I'm curious, what version of D&D are most of you using for your current Planescape games? 2e? 3e/3.5e? Pathfinder? 4e? An OSR retro-clone? D&D Next? Something else?
I ask cause I'm looking at publishing a Planescape adventure. Most likely as a free fan effort , cause the trademark is still owned by WotC.
Currently I'm player in a 2nd. Ed. Planescape game as well as DM in a 3.5 Planescape campaign. Both editions have their pros and cons.
I always enjoyed converting and modifying RPG moudules for my campaign, so the actual edition of an adventure isn't that important to me.
All in all I agree with Wicke, that Pathfinder probably would be the best solution.
You wanna give us a hint what the adventure will be about? I'm curious.
Pathfinder and 3.5 together, because it gives most options, and nearly everything from 2E is converted. 5th edition won't ever have that.
Last I ran (and ran in) was 3.5.
All in all I agree with Wicke, that Pathfinder probably would be the best solution.
You wanna give us a hint what the adventure will be about? I'm curious.
As a DM/author I prefer 4e cause I find it easier to design in - Pathfinder still has 3e baggage when it comes to starting NPCs/monsters, lacks a skill challenge equivalent, and requires system/spell mastery to challenge high-level PCs. If I went the Pathfinder route I'd need to recruit help since I'm not as familiar with the system.
The adventure is more like an adventure anthology. I'm tentatively calling it "The Blood of Aoskar" (which planar alchemists believe is a universal gate key). I've previously posted about "Fettered Lies" (a planar heist to steal the Book of Lies from Dis) which keys into several mini-adventures. The idea is to provide several small self-contained but connected adventures like Well of Worlds or Tales of the Infinite Staircase, and let DMs decide how much of the big plot they want to take or leave.
Sounds pretty cool. I really like the idea of an anthology as Well of Worlds and Tales from the Infinite Staircase have always been among my favourites.
Don't know how much time I could actually contribute, but I'd definitely be interested in helping out one way or another.
Yeah I really wish there was a more universally played "light" D&D system. 4e turns off a lot of players. 3e/Pathfinder turns off a lot of DMs. D&D Next is a big unknown. Not many Planescape fans are OSR types. Making it system agnostic probably wouldn't work. Ugh.
Anyhow, the idea is a series of short adventures at each level of whatever edition I end up deciding on, covering a wide variety of planes and scenarios. The overarching (optional) plot is that Aoskar, god of portals, wasn't exactly killed, but instead was made into a Maze (the only way the Lady of Pain could stop a god who could open any portal). The key into the Maze is fractured in several pieces, but if they are assembled under the right conditions the fabled Lady's Key is restored. All that's left is tracking down the portal into Aoskar's Maze and surviving whatever is within long enough to escape with some of Aoskar's Blood, which serves as a portal key for any gate.
It is like the grail quest for planewalkers.
I ran a similar sub-campaign called "Gates of the Multiverse" several years ago, dealing with the attempts of the Will of One to ressurect Aoskar via several fabled artifacts and a ritual on a godcorpse in the Astral.
1. The Sigil of the One
A clan of Nathri stumbles into a gem that is said to have once belonged to the church of Aoskar and brings it back to Sigil. There the gem (kind of an ultimate portal key) starts to open/activate portals at random, causing chaos and destruction. It's actually a chase through Sigil, investigating severeal portals/scenes and finally linking it to the presence of the Nathris. The recovery of the gem takes place in the Nathris ramshackle tower building in the Hive. The PCs are also introduced to the Will of One and their Athar counterparts.
2. Six for the Kriegstanz
Pretty unrelated to the overall plot. The PCs hunt several escaped barmies from the Gatehouse to frame the Bleakers for their lax security (or if they are Bleakers, to recapture their inmates). In the Hive they meet several gangs dubbing themselves "Expansionists", hinting at the escape of Timlin from the Mazes (Well of Worlds) and the Growers return.
3. Expedition to the Whitepeaks
Hired by the Athar, the Will of One or another faction, the PCs travel to the Prime, to recover another artifact (key-shaped sword) the Will of One wants to use to resurrect Aoskar. It's basically a dungeon crawl with a timetable and an NPC party as direct adversaries. Back in Sigil: As the PCs probably refused to side with the Will of One the Athar, or both, these factions try to make their life as miserable as possible. The Dabus show interest in the recovered items too.
4. Riding the Lightning Rail
A modified version of Dungeon Magazines Eberron-adventure "Riding the rail" transferred to the Outlands and with a strong Mechanus twist.
Depending on the side they are on, the PCs act undercover or not. They are hired as guards to protect a fabled monolith which will be transported through the Outlands via the Lightning Rail. Start of the journey is the Gatetown of Automata. The Lightning Rail gets under attack and the PCs do a Wild West style battle on the back of the running rail. As the control systems are destroyed the rail gets out of control. The leaders of the Will of One Prisine and Terwolfe "The One" show up and everything turns black as the lightning rail crashes.
5. The Guardian of Dead Gods
The PCs find themselves planeshifted on an godcorpse in the Astral Plane where they are greeted as loyal mercenaries (everybody else seems to have a silver cord). The Signers try to use the monolith from the former adventure to imagine Aoskar back to life. They meet Betita Khab, the proxy of the "Guardian of Dead Gods" who tries to dissuade the Signers from their plan, as well as some Githyanki. Finally an Athar strike force shows up and the battle ensues. The PCs fight on one side or the other. Terwolfe starts the ritual on his own, but is thwarted by the Guardian of Dead Gods himself, killing Terwolfe and releasing all Energy from the Monolith. The PCs are blasted to the Prime. In their possession they find a clockwork artifact, the so called Heart of Aoskar (Dragon Magazine "dead factions").
If I start another campaign, I'll use Pathfinder, with some 3.x additions.
(I skip D&D 4 completely.)
If I were to run anything specifically Planescape related right now, I'd probably go with Pathfinder. Between what Paizo's put out and the countless 3.x related stuff that can be shoehorned into PF, it has the best support. Going 2E might have a certain appeal, but it won't reach nearly as wide of an audience. 4E could work, but you'd likely be going against established canon for the system (plus, might have to get fiddly with the faction stuff to get it to play nice with 4E's system). D&D Next/5E is too new, plus the system hasn't been released to the public at large yet.