Ambrus
Explorer
In another thread Land Outcast asked me to update my Prepping Planescape thread so for his benefit (and for anyone else interested) here's part deux. For those who missed my previous threads (and for my own indexing pleasure) here are links to my other related threads on the same topic:
• My search for Cannon Sigil Material
• My inquiry about Your Planescape Experience
• My original Prepping Planescape thread
Unfortunately I have little new to report on my progress. I've been dutifully pouring over my old books, especially the Sigil triumvirate (In the Cage: a Guide to Sigil, Factols' Manifesto and Uncaged: Face of Sigil) compiling an exhaustive excel list of every single Sigilian NPC and location mentioned by name. I've also spent the last month photoshoping the old Guide to Sigil's map, updating it with said locations, adding the neighborhoods described in the Faction War module and redesigning certain parts of the city to add in missing details and to suit my personal tastes. My girlfriend has also volunteered to use her office's large format ink-jet printer to print me up a poster-sized copy of my map once it's ready. And in response to Land Outcast's threat of bodily harm, yes I am planning on freely sharing all of the material I produce with whoever here wants it.
My next goal is to prepare a player handout PDF for my players, describing the city, it's feel and it's factions. Three of my four players has little to no familiarity with the setting, the fourth having read the Pages of Pain and having played through the Torment video game.
Two significant changes I'm going to be making to the city (in a pre-faction war era) is adding two factions; the Ring Givers and the Incaterium. The former will be running the city's mint (in the location of what is currently described vaguely as "the Palace of the Jester") and be headed by Factol Jeremo the Natterer. The latter will be responsible for cataloguing and maintaining the City's myriad portals. The Incaterium will be headed by Factol Ramander the Wise and be housed in a magical university of sorts in the Clerk's ward (on the site of what is currently described as "Lazz's school of Vivid Unpleasantness". Why am I adding two factions? Because it never made sense to me that the Lady of Pain would randomly decree that there could only be fifteen factions in the city. I want to play up the significance of the number 17 in the setting since there are 17 Outer Planes in the Great Wheel cosmology. The calendar I've developed for the setting likewise has 17 months of 21 days.
I'm planning on running the classic adventures The Eternal Boundary and Harbinger House. I'm also contemplating running the Ptolus adventure Night of Dissolution. I'm still aiming to start sometime in February or March. Land Outcast asked about my ideas for a plot beyond simply stringing together a series of adventures. Currently my only such plans are to pull the various NPCs from the adventures I intend to use, consolidate some (so it'll be easier for the players to keep track of them) and replacing others with NPCs taken from the PCs backgrounds (so that they'll feel more tied to them). Aside from that I haven't really delved into a metaplot overmuch. I'm not certain yet which organisations, mentors and BBEGs I intend to focus the campaign on. I have a few vague notions that I'd like to pursue, such as using the strange "plane" of mirrors from the Manual of the Planes as a mysterious and creepy secret backdrop to the city; perhaps designed as a secret network for the exclusive use of the dabus but recently infiltrated by... something nefarious. One of the players has suggested that he'd like to have had a young murdered sibling in his character's background. I was contemplating having the sibling instead having disappeared into a mirror; either having been abducted or simply having stumbled into one and getting lost. I'm also toying with the idea of having them each acquire a Weapon of Legacy early on somehow. Honestly I haven't settled on any major plotlines yet. Your suggestions would certainly be welcome as food for thought. *hint hint*
Land Outcast also asked me to detail the characters my players are planning to play. So far the players have accepted my idea of playing childhood friends who grew up together in a small neighborhood of Sigil (the exact location of which has yet to be decided). As is I'm planning on having them start off as young 1st level commoners and then having them graduate into a heroic class (which will replace their commoner level). Here's what my four players have come up with so far:
• A male human who was raised in the Greek/Olympian tradition and who follows Athena. The player wants to have his character grow into an idealistic glib and daring hero in line with mythic heroes such as Hercules, Perseus and Odysseus. The player is considering the psychic warrior or swordsage classes.
• An embittered male aasimar who, because of the tragic loss of a sibling in his youth, leans towards the darker side of Sigilian life. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) his celestial heritage keeps shinning through his gritty demeanor and he continues doing good deeds in spite of his best efforts not too. The player is leaning towards the urban ranger variant class from Unearthed Arcana.
• A medium-sized female ironborn (from Monte Cook's Book of Iron Might) discovered in an unfinished state in some ancient workshop by the other PCs as children. The sentient automata was designed by some unknown creator to serve as a clergywoman and so the player envions her character being taken in by a temple of Athena and becoming either a cleric or favored soul of that goddess.
• A female sentient raccoon magic-user of some sort. No, not an anthropomorphic raccoon from Savage Species, but an actual raccoon who's immigrant parents migrated to Sigil from the Beastlands. Like many of the animals from that plane, she's intelligent and hopes to pursue the mystic arts, playing either a sorcerer, psion or wilder. The player is a furry who loves raccoons and, in this campaign setting, pretty much anything can be fit in somewhere, so why not?
