Steam-Powered Zombies: Part 2 - "Unique" Characters in a Campaign

One reason for why I love the planescape setting so much is the opportunity to bring together a variety differing characters from anywhere. Artificier from Breland and a red wizard of Thay? No problem. Vampiric samurai from some moon based empire adventuring with a Sherlock Holme-esque detective from 1780s London and an awakened velociraptor raised among githyanki? Done.

The opportunity to link campaign worlds is far more important than most realize. Many players often have their interest in roleplaying start after reading fantasy literature. They choose to ease themselves into games by creating characters based on their favorite fantasy settings. The question then becomes how constructs a campaign containing both a khepri from Bas-Lag, a cimmerian barbarian and a white wizard from Ansalon? Does the DM bend to one of the players' whims and not the others. Or does He/She create his/her own world tell the potential players to simply tough it out?

As the kind of DM who enjoys guiding new players and encouraging creativity during both character creation and development(before sadistically rending said characters with undead of the steam-powered variety), I use the opportunities presented by both Sigil and the nature of portals to unite unlikely allies, after all nothing unites people faster than accidently winding up on a cube in Acheron and bing forced to band together to survive a skirmish between two opposing!

Although cliche, the idea of throwing heroes who would normally oppose each other in the midst of an ongoing is a rather brilliant one.  After all if being deposited in the midst of a Blood War skirmish can't temporarily unite a strict paladin and an emotionless necromancer, nothing can!

While I have nothing against classic fantasy archetypes such the heroic knight, crafty thief or savage barbarian, I favour more exotic ideas. Cannibalistic gentlemen explorers, drug-addled wizards, lunatic shamans and the like. If the sky is the limit were matters of creation are cncerned, why settle for being so close to the ground.