"Welcome to Sigil"

[Wik]

So. My current group is 8th level, and they were about to head into the Feywild as of last month's session (we took a slight game detour, for various reasons). However, during today's pickup session, we were talking about the DMG 2, and I mentioned Sigil as the included city.

This led to a conversation about the wonders of Sigil. I think I mentioned that I could possibly move the campaign there in a few levels - and the group loved the idea. To the point where we realized that it would make a lot more sense if we did it now, rather than wait a few levels (if we do my feywild idea, it will easily eat up about five levels, and was planned to start my story arc).

So, the group wants Sigil + Planescape. And I'm thinking I should give it to them.

So, how is a good way to introduce PCs to Sigil? What's a fun way to do it, and a good adventure starter? I'm thinking an introduction to Sigil adventure should involve Planehopping, some of the use of Planar Doors, and weird planar-y goodness. I think I'll be using the 2e cosmology, too, but I'll steal some 4e gems (more or less play it by ear).

What are some known pitfalls of Sigil to be aware of?

Also, and this is just an idea I've been having in the last ten minutes, but I was thinking of ruining all the PCs magic items when they get in Sigil, and then really quickly re-equipping them with huge amounts of magical items in the first adventure - the idea being to catch them up to their current level, because I've been a bit slack in my rewarding of magical items, and this is a good excuse to even things out.

Ideas/Suggestions/Critiques? Experiences and simple planar adventures (ie, two or three sentences) would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[gribble]

I'd play up the differences between Sigil and "normal" places. Things like:

• Portals and ease of interplanar travel, especially the importance/power of knowledge about portals and their keys.
• The fact that is really is the multiverse's melting pot - there are creatures from all over the place, interacting peacefully because it's the only place they can do it.
• Planescapey quirks, like the rule of three and unity of rings (perhaps less so in a game using the 4e cosmology) should also be recurring themes in adventures.
• The ever present work of the dabus, and threat of the Lady of Pain.
• The fact that while the PCs may be powerful/important on their home world, in Sigil (and on the planes) they're the small fish in a big (infinite) pond.

Depending on the world/cosmology you're using, for 4e:

• Play up the influence of the Planar Trade Consortium, and the fact that, while not necessarily an endpoint (the City of Brass is portrayed as more the multiverse's marketplace in 4e), Sigil is definitely the trade superhighway of 4e - most interplanar trade passes through sigil at some point.

And for a 2e/3e world/cosmology:

• The power of belief - the multiverse literally is what the most powerful individuals make it.
• The factions and the powerplays between them.
• The background of the ongoing blood war, and the fact that Sigil is essentially the Switzerland of the conflict.

There's some ideas anyway... hope they're useful.

 

[lin_fusan]

If you had a recurring villain, you could have the players discover that the villain was a planewalker from Sigil, and end up chasing him or her into the city. You'd get an interesting dynamic where the players would feel that Sigil is the villain's home turf (and thus a little hostile), but they would also get a chance to make allies that oppose the villain, thus ingratiating them into the setting with a direction.

In my interpretation, 2e Planescape Sigil was a political melting pot, a kind of "Casablanca" of the multiverse. There are groups of people the city it to escape but are caught in it, whereas there are groups of people there to exploit or recruit the first group.

So Sigil pitfalls were really about allying or angering the wrong people.

I personally found the Factions the most interesting, and that codified my ideas of what Planescape was supposed to be about.

Are your players motivated by philosophy, politics, ethics, or morality?

 

[fireinthedust]

Ruining magic items: Um... I'd be careful. I'd even say give them a pile of cash and access to a magic shop or three, and let them buy their own stuff; or sell stuff. The players may not appreciate you stepping in and taking stuff. They're not children. It can infuriate players (I hated it myself); check witht he players if they'd mind that on principle.


Sigil: did you ever read the Downer stories? the Comic is a D&D creation, and fantastic. Grime, intrigue, and you can get to anywhere. Heck, maybe a great setting for a new campaign in general.

 

[Oryan77]

I think it would be more "fantastic" if the PCs weren't expecting to end up in Sigil. Instead, get them to believe they are trying to get to "location A" and instead, they end up in "location B"...aka Sigil.

I've always liked to introduce PCs to Sigil in a humorous way, and then after they've laughed at the situation, they are hit with the realization that they are somewhere very unexpected.

For example, some way or another, they unknowingly activate a portal key and step through a one-way portal (they may not realize it is a portal at first). They end up in a dark cramped room. They feel around, push open a door, and realize they were in a closet (it's one-way, so the portal is not seen from this side). When they step out, they find out they've just woken up a married couple and the large husband tries to fight them out of his bedroom (the husband can even be something strange, like a big Half-Ogre or a Hill Giant). Once they are kicked out of the house and step on the street, they are overwhelmed by the upward roads and city lights directly above them. I like to describe the streets as being full of people (I prefer it being early morning, aka After Anti Peak) and even describe an NPC or two bumping into them while they are gawking at their surroundings. Have an angry Tiefling bump into them and mouth off with a bit of planar cant. My players always enjoy the ol' stumbling into someones bedroom routine...portals that end up having an NPC chase the PCs away are my favorite portal locations.

I prefer this method of introducing Sigil because Sigil provides good shock value. If PCs are already on a plane, and then end up in Sigil for the first time, or they know they are heading to Sigil, it seems to take away from the surprise that Sigil offers (for me anyway).

Anyway, that's how I do things

 

[Southern Oracle]

If you can find it, get a copy of The Eternal Boundary, a 2E Planescape adventure. It's easily scalable to whatever level you're currently at, has great flavor for the locales featured in the encounters, and you can easily launch the adventure by having the person who hires the party to find Eliath send them through the portal to Sigil.

The adventure does assume the factions are still in Sigil, but it's easy enough to just keep the NPCs and disregard the faction designations if you're playing post-Faction War (which is what 4E assumes). Of course, it's also easy to keep the factions as flavor and only spend the effort to develop them if the PCs want to join (my players STILL have no interest in joining any of the factions, even after 8 years!).

 

[Andor]

The big pitfall of Sigil is that it is NOT a friendly place for PCs inclined to smite first and ask questions later (if at all.) There is always some one who can wipe the floor with the party, and it might even be the barmaid. And even if you win you might find yourself wandering a labyrinth for eternity as your reward.

Sigil is a very cosmopolitan place, think of New York with angels and devils playing chess in central park. There are beings that could manage to stand out like Dragons, Beholders or maybe Thri-kreen but as long as you are reasonably courteous and have money most Sigilians won't do more than blink twice at the unusual.

It is a great setting however that can lead anywhere or to anything.

BTW one nasty way to get them to Sigil is to have an enemy set them up with portal keys to a one way door. He might not know it leads to Sigil, but if nobody who carries a white rose through the east gate to the inn of the dancing pony ever comes out the other side he probably won't care exactly what happens to them.