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
• My search for Cannon Sigil Material
• My inquiry about Your Planescape Experience
• My original Prepping Planescape thread
Unfortunately I have little new to report on my progress. I've been dutifully pouring over my old books, especially the Sigil triumvirate (In the Cage: a Guide to Sigil, Factols' Manifesto and Uncaged: Face of Sigil) compiling an exhaustive excel list of every single Sigilian NPC and location mentioned by name. I've also spent the last month photoshoping the old Guide to Sigil's map, updating it with said locations, adding the neighborhoods described in the Faction War module and redesigning certain parts of the city to add in missing details and to suit my personal tastes. My girlfriend has also volunteered to use her office's large format ink-jet printer to print me up a poster-sized copy of my map once it's ready. And in response to Land Outcast's threat of bodily harm, yes I am planning on freely sharing all of the material I produce with whoever here wants it.
My next goal is to prepare a player handout PDF for my players, describing the city, it's feel and it's factions. Three of my four players has little to no familiarity with the setting, the fourth having read the Pages of Pain and having played through the Torment video game.
Two significant changes I'm going to be making to the city (in a pre-faction war era) is adding two factions; the Ring Givers and the Incaterium. The former will be running the city's mint (in the location of what is currently described vaguely as "the Palace of the Jester") and be headed by Factol Jeremo the Natterer. The latter will be responsible for cataloguing and maintaining the City's myriad portals. The Incaterium will be headed by Factol Ramander the Wise and be housed in a magical university of sorts in the Clerk's ward (on the site of what is currently described as "Lazz's school of Vivid Unpleasantness". Why am I adding two factions? Because it never made sense to me that the Lady of Pain would randomly decree that there could only be fifteen factions in the city. I want to play up the significance of the number 17 in the setting since there are 17 Outer Planes in the Great Wheel cosmology. The calendar I've developed for the setting likewise has 17 months of 21 days.
I'm planning on running the classic adventures The Eternal Boundary and Harbinger House. I'm also contemplating running the Ptolus adventure Night of Dissolution. I'm still aiming to start sometime in February or March. Land Outcast asked about my ideas for a plot beyond simply stringing together a series of adventures. Currently my only such plans are to pull the various NPCs from the adventures I intend to use, consolidate some (so it'll be easier for the players to keep track of them) and replacing others with NPCs taken from the PCs backgrounds (so that they'll feel more tied to them). Aside from that I haven't really delved into a metaplot overmuch. I'm not certain yet which organisations, mentors and BBEGs I intend to focus the campaign on. I have a few vague notions that I'd like to pursue, such as using the strange "plane" of mirrors from the Manual of the Planes as a mysterious and creepy secret backdrop to the city; perhaps designed as a secret network for the exclusive use of the dabus but recently infiltrated by... something nefarious. One of the players has suggested that he'd like to have had a young murdered sibling in his character's background. I was contemplating having the sibling instead having disappeared into a mirror; either having been abducted or simply having stumbled into one and getting lost. I'm also toying with the idea of having them each acquire a Weapon of Legacy early on somehow. Honestly I haven't settled on any major plotlines yet. Your suggestions would certainly be welcome as food for thought. *hint hint*
Land Outcast also asked me to detail the characters my players are planning to play. So far the players have accepted my idea of playing childhood friends who grew up together in a small neighborhood of Sigil (the exact location of which has yet to be decided). As is I'm planning on having them start off as young 1st level commoners and then having them graduate into a heroic class (which will replace their commoner level). Here's what my four players have come up with so far:
• A male human who was raised in the Greek/Olympian tradition and who follows Athena. The player wants to have his character grow into an idealistic glib and daring hero in line with mythic heroes such as Hercules, Perseus and Odysseus. The player is considering the psychic warrior or swordsage classes.
• An embittered male aasimar who, because of the tragic loss of a sibling in his youth, leans towards the darker side of Sigilian life. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) his celestial heritage keeps shinning through his gritty demeanor and he continues doing good deeds in spite of his best efforts not too. The player is leaning towards the urban ranger variant class from Unearthed Arcana.
• A medium-sized female ironborn (from Monte Cook's Book of Iron Might) discovered in an unfinished state in some ancient workshop by the other PCs as children. The sentient automata was designed by some unknown creator to serve as a clergywoman and so the player envions her character being taken in by a temple of Athena and becoming either a cleric or favored soul of that goddess.
• A female sentient raccoon magic-user of some sort. No, not an anthropomorphic raccoon from Savage Species, but an actual raccoon who's immigrant parents migrated to Sigil from the Beastlands. Like many of the animals from that plane, she's intelligent and hopes to pursue the mystic arts, playing either a sorcerer, psion or wilder. The player is a furry who loves raccoons and, in this campaign setting, pretty much anything can be fit in somewhere, so why not?
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
