Planescape: The Perfect MMO Setting?

[I'm A Banana]

Aasimar
Bariaur
Githzerai
Genasi (air, earth, water, fire)
Exiled Modron (maybe?)
Human
Tiefling

Yup, that'd be my classic list, too. I'd be tempted to add a law-touched and chaos-touched group, too, but it probably wouldn't be necessary at release (for that, grab the Planes of Chaos and Planes of Law expansions!).

Though I think we could probably add all the base D&D classes without much conflict, too (perhaps with "urban" or "planar" variants from UA applied): Barbarian Xaositects who roam around executing vandalism, druids tending isolated Sigilian gardens in the Lady's Ward, etc.

And, yeah, expansions could add more without really ruining much for those that didn't have the expansions: there'd still be all the old portals to explore, the expansions would just give you "new" ones (or at least new regions).

Fer'instance, you could add Githyanki as a playable ECL 0 race, along with some psionic races and a lot of Astral locations by buying the "Silver Sea" expansion. But if you never did, you could stillk go on adventures everywhere else and be every kind of character you like.

I'd recommend going light on the cant, just a bit for flavor ("'ey, berk!" instead of "Hello", "Scrag 'em!" instead of "Get 'em!"...and only for native Sigilians).

 

[Korgoth]

Awesome idea. This would actually make the MMO conventions work.

 

[Nifft]

I'd buy it.

-- N

 

[Timeboxer]

I've been wanting this one since forever. I can already imagine the Great Modron March quest series.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Awesome Idea!

This would probably be the first MMO I'd ever play.

 

[Ringan]

Awesome idea! Like others have said, I don't play MMORPGs but this one I would get into!

Although if I played in PvP I would clearly be the Nameless One!

 

[edbonny]

QFT

Done right... a Planescape MMO would rock your face off.

I would be there in a heartbeat!

So many races to play. So many outsiders to visit. Infinite planes to explore (i.e. expansion packs galore).

If it captured the feel of the planes like Torment did, I would give up WoW immediately.
If it played like Stormreach however, I would be disappointed.

 

[DaveMage]

It's probably best that such a thing doesn't come out.

I'd miss my current life.

 

[I'm A Banana]

If it captured the feel of the planes like Torment did, I would give up WoW immediately.
If it played like Stormreach however, I would be disappointed.

Stormreach had a good baseline, but they didn't know how to turn it into a winning variant. I think a good chunk of that problem was simply the visuals: everything was a muddy shade of green, gray, or brown. PS better not suffer from this: you should be able to take a few low-level excursions into the vibrantly loud colors of Elysium and into the "art splotch" chaos of Limbo, and Sigil itself should have the stunning visuals of the City of Doors: the bladed architecture, the amazing inhabitants, the "soaring ruin of urban eternal."

Stormreach also had a logistical problem of "only big dungeons are worth it." I think that can be avoided with careful Reputation balance: since Reputation is what affects the game world, a dungeon with phatty lewt might not give you much (and even less the second, third, and eighth times you run through it), whereas quests that actually advance NPC agendas will give you quite a bit, even if they're comparatively simple.

Finally, I think Stormreach lacked the feel of a truly expansive world. Because they limited it to basically "a city and it's sewers," it was hard to get the sensation, like you can get in WoW, that there's a whole world out there to explore. This actually plays to Sigil's feel: the Cage locks you in unless you can unlock an exit. The dungeons aren't just sewers and catacombs, they're the timeless battlefields of Ysgard and the maddening catacombs of Pandemonium and the depths of Hell itself. The infinity actually helps a narrow track make sense: you could walk forever in the wilderness of the Outlands and die of fatigue before you reached anyplace significant (I imagine a WoW style Fatigue bar, like when you swim too far out to sea...it just keeps going until you get exhausted), so stick to the areas on your map.

It bothered me, in Stormreach, that I couldn't hop a ship to Sharn for a while. In PSONLINE, if there's a cart coming through a portal, you can go through the portal, too: if you find the right key (which might involve doing some dirt for Estavan and the Planar Trade Consortium...)

I think PSONLINE can avoid most of the pitfalls of Stormreach, which just had some unfortunate early design choices.

 

[kolikeos]

I'd buy it.

-- N

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