An Introduction to Planescape

[Tequila Sunrise]

I'd like to write an adventure that is an intro to Sigil, but can't think of a suitable plot. I'd like to start the adventure in your standard sleepy town in the middle of a forest, called Sugarloaf perhaps. Some minor incident in Sigil will spill out through a portal in or near Sugarloaf (none of the locals know it exists), and provide a route to the planar metropolis for the PCs.

I'd like the incident to climax in a decision that the PCs must make between law and chaos (rather than the classic good and evil), both of which will provide the PCs with an 'in' to one faction or another (pre-faction wars). Both choices should be Good choices, and have equal (though different) appeal to a party of good characters.

I've thought about the classic 'girl runs away from her betrothed with a lover who thoughtlessly gets them into trouble'; the PCs rescue the girl and must choose between returning her to her betrothed or lover, but haven't been able to come up with any inspiring details.

I've thought about the characters discovering some item which 'belongs' to two different Sigilans and having to choose which Sigilan to give the item to. Similar problems.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated,
TS

 

[Nyarlathotep]

Take a look at the first adventure in the Well of Worlds adventure book. It would make a nice starting point for what you're looking to do.

Edit: It's been about 10 years since I looked at it but I think I'm right.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Mind giving me a one sentence summation? I used to own that book, but don't have access to it anymore.

 

[Piratecat]

For my first Planescape adventure, the PCs wanted information from a sage who turned out to be a githzerai. He agreed to help only if they did a favor for him first. There was a seeing stone that he needed, and it was being auctioned off in two days. He couldn't go where the auction was, though, and he needed the PCs to act as his proxies and make sure that they acquired the seeing stone.

So when they agreed, he unlocked a vault in his fortress, and sent the PCs through a portal to Sigil.

The sage had offended one of the factions there, and so it wasn't safe for him to return. He didn't brief the PCs before he sent them through; as a result, the "fish out of water" effect of first visiting Sigil was really fun. I ran the buildup to the estate auction (listing all the cool stuff that was going), introducing them to bad guys who wanted the item as well; they also met several other people who weren't evil but wanted it.

Then I ran the auction. I ran it like a real auction, with the PCs pooling their money and bidding. They almost had enough to win it! But the bad guys narrowly squeaked by.

So the PCs followed the crooks to Ribcage in order to try to buy it back, and they found out how nasty the bad guys really were. A couple of fights later they had the stone in hand and were headed back to Sigil, and then home. They left new enemies behind them, giving me someone to plague them with for years.

This is one of my favorite adventures that I've ever run. I love Planescape, and for us it was a great introduction.

 

[BV210]

Take a look at the first adventure in the Well of Worlds adventure book. It would make a nice starting point for what you're looking to do.

That would be "To Baator and Back". Synopsis: PCs hear about some people that went missing after searching through "the old wizard's" home. While exploring, PCs trigger a portal that dumps them in Avernus. A few short encounters to get that planar feeling and the adventure ends with the PCs making it to Sigil.

 

[smootrk]

I have always used the accidental portal method of dropping characters into Sigil. Look over the character's belongings. One of the PCs has a portal key (unknown to PCs).

Specific methods I have used are:
- at a certain time of night, at a certain Inn room, if you have the key, then the room itself shifts to another inn in Sigil.
- characters are in a dungeon area, with a big bad guy on one side of an arch/between columns/etc. The BBG is way too tough to actually handle, but when the characters either move to engage him (or run away) they pass through a portal which closes just after their passing. I like this one because it gives me a tough BBG to dangle as potentially looking for them, or chasing them through the setting.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Well, there are some basic, standard ways of introducing planar/dimensional travel:

1) Heroes follow somebody, a la Jack Chalker's GOD Incorporated.

2) Heroes accidentally stumble through a portal, a la Chronicles of Narnia.

3) Heroes invent or find a portal, a la Sliders.

4) Somebody comes to get them to help, a la Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry.

5) A group recruits them, like Andre Norton's Time Patrol or the Infinite Worlds setting from GURPS.

6) Planar travellers accidentally yank them along, a la the old TV series Voyagers.

Personally, I like the last one. The PCs stumble into the middle of a mage duel and have to duck through a Gate to avoid being toasted. Suddenly, they're stuck on Sigil, unsure how to get back to their Prime. Or, maybe they get sucked along by an artifact wielded by one of the combatants. If a high level hero was battling an avatar of an evil god, then jumping to Sigil would be a sure way to escape because of the ban on deities. He might take the PCs with him to keep them safe from Cthulu, or whatever.

 

[MojoGM]

If the starting town is called Sugarloaf, then you need a NPC who is a Green-Eyed Lady

(I may be showing my age and/or classic rock musical preference with this)

 

[Oryan77]

I just did the ol' 'chase the rabbit into the hole' routine.

The PCs were hired by an NPC to go down into the Sunless Citadel (the NPC went with them). At the bottom of the citadel when the PCs fight the BBEG, the NPC that hired them snuck around the battlefield. The NPC opened a portal between 2 bushes right before the PCs killed the BBEG. He threw a bag on the ground and told one PC that it's a gift and then he jumped through the portal. After the PCs killed the BBEG they opened the bag and inside it was a finger with a signet ring. It was a ring that the father of one of the PCs wore and that was his finger.

That PC quickly jumped the portal before it closed and the group followed. That's my abbreviated version of what happened.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

If the starting town is called Sugarloaf, then you need a NPC who is a Green-Eyed Lady

(I may be showing my age and/or classic rock musical preference with this)

Is this a reference to something Irish? I'm all for that