Planescape

[Tinker Gnome]

Lol, I wonder why we do not have a Planescape tag...

Anyways, I was wondering what peoples experiences with Planescape were. Positive or negative? Did you like or hate the cant? Etc.

 

[Dyir]

I encountered Planescape not long after being exposed to D&D itself, and it was the first time I encountered anything involving steampunk (even if only in light doses), the idea of a fantasy universe that wasn't obviously LOTR derived, or the idea of demons as having a deeper agenda than Kill 'Em All. I will always be grateful to it for giving my young developing mind the idea of outlandish settings, over-the-top and outright alien fantasy locations, of "evil" being more interesting than just something else to kill, and that fantasy doesn't always have to be human-dwarf-elf all the time. I met Mage: The Ascension almost immediately afterward, and so philosophy as a weapon was a very powerful idea for me for a very long time.

I honestly haven't returned to Planescape in a long time, so I'm not sure how it's held up. As I no longer care for Alignment systems of any kind (3E, 4E, or otherwise), I imagine I'd probably streamline the Outer Planes a bit, as a few felt slightly redundant in retrospect. I might also try to include a mechanical way to incorporate "belief has power," which was heavily emphasized in the fluff...but not at all in the crunch. And I think that perhaps the not-quite steampunk aesthetic might benefit from either just going all out and embrace that genre or abandon it altogether.

I still am a little sad that WOTC never updated or allowed anyone else to update Planescape in 3E like they did for Ravenloft and Dragonlance...

 

[Quickleaf]

I <3 Planescape

Was the first campaign I DMed and it lasted for 5 years! I was particularly fond of the Factol's Manifesto and Faces of Sigil (the NPC book). I only ran the Eternal Boundary and used bits from the Hellbound box (about the Blood War), but those synched up well with my campaign concept. I used the cant sparsely, emphasizing it for long-time cagers especially those in the Lower Ward and Hive.

Thing about Planescape is you can work it from different angles: the steampunk, the Blood War, mystery of the Lady of Pain, the kriegstanz (politics between factions), worldfalls where the land literally reforms, going into the underworld to retrieve a soul, or use it as an adjunct to a prime material campaign. What brought all this together was a certain jaded "this is not your grandma's fantasy" aspect, and Sigil in all its rusted glory.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

My best friend is also an artist and out of all the DnD settings, Planescape was his favorite when we were in college while I preferred vanilla fantasy settings. It wasn't until later that I began to appreciate more what Planescape and other non-vanilla settings such as Dark Sun had accomplished. Now it may be my favorite DnD setting of all time, but that was because of an outside influence. What really brought Planescape alive was the video game Planescape: Torment. After that game I was able to see all that Planescape could provide, and realized that the potential for real depth an RPG campaign could have. I am now in the same boat as my best friend. Planescape is an incredible setting because it elevates philosophy and thought to an equal playing field as the sword and the spell.

 

[Mephos]

it's probably my fav setting. The idea that, in theoru, you could use it to link all the other settings together, or simply use Sigil as a whole campaign...plus you could visit the Gods, give the finger to demons...then run away..

Plus it had a feel all to it's own. If ever there was a setting that needed updating, it was this imo

 

[Viking Bastard]

Planescape is the only published D&D setting I have run (I lean towards homebrewing) and those were some of my favorite games.

I met Mage: The Ascension almost immediately afterward, and so philosophy as a weapon was a very powerful idea for me for a very long time.

Mage was my system of choice for running Planescape. Worked pretty damn well.

 

[Quickleaf]

Plus it had a feel all to it's own. If ever there was a setting that needed updating, it was this imo

I agree the PS feel is gone, as are the factions, but as far as planewalking material in D&D there's quite a bit - Sigil in DMG2, the Manual of the Planes, the Plane Above and the Plane Below, the Shadowfell box, the article on modrons, githzerai and tieflings as PC races...

Between Welcome to Planewalker | Planewalker and the old books I think it would be pretty easy to update PS to 4e. If you went with 3e there'd be even more options. And that's not to mention the PS-esque planar book for Pathfinder written by ENWorld's very own Shemeska!

Well, provided you're willing to ad lib the Great Wheel...

And write up your own faction themes...

And add back bariaur, aasimar, and rogue modrons as PC races...

 

[I'm A Banana]

Planescape is the best.

I'm always at work on little PS bits and fobs for my home games....gotten busy enough recently that I haven't had time to formalize them, but eh....soon.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I've only played one Planescape session (Pathfinder). My next is tomorrow.

I do recall reading a ton of material from 2e. Looked interesting, but also alignment-restrictive.

The DM is either using a lot of house rules, or Pathfinder released a Planescape supplement. I suspect the former.

We've seen no alignment problems yet in our one session, and while some of the races (modrons) seem horribly restrictive, and others don't make sense (githzerai can't be lawful, so no monks?) I'm pretty sure it's the DM writing 2e flavor onto Planescape mechanics. (Eg house rules, not a setting problem. There were no monks in 2e.)

We started at 1st-level (is that even appropriate for the setting) and so far have fought hobgoblins and gnolls. It doesn't really feel like Planescape yet.

 

[Diamond Cross]

I've never played it.

Read several of the books tough.

I loved getting the free DM screen with the main box.