Introducing Sigil

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Hello, was hoping to pick a brain or two for ideas!

I'd like to introduce Planescape into my current campaign. I'm intending to run a 'toe dipping' session and see whether the players find it interesting.

The characters have heard the name of the place, but know almost nothing about it. The players also know very little.

What would you use to showcase the setting?


The Background:

As part of an deal, an NPC wizard is going to ask the PCs act as an honour guard/escort for her to attend a wedding. The wedding will be in Sigil. The wizard will take them through a portal. They'll have access to it from then on.

What kind of fun could a handful of clueless berks have at the wedding of an Elven sorceress and an influential Half-Devil?

The bride is one of the character's estranged mother - morbidly obsessed with Half X/Half Elf offspring. He wrote this stuff, not me!

 

[Southern Oracle]

If you have access to In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil, you'll have a plethora of sites which the PCs can visit in order to get ready for the wedding. Perhaps the rehearsal dinner is held at Chirper's, and the eyewing escapes during the festivities. Maybe the bride-to-be has a gift for her groom waiting to be picked up from A'kin the Friendly Fiend, and she wants her son (the PC) to get it for her. Maybe the wedding proper is to be held in Bloodgem Park, but athar protestors interrupt the ceremony because a priest is officiating.

Access to Uncaged: Faces of Sigil would also help, giving you the background and personalities to a number of memorable NPCs which the PCs can meet and have subsequent dealings with. Also, check out www.planewalker.com for updated stuff on Planescape.

Have fun! It sounds like a great way to kick off a Planescape campaign.

 

[RangerWickett]

Wow. Asking for things to do in Sigil. My mind is stunned by the total vastness of possibilities.

Just remember, belief is reality on the planes. If they believe they're wed, something tangible ought to happen. Why else hold the wedding in Sigil? I mean, a union here is binding across all the multiverse. It shouldn't just be an adventure in a nifty setting; it should be an experience that reveals to the party just how deep the rabbit hole might go, if they choose to explore it.

 

[Ry]

What would you use to showcase the setting?

I think the most important part would be _nailing_ the first impression of Sigil. I don't know if it's possible for your game, but the shock factor would be excellent if the players didn't realize they were heading through a portal (like, through the back of a shop, into a Sigil shop, where PCs see "costumed fellows", and then the big moment when they step into the street.

You'll definitely want to emphasize

1. weird architecture - lights in the distance.
- this is even more pronounced if the players are from a less modern kind of fantasy world.
2. vertigo of the first look up
3. strangeness of the inhabitants

you can even work into your description the elven mother saying "don't make sucha fuss!" - and "you're embarassing me!" while you lay it on thick.

 

[Piratecat]

When I did this, I had a NPC send them through a portal to bid in an auction for him, and bring back a specific item. The group got to bid for it, got outbid, and followed the nasty people to Ribcage (a gatetown to Hell.) On the way they met incredibly interesting NPCs (including some friendly ones that have stayed in the game for years), saw cool sights, and got hooked on the planes. they also made some brutal enemies that have continued to plague them.

I think the secret is to make the initial toe-dipping something relatively small and finite. Make it an adventure that could only be run in Sigil - no dungeon crawls, in favor of something philosophically-based - and emphasize that belief can change reality. I hope your group loves it as much as mine did.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Piratecat - that's what I had in mind. Something quite small and not dungeon crawly... The wedding seemed like a good candidate. A session or two sidetrack from current campaign arc. Let them know the place is there, see if they will head back later.

rycanada - that's a great idea. Think placing the portal as a 'secret door' in the basement of a pub. You're quite right, the sheer scale and strangeness of the place definitely need to be played up.

Southern Oracle - Seems like some excellent possibilities with rehearsal and other wedding planning arrangments. A'kin the fiend would seem like a good inclusion - a couple of the players are very keen on kooky magical gizmos and I think he's a great character! Will check out Planewalker.com - either it or my computer is trying to be funny right now though.


Using the wedding to illustrate 'belief shapes reality' idea seems like a very good idea. Possibly the fiend's relatives get some access to the Prime the bride and players come from... they feel that being 'in laws' gives them extra fiendish meddling and visitation rights?


Anyone got any examples of how they've used the 'belief shapes reality' idea?

Think the Rule of Three needs to make an appearance.

Hoping they like it as well... it's a great setting, really impressed with it!

 

[Klaus]

When they arrive, tell them they are in some fog/smoke heavy city. The buildings, made of a greensh-gray stone, seem very gothic. Also, the street rises on both sides. As they walk up the street, they don't seem to be gaining much in height, as the street *still* rises on both sides. They can't see much in the smog (which tends to irritate the throat somewhat), so they just keep on walking. Suddenly they hear the 'clop-clop' sound of hooves against the pavement, and open way for a carriage, when a bariaur comes walking down the street (no carriage). The sounds of a bustling market square come from up the street (and they are *still* at the bottom!).

As they keep on walking, and things keep on getting stranger, the air clears a bit and they can see more of the city, which keeps goin' up... and up... and up... and up!

"I don't think we're in Greyhawk anymore, Toto..."

And showcase the 3 rules several times: Rule-of-Threes, Unity-of-Rings and Center-of-All.