In the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

, the Barrens of Doom and Despair is an evil-aligned

Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, alignment is a categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of people, creatures and societies....

 plane of existence

Plane (Dungeons & Dragons)

The planes of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game constitutes the multiverse in which the game takes place.In the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons, the concept of the Inner, Ethereal, Prime Material, Astral and Outer Planes was introduced; at the time there were only four Inner Planes...

. It is one of a number of Outer Plane

Outer Plane

In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, an Outer Plane is one of a number of general types of planes of existence. They can also be referred to as godly planes, spiritual planes or divine planes. The Outer Planes are home to beings such as deities and otherworldly creatures such as...

s that form part of the cosmology retroactively introduced in the third edition of the Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...

campaign setting. In the revised cosmology, the Barrens of Doom and Despair strongly resemble the Gray Waste of Hades present in earlier editions of the setting, and still present in the orthodox D&D cosmology.

The Barrens of Doom and Despair is a plane of inhospitable locales, including vast deserts of black sand and huge plains of dark granite. There is no water to be found anywhere on the plane, and no sunlight fills the blood-red sky.

Five deities make their homes here, including Bane

Bane (god)

Bane , is the god of hatred, fear, and tyranny and one of the main evil gods in the fictional Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, Forgotten Realms....

 (his home was previously referred to as Acheron

Acheron (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Acheron , also known as The Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, is a lawful neutral/lawful evil-aligned plane of existence...

), Beshaba

Beshaba

Beshaba, also called The Maid of the Misfortune, is a fictional deity of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game...

, Hoar

Hoar (Forgotten Realms)

Hoar , is a fictional Faerûnian deity of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, for Dungeons & Dragons. He is the deity of revenge, retribution and poetic justice.-Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition :...

, Loviatar, and Talona.

Structure

The Barrens of Doom and Despair consist of a single infinite plane, there are no constituent layers. It links via the Astral Plane to the planes of the Prime Material

Prime Material Plane

The Prime Material Plane is the central plane of existence in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game...

 (such as Toril

Toril

Toril, meaning bullpen in Spanish, can refer to:* Toril - a District in Metro Davao in The Philippines* Toril - a Barangay in Island Garden City of Samal, Metro Davao, The Philippines* Toril y Masegoso, a town in the province of Teruel, Aragón, Spain...

) and a number of portals directly connect it with Hammergrim and the Blood Rift. Beshaba's realm, the Blood Tor, links directly to the Abyss

Abyss (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Abyss or more fully, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, is a chaotic evil-aligned plane of existence. It is one of a number of alignment-based Outer Planes that form part of the standard Dungeons & Dragons cosmology, used in the Planescape...

.