Any hints about the theme of this campaign? What are you guys planning? When are we starting? Just trying to keep this thread going.
It looks like we have quite a few people interested: Enzo, Primus, Eldersphinx, Eco, Jordarad, Center, and myself, plus two DMs. Should be a handful. Any more and we'd have to start a whole mercenary company.
Well, a big party is easier with two DMs. You guys can split up and we can have multiple threads going pretty easily. We've just about got the beginning worked out. This should move along fairly briskly once it gets going, with double the DM response time (and, with the two of us on opposite sides of the globe, one of us is bound to be awake--yay for 24/7 Planescape response).
As for the theme, the best I can give you is that you'll be doing a good deal of traveling, so get used to new places.
I'll be out of town and most likely away from the computer until, say, Sunday.
Since BCD cosmology is something I'm completely unfamiliar with (and I lack the book for it so I am even more Clueless), is there a Prime-like plane that would be appropriate for a character of my concept?
He's highly superstitious and has a connection to spirits (spirits being referred to in the book as fey, incorporeal undead, something else, and anything with the spirit subtype). I'd be looking mostly for a plane that has a high spirit population that could account for his superstition and spiritualism.
Center-
I, too am just as BCD Clueless, so don't worry... This should be interesting.
There is no prime/outer split in BCD. All places are separate planes not necessarily connected to each other in any geometric or even metaphysical way. Some planes may be in conjunction with other planes for a while, then move away. There is no map of the planes as there is for the Great Wheel and the Inner Planes; each plane simply exists in an infinity of countless worlds (hence the name of the book).
Frankly I would have preferred to see a map of the conjoined planes, but that's the geographer in me. It's more mysterious this way.
BCD does have several Great Paths though, one being the Ethereal Sea (which is not quite like the standard Ethereal), the other being the, uhh, Underworld (IIRC). DMs can make up other ones too, like the Ports that James mentioned. I would like to see us meet in a multi-dimensional tavern akin to the World Serpent Inn or the Bazaar from the Myth series.
What we'll be doing is plane-hopping from one dimension to the next, maybe picking up people as we go along.
Just don't go to any dimension marked as the Ten Courts of Hell. Eek.
Are the Ethereal Sea and the Underlands transitive planes in the same manner as the Etheral and the Astral of the Great Wheel cosmology?
The Ethereal Sea is a combination of the Core Ethereal and Astral planes. The other pathways are transitive, but have different traits from either the astral or the ethereal. The Underland seems to be a meta-plane of sorts that exists wherever there is an underground, caves or tunnels. Regardless, these planes are not universally transitive; they can only connect planes that are in conjunction with them. Most planes are conjoined with the Ethereal Sea, but you never know.
And then there's the Nexus.
I'm just looking for a game mechanic for Shadow Jump. I want something that's consistent with the cosmology so that I can use it to help define my character. (where does he goes when he shadow jumps? where do his shadows come from?)
How does teleport or dimension door work in BCD? Is there still an in-between place that you travel through when you teleport, or do you just disappear at one place and appear someplace else without shunting out-of-plane for the trip?
If teleport works without a transitive plane, then Shadow Jump would, I suppose work the same way. His shadow companion would literally be his own shadow, but animated.
Without writing myself into a constrained position: there will almost always be another plane to shunt through for spell/power purposes. Certainly for the first couple planes that we've planned to start the campaign I can definitively say there are planes to dimension door through.
Krypter made a good description of the travel planes in BCD: "Regardless, these planes are not universally transitive; they can only connect planes that are in conjunction with them." There are planes that one would probably consider transitive like the Ethereal Sea, the Underground, and the Nexus, that is planes where there are few landmarks and connected to lots of planes. Planes like that seem built for transit, but that's where the distinction comes in. In Planescape there are three planes (the Astral, the Ethereal, and arguably the Shadow) which are designed for transit in a cosmogenic sense. They're purpose is providing connections because that is what they formed to do. In the Countless Worlds there are planes which, though randomly formed like all other planes, lend themselves remarkably to travel in the way that the Mediterranean fortuitously provides easy transport on Earth. The Ethereal Sea didn't form as a metaphysical highway, it came to be a highway because of its utility.
I think the best way to think of "transitive planes" in this campaign is to forget completely about the Astral, etc., and think of equivalents to the Rivers Oceanus and Styx. These are handy pathways that canny travelers use, but they only go to a few places.
The standard explanation for Shadowjump and similar abilities is to say that the user slips into the cracks between the Countless Worlds, cracks where nothing exists, and can find shortcuts this way.
