Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 clueless Jun 16, 2006 10:46:25	I want to solicit some opinions here. I'm hoping to be able to put together a good chapter 9 for the Planewalker Campaign Setting. This is the chapter on how to run the game from a DM's perspective... the Darks. I'm thinking the best way to create the information for this chapter - may be to simply ask everyone to write up just a little bit of what they consider when they decide to sit down and run a Planescape game. I'm looking to gather the advice that only real experience as a GM or player in the planes can give.These are questions like: What sort of tone to your game do you prefer to use / do players seem to enjoy the most? Are there any levels which you find easier for certain areas of the planes? Have any advice for getting the players to risk life and limb on certain planes? What about transportation through the planes or letting your players set up a headquarters someplace? With those sort of questions in mind, would anyone care to sound off in a paragraph or two on something you'd feel any new DM to the setting should know?
#2 rikutatis Jun 16, 2006 12:22:55	I've been DM'ing in the Planescape setting for a while now, and I find that different players have different tastes for what kind of tone they enjoy the most in the campaign. That may sound obvious, but it's still important to keep in mind. So as to avoid setting something too strict into stone. Some players might prefer the faction politics and cosmopolitan aspect of Sigil, while others embark on a more dark and gritty journey through the lower planes, spiralling down in a journey into certain madness. A few others might prefer something more light hearted and quirky, a la Alice in Wonderland. But then again, if it's supposed to be Planescape, it's got to have a certain theme and general tone of its own, to characterize it as such. And I can't think of anything else than the power of belief. That, to me, is the core aspect of Planescape. That the planes are too big, infinite even. There will always be someone bigger and tougher than the PCs, and in Planescape they're everywhere. Proxies, powers, Archfiends, etc. Physical and arcane might will only take you so far. In the Planes, what really counts is belief. One may even stray away from the cosmopolitan tone of Sigil and the other planar metropolis by playing a campaign more focused in say, the Beastlands. But if one loses focus of the importance of belief, it becomes too easy to turn the planes into a high level glorified dungeon crawl like the 3e Manual of the Planes introduction suggests. From religious wars, to faction intrigue, to playing a part in the Blood War. Belief is what permeates the tone of the Planescape campaign in my opinion. And that's not something that you can buy with feats and PrCs, it has to be roleplayed and weaved into the story.
#3 taeldrin_laesrash Jun 16, 2006 22:18:58	First off, Planescape is not really a hack-n'-slash type of setting. Sure, you can go fiend-hunting in the Abyss; but more or less often, the more casual gamers unfamilar with the settnig will try to kill a god in its lair. Maybe it's just my games that are very RP based, but Planescape is a very complex setting, and is often at its best when used as such. Another thing worth noting is that Planescape isn't the most friendly towards low levels. Many 'average' outsiders are around CR 7-9, and that's if the environment doesn't kill you. Sigil and parts of the Outlands are the safest in the setting, so DMs should keep their finger off the trigger for several levels. Oh, and also, despite the numerous high-level foes and complex politics, the focus is still on the PCs. Inexperienced DMs may doom the players to a lot of Deus ex Machina. Plot devices like the Lady are just that, plot devices.
#4 zombiegleemax Jun 30, 2006 22:05:11	I agree with Rikutatis and Taeldrin Laesrash on nearly all of their points. As it says somewhere in some PS accessory: "Philosophers with clubs." People who revel in Planescape do so because the world is significantly different than most fantasy/medieval settings. Accentuate those differences to make it a truly memorable world.
