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Tell me about Planescape.
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<blockquote data-quote="BiggusGeekus" data-source="post: 1973931" data-attributes="member: 1014"><p>Buy<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00002EPZ2/104-7883459-6844739?v=glance" target="_blank">Planescape Torment</a>. Now. This is the best CRPG ever. If you give it to your friends to play, they will beg you to run a Planescape game. They will get down on their hands and knees and bring you gifts of the finest meats and cheeses if you will run a Planecape game. If I could force you to play this game I would. Some people do not like it, but they are stupid and their opinions on anything can be dismissed. After you play <em>Planescape Torment</em> you will never have another question about the feel of the setting. Also, your IQ will have gone up. It is that good.</p><p></p><p>Now, on to your questions.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The best advice I can give about designing a Planescape adventure is to come up with a regular hack-and-slash that is set outdoors. This will be the easy part. Now comes the hard part: adding in the worldview of all of the NPCs. I can give little advice there. Just look at your NPCs and try to figure out <em>why</em> they would be guarding treasure/kidnapping princeses/stealing artwork/juggling spoons/whatever. And don't be afraid to make the good guys the bad guys. Don't do it often, of course, or it will become expected. But Planescape is more about law vs chaos than it is about good vs evil. Keep that in mind.</p><p></p><p>People become planeswalkers because that's where the money is. Sigil is all about opportunity, but opportunity does not equate with success.</p><p></p><p>A great example of how the factions work together can be found in the free online novel: "Fire and Dust"</p><p><a href="http://www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/ps/fiction/local.html" target="_blank">http://www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/ps/fiction/local.html</a></p><p>The format of the novel kind of sucks. There are a few pages in the "PDF" version that didn't make it. They are in the "paperback PDF" version, but that is meant for the printer so you have the first page next to the last one, etc. But the story itself is a great example of how and why factions would work together.</p><p></p><p>The biggest problem with Planescpe is the Factol Wars. Eliminate this element from your game. It was, in my opinion, a very bad idea. The factions should work together as much as their ideologies will permit. For example, there's nothing stopping a Sensate and a Dustman from working side by side, they'll just think the other person's ideology is ... limited.</p><p></p><p>If someone decides their character is agnostic/indifferent to the factions then you should permit it. Never, ever impose the setting on the player. If you have a good story to tell, the player will become more involved. If you don't have a good story to tell or the player doesn't care ... well ... then forcing the setting on him is kind of a waste of time in the first place. Make up bonuses for an "indifferent" faction so the character doesn't lose out in the power balance and move on from there.</p><p></p><p>"Why live in the Planes when its safer on the Prime?" Well, couldn't that be extended to just about any setting? I suggest starting the characters out as Sigil natives if you can swing that. Then introduce adventures as you normally would. As practice, take a module that you are very familiar with and see how you would change it if it took place in Planescape. </p><p></p><p>Don't think of Planescape as this big philisophical setting. It is, but that's not how to approach game design with players who don't want to get invested in a new setting when they could just play in the Forgotten Realms. </p><p></p><p>Finally, don't be afraid to set your combats in weird places. "Fire and Dust" has a great combat set around a glass skyscraper full of water and fish (it's a fish farm for Sigil). Naturally, the glass breaks and chaos erupts. You can't really do weird in most settings, it's encouraged in Planescape.</p><p></p><p>Hope this helps.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BiggusGeekus, post: 1973931, member: 1014"] Buy[URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00002EPZ2/104-7883459-6844739?v=glance]Planescape Torment[/URL]. Now. This is the best CRPG ever. If you give it to your friends to play, they will beg you to run a Planescape game. They will get down on their hands and knees and bring you gifts of the finest meats and cheeses if you will run a Planecape game. If I could force you to play this game I would. Some people do not like it, but they are stupid and their opinions on anything can be dismissed. After you play [i]Planescape Torment[/i] you will never have another question about the feel of the setting. Also, your IQ will have gone up. It is that good. Now, on to your questions. The best advice I can give about designing a Planescape adventure is to come up with a regular hack-and-slash that is set outdoors. This will be the easy part. Now comes the hard part: adding in the worldview of all of the NPCs. I can give little advice there. Just look at your NPCs and try to figure out [i]why[/i] they would be guarding treasure/kidnapping princeses/stealing artwork/juggling spoons/whatever. And don't be afraid to make the good guys the bad guys. Don't do it often, of course, or it will become expected. But Planescape is more about law vs chaos than it is about good vs evil. Keep that in mind. People become planeswalkers because that's where the money is. Sigil is all about opportunity, but opportunity does not equate with success. A great example of how the factions work together can be found in the free online novel: "Fire and Dust" [url]http://www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/ps/fiction/local.html[/url] The format of the novel kind of sucks. There are a few pages in the "PDF" version that didn't make it. They are in the "paperback PDF" version, but that is meant for the printer so you have the first page next to the last one, etc. But the story itself is a great example of how and why factions would work together. The biggest problem with Planescpe is the Factol Wars. Eliminate this element from your game. It was, in my opinion, a very bad idea. The factions should work together as much as their ideologies will permit. For example, there's nothing stopping a Sensate and a Dustman from working side by side, they'll just think the other person's ideology is ... limited. If someone decides their character is agnostic/indifferent to the factions then you should permit it. Never, ever impose the setting on the player. If you have a good story to tell, the player will become more involved. If you don't have a good story to tell or the player doesn't care ... well ... then forcing the setting on him is kind of a waste of time in the first place. Make up bonuses for an "indifferent" faction so the character doesn't lose out in the power balance and move on from there. "Why live in the Planes when its safer on the Prime?" Well, couldn't that be extended to just about any setting? I suggest starting the characters out as Sigil natives if you can swing that. Then introduce adventures as you normally would. As practice, take a module that you are very familiar with and see how you would change it if it took place in Planescape. Don't think of Planescape as this big philisophical setting. It is, but that's not how to approach game design with players who don't want to get invested in a new setting when they could just play in the Forgotten Realms. Finally, don't be afraid to set your combats in weird places. "Fire and Dust" has a great combat set around a glass skyscraper full of water and fish (it's a fish farm for Sigil). Naturally, the glass breaks and chaos erupts. You can't really do weird in most settings, it's encouraged in Planescape. Hope this helps. [/QUOTE]
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