D&D General Ideas for a planar campaign

[RoiC.]

I've started planning out a planar campaign that has the players start out in different settings. Basically, I had the idea of starting with two 2-3 player groups, running 1-2 seperate sessions for each, with each group ending up on Sigil by accident, and have the campaign go on from there (I specifically have this "you all meet in a tavern" scene in my head, but instead of the vanilla Ye Olde Medieval Tavern™, have them start in a bizzare place like PS:T's Smoldering Corpse Bar). I plan on having one group start in Eberron, probably just outside of Cyre when the Day of Mourning happens, and probably being thrown outside by some weird magical anomaly in the Mournland (I really want to use Cyre 1313 dread domain from VRgtR). Since the PCs will probably not have much to return to after their home has been destroyed, it'll also leave them free to roam the planes.

What I'm not sure about is where I want the other group to start. I've considered using Dark Sun (no reason to go back there either), Theros (really hard to get back there due to to weird cosmology, not unlike Eberron), one of the planes (I was considering using one of Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, maybe the carnival - it can even crossover with the new WbtW adventure), but I feel a bit lost here. What I need is a setting which would be hard to get back to, one that the PCs would be less tempeted to try and go back to and one that contrasts well with the other setting (Eberron) and both clashes and meshes well with Sigil and the Planes (for example, Eberron's cosmology really doesn't work with the Great Wheel which is a huge source of confusion, but the city setting and the magitek vibe would resonate well). I feel a bit of choice paralysis, so any opinion would be appreciated.

The other thing I'm kinda stuck with is the overarching plot. I want there to be a reason for the group to be thrown into Sigil, maybe some sort of multiversal anomaly or a poweful faction doing something that messes up with the planes - maybe even have something to do with the Day of Mourning. Alternatively, I feel like dropping the "big damn heroes save the multiverse" shtick for a more personal quest could work, but I'm just not sure what can be the thing that connects them.

I'ts a bit of a complicated concept, so any ideas - wether based on your own experiences, games you've watched, works of fiction you can recommend, exisiting adventures and books, stuff that been sitting in your head or drawer for years or whatever else comes to mind would be super appreciated.

 

[Malmuria]

Well of Worlds has a pretty good get-them-to-Sigil scenario. Basically the PCs go explore a classic wizard's tower, enter a portal, and end up in the nine hells, and from there can find a portal to sigil. Alternatively you can skip all that and just have them start in ye olde tavern, but a door in a random corridor leads to a tavern in Sigil. You'll sort of have to railroad them a bit to literally get them to go through the door, however.

I ran a planescape campaign where I used the main "antagonist" from Tales from the Infinite Staircase, which is a magical disease that was sapping creativity from random planar locations. The module never mentions an actual antagonist, but I decided the disease was probably emanating from the Grey Wastes (i.e. 2e shadowfell), trying to pull various places into it. The campaign was focused on finding a cure (which I decided would be a magical harp stuck somewhere in Arborea).

Planescape can be difficult to run based on the infinity-upon-infinity vastness of it. A lot of the modules end up being very linear (faction contact wants X item from Y plane; arrive at Y plane and deal with these four encounters one after another). It would seem to lend itself to high fantasy, but if 1st level PCs being the chosen ones to save a prime material world is already implausible, it just becomes a bit ridiculous when those PCs have to save the entire multiverse. As a result a plane hopping campaign can sort of become setting tourism, which is fine, but again can be very linear.

 

[aco175]

Sounds like it could be interesting. You may need to railroad a bit to get everyone together. Use this ride.

Years ago, we had a game where one of the PCs disappeared in the middle of the game and the DM would not tell anyone why. Found out that he asked the player to come to another game where one of those players drew a card from the deck of many things and it was the one where you gain the services of a 4th level fighter. You could use some sort of cosmic Deck of Many Things.

 

[jgsugden]

I'm running a slightly different multiverse game - The PCs were approached by a researcher who is looking for lore on the location of the 7 parts of the Rod of 7 Parts. It was dismantled and the pieces strewn throughout the multiverse. Each PC had a bit of lore of interest, so he hired them to come with him on his searches. They have an extradimensional mansion that can open portals to different worlds where they hunt for either clues on the whereabouts of the Rod, or for the pieces of the Rod themselves. We have PCs from Exandria, Eberron, Oerth, Ravnica, etc... There are metaplots surrounding other groups in search of the Rod with the eventual focus on the Rod going back to the early origins of the game where it was Law verus Chaos rather than Good versus Evil which were the primary driving factors of the game alignment system. So far they've explored Wildemount in Exandria, Chult in the Forgotten Realms, A Ravenloft Domain of Dread, the City of Brass, and now they're on Eberron (starting in Sharn, but on a quest that will likely take them through 8 or so countries). This is a 'half-ass' game on my part with less prep than I normally spend (it is primarily a filler because the regular DM for that group is unavailable) - so I've modified modules to suit my needs and am mostly using those modules for content.