#5 zombiegleemax Jul 03, 2006 1:06:58	I want to solicit some opinions here. I'm hoping to be able to put together a good chapter 9 for the Planewalker Campaign Setting. This is the chapter on how to run the game from a DM's perspective... the Darks. I'm thinking the best way to create the information for this chapter - may be to simply ask everyone to write up just a little bit of what they consider when they decide to sit down and run a Planescape game. I'm looking to gather the advice that only real experience as a GM or player in the planes can give.These are questions like: Well, first of all, I think it's important for the DM to consider exactly how much experience his group has had with the Planescape setting in general. Are they diehard fans who have played the previous out-of-print suppliments? Have they played that truly masterful CRPG that came out in 1999 entitled Planescape: Torment? Have they accessed the numerous fan-made Planescape sites on the net? Part of the essence of Planescape is mystery, irony, and weirdness. In order to capitalize on everything that is unique about the setting and downplay those elements of the D&D game that are banal, you must make sure that you are not squandering material that might be fresh to you, but already stale to your players. I highly encourage any DM who wishes to run adventures in this setting to seek out the old 2e suppliments for some truly wonderful sources of inspiration, in particular The Factol's Manifesto, In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil, Uncaged: Faces of Sigil, Hellbound: The Blood War, the Planes of Law, Chaos, and Conflict boxed sets, and many others. These sources flesh out many corners of the Planescape multiverse so well, they are nearly essential in mastering those nuances of the setting that will bring it to life for the players. Also, while the DM should almost certainly familiarize himself with the aforementioned artifacts, he must never feel so obligated as to not make the setting his own. By all means he should alter and combine adventures to suit his tastes. I think it was Gygax who originally stated that the planes of the D&D multiverse are the DM's ticket for creativity. What sort of tone to your game do you prefer to use / do players seem to enjoy the most? There are many tones that the Planescape setting can adopt. Already present from the books themselves there is a rather worldly and cynical atmosphere, much like the planars themselves. This atmosphere is, of course, not devoid of humor, but it only just that: an atmosphere. What is truly interesting about this question is that it asks the DM to what extent the material extends beyond the game. He needs to think in terms of thematic and artistic significance and not merely speaking in Planar cant and having all the right sourcebooks, about those elements in the game world beyond the PCs, where he has authorial control. The DM needs to ask himself about what he feels about the subject matter. He is, after all, everything the PCs are not. Should he have a straighforward and detached tone, as in the works of Roger Zelazny? A bombastic and visceral tone, like Robert E. Howard? An ironic and despairing tone, like that found in Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent? A tongue-in-cheek tone, like Douglas Adams or Terry Prachett? A brutal and satirical tone? A tone of cold sadness? Horrified tenderness? A warm and humanistic tone? Intriguing adventure yarn? And more importantly, is the scope of the story epic or personal? Any of the above approaches can work in Planescape, and there is no right or wrong way to approach it. What the DM needs in any case is sympathy for the material. The tone of the games I run in this setting runs a wide gamut. It is sad and introspective, sly and satirical, snide and cynical, dark and compassionate, raunchy and bloodthirsty, detached and curious, and above all, humanistic. I focus largely on NPCs and their personalities. I spend a good deal of time trying to make them believable and giving them motivations that make sense. I never rely on class, race, or faction to define them alone, but instead try to give them their own realities that exist apart from these roles. Don't discount the importance of humor in your campaign either. While your game may be as grim or as silly as you like (but it shouldn't be too silly, especially not in P.S.), the presence of humor, especially in contrast to your tone, can heighten the drama of your story. Humor that relies on characters often works best. I have, in my campaigns and Planescape-inspired fiction (click on the link in my signature entitled "The Hive") used the setting to explore the themes of existential loneliness, urban paranoia, anomie, depravity, racism, intimacy, sexuality, theology, mythology, capital punishment, propaganda, metaphysics, innocence, self-actualization, morality, psychosis, creativity, the social process, and many others. Here's a link to a message board game I am currently running (which isn't going to my satisfaction, but nonetheless): http://www.community.mistresslair.net/forumdisplay.php?f=27 Are there any levels which you find easier for certain areas of the planes? You could run a wide range adventures in nearly all of the outer planes for characters of low to high level. The various boxed sets that deal with these planes provide many scenerios for these purposes. However, I would mostly stick to Sigil and the Outlands for low-level characters, and definitely avoid the Inner Planes. Have any advice for getting the players to risk life and limb on certain planes? Give them a reason strong enough to do so. If it is deeply intertwined with the character's past, even better. Some players want to write novel-length backstories, and though this can be annoying the DM should at least welcome the opportunity to partially collaborate on a plot that will involve the PCs personally, and not the usual run-of-the-mill mercenary motives. What about transportation through the planes or letting your players set up a headquarters someplace? None of my players have done this yet. I guess the adventuring life leaves them all as vagrants, but I'm not opposed to the possibility. With those sort of questions in mind, would anyone care to sound off in a paragraph or two on something you'd feel any new DM to the setting should know? The Planescape setting is probably the deepest mutliverse that TSR has ever released, and, I'd be willing to wager, one of the most richly realised places in the realm of fantasy literature. The profundity of this setting's philosophy lies not just in the observation that belief effects reality, but that in it forces you to ask yourself what you believe. Never forget the most important lessons the factions of Sigil can teach us. Is there an absolute truth, and if not, why do we all tend to behave as if we believe in one? Because in order to have the deepest experience of life, or indeed, to live most successfully, we have to know ourselves, decide what it is we believe in, and where it is we want to go with our beliefs. So take a step back and ask yourself what it is you believe. By all means read as much as you possibly can about history, mythology, philosophy, religion, linguistics, science, spirituality, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and literature. Educate yourself and decide what it is you believe in, because in these sources, you'll find far more inspiration than anything suggested in an RPG book (especially the newest ones). And you will have enriched the most important source of all: yourself.
