Ideas needed for a Planescape campaign

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm thinking of maybe running a Planescape campaign one day - one where (at least initially) all the PCs are Primes from a small town in the Material Plane.

They start out as fairly ordinary 1st-level adventurers who lived in that town for all their lives. Then there is some sort of crisis or other reason why some people from this town need to explore some part of the planes. Then some locals remember that there is some sort of Mysterious Portal (TM), which leads to a relatively safe place (like one of the nicer parts of the Outlands), and from there to Sigil. Now they need to learn how to survive in this strange new environment and discover the rules of living there without getting killed by their ignorance.

Now, what kind of reason might there be for a couple of green primes to go off to the big, bad Outer Planes? That's where I still have some trouble...

Some guidelines:

- Solving the problem should involve traveling to a large number of exotic planar locations. Hey, this is Planescape, right?

- The problem should some time to solve, with some periods in between where they can do little other than wait. I don't want them to treat the Outer Planes as something they need to visit, and then hurry out again as fast as possible - they need to truly live there, and gain some appreciation of it. Once the initial problem is gone, they should have made enough friends and enemies in both Sigil and beyond to last for many more adventures...

- At least initially, the problem shouldn't be under too much time pressure. I don't want them to hurry from one place to the next - they should have some time to stop and see the sights.

- Above all, I don't want them to be cut off permanently from their home, which would make the Outer Planes simply Ravenloft with more colorful scenery. They should rest assured that they can go back and visit home at any time, and thus feel less pressure to "escape" their current surroundings (this doesn't mean that their home can't suffer if they make the wrong enemies, though...).

 

[EricNoah]

My planescape campaign logs and many of my Planescape adventures: http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/d_and_d.htm

One particular adventure -- Dreamland: http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/dreamland.htm

This was a pretty whimsical way to introduce the PCs to the planes and transport them from the Prime to the Outlands (or wherever you want them to go).

 

[Khairn]

This is something that I have used in the past, and it seemed to work out all right. The players were happy anyways, especially as they all like the Wheel of Time series from which alot of these idea's came from.

Unknown to the players, one of them is key to a prophecy that leads to to the fall of an important entity. IMC I used the Liche-Queen of the Githyanki.

Servants of that entity attack the players home in an attempt to kill the "Fate-Spawned" who is pivotal in the Liche-Queen's impending fall from power.

The party is aided by a wise githzeri who tells them that their presence will bring continuing doom on their families and friends if they remain on the prime. He sends them to a 'friendly' plane and tells them to search for certain key people who will be able to help them. In the meantime he will lead the githyanki off on a wild goose chase in an effort to prevent htem from tracking the party.

The only real concern I had with this story is keeping the other players focused despite the fact that they were not the center of the story.

Hope that helps

 

[Ruined]

The first adventure out of the Well of Worlds PS book is a good starter for a Planescape campaign like what you're asking. I believe it's called 'To Baator and Back'. Basically the PCs start off in a quaint prime city, and inadventently go through a portal to Baator (Nine Hells). There are some wondrous, frightening sights to see, and the PCs most likely end up in Sigil to escape from Baator's blasted landscape. The module ends when they get off of the hellish plane, so you can easily have a portal back home in the City of Doors if you'd like.

I like the module and have run variants of it twice with success. Bear in mind though that it presents some serious threats that the party should not rush up and fight. If you have the types of players that will shout "Demon! Die!!" and charge in, then you may want to skip this one. (of course, they probably wouldn't last long in Planescape anyway.)

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The first adventure out of the Well of Worlds PS book is a good starter for a Planescape campaign like what you're asking. I believe it's called 'To Baator and Back'. Basically the PCs start off in a quaint prime city, and inadventently go through a portal to Baator (Nine Hells). There are some wondrous, frightening sights to see, and the PCs most likely end up in Sigil to escape from Baator's blasted landscape. The module ends when they get off of the hellish plane, so you can easily have a portal back home in the City of Doors if you'd like.

What prevents them from simply running off home screaming when they discover that portal, vowing never to return?

I'd like them to start out with a more positive outlook on the Outer Planes, at least initially:

"Sure, it might be frightening out there sometimes, but also sort of cool, and there are lots of opporunities there."

They can always get entangled in the schemes of demons and devils and the like later (and they will) - but I want them to make those bold first steps eagerly, and out of their own free will.

Someone once said that in horror movies the protagonists always find some reason to go back to the basement, despite the fact that everyone knows that's where all the monsters lurk - and that it is the job of the horror GM to come up with plenty of good reasons why the PCs should return to the basement.

"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will! Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring!"

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Stormborn]

The PCs home is experianceing a slow wasting natural disaster. Maybe the game is dying off, maybe the temperature is rising, maybe the local high priest has simply had a vision. (It can be as localized or as far sweeping as you like, maybe the PCs are of a particular sect or race or nationality that has to find a new homeland due to politcal/religious pressure)Something must be done or within a generation they will no longer be able to live there.
So all the people pray to their gods for a solution, but being the gods they are rather peculiar when it comes to answers.

Some days later a mysterious portal opens. Lots are drawn to see who goes through.

The PCs get the black stones.

Their mission: investigate the portal, perhaps even find a home for their people, seek the will of their gods.

So the PCs are off into the portal. There they wind up on some little plane that is used as a short cut by planar travlers to and from Sigil. They immediately fall in with a caravan that is being attacked by bandits. The PCs either rescue or are rescued by the caravan. They make friends and off they go to Sigil.

Once there they can begin to research/explore the possibilites of a place for their people. Its rather open ended, will probablly involve lots of travel, and is sure to involve lots of subplots.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Perhaps they need to find a group of people - adventurers from their own world - who went through the portal a decade ago. What have they been up to, what adventures have trasnspired, and where are they now? It can be difficult tracking people down on the planes, especially mid/high level adventurers who more than likely use magic to keep away the scrying. That would mean going to many different places, interacting with interesting planar NPCs, and solving mysteries along the way.

The NPCs could be split up and gone their own ways. Maybe it was a long time ago, the human is getting old, but the elf is still going strong, while the dwarf has settled down for the most part but still adventures on the side. Or they've made enemies and are in hiding, and those enemies hear that the PCs are looking for them. Or many other possibilities.

You could even add that the people they're looking for were trying to accomplish something that is vital to the people of their prime city/nation/world, and they need to finish the job after they find them. Many could have been sent, of which the PCs are just one group. This could build up rivalries, attacks by other groups seeking information, etc. It would also be more plausable than resting all hope on this one band of unknown adventurers (which admittedly is very commonplace in fantasy ).

 

[twofalls]

The portal is new, and has recently opened near thier small idyllic farming community. A young child was last seen in the vicinity, and has been missing for 24 hours, perhaps even a relative of one of the PC's. They are asked to investigate and either a tracker in the party, or an NPC tracker identifies the childs footprints, and those of his/her abductors. They lead directly into the portal.

On the other side the players become emeshed in a cross planes adventure attempeting to track down this child. Side adventures to gain the aid of various planes entities to help them find the child lead to different planes and eventually the group ends up in Sigil. There they discover that the child has been indoctrinated into a school run by one of the factions, and they have to figure out the politics of the city, find assistance in locating the child, bargain or abduct their mark, and flee back to the prime plane. Mabye the cross plane trek has taken them to some places where time operates differently and by the time they find the "child" he or she is a young adult and has no desire to return? Lots of things can be done with this concept.

 

[Toras]

This one requires two portals (either of which can be relatively new)
Planar traders have discovered a pair of portals on the character's home plane (preferably near their home town.) This new route cuts days off the journey to either those places from the other and has made this world a popular trade route.

Caravans of merchants now begin to travel through the area, stopping now and again to buy and sell wears in a town or city the character's are familar with. These newcommers bring story's of wonder and amazement, often pay several times what the goods would normally be worth for local materials and crafts and selling items previously unavailable to them.

Maybe they hire on a well payed guards for the caravan, making "easy" money while getting a chance to explore. Maybe the stories these travelers bring intrigue them. Or maybe they just want to see something different. Feel free to paint a rosy picture of the planes if they seem hesitant.