D&D 3E/3.5 Planescape 3.5 help!

[Veven1290]

So, some people from work invited me to play a game of Descent with them and we planned for monday but the guy running it had to bow out. The other players all have some 3.5 D&D experience and asked me if i wanted to run a game on monday instead and i agreed.

I have been running a lot of games recently but they are all sort of in the generic, Tolkien-fantasy vein and i want to try something new to all of us.

I have a basic idea for a session or two of play and i've been reading as much info as i can on Sigil and the different planes themselves. Seeing as how the game is two days away and the setting is infinitely massive i've been doing a fair amount of skimming.

It would be amazing if you planescape players could throw out some of the basic properties of Sigil and the way things should work (all the random gates and stuff....blah it's overwhelming) Just ideas and things, you favorite parts of the setting. What to strive for, what to avoid ect..

TL : DR; Running planescape w/ no experience in it, what are the necessities?

 

[Uder]

TL : DR; Running planescape w/ no experience in it, what are the necessities?

Planescape isn't really a "TL: DR" kind of setting. It's the kitchen sink of D&D settings, so you're go to have to sit down and read the source material.

 

[Veven1290]

Planescape isn't really a "TL: DR" kind of setting. It's the kitchen sink of D&D settings, so you're go to have to sit down and read the source material.

right, i'm coming to that conclusion. The TL: DR was for anyone who didn't feel like reading a couple paragraphs, I've been pouring over all the source material i can get my hands on. I guess i'm really just looking for advice as to what makes a good planescape game.

 

[jefgorbach]

Basically Sigil sits at the exact middle of the multiverse with "every" doorway acting a Gate to elsewhere (& possibly elsewhen) so while it could be used as an urban setting in its own right, its perhaps better used as a transport hub.

 

[aboyd]

The fastest and best way I can think of to familiarize yourself with Planescape is to play the video game, Planescape: Torment. You could get through quite a bit of it in one day -- 8 or 9 hours of play should get you out of the morgue and into town, doing quests. You'll meet some companions and see how... weird... things are. Note the differences from a normal fantasy game, and then incorporate what you can. Good luck.

 

[krupintupple]

i always found that there were really only two types of people who could pull off a planescape campaign - people with an amazing ability for reams of memorization, or incredibly creative people with a flair for massive improvisation.

 

[Oryan77]

I have a basic idea for a session or two of play and i've been reading as much info as i can on Sigil and the different planes themselves. Seeing as how the game is two days away and the setting is infinitely massive i've been doing a fair amount of skimming.

That's a pretty big challenge to pull off so quickly. I've been DMing PS for over 10 years and I still don't know everything.

My advice would be to keep your game in Sigil. Don't worry about the planes and portals yet. Read up on a couple of factions and run scenarios involving them (Harmonium Guards & Xaositects will give plenty of easy & fun encounters).

Read up on a couple of wards and place your scenarios there (Market ward & Hive ward are easy locations to use).

That should give you enough material to use to "show off" a Planescape campaign. The more PS fluff you incorporate into the game, the more you'll need to read. And believe me, once you start reading PS fluff, you'll need to start referring to other PS material just to understand what you're reading. It is a lot of work. Learn about one thing at a time. Start with Sigil, use it for a bit, then pick a plane, read all about that one plane, and use it for a bit, then go from there.

A really good starting adventure that could help you a lot is the 2e PS adventure called Eternal Boundary. It takes place in Sigil, but ends up on the Elemental Plane of Fire. And you don't really need to know much about the Elemental Plane of Fire to run the adventure. You can also convert it to 3.5 easily by just redoing NPCs.

people with an amazing ability for reams of memorization

I wish I could memorize all the bits of detail. I've always wondered if some of the PS fans that spout out info on the forums either memorize it in great detail, or they keep personal notes and refer to those when showing off their knowledge.

Me, I take notes when I'm preparing for my next session (3.5 Planescape). I'll refer to my books, jot down some notes, and then refer to my notes when we're playing. Surprisingly, a lot of info sticks in my head long enough to not need notes when I'm DMing. But I still wish I could just memorize everything ever written for PS. I could make the game so much more interesting if I could do that.