#6 Cyriss Jul 03, 2006 16:56:27	First, decide what PS elements you want to use in your game and where you want the focus to be. Are factions going to play a part in your game? How often will gods interact with PC's, if at all? Do you want to focus on the Bloodwar at all? Or maybe you want to play up on the wars between upper planar beings and lower planar beings. Will the PC's be Planewalkers that travel from plane to plane often and never stay in the same area very long? Or do you want your campaign to take place on the same couple of planes? For a person new to the setting, I would suggest that they start off slow when DM'ing a PS campaign. There's so much great fluff in the setting that you could crash & burn you game quickly if you overwhelm yourself with too much of a good thing. Focus on certain aspects of PS rather than trying to lump too many things into the game at once. The players may never have a good grasp on what the planes are like if you are changing things up too often. Throughout the campaign, give the players a lot of information about a limited amount of PS elements. For example, don't start off by throwing Factions at them and at the same time introducing them to the Bloodwar while they are adventuring on a new plane for the first time and interacting with one of their gods. Instead, run several games involving factions so they can learn as much as they can about factions. Maybe keep them in Sigil while doing this so they learn about the Cage. Then shove them onto Baator & let them interact with Baatezu and learn about the ranks of those fiends. Then wisk them to Mt. Olympus and introduce them to some Greek gods. Maybe Zeus commands them to go to the Abyss for whatever reason...there the PC's learn about the Tanar'ri. The next adventure could then involve the Bloodwar and it would mean more to the players because they have an understanding about both fiends. If you run your game in chunks like that, your players will latch on to the setting much more because they'll have a better grasp of everything. I could probably think of more advice, but this turned out long already :P
#7 nerdicus Jul 09, 2006 9:47:06	This is not just for PS specificaly, but I believe that taking the time to create a background for your characters, or rather, help the players create a background for their characters is key to a succesull campaign. Having just read through some of the new PHB2, I was extremely happy to see that there a a section on Backgrounds for the Players to look at, but I think it is just as important for the DM to think in terms of the Background being a key device in his/her game. I have found that starting the characters off above 1 level is a great way to do this. I think level 4 is a great starting point for PS or Eberron. Having the characters start off above level one, then having the write into their background some of the things that they did in the past that explains their advancement in levels. To try to have the players keep some of the info a broad to begin with. Saying that the character worked for King What's-his-name of the land of So-and-so, he/she can then later make that person the same person that one of the other chartcers worked for. Then, the characters have a common Patron who they worked with. Taking the time to work with the players as they craft a background helps you as the DM to have a good understanding of the backgrounds also, plus let's you put in suggestions for who a patron or enemy could have been. Then, you build your campaign around the background key figures and orginizations that the group has in their backgrounds. I have found that with a little thinking you can use this method of background aplication to story to fit into almost any adventure, no matter if it is your own or a published adventure. For PS you have the Factions to use as Patrons and can use a group background to suppliment some great political intrigue. And that intrigue means much more to the player when the NPC in question to some far reaching plan, was the same NPC who helped a few of the group members, or all the group members, get where they are today. That's what I think anyways. Background is good.