I noticed that BCD doesn't deal a lot with the Powers. Is that intentional, you think? It mentions planar wardens, and has tonnes of demons and angels, but where are the gods? Do they exist in some meta-plane? Are they scattered around here and there in various individual planes? I haven't read the whole book (intentionally), but it seems that Monte prefers not to talk about that a lot. Ironic, considering he wrote Dead Gods.
You would think omniscient, omnipotent deities would be roaming the planes and molding them to their will, but they're almost AWOL in BCD.
Assuming deities have realms on the various planes, and have to take the same stepping-stone path across the connected planes to get from point A to point B as everyone else, then it would explain why some deities are only worshipped on certain planes. It'd be a case of Can't-Get-There-From-Here.
It seems to me that deities in BCD are very metaphysical. They exist, but don't really have "bodies" per say. Many deities seem to live on the same worlds that their followers seem to dwell on - such as Mother Ocean or the Sleeping Goddess. They probably also dwell in Heavens and Hells, though none of the ones in the books seem to have any deities.
I did notice that and my opinion is that it's a step away from the philosophy of Planescape. BCD is reality-based rather than belief-based (you can't, for instance, shift part of Deleur into Avidarel by creating a lot of nightmare-shadows). I think deities either exist meta-planarly and have widespread but weakened influence or else they limit themselves to one plane, such as Mother Ocean or the Sleeping Goddess, and have greater influence. Or, if you like, the more direct power they wish to command (or find themselves with) the smaller the area they can reasonably concentrate on.
The attitude in BCD seems similar to the attitude of Eberron, that deities have limited direct influence on the world to put a greater emphasis on mortals. It's difficult, for instance, for the Silver Flame to have a crusade (Eberron) or for the formians to conquer the entirity of Dendri (BCD) if there are Powers involved, it just turns into a godwar. This is not to condemn Planescape theology, of course, it's just a way to have different games.
Hrm, I've changed my mind. The mammal racism just seems like too much fun not to play.
Raised by a clan of mountain dwelling, bushido loving dire kobolds, my character has come into the Countless Worlds with something of a reptilian superiority complex. Samurai 6/Iajistu Master 6.
What's the class make-up of the party now?
This should be interesting...
Kessel Char is a Human Fighter/Sorceror. He considers himself a protectorate. Most of the spells he learns are for protection of Planewalkers in hostile lands (you know, places that will melt your face off just for being there). He hires himself out to these wanderers to make a bit more jink to line his pockets.
He's fairly handy with a crossbow from his years serving the Harmonium, but after a few years of wandering and at the push of a jolly Wyrm known as "Feld", he's taken a more open view to life as a whole, joining the "Converts" sect.
Kobold samurai! Yay!
I'm going to play a Spirit Shaman 12. My patron is looking to be the Eagle. The character will wear lots of feathers and be easily spooked by his own spiritualism. He'll see "portents" and "omens" in everything and constantly be wary of the wrath of evil spirits. In short, he seems like a very weird and eccentric person.
That's what I thought too, since in an infinite universe divine power would be spread infinitely thin and would be equivalent to zero (divide by infinity = 0). 
Maybe that's why gods are mostly absent in BCD, because they stretched themselves too thinly across the Countless Worlds. Only the ones that focused on a particular plane would prosper.
On another note, could I use the Unfettered class from Unearthed Arcana? I think it fits the Smuggler quite well.
Oh, and some people are dissing BCD over at ENWorld. If you like an argument, head over there and give 'em the what for!
I like the unfettered class, I'm fine with it. I don't think we'll be using action points, but I can't remember anything else of concern. I think it's time to get this started, but I have only seen jodarad's bowman/sorcerer. Could everyone else who still wants to play try to get a character sheet in soon? You can PM them to me or to Rhys or to both of us. By the end of the week I'd like to post the in-character thread (title TBA) which will require knowledge of all the PCs who want in. As it stands, I'm assuming that all the characters are adventurers and would have a reason to be on a foreign plane looking for work.
I can probably have fluff and character background written up by Friday, but stats will have to wait until early next week. I'm sorry, but I just can't get at the hard figures at this point.
My character is not yet complete. The base mechanics are all done, but I haven't picked feats, skills, or bought equipment (this is the stuff that always slows me down).
http://3eprofiler.net/3ep/view.php?id=18635
Don Lithec was born to the Steel Eaters tribe of dire kobolds, a culturally isolated group dwelling on the coasts of the Great Eastern Plains. The plains kobolds developed a highly complex and rigid society based upon honor and martial prowess. Their cities were built around great monasteries/hatcheries/Temples to the Egg Mother and a stratified caste system similar to many of the "Oriental-style" cultures of some mammal planes.
