Planescape

[Viktyr Gehrig]

The githzerai as monks thing was introduced in some WotC 3e stuff, and it seemed to suggest that most or all githzerai lived in monasteries in Limbo.

Githzerai as monks was canon from their first appearance in the 1e Fiend Folio, when they were one of the very very few non-humans capable of belonging to the Monk class. The only thing they got wrong in 3.X was their Intelligence and Charisma penalties, which seem out of place for a race known for their facility with arcane magic.

 

[Jimlock]

....as a kid, I would never put my playmobil sheriff talk to the huge dinosaur,
nor would i allow my western playmobil sheriff to interact with my playmobil knight,
...or my playmobil astronaut. These were are different setting to me, as they were different toys.

I could have stabbed friends of mine that would make the astronaut "pay a visit" to the sheriff on the moon...(!!!!!)

That same setting-consistency-mania was carried over to my roleplaying carrier...

When I play in a Medieval-fantasy setting, I want to do just that...

Medieval times and Dark ages is all I want and allow in my game...

Sure there are wizards orcs and wild magic, ...but in the end it all boils down to one aesthetically-consistent setting.

No Ninjas, No Robots, No zeppelins, no laser guns... no japanese designed elves, and not WOW looking swords twice the size of the wielder...

You want to bring just ONE of the above in my game? You are out of my game!!!

Spelljammer?

A guy with 2nd world war helmet holding a laser gun upon a zeppelin while a mind flayer hunts him down?

GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!

.....


Classic fantasy settings such as Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, were always cool because they respected, ...more or less, the "time period" the were supposed to imitate. They were Medieval/LOTR-Consistent (Evidently i did NOT have the same respect for ALL the supplements of those settings...but in general, those setting were pretty consistent..)

Ravenloft? Gothic/Late Medieval/Early Renaissance-Consistent... I loved/love all those!


As the years went by and all the more companies begun publishing their own settings, I was growing all the more conservative.

To me it looked like those companies, so as to innovate, begun mixing things up, in a desperate attempt to get the attention.

With the exception of White-Wolf, I looked at most of the new "innovations" with great disdain.

At the time I was preaching on how it was pathetic to even try and create a setting by mixing different elements, from different/opposing genres, and from different time periods.

I had no belief whatsoever that a brand new setting could be innovative in any way!

Up until then, the only setting that held my respect, a setting that did not relate clearly to an actual time period, a setting that was innovative by it's own right... was Dark Sun. But even that was old enough, that I had taken it for granted.

Just before Planescape came out, one could find ANYTHING on the shelves of any hobby store.

Zombies and spaceships? you got it...
Orcs with modern mechanical chainsaws? you got it...
Ninjas VS Aliens? You got it...
Knights in full plate with machine guns? you got it...
..........
....
..

I was disgusted....

And then.... One day a new boxed set and books made their appearance on the shelves...

Boy was there consistency!!!!

To my eyes, Planescape made the impossible possible!!!
Planescape does not relate to Medieval times, does not Relate to Renaissance,
...does not relate to ancient japan... , does not relate to ANYTHING!.... yet its such a concrete world
on all levels... as if it had always been there!!

From art, to fluff... from Factions to Monsters, from Mood to theme... Planescape was Planescape.

A beautiful Consistent world that seemed liked it bloomed out of nowhere.

It did not try to impress by providing extreme contrasts between time periods and genres,

It did not pick on anything before it...

It was/is great...

It was/is Planescape.

 

[Oryan77]

I had only played D&D for a year (which was only Dark Sun), so I was not very familiar with D&D other than the Dark Sun setting.

I knew nothing about the multiverse, I played a Fighter/Thief so I had no experience with magic, and since it was Dark Sun, I knew nothing about magic items. Then I saw the Planes of Chaos boxset at the comic store and I'm pretty sure this is what happened:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEPWBxpYjo]YouTube - ‪Jaws dolly zoom scene‬‏[/ame]

I bought the Planes of Chaos boxset and I had no clue what I was getting myself into. It was the most confusing thing I ever read. It took some time to realize that I needed to get a campaign setting boxset first. Even though the setting confused the hell out of me, I still kept trying to wrap my head around it. Something about it just fascinated me so much.

Fifteen years later and PS is still the only setting I run. I think I've finally learned a thing to two about PS.

My favorite thing about PS is that you can do whatever you want with it. If I want to use the gods from Forgotten Realms; I can. If I want to run a Ravenloft adventure; I can. If I want to use Half-Giants from Dark Sun; I can. I can even run an adventure on Krynn if I don't want to have it take place on a plane. I have never felt limited with PS.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Planescape [...] does not relate to ANYTHING!....

It did not pick on anything before it...

Planescape was based heavily in the world's mythologies.

 

[kitsune9]

Lol, I wonder why we do not have a Planescape tag...

Anyways, I was wondering what peoples experiences with Planescape were. Positive or negative? Did you like or hate the cant? Etc.

I enjoyed the setting a lot. Unfortunately, I couldn't find players to play it, but I know with my current group, they are open to it, because they all played Planescape Torment and loved it.

The biggest impression upon me though was Planescape Torment. Truly awesome.

Loved the cant. I created an Amnite mage who spoke the cant (half his family was from Sigil) and the local idioms from Amn (Forgotten Realms).

 

[Jimlock]

Planescape was based heavily in the world's mythologies.

Sure...

there is no parthenogenesis after all.

Still they made a fine job at making it look as if it is a thing on it's own.

 

[Jhaelen]

I really enjoyed reading the Planescape supplements but never got to play it.

To be honest that was partly because I felt it was unplayable, at least with the players I knew at the time. Considering how everyone seemed to have trouble playing their alignments appropriately I felt it was completely hopeless to expect anyone to grok the philosophical factions that were so important for the setting.

Also the Cant: Though very fun to read, I wouldn't want to use it when actually playing, particularly since it only really works in its original, English form. Playing Planescape in German would have required a completely new Cant; one that sounds cool _and_ makes sense in German.

As a DM I would also have suffered from 'option paralysis': What kind of adventures would I run in a Planescape setting? Apart from something set entirely in Sigil, I felt overwhelmed by the endless possibilities.

 

[TerraDave]

What key, original (2E) materials, ie one or two books or box sets, should one get to get planescape?

 

[Oryan77]

What key, original (2E) materials, ie one or two books or box sets, should one get to get planescape?

The PS Campaign Setting boxset is your first book. Book #2 depends on what your main interest is in.

If you want a tad bit more player and DM info, you can grab the Planewalker's Handbook (it's a good book).

If you want more specific info on a particular set of planes, choose either the Planes of Chaos boxset, Planes of Conflict boxset, Planes of Law boxset, Player's Primer to the Outlands boxset, Guide to the Astral Plane book, Guide to the Ethereal Plane book, or The Inner Planes book.

Get In the Cage, A Guide to Sigil (about the city) or Uncaged, Faces of Sigil (about local NPCs) if you want more info about Sigil.

The Factol's Manifesto book will give you all you need to know about the Factions if that is your thing.

The rest of the books are good too, but similar info can be found in various other books in all editions. They are not necessary to run a PS game as much as these other books are.

 

[TerraDave]

For example, which 1 book/box on sigil is best.