 

[Bitbrain]

I've started planning out a planar campaign that has the players start out in different settings. Basically, I had the idea of starting with two 2-3 player groups, running 1-2 seperate sessions for each, with each group ending up on Sigil by accident, and have the campaign go on from there (I specifically have this "you all meet in a tavern" scene in my head, but instead of the vanilla Ye Olde Medieval Tavern™, have them start in a bizzare place like PS:T's Smoldering Corpse Bar). I plan on having one group start in Eberron, probably just outside of Cyre when the Day of Mourning happens, and probably being thrown outside by some weird magical anomaly in the Mournland (I really want to use Cyre 1313 dread domain from VRgtR). Since the PCs will probably not have much to return to after their home has been destroyed, it'll also leave them free to roam the planes.

What I'm not sure about is where I want the other group to start. I've considered using Dark Sun (no reason to go back there either), Theros (really hard to get back there due to to weird cosmology, not unlike Eberron), one of the planes (I was considering using one of Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, maybe the carnival - it can even crossover with the new WbtW adventure), but I feel a bit lost here. What I need is a setting which would be hard to get back to, one that the PCs would be less tempeted to try and go back to and one that contrasts well with the other setting (Eberron) and both clashes and meshes well with Sigil and the Planes (for example, Eberron's cosmology really doesn't work with the Great Wheel which is a huge source of confusion, but the city setting and the magitek vibe would resonate well). I feel a bit of choice paralysis, so any opinion would be appreciated.

The other thing I'm kinda stuck with is the overarching plot. I want there to be a reason for the group to be thrown into Sigil, maybe some sort of multiversal anomaly or a poweful faction doing something that messes up with the planes - maybe even have something to do with the Day of Mourning. Alternatively, I feel like dropping the "big damn heroes save the multiverse" shtick for a more personal quest could work, but I'm just not sure what can be the thing that connects them.

I'ts a bit of a complicated concept, so any ideas - wether based on your own experiences, games you've watched, works of fiction you can recommend, exisiting adventures and books, stuff that been sitting in your head or drawer for years or whatever else comes to mind would be super appreciated.

I’m in the process of building a “Crisis on Multiple Earths” campaign myself, using Mystara, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, and Eberron.

Admittedly, my idea doesn’t have a hub world like sigil and focuses more on a simultaneous threat to all four worlds.

In a previous Eberron campaign, I had already established that the wizards of the Arcanix have developed the means to explore the other worlds (EDIT - modified teleportation circle), but it’s still in its infancy. So far, they’re only aware of Krynn.

In Twilight Calling (D&D Basic module set in Mystara), there is this Stonehenge-esque landmark in the Broken Lands. Within the module, you can use this landmark to travel to what are essentially different planets. That’s how the Mystaran characters will be traveling to the other two worlds.

In 4e, they introduced this idea of “moon gates” to Dark Sun. This will be how characters from Athas reach the other worlds in my campaign: ancient structures out in the desert similar in appearance to Star Trek’s Guardian of Forever.

Dragonlance is easy. In my campaign, the tinker gnomes were trying to build a magitech antigravity hovercraft... only they accidentally created a planeswalking rocketship instead.

 

[Eltab]

At the end of Rime of the Frostmaiden is an obelisk that uses a 10th-level spell to poof you back in time. But who really knows how it works? The obelisk activated (by some other adventuring group) and the ripples (or loud crashes) were felt on multiple planes. The PCs are sent by The Powers That Be to find out what happened and clean up messes.

 

[RoiC.]

Hey folks, all of your ideas are amazing and I will probably end up implementing some of them into my game in one way or another, or at least be inspired by them.

Since what really sparked my interest in D&D (and overall one of my favorite videogames ever) is Planescape: Torment, I feel like I want the campaign to be more Sigil focused with planar jumps every now and then. I feel like I'd mostly avoid the Prime Material Plane worlds after the party arrives at Sigil, at least at first, but who knows.

I spent last night tossing and turning in bed thinking about a possible antagonist, and decided maybe going with joint operation between 3 Planescape factions (Rule of Three!) - the Dustmen, the Bleak Cabal and the Doomguard to bring the final death of the multiverse, possibly led by Coaxmetal (the golem of entropy from PS:T), or by the Yugoloth - but using the Pathfinder version that strives to annihilate all life instead of the boring greedy and treacherous version we have in D&D. I feel like Eberron's Day of Mourning could be explained in this campaign as part of that plan - not sure about the hows and whys yet, though.

It's all a blurry jumble of things in my head, but I feel inspired and excited about this - which is honestly my favorite feeling about DMing. If you've had any experience with any of the elements I've mentioned in this comment, I'd love to hear them.