Don Lithec was the child of a noble warrior family and, as such, was expected to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. He trained rigorously in the arts of combat (which he excelled) and in the more contemplative and noble arts expected of a warrior of his stature (in which he did not excel). Oh, he was a bright student and his natural charisma made him an excellent taleteller, but underneath all of that his understanding of the central tenants of the bushi was tenuous and his tea ceremony was always atrocious.
In any case his battle prowess and quickness of body more than made up for his metaphysical deficits. He was feared amongst the expansionist formians of the area and had a number of large kills to is name, not the least of which was a Tyrannosaur that had destroyed the egg chamber of a nearby monastery.
He came to the planes by accident. An adventuring expedition into the great sea carried his ship into a swirling maelstrom. He was tossed overboard by the crashing waves and dragged down into the depths. When he awoke he found himself on dry land surrounded by a herd of unusually large nightfolk. The nightfolk took him in and nursed him back to health. He had washed up on the shores of a great planar metropolis... somehow - a world that had never heard of his realm. Now, he hunts amongst the planes populated by massive vermin searching for his home again. He is no rush, however, his plans are currently to explore as much as possible before returning, to bring knowledge of the worlds outside to his people.
My shadowdancer concept (Prime / male human / rogue 7, shadowdancer 5, N) is coming along, but I'm not done yet. Here's a taste...
[name] is a Court Jester (and Royal Master-of-Spies) who, several months back, found himself unemployed following the untimely and suspicious death of his king. With his cover blown, and accusations flying, [name] has decided that an extended vacation off-plane is in order.
[name] is a consumate spy and one can never tell whether he's being honest or pulling the wool over your eyes. Perhaps he's just adventuring, or perhaps he's already gained new employment. Ask him which and he'll tell you, but you'd be a fool to trust the answer.
Sweet, looks good Primus. Any idea for the plane you washed up on? Also, what happens when Don Lithec finds the Lizard Kingdoms? I didn't mean to frighten everyone, also, just wanted to set a date so that people could get thinking. Why don't we say next Wednesday (the 9th) as the date to have all the character write-ups in, but post some flavor here and maybe we can start the gaming thread at the end of the week and get preliminary introductions out of the way?
Upon reaching the Lizard Kingdoms he will attempt to return to his home. After a time of rest and resettlement he will probably volunteer to travel back onto the planes and explore the metaphysical realms.
The IC thread is posted under the name of "Through the Looking Glasses." The easiest way, we thought, to gather so many individuals all at once is to have a general introduction which you can all respond to with adjustments as necessary. Please send in a character sheet (especially so we know concretely who is involved), but for now write up an initial post describing your reaction to Aranek's offer and your trip to his house. Once there, the character interaction can begin and that'll give us time to work out all meta-game issues.
Okay...My original character idea really isn't working very well for this kind of game so I'm going to completely change the character.
I think I'm going to make a rogue. Before I do any posting, is it okay if I use PrCs out of the Complete Adventurer? The ones I am specifically targeting and debating between are the Dungeon Delver and the Thief-Acrobat.
Hey Center, just keep in mind that I already have a character who's a rogue/swashbuckler type. I'm a female air genasi smuggler. Just letting you know so that we don't have a conflict of archetypes. 
Will keep that in mind. I'm going for less of the swashbuckler and more of the "stereotypical" thief type. The guy who is expected to pick locks, disable traps, and that kind of thing.
If that crosses over too much, I'd like to give the scout/tracker archetype a try (maybe even use the Scout core class from Complete Adventurer).
Um, Arcturus has magical support with Arcane Trickster, but also does the lock-opening and device-disabling schtick...
Do I need to up and change to a paladin-type all of a sudden?
No, keep your character. I'll figure something out. I'm just frustrated right now because the character concept I had in mind really has no reason to get involved in this adventure.
Worse comes to worst, I'll bow out. You all shouldn't have to change your characters and games because of me.
I have a new concept in. I'll be playing a cleric of Niveral and Sisenca.
A cleric sounds fine, I can't think of where Niveral and Sisenca are from though. Are they historical powers or from a book? Also, I count six players:
Primus: dire kobold samurai
jordarad: riddling bowman-turned-sorcerer
Krypter: swashbuckling air genasi
eldersphinx: arcane trickster of unknown history
Enzo: mysterious agent of undisclosed history
Center: cleric of two deities?
With Eco-Mono as a possible seventh although I haven't heard from him recently. I don't have a problem running this many players (there are two DMs, after all) but I only have one character sheet. The sooner Rhys and I get stats, the sooner this campaign can take off.
Primus informed me that they were two deities mentioned in the BCD book who are lovers.
Niveral is a god of secrets, Sisenca is a goddess of serpents
Sorry for the short notice, but I'm out. Damn, I had a cool character made up too. RL just stepped up a notch.
Enzo
Oh, and for the record, Pimus, I knew that Don Lithec was a dire. I envision Orthians (Harmonium from the Ortho Homeworld) to be bred to an almost "Ideal" race, uber tall and vital, massive, but proportionate. (not like they have a pituitary gland disorder or whatnot).
If we were going for standadrd-size Kobolds, well then, he'd be a little goober, not at all like I envisioned.
Niveral is a god of secrets, Sisenca is a goddess of serpents
They're the two gods who exist in the Nexus. Once enemies, then lovers, a classic case of opposites attract. Their children inherited strange powers and still live in the Nexus, IIRC.
I'll make my opening post tonight. Gonna spend some time working on a character.
Niveral is a god of secrets, Sisenca is a goddess of serpents
Right, I remember; I skimmed the sections on Transitive planes. The goddess is named Sisanca. They're two pretty different deities, though, but I guess one could be a general cleric devoted to both of them in a mini-pantheon (or ditheon I guess it would be...). Pick out domains that you think are appropriate for the two portfolios together and I think dagger would be appropriate for a favored weapon (a secretive weapon and also like a snake fang). I'm confident you can figure out appropriate powers. If you have access to FR sources and want to use some snakey spells from that, just run them by us, please.
Enzo and Eco, sorry to lose you guys. If things clear up and you want to slip in, we'll see if there's a way. Seems like a campaign in infinite universes (there's a paradox) should have room for a couple more.
I'm sorry about not submitting my character stats, but I lost my Unearthed Arcana and can't remember the info for the Unfettered. Does anyone have that information available? Otherwise I'll just use the Rogue class. What method of attribute rolling are we supposed to use again?
Niveral is a god of secrets, Sisenca is a goddess of serpents
Right, I remember; I skimmed the sections on Transitive planes. The goddess is named Sisanca. They're two pretty different deities, though, but I guess one could be a general cleric devoted to both of them in a mini-pantheon (or ditheon I guess it would be...). Pick out domains that you think are appropriate for the two portfolios together and I think dagger would be appropriate for a favored weapon (a secretive weapon and also like a snake fang). I'm confident you can figure out appropriate powers. If you have access to FR sources and want to use some snakey spells from that, just run them by us, please.
Enzo and Eco, sorry to lose you guys. If things clear up and you want to slip in, we'll see if there's a way. Seems like a campaign in infinite universes (there's a paradox) should have room for a couple more.
Probably going to use Trickery and Scalykind (the latter from the FRCS) as my domains. He's a human priest with a healthy respect for the saurian creatures. He is traveling the planes looking for knowledge, secrets, and, most of all, the Nexus.
If it's okay, I have a special kind of armor in mind for him. Mechanically, it works pretty much the same as leather (or maybe studded leather). But flavorfully, it is a scaly, serpentine covering that fits over his body like a second skin and makes him appear naturally reptilian.
As an aside, I know I said I'd post already, but it may not be til tomorrow night. I have a midterm tomorrow that I need to get studying for If I get some time, I'll drop a post in when I can.
I usually like 3d6 drop the lowest of seven for attributes. Those are good domains, Center, and the flavor text on the armor is good. I'm going to assume, though, that anyone looking closely can realize you're human, unless you want to try a Disguise check.
Yeah, there's only so much that snakeskin can cover, so even fully-snaked, people would be able to tell it's just a covering if they look closely enough.
Since a few players have gone away, would I be able to hop in?
Assuming that's okay, would I be able to use the scout base class from Complete Adventurer and the Dervish from Complete Arcane?
The character I had in mind is Nasim Kiyanfar. He's a very Arabian-type character allegedly descended from a phoenix, and tattooed to show that he carries that bloodline. He seeks to do some great act, so that his ancestor will be allowed back into the heaven it was cast out from.
Will get you a character sheet tonight come hell or high water. Midterms are done for the week so I can get a few other things done now
Yeah, the scout class is nice. Just keep track of where your character is in a fight, because if you're using the skirmish ability, you have to move a certain distance in the round. Sounds good. Welcome aboard.
Okay, Rhys and MJ, you should have a link to my character in your PM boxes. Would you like me to come in to the game while the others are still in transit, or just show up for the meeting with our employer?
Whichever you like, although hopefully the group will be at Aranek's soon. Still if you wanted to show up in transit and all of you arrive together, that'd be fine.
Mmmm... Gotcha.
We'll just do the "other plane" bit with Feld, then.
Kessel's been wandering for a bit, but is just getting used to the idea of hiring himself out as a "Protectorate", or someone who can cast spells to help planewalkers survive on various planes.