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View Full Version : First Time Running Planescape, and I need a bit of help!



kornwiser
2013-03-03, 03:39 PM
So let me lay out the situation I am in right now:

I am running the Legend (http://www.ruleofcool.com/) system for my group of players, in a D&D world. The game started out with the players being called to the king's castle, along with all the other adventurers in the land, for a special mission to eradicate a cult of demon-worshippers. They were too late, though, and portals to the Abyss opened up all over the capital city, letting in a Balor and a massive army of tanar'ri (basically the end of the world.) The last session ended with the party being rescued by a deva and swept through a portal to Mt. Celestia.

None of my players have ever experienced Planescape before (aside from one who played halfway through Torment), and I myself am relatively new to the setting (my only experience being reading the sourcebooks and Planescape: Torment.) As well, most of our other campaigns have been a largely linear plot without much sandbox involved. I'd like to open things up to them and allow them to pursue their own goals, but I'm a bit overwhelmed as to what direction to push them in for the moment.

Some thoughts I'm having:


I imagine they will want to make efforts to take their world back, in which case I am thinking I could have them referred towards asking the baatezu for help (as they have a vested interest in thwarting the plans of the tanar'ri.) I'm not quite sure how I could go about this though, as I can't think of anything they could offer the baatezu to get their help in the first place (and of course it would probably end up backfiring spectacularly for the party, in a wonderful way.)

I'd also be interested in working in the events of The Great Modron March and Dead Gods, as that plotline sounds awesome, and Orcus is the "D&D Big Bad" my players are most familiar with. It would be cool to have parallel plotlines going on with the players alternating between investigating the events of the Modron March and pursuing their own goals.


I suppose the biggest problem I'm having is "Okay, what now?" I'm planning on next session having the deva explain to them the basics of what's going on and direct them towards Sigil to pursue whatever their next goal may be, but I don't quite know where to take it from there.

TL;DR: Players just reached the Outer Planes, know nothing about Planescape, and are used to having the plot laid out for them, what direction should I guide them in?

Kane0
2013-03-03, 04:02 PM
When in doubt, go to (or start with) Sigil.

From Sigil you can go anywhere and do almost anything. It can also introduce almost any plot and/or character you like and is already well laid out so you can reference material instead of having to make it up. Planescape: Torment helps out here too.

Another great place for information is Afro's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265884) threads (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272393).

Matticussama
2013-03-03, 04:24 PM
Second vote for Sigil, it is pretty much the go-to.

The City of Brass is also quite interesting. Whether or not you choose to start there, you should definitely plan an adventure around it at some point. The culture of the Djinn is wonderful. One of my favorite adventures on the planes ended up in a pseudo-Aladdin romp through the markets of the City of Brass, outrunning guards and trying to escape so that we could covertly make contact with one of the Sultan's top Lieutenants to hand over information about a conspiracy within the court. It.. didn't quite work out, but we managed to escape the city alive. That counts for a lot!