#8 zombiegleemax Jul 10, 2006 4:08:48	I have some minor thoughts to add. There are three things I enjoyed most about planescape: Symbolism: Everything, every event, person, book and word has a second or even third meaning. The river styx is not just a river that connects different lower planes: it is the embodyment of the blood war. As the tide of war swells, so does the river. Where it goes, the war will soon follow and vice versa. sometimes the connection is obvious, sometimes subtle, but it is allways there. Belief, in my opinion, is derived from that symbolism. Of course, you could argue the other way just as easily. Plotting: everyone has an agenda. From the obvious (most factols) to the obscure (A'kin anyone?). Their agenda dictates their actions. Adventures such as Faction War and the Fires of Dis are examples of events driven by the antagonists' agenda's. Figuring out what everyone's agenda is, was one of my player's favorite passtimes. Scale: Everything is massive, and by that I mean bigger than life. The important features on a plane may be visible from where-ever you are (the tower of dispater on Dis for example, or the spire on the outlands). This has a lot to do with symbolism, of course... The trick is not to focus on the emply space that makes up most of an infinite layer, but on the landmarks. The same goes for the factions, gods etc.
#9 taeldrin_laesrash Aug 06, 2006 10:30:36	Speaking of Chapter 9 in the Releases, when can we expect to see this on Planewalker?
#10 zae Aug 07, 2006 6:23:06	Okay, I've never run a true Planescape game (a brief Sigil Prep game, yes, but that didn't get too far), but I'll answer anyway, basing them off a game that I played in. "What sort of tone to your game do you prefer to use / do players seem to enjoy the most?" -For Planescape, you don't want it to be very dungeoncrawly. It was far better to focus on what makes it different - that the players needn't be normal to fit into the main society (Sigil), that they needn't be abnormal (by regular standards) to be shunned as weirdos in various planes ("Ew, mummy, he only has one head, what is that thing?") Also, it's fun to focus on planar travel and exploration. Not just a quick ten minutes in each plane, but to base a "story arc" around a single plane, then change for the next. Cover a few planes total, but cover them well, go into detail and let the players have an impact on them. We introduced water magic to the setting of Dark Earth (a Decanter of Endless Water), thus helping a Defiler (I think that's it. The mages who draw energy out of their environment) gain too much power there. We quickly left the plane. "Are there any levels which you find easier for certain areas of the planes?" In general, because Outsiders are tough, high level is good. Heck, it also helps avoid the "You step onto a new plane... and you die." problem - some of them are too lethal for low level adventurers. Also, high level PCs don't ruin Sigil like they would other cities in other settings. There is that built in control. Besides, high level means the players can play cool races. With the focus being taken off combat, it doesn't even get that annoying. It also lets them make an impact on places that aren't Sigil. "Have any advice for getting the players to risk life and limb on certain planes?" Yeah. Have a BIG plot hook rely on it. It also works for making opposites work together. We had a paladin forced to work with a priestess of Loviatar (and vice versa). If the plot hook is big enough that the deities they worship tell them to do it, well, they'll do it. It also means they know the rewards will be worth it (out-of-game rewards of XP and wealth, as well as in-game rewards like knowing you saved an entire series of planes from being destroyed. Actually, maybe I got those the wrong way round...) Generally, players will also go along with it if it sounds like fun. Make sure they (as players) will enjoy planar travel, and they'll find reasons for their characters to do it, instead of falling back on "my character wouldn't do that." "What about transportation through the planes or letting your players set up a headquarters someplace?" If the game had lasted longer, we probably would have been allowed to set up a base. In any plane-travelling game I run, I allow it and it tends to make things easier, to a small degree. For transportation, sometimes finding the key is a quest on its own - we generally did that through factions - a Lawyer got us into Mechanus, the Mercykiller* got a free ticket to Carceri. *Pre-split. The DM was either setting it before the Faction Wars, or decided he didn't like them and that they never happened.