are known are no longer usable. It is not immediatly obvious whether or not a portal is operating properly. There are some that have now "glow" but these are relatively few. The effects of the glow are described below.

There were originally three types of portals. Those that are in regular usewill have no surprises as to what type they are. The type of those that theparty discovers for themselves will have to be determined by use. This cansometimes be dangerous or deadly. To the untrained eye (this includes allbut those who have studied the portals for at least 5 years) it isimpossible to find out what type a given portal might be. Legend Lore willhave no effect. In all respects treat portals as artifacts.

PORTAL TYPES

It is important to remember that the type of portal may be differentupon arrival than it was upon departing. Only a round trip portal willteleport a party to their place of departure. Also there is no guaranteethat a safe departure will take the party to a safe portal to depart from!

1) Round Trip Portals - As it implies, the portal opens a door that willreturn to the place of departure. Anyone entering one of these portalsarrives at a specific destination portal and anyone going back through thatportal arrives back at the original starting point.

2) One Way Portals - Anyone using this type of portal will arrive at asingle consistent destination. However, returning though the destinationportal will arrive at another portal. This may be a preset "station" or maybe determined at random.

3) Random Portal - This portal teleports anyone who enters it to one of aspecific group of other portals. The destination is totally random. Thegroup of potential destinations is a closed set; someone entering portal Acould be sent to B, C or D while someone entering B could be sent to C, Dor A.
 

 PORTAL COLOR EFFECTS
Color Functions Special Effect Notes
----------- ---------- -------------- ------
  1. Blue Silver Non-Functioning 2D6 Lightning Bolt Only the portals that are not functional will display this color. It will last 1d30 hours from when the players encounter it.
  2. Black Non-Functioning 20% chance lose 1 level Permanently
  3. Green 10% Functional Smells of chlorine Lasts 2d8 HRS (Works 10% of the time)
  4. Yellow 20% Functional Feels warm and dry 1d8 Hours
  5. Umber 30% Functional Feels warm and Humid 1d4 Hours
  6. Orange-Gold 40% Functional Feeling of Euphoria 1d2 Hours
  7. Iridescent 50% Functional Tingling Feeling 1d6 Turns
  8. Red 60% Functional Very Hot (120 Deg.) 1d3 Turns
  9. Maroon 70% Functional Instant Thirst (Very Dry)1d12 Rnds
  10. Dark Blue 80% Functional Uncontrollable Terror 1d10+10Rnds
  11. Light Blue 90% Functional Feels like falling "
  12. Deep Purple 100% Functional Feels like exploding "
  13. Light Purple " Overwhelming Claustrophobia "
  14. Black and Silver " 1d6 Days Amnesia "
  15. White " 50% Chance of 1d20HP Frost Damage
  16. Tan and Gold " Sleep 2d30 hours "
  17. Brown and Yellow " Hypertension (1d4 days) "
  18. Turquoise " Dwarves,Gnomes consumed with greed 1d6 Days
  19. Gray " Females become incensed 1d30 hours
  20. Pink and White " Elves lose consciousness 2d20 hours
  21. Sparkling Gold " Disoriented (1d100 Hours) "
  22. Olive Green " Heal 1d8 Pts Damage "
  23. Silver Sparks " 1d4 Pts Damage "
  24. Pale Orange " Heals Disease "
  25. Forest Green " Smells of Pine Trees "
  26. Pink " Tans players (Ultraviolet Light)
  27. Ocher " Brown Mold covers players  (1d12 Damage)
  28. Sea Green " Party covered with sea water "
  29. White and Blue " 2d4 Pts. damage from small burns
  30. Dark Brown " Smells of rotten eggs "