u/Worried-Variation268

Hey all! I am trying to develop my planescape campaign, and I just had an idea for a campaign quest for the abyss, more specifically, Driller’s Hives, the 2nd layer of the abyss.

This probably has been done before, and if it has, please let me know. I was thinking that the party could observe insect plagues pop up all over Sigil without a discernible source. Over \[timeframe\] the party observes abyssal influence, which could be something the Doomguard could be involved with, specifically concerning Tharzax’s influence. Perhaps these could disrupt their alliance with the xaositects, such that a good-aligned subset might choose instead to align themselves with the revolutionary league, or some other good-aligned anarchist faction in Sigil.

Maybe these plagues can happen on and off throughout the course of a campaign, and the party needs to sort of “put out the fires” and exterminate pests of increasing deadliness.

I think the abyss has so much cool and unique content, that I can’t just choose one layer to add to the campaign. Orcus is a great villain too, so I think adding him would be a great finale to a campaign. Please let me know what you think!

Hey all! I am trying to develop my planescape campaign, and I just had an idea for a campaign quest for the abyss, more specifically, Driller’s Hives, the 2nd layer of the abyss.

This probably has been done before, and if it has, please let me know. I was thinking that the party could observe insect plagues pop up all over Sigil without a discernible source. Over [timeframe] the party observes abyssal influence, which could be something the Doomguard could be involved with, specifically concerning Tharzax’s influence. Perhaps these could disrupt their alliance with the xaositects, such that a good-aligned subset might choose instead to align themselves with the revolutionary league, or some other good-aligned anarchist faction in Sigil.

Maybe these plagues can happen on and off throughout the course of a campaign, and the party needs to sort of “put out the fires” and exterminate pests of increasing deadliness.

I think the abyss has so much cool and unique content, that I can’t just choose one layer to add to the campaign. Orcus is a great villain too, so I think adding him would be a great finale to a campaign. Please let me know what you think!

TL;DR- how do I run the xaositects, and a conflict between the xaositects and [lawful faction] in a way that engages my players and isn’t a lore dump?

Hi all! I suppose this is somewhat of an update as to how I’m building my setting. Also I am using 5e’s mechanics because it’s more convenient for me and potential players. I mention this because the xaositects merged with other factions to form the hands of havoc, which I, and I assume some number of planescape DMs, dislike or disagree with. I am just using planescape’s 2e lore and settings with 5e mechanics.

I have decided that one of the factions is the xaositects, as you have likely figured out. I think they are very intriguing, and I think they have potential for some wild and funny interactions with a party that would make for some very memorable sessions at the table. I have not decided which other faction would be fighting with them. I am torn between the harmonium, the fraternity of order, and the mercykillers.

I will give a little bit of a disclaimer, and that is that I am not a Moral Philosopher, or an experienced DM. If what I am saying is not correct or does not make sense in some way, I am willing to learn from you all. I think in a lot of cases the “evil” option has more impact than a “good” action, making it difficult for me to determine what “neutral” is. At least this is how I “meta-interpret” people and the law at large. A lot of times “amoral” essentially means “without qualms for doing evil.” Many times this could be openly having a conflict of interest. I think I want to run the xaositects as an organization that does not commit egregiously good or evil acts, but more like “sour patch kids” level “kind and mean” acts, at least in Sigil. This would be how I personally view a neutral alignment, but I am open to new ideas and changing accordingly. As I’m reading this I am getting some second thoughts but this is how I feel, at least in the moment. Honestly it could be that I just really want to make this work and I’m just using motivated reasoning to try and make it work.

One more thing: how do I run a conflict between factions that isn’t just a lore dump? How can I run the xaositects in a sympathetic way? I think that there is actually something to work with here, as individuality and individual expression is important to those who don’t align with broader society, and change is actually important to keep culture alive and fresh, at least to me. Obviously this is just a game, and I understand the need for some stability, but I think that my group will resonate with the themes of self expression and individuality. Please let me know what you think!

TL;DR- How do I start/run a planehopping campaign starting from Sigil, and where do I put the portals?

Hi all! I am new to DM-ing