Hey guys,
So, me and my old group of stalwarts are about to start a planescape game to run over IRC. Anyone here ever run Planescape? Do you have any tips? Recommended books? Points to avoid? We're using 3rd ed with a number of strange optional rules, but its probably going to be on the rules light side anyway. This will be my first time running D&D, so any advice is appreciated.
BTW, we are recruiting. See this thread: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=390130 for details.
Best,
Alex
Hello and welcome aboard! Planescape is a wonderful and immersive setting and I highly recommend it. I was planning to have a long rant about why it's so good and what you should work towards, but Armoury99 seems to have summed it all up pretty well.
Outside of that, I'll just point out my own 3.5 conversions of several of the old PS adventures, including The Eternal Boundary and Harbinger House (both real gems). You'll need an original copy (or pdf) of the adventure for maps and details, but these solve most of the mechanical issues.
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I shamelessly recommend Desire & The Dead as an introductory adventure, especially since from your description on the other site you're looking for the players to be the driving force behind the plot, and plenty of 'sandbox background' to play with. The development thread is linked above, but the final pdf version is currently with our editors, and so might appear reasonably shortly (or might not... its a mammoth beast and I have total sympathy for the editors now I'm finally rid of it).
As to published adventures, I have fond memories of The Eternal Boundary and Deva Spark (my own PS introduction), both of which showcase a number of classic Planescape themes and locales. I assume you have the Original PS Box Set? If not its a fine introduction. You could also do far worse than check out Chapters 8 & 9 of the Planewalker Official Planescape Updated documents - or all of them, for that matter.
Anything else would be basically be just my personal opinion, which I'm sure lots of other people will also share with you before long. Off the top of my head, I'd say the top ten checklist for that unique Planescape style - at least in my gaming circle - is as follows (in no particular order):
1. The awesome majesty of infinite planes
2. Head-screweing impossibilities and paradoxes
3. Belief is the key!
4. Faction/beliefs far more important tnan alignment in determining whether the PCs get on.
5. Rule of Threes
6. Unity of Rigs
7. Centre of All
8.. Blood War
9. Sigil: The fantasy Babylon 5!
10. Brains, charisma, and style over brawn
If this isn't enough to get you started then you dould also run any specific aspects of your game by us ("coolest kip in Sigil?", "which Lower Plane is most survivable?", "what faction-mix can cause problems in the group?" etc) and we'll give you our opinions and ideas.
Oh, and hello and welcome to Planewalker!