Planescape Campaign

The Planescape campaign setting dates back to the wondrous year of 1994. It--like the Spelljammer campaign setting before it--connected the many different D&D worlds together into a singular multiverse. Unlike many other D&D settings, Planescape focused heavily on social conflict and philosophical differences beyond the simple alignment system. It broke with a number of traditional D&D assumptions, such as humans being the most populous race or wizards being more the exception than the rule.

Blurb

Back home your people are dying. The plague spread quickly once it got to the Free City, people of all races becoming ill, vomiting, breaking out in pustules and sweating blood. The clerics were powerless to stop it. It all started when the Tomb of Tharzidun was unearthed. They say a curse was unleashed. The last remaining power of Tharzidun coming to threaten the land. In centuries past there had been a remedy to this plague—an amulet the great hero Iquander had wielded against Tharzidun, and then taken with him to his grave. This amulet is said to lie now buried with Iquander, inside the Barrows of the Burning Crescent—the tomb of all the Pomarj kings from the Lilek to Onnwall dynasties. This tomb is itself inside a demi-plane drifting deep in the Ethereal. And so here it is your party has traveled, to the plane, to the small town of Sunndi, where the locals are said to know the location of the Barrows. You must get this amulet and return to the Free City post-haste. They'll all be dead without you.

Campaign Information

Unlike most of my other campaign information write-ups, most of the general campaign information can be found inside the Planescape Handbook PDF. So go ahead, download and read that. This page will contain mostly a supplemental FAQ for extra information, and stuff specific to the particular campaign that I am running.

Campaign Files

The following files may not be final yet.  I will send out an email when they are.

• Planescape Setting Handbook (Password: The name of my male cat)
• Tab-Neo Playtest Rulebook
• Planescape Conversion Document
• Planescape Tab-Neo Character Sheet
• Planescape Tab-Neo Reference Sheet

Supplemental Reading

• Planescape on Wikipedia
• Planescape 3.5e Handbook
• Tab-Neo Design Goals
• RPG Combat Tactics

Campaign Premise

The PCs will start in the city of Sigil as a group of people who already know each other. I would also like for all PCs to have a shared contact--one that can be used for information hooks--you know, more Johnson or knowledgeable old man the PCs are fond of, less small child they have to save from distress. PCs should also be good or at least generally sympathetic to the "good" side of things. The direction here I'm specifically trying to start things out with is to hearken back to the days of wandering D&D adventure parties that go out and do heroic deeds. Over the course of the game, the campaign ought to veer into more elaborative motives and plots. I certainly plan to bring the factions into play as meaningful political forces. But in the early part of the game--when much of the groundwork is being layed out--its useful, and with much precedent, to be able to rely on the good old "we're up-and-coming-heroes; there's people to save; let's save them!"

Campaign Structure

The campaign will be a mostly event-based campaign centered out of the planar city of Sigil, but with significant portions taking place outside of the city. Before the game begins players should receive a playtest copy of the rules. The campaign will be divided into a five different chapters, corresponding more or less to plot arcs. After each chapter a re-balancing of the rules being used may take place. The changes should be provided to the players on an Rules Update sheet. When this occurs, players may also do a rebuild of their character mechanically to reflect any changes they wish to make and the rules re-balance. In the event of an extreme rules imbalance (of which I hope we won't see any) I may call for an "emergency re-balance" and the aforementioned process will take place at a point which isn't a chapter transition.

Campaign Options

A full explanation of the different mechanical options available in the campaign can be found in the Planescape Conversion Document above, but in short, player characters may be either a Prime (from the world of Oerth, Abeir-Toril or Krynn) or a Planar (from Sigil by default). They may be of the Sign of One, Society of Sensation, Fraternity of Order, The Athar or the Clueless factions. Races available will be Humans, Half-Elves, Elves, Half-Orcs, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Tieflings, Bariaur, Genasi, Githzeri, Aasimar and Rogue Modrons.

F.A.Q.

The following are questions that should be addressed about the campaign.

How does day and night work in Sigil?

Since Sigil is a tire-shaped city floating horizontally above a giant spire, in a plane which is flat, night and day work differently. Simply put, every "day" there is roughly 12 hours which are lighter than the next 12 hours. The day doesn't get as light as ours does, but neither does the night get as dark. The source of the light is some indiscernible point.

How does money work on the planes?

Planescape is not a game about money exchange. If it looks like money, and its made our of silver or gold, etc., chances are the local shops will take the coin without too much trouble. In all honesty that's kind of glazed over; they even come out explicitly in the campaign setting book and say as much. Trying to exploit inter-planar exchange rates is asking for trouble.

What's this about Vecna or the Faction War?

In the information on Wikipedia or in the D&D 3.5e Planescape books online you may read references to the Great Modron March, the Faction War or the entrance of Vecna to Sigil. This is all meta-plot stuff. In the campaign I am running, this has not happened yet, and indeed, may never happen. The Faction War and Vecna incidents were a storyline written to bring the Planescape setting to an apocalyptic end (seems to have been a 90's fad). Ignore them.