Ambrus
Explorer
I've recently started to plan a Planescape campaign which my group and I will most likely start in February of next year. In a recent thread some fellow ENworlders asked me to keep them abreast of my progress since they themselves were either DMing or playing in their own Planescape campaigns. That's what this thread is for. Hopefully those who are interested can read it over and see what I'm working on and either offer advice or shortcuts to resources they've found or developed to help me out and I in turn can do the same for them.
Since our last campaign recently wrapped up after our one hundred sessions, spread out out four and a half years, I imagine we'll be busy exploring this setting for some time to come. For that reason I intend to spend the next few months, researching the setting and prepping the campaign by reading through my old 2ed supplements. I'm the type of DM who likes to go that extra mile in finding images and in prepping pretty maps and handouts to show the players. Planescape has a lot of that already scattered about in the various supplements. I'll be spending the next few months gathering it all together and organizing it for later use as play progresses.
Already I'm starting to remember why I fell in love with the setting back when it was originally produced. It's simply beautiful in design and layout. The images, the flavor, the cant, the philosophy, the places, the faces... it's just gorgeous. And there's so much of it to share with the players. Great stuff!
Since I'm planning a largely urban campaign set mostly in the City of Doors that's where I'm putting most of my efforts. Since I'm a visual person I've spent the last few weeks preparing a map of the city. My first thought was to use mapping software to draw, street by street and building by building, the whole of the metropolis. A few quick calculations and comparisons to the city map of Ptolus showed that if done at the same scale, 1 inch representing 1200 feet, that such a map of Sigil would be roughly 1-ft. by 7.5-ft. Not out of the question, but a bit more work than I'd imagined.
Seeing what's available, the map from 'In the Cage' is the best rendition of the city that I've found. Unfortunately, the psychedelic background of the map along with the ridiculous skateboarding punks zipping around the margins makes for a map that I'd be embarrassed to show my players. I've thus busied myself with scanning the poster map section by section and then piecing it back together in photoshop. I've replaced the background with a neutral parchment image and have even cloned out all the street and place names cluttering up the map itself. I figure that marking places of interest with a simple number would help to keep the map from getting cluttered and make it easier for me to add new places. I also removed the street names because I found them hard to read. I'm currently adding them back in while changing the font and taking the time to look at other more detailed maps of certain neighborhoods available in published adventures and supplements. Being able to move the street names around the map make it possible for me to try and make it jive better with those secondary maps since they don't always concur on where certain streets are located.
I've also modified the map in some circumstances to reflect what I believe is more in keeping with how things are described in the books. The biggest change I've made, for instance, is to the Grand Bazaar. Although its described as being a sprawling marketplace nearly filling up the entire ward, on the map it's a small plaza just an inch or two around and tucked up in the corner of the map. In my version I've cleared many of the buildings off the map to make room for a sprawling maze of colorful tents, shops and stalls. I've also worked to colorize the various factions headquarters to make them stand out better against the drab ochre cityscape in which they seem a bit lost.
Other projects I'm planning will include an updated player handout that should help players unfamiliar with the setting get a feel for what's involved. One change I intend to make is to add two factions to the city's roster. Why? Because I'd like their to be 17 factions in the city; seventeen outer planes, seventeen factions. I like symmetry. The first will be that of the Ring Givers who I'll have running the city's mint located in the Lady's Ward. The second I remain undecided on. I'm leaning towards bringing back the Incanterium but I'm not certain what type of civic function I could have a bunch of magic-lovers perform. One thought I had was to have them be responsible for locating, identifying and maintaining the network of portals leading in and out of the city. Considering that trade and tourism are the center of the city's economy, it seems somewhat odd that there's no organisation in charge of the city's most important portals. Suggestions are welcome however.
I'll either update this thread or start another later to continue updating people if there's any continued interest in my progress.
Since our last campaign recently wrapped up after our one hundred sessions, spread out out four and a half years, I imagine we'll be busy exploring this setting for some time to come. For that reason I intend to spend the next few months, researching the setting and prepping the campaign by reading through my old 2ed supplements. I'm the type of DM who likes to go that extra mile in finding images and in prepping pretty maps and handouts to show the players. Planescape has a lot of that already scattered about in the various supplements. I'll be spending the next few months gathering it all together and organizing it for later use as play progresses.
Already I'm starting to remember why I fell in love with the setting back when it was originally produced. It's simply beautiful in design and layout. The images, the flavor, the cant, the philosophy, the places, the faces... it's just gorgeous. And there's so much of it to share with the players. Great stuff!
Since I'm planning a largely urban campaign set mostly in the City of Doors that's where I'm putting most of my efforts. Since I'm a visual person I've spent the last few weeks preparing a map of the city. My first thought was to use mapping software to draw, street by street and building by building, the whole of the metropolis. A few quick calculations and comparisons to the city map of Ptolus showed that if done at the same scale, 1 inch representing 1200 feet, that such a map of Sigil would be roughly 1-ft. by 7.5-ft. Not out of the question, but a bit more work than I'd imagined.
Seeing what's available, the map from 'In the Cage' is the best rendition of the city that I've found. Unfortunately, the psychedelic background of the map along with the ridiculous skateboarding punks zipping around the margins makes for a map that I'd be embarrassed to show my players. I've thus busied myself with scanning the poster map section by section and then piecing it back together in photoshop. I've replaced the background with a neutral parchment image and have even cloned out all the street and place names cluttering up the map itself. I figure that marking places of interest with a simple number would help to keep the map from getting cluttered and make it easier for me to add new places. I also removed the street names because I found them hard to read. I'm currently adding them back in while changing the font and taking the time to look at other more detailed maps of certain neighborhoods available in published adventures and supplements. Being able to move the street names around the map make it possible for me to try and make it jive better with those secondary maps since they don't always concur on where certain streets are located.
I've also modified the map in some circumstances to reflect what I believe is more in keeping with how things are described in the books. The biggest change I've made, for instance, is to the Grand Bazaar. Although its described as being a sprawling marketplace nearly filling up the entire ward, on the map it's a small plaza just an inch or two around and tucked up in the corner of the map. In my version I've cleared many of the buildings off the map to make room for a sprawling maze of colorful tents, shops and stalls. I've also worked to colorize the various factions headquarters to make them stand out better against the drab ochre cityscape in which they seem a bit lost.
Other projects I'm planning will include an updated player handout that should help players unfamiliar with the setting get a feel for what's involved. One change I intend to make is to add two factions to the city's roster. Why? Because I'd like their to be 17 factions in the city; seventeen outer planes, seventeen factions. I like symmetry. The first will be that of the Ring Givers who I'll have running the city's mint located in the Lady's Ward. The second I remain undecided on. I'm leaning towards bringing back the Incanterium but I'm not certain what type of civic function I could have a bunch of magic-lovers perform. One thought I had was to have them be responsible for locating, identifying and maintaining the network of portals leading in and out of the city. Considering that trade and tourism are the center of the city's economy, it seems somewhat odd that there's no organisation in charge of the city's most important portals. Suggestions are welcome however.
I'll either update this thread or start another later to continue updating people if there's any continued interest in my progress.
