3.5e Planescape - Cold Black Mask OOC Thread

Cage-Rattler · Oct 25, 2007

Introduction
A small group of adventurers on a simple excursion find themselves inexplicably cast from the world they knew and drawn into a bizarre realm where belief is seemingly indistinguishable from reality. Caught within the swirling intrigue of a primal struggle as old as creation itself, they will cross paths with outlandish adversaries and join forces with equally peculiar allies in a journey to save the planes from a Conflict which has always threatened the very fabric of the Multiverse.

In a realm where everything has a Rule, every Rule has an Exception, and every Choice has a Consequence, will our heroes be able to solve the mystery of the Black Masque, stave off the alien forces arraigned against them, and -- just perhaps -- find a way back home?

======================
Hi, everyone! Although I've casually surfed EnWorld for a while now, this is my first post. I figured I'd throw myself headlong into the fray by offering to run a Planescape campaign that's been in on-again, off-again development for the past three years or so. Those of you interested in joining will have the opportunity to test the waters of my mad little world for the first time.

A little about myself; I'm a graduate student(ish), a mercenary bartender, and a board-member of a UN-affiliated NGO. Although I dabbled (and enjoyed immensely) various games in college such as Chill, Cyberpunk and Aberrant, Planescape was my first, true D&D-related love. To those of you interested in joining my game, hopefully you'll find me easy-going in nature but passionate about the setting. I'll post some basic character creation guidelines below; more details about the premise and background will come once I hear some from prospective players. Looking forward to meeting you soon![/size]

Blind Azathoth · Oct 25, 2007

Planescape! Huzzah! If I were the type to say "squee," I would say it right now!

Planescape is, by far, my favorite D&D setting, and it has been ever since I first encountered the setting. I'd love to hear more about the premise of the game... but frankly, the simple fact that it is Planescape pretty much guarantees I will be submitting a character.

Dire Lemming · Oct 25, 2007

PLANESCAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLANE!!!!!!!!

SCAPE!!!!!!!

Do we have to be clueless berks though?

Zurai · Oct 25, 2007

I love me some Planescape. One of my favorite official campaign settings - only Mystara and Eberron even come close.

Cage-Rattler · Oct 25, 2007

re: Recruiting - Would anyone like some Pre-Faction Wars Planescape, 3.5e-style?

Great to see enthusiastic replies already.

I'll post the basic premise and a little more flavor info in a bit.

Dire Lemming: Nope, I'm leaving a space or two open for seasoned planewalkers in the group.

Isida Kep'Tukari · Oct 25, 2007

And what do I have sitting on my shelf at this very moment? Why, it's the original Planescape boxed set! You can't not love Planescape. Do tell Cage Rattler, how and what will we be? What level, what books, what generation method? And because I'm a woman, I can get away with saying SQUEE!!!

Cage-Rattler · Oct 25, 2007

The Premise

Argh, editing again.

Cage-Rattler · Oct 25, 2007

The Premise

An introduction that offers a better hint at the opening premise. It's written for a prime-centric audience, but I don't doubt you'll get the gist of it. Also, this'll be the last time I sound like I'm passing out tour-guide brochures, I promise.

It always starts out simply, doesn't it? You're engaged in casual treasure-hunting -- not even really expecting to find anything of real value -- when Fate grabs you by the scruff of your neck and drags you, kicking and screaming, into a maelstrom of intrigue and adventure. There you are one moment, minding your own business -- and suddenly you find yourself somewhere far, far away from home. Hounded by vicious thugs and hellish monstrosities, aided by enigmatic beings with their own agendas, and burdened by an artifact that seems inexplicably unwilling to leave your side, your struggle to understand your strange circumstances will take you from the shores of heaven to the brink of hell, with stranger places in between.

======================================================

About the Adventure: I like to keep things diverse and dynamic. Essentially, that means I try to accomodate for combat, conversation, and problem-solving in equal measure, and that there will always be multiple solutions to any particular dilemma. (In other words, I'm not going to railroad ya into thinking there's a "right answer" and a "wrong" one.)

As players, you can also look forward to visting a variety of locales around the Great Ring, rather than being cooped up in Sigil the whole time. Don't get me wrong; I love the Cage, but I don't want it to get so familiar that it becomes boring.

Let me see; what else? There are a couple of great Planescape resources I can recommend for the curious: Jon Winter's Mimir, and, of course, Planewalker. Keep in mind that Planewalker's material focuses on Post-Faction War Planescape, which is a different continuity than what I follow.

In fact, for simplicity's sake, just pretend that the "Faction War" supplement never existed. :uhoh:

In the next post, I'll put up a few Creation guidelines.

Cage-Rattler · Oct 25, 2007

Party Make-up: Initially, the Main Cast would number 3-4 prime-material characters. I'll also allow for one -- possibly two -- individuals interested in creating planar characters. Said players should have at least basic knowledge of Planescape cosmology, natch.

Races / Classes Allowed: Anything in D&D 3.5e PHB 1 and 2; Complete Adventurer/Arcane/Divine/Scoundrel/Warrior. I'm also open to characters based on the Expanded Psionics Handbook and other WoTC sourcebooks on a case-by-case basis. Remember that this is my first attempt at a PbP game, so have mercy and try to keep character creation wackiness to a minimum.

Character Level: 5th, calculating Level Adjustment and all that jazz. Some of you may be interested to know that I'm using the "LA Buy-off" variant rule from the Hypertext SRD; you can find that link (and others) by reading through the "House Rules" posted below.

Character Wealth: 13,000 GP. Avoid spending more than half your wealth on a single purchase.

Stat Generation: 30 point buy.

Hit Dice: Max at first level, then alternating high-low average for every following level.

Alignment: Any Non-Evil. Your character doesn't have to be happy-bunnies-and-sunshine, but should be able to work effectively in a group. Above all, think of alignment as a Guideline, not a Straight-jacket.

-----------------------------

Additionally, I was planning on using Variant Rules from WoTC's Hypertext SRD...

Armor as Damage Reduction
Vitality and Wound Points
Level Adjustment Buy-Off

...along with a couple House Rules of my own:

*The casting time of the spell Raise Dead is increased to 1 minute per level of the target. The casting time of Resurrection is increased to 10 minutes per level of the target, and the time to cast True Resurrection is increased to 1 hour per level of the target. This is a simple rule I've always enstated to give "Death and Dying" a little more in-game impact, rather than having some priest wave their hand in a flippant, "poof-you-are-no-longer-dead-now-get-back-into-the-fight" sort of way.

*"Orb of. . ." spells (found in Complete Arcane) are now of the Evocation school, and as such are subject to Spell Resistance. The decision to make "Orb" spells fall under the Conjuration school is weird, since they behave essentially like Evocations. Also, having the whole set ignore SR seems just a little bit broken. :uhoh: