Planescape modules - which are any good?

Orius said:

Hmm, I have On Hallowed Ground, and it's probably my least favorite PS product. I think it's because I was expecting it to be a PS-themed update of Legends and Lore and I was very dissappointed with it, because it's almost 100% fluff. Some of it's ok cause it gives a lot of background on planar cosmology and who the gods interact, but I don't think I've ever made much real use out of it.

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That's funny. Of all the Planescape books, I think I referred to "On Hallowed Ground" the most of any of them during the Planescape games I ran. I think it's probably because I ran a lot of adventures that involved the various powers and their realms and found "On Hallowed Ground" as a good reference and inspiration for that.

After "On Hallowed Ground", the PS reference I drew on the most for inspiration was probably "The Factol's Manifesto".

If I had to pick just one of those two books, I'd probably go with the Factol's Manifesto because it captures much of what I think is the core spirit of Planescape.

I will echo other people and say all of the modules are good except for 'Deva Spark' which was not only cheesy, but did relegate the PCs into secondary characters.

'Doors to the Unknown' is interesting in that it has an incredible hook, but goes in a different direction that is almost a little disappointing.

'Tales of the Infinite Staircase' is very sandboxy, which might be a problem, because there are a couple of adventures that really don't have anything to do with the main plot, and PCs might get the feeling that they are wandering around lost. I sometimes felt that each adventure should have been more tightly related to the main plot.

I love 'The Great Modron March' but only ran a couple of adventures. I echo a previous poster that said the adventures assume you will help them, but what if the PCs are Chaotic and want to hinder Law?

'Dead Gods' is great for the epicness.

I've used bits and pieces of 'Faction War'.

I wished I have been able to use the other adventures...

Since we're showing off modrons, I'll show off mine

I will second the votes for The Great Unknown, Harbinger House, The Great Modron March, Dead Gods, and Faction War. I'm currently on the 8th year of my online campaign that encompasses those last three modules.

I'd also like to recommend "Umbra" from Dungeon magazine #55 (by Chris Perkins), The Vortex of Madness and Other Planar Perils (by Chris Pramas),and The Harrowing from Dungeon magazine #84 (by Monte Cook). The latter two are not official Planescape products, but they are planar adventures that have the scope and complexity that do the Planescape setting justice.

Fires of Dis is the hands down choice for me, although Dead Gods and Faction War were pretty sweet. I still keep a copy of Dis on the desk to flip through when writing my own adventures. It was the first adventure I had read (as DM) where everything was accounted for and there were so many behind-the-scenes events going on to keep the players in line or have it all make sense.

"Dead Gods" is the gold standard. It is epic in scope and fun to play and run. It is easily one of the best adventures I have ever run. "Harbinger House" is quite good too as is "Tales from the Infinite Staircase."

The long adventure in the Hellbound boxed set was good and epic in scope but it doesn't work in 4e as demons and devils don't do that anymore. You need to rework the premise of the adventure but the adventure itself is good.

"Something Wild" was subpar. "Doors to the Unknown" is very good in the beginning, but the ending was a severe letdown (I'd replace the bad guy with something workable.)

I wasn't too fond "Faction War" but that is more of a personal thing. The adventure itself wasn't bad. "Eternal Boundary" or whatever it is called, and "Fires of Dis" were ok.

"The Great Modron March" had some interesting bits but it really didn't make much sense over all. I only ran it as a prelude to "Dead Gods."

"Deva Spark" was pretty awful. Don't even pick it up.

"Paladin in Hell" is an excellent planar adventure although it wasn't part of the Planescape setting. As a warning, the adventure starts with a railroad, and the premise of why you are sent on the mission makes no sense, but the adventure locations more than make up for it. It has easily two of the coolest advanture locations ever. Seeing my players' jaws drop when they explored the ship for the first time was priceless.

Tzarevitch

Piratecat said:

One big caution about the Great Modron March: it's slightly schizophrenic in that it expects the PCs to follow the modrons around and help them, and yet the first adventure paints them as uncaring jerks who trample everything in their path. My players had no interest in helping them after that, any more than they wanted to help a flood or a forest fire. You may want to consider making them more sympathetic in order to get total buy-in.

I loved Dead Gods, of course, and (with some of the really railroady elements removed) loved Harbinger House as well.

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I have to agree on the Great Modron March. My players wouldn't help them after that first adventure.

Tzarevitch

Another vote for "The Eternal Boundry" here. It was the only PS module I ran, but it was an excellent introduction to the whole setting.

Zaukrie said:

For PS fans, send me a PM or email. My very local half price books gets some guys collection every few months. Right now, every DArk Sun book/box set appears to be at the half price.

Mail rates just went up, so I'll not buy for you unless you pay my price plus shipping (I need no profit).

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That's because so many of the Dark Sun books/adventures trully sucked. And I say this as a fan of Dark Sun. The Planescape adventures tended to be of much higher quality and they show up second hand far less often.

Tzarevitch

I really liked Tales of the Infinite Staircase, it's more of a module meant to spread across a campaign. Maelost was quite an interesting and unusual place.