Pocket Dimension Paintings are not merely works of art. They are shimmering windows into miniature worlds, captured and bound to canvas (or other materials) by the most powerful of enchantments. Only masters of spatial magic and illusion can weave the fabric of extradimensional space into normal paintings, allowing the bearer access to a contained, private realm in which to imprison their enemies or foes.
These paintings are unusual masterpieces which depict odd places, (enchanted forests, twisted labyrinths or strange cloud cities). Occasionally people will “disappear” into these paintings, sometimes never to be heard from again.
Those that come within 20 feet of a magical painting must save vs beguilement. Those that fail are drawn to approach the painting, where they then fixate on the depicted scene. The painting will then slowly begin to change in subtle ways. Colors become more vivid. Scenes become almost three-dimensional. Figures within the scene may appear to move out of the corner of the eye. Faint noises appropriate to the scene may be heard (birds chirping by a nature scene, distant cries on a battlefield, etc), particularly if the character is quiet and listens closely. The character becomes more and more fascinated and transfixed with each passing second, and will feel more and more compelled to examine the strange painting and the scene it depicts more closely. All those that touch the painting and anyone within 10 feet are instantly transported into the scene that the painting portrays, indeed often becoming 'characters' within that 'world', facing the struggles and dangers as portrayed. Depending on the painting, the trapped character may even become visible as part of the painting unless he or she moves "off-screen" into a part of the pocket dimension not shown in the painting.
The painting can be anything the creator wants — a pocket dimension of his design, limited to his imagination and raw power. Examples include monster-filled labyrinths, enchanted forests, or perhaps even the future. The creator of the painting determines the 'plot' of each one. Some base them upon well-known stories or their own memories and experiences. Events within the pocket dimension are typically cyclic, with the little stories and scenarios repeating themselves endlessly for eternity, with little or no variation. The creator may define the conclusion of the story, and determine how events contribute to it, and whether or not the actions of outsiders can change it. The creator can decide how and when the characters get to return to their own dimension. The most powerful creators can return character with a mere word or gesture, while others arrange for various obstacles, challenges, and riddles for those trapped within to overcome before they are returned. The cruelest creators leave no exits or means to return, essentially making their magical paintings into permanent prisons or death traps.
Each scenario is separated in its own time and space. Each might be as small as a single room floating in an endless void. Typically, only enough of the landscape exists to play out the scenario. The obvious defining barriers (such as walls) in each area are impenetrable, since they define the limits of what exists there. But in other cases the heroes may see a landscape that stretches to the horizon, but the further they move away from the fantasy's action, the more hazy the landscape becomes. Eventually they can proceed no further; the effect is of a person walking in a dream but not moving forward. At any time they can turn and head back to a more "solid" and realistic portion of the landscape. Ultimately, the extent of the landscape is up to the GM. Depending upon the power of the Creator, the pocket dimension's landscape within a scenario may encompass whole cities, towns, continents or even worlds. However, limiting the landscape to that described in this adventure keeps the players focused on the task at hand.
When they enter the scenarios, the heroes become actors in the miniature worlds—albeit actors who do not follow the script. The heroes have the free will to alter events inside the scenario (as much as it is possible; in some cases the narrative's outcome has been set by its Creator, and the PCs can do little to nothing to change that outcome). Characters retain their spells, abilities, weapons, and equipment. Their appearance and armor may alter to match whichever scenario is being played out inside the pocket, but statistics remain the same. The pocket dimension does not always strive to match profession with profession, or even gender with gender. The characters may become any type of character, of any age and of any ability (though extreme deviations are typically rare).
Also encourage cases of mistaken identity. Heroes may not recognize each other after stepping through a painting and should be suspicious of one another.
Only greater supernatural beings, such as gods, demon lords, or mightiest of mortal magic-users possess enough inherent power to resist the restrictions that these miniature realities impose. All others are subject to the altered rules of reality contained in each miniature world.
Our heroes will feel, hear, see, smell, and taste everything as if it were real. They will also feel pain, pleasure, bleed and die as they would in the real world. While inside the scenes, unless otherwise noted, any wounds they've suffered remain, any spells they've cast are expended.
Still, while this world seems real enough, there are definite differences. For one, time is distorted. For example, it may be eternally nightfall in many worlds. Daybreak will never come regardless of what the character’s timepieces may tell them. For the sake of game mechanics, the GM should treat one 24-hour period as a normal day (i.e., hit points are healed, spells are regained, etc.)
Geography will also be distorted. They may find themselves running in miles in a circle around the central area. Likewise time and events may repeat themselves, like a fragment of memory caught in a loop. It may have been midnight when the characters arrived, and they may spend hours on the run or fighting when suddenly, it is midnight again, and they are back where they arrived.
The laws of science exist in a fundamental way; consequently, starting a fire could set a building ablaze and could kill the group, as well as seemingly kill innocent bystanders. The other characters and creatures in the dimensions seem entirely real (no disbelieving is permitted) but they are part of the pocket dimension. They cannot follow the heroes back into the real world; only those who entered a portal from outside can leave. Equipment lost within the painting remains inside it until carried out by a real-world character, and food consumed there likewise does not reappear. Similarly, a spellcaster does not automatically regain spells cast inside the pocket dimension upon leaving. These must be re-memorized.
The inhabitants of the Pocket Dimension fall into two distinct categories. The first and largest group is comprised of what are known as Bystanders. It is unknown if they are phantasmal shades, illusionary constructs invested with the personality needed to fulfill their major roles, brought into existence with each pocket dimension, or actual people who have drawn into the pocket dimension and their minds and bodies altered with the circumstances. Personality-wise, they are more like walking cliches than fleshed-out real beings, though they can demonstrate a remarkable amount of emotion and seemingly free will, even to the point where they may react to the character’s strange mannerisms and accents, but their personalities (with a few exceptions) will be limited to those seen in various cheap productions; bit players in a often cruel drama. Regardless of their true nature, all of them are completely subject to the creator of the Pocket Dimension's will. If the Creator desires that any one of them disappear or be slain by any manner the Creator can envision, the character will be completely obliterated or gruesomely killed as the Creator wills. Likewise, if the character is erased or is killed, the Creator may instantly resurrect them or bring them back into existence at any time, with absolutely no memory of their apparent 'death.' Likewise, if the Pocket Dimension operates on a 'cycle', dead characters will always be restored and returned to their original positions, with no memory of anything that occurred in previous cycles.
The second group consists of various Outsiders who have been drawn into the pocket dimension to share the fates of the Bystanders or to fulfill some other purpose. Some of them were adventurers themselves. Some of them would very much like to get free, while others now consider the dimensions to be their home and are correspondingly reluctant to leave. What happens to outsiders who die within the painting varies. Some simply die permanently. Others find themselves resurrected to relive the scenario over and over again for eternity; remembering it each time their death has occurred. Others become fixtures in the painting, their personalities and memories overwritten, become recurring characters to join the bystanders and cast of characters of the little world of the painting -- a fate that not even death can free them from. If the characters fail to escape by the story's conclusion, they may find themselves constantly drawn back to the beginning of the scenario to experience it again.
Other properties:
The creator may command the inhabitants of the painting to aid him in battle; commanding that they reach out from their little universe to strike out or grab at intruders who are standing near the painting. The inhabitants cannot fully leave the painting, only reach out with extremities. The painting acts as a living wall for the duration of combat. Once restrained, the creator may command them to hold the person or attempt to pull them into the painting's pocket dimension. Extremely powerful creators are rumored to be able to fully bring their creations into the real world to fight on their behalf, and return them with a gesture.
When the Creator is within a pocket dimension that they have created, they hold considerable influence over the Bystander inhabitants there. The inhabitants are not mindless (in most cases), but virtually all will instinctively recognize the authority and influence that the Creator intrinsically possesses. When in the Creator's presence (within 20 ft) they will automatically defer to the Creator's expressed wishes at the merest prompting; with virtually no hesitation, and little questioning. For game purposes, assume that Creator receives significant bonuses to intimidation, persuasion or seduction rolls in social interactions with Bystanders while within the Pocket Dimension to the point where failing these rolls is nearly impossible for the Creator, while all inhabitants receive sufficient penalties to resist such interactions to the point they will almost automatically fail . This influence will vary. Many of the Inhabitants were created specifically as servitors, while others were imbued with traces of rebellion and may even possess levels of defiance even towards their Creator. (Note that this only works when the Creator is physically present within the magical painting and does not hold true for Outsiders).
Legends: It is said that Caspian himself has an entire gallery of such paintings adorning one of his throne rooms that he personally created. Some are merely traps. Others act as morality plays for his worshipers to enter and learn a valuable lesson about their master. It is claimed that the dream worlds he makes are not simple magical creations, but actual slices of time and space, memories and shadows of distant worlds that his hand has touched and in many cases conquered or destroyed. Many are dark renditions of familiar stories, while others are based on actual historical events. The God-King has added his own 'embellishments'; new plot twists and altered endings to these, and a persistent theme is "Caspian always triumphs."
Pocket Dimension Paintings come in various sizes, from small handheld canvases perfect for tucking away to grand murals that transform entire walls. The complexity and size of the pocket dimension depicted in the painting varies depending on the skill of its creator. Mortal sorcerers can merely create individual rooms, while the mightiest of deities can make dimensions the size of kingdoms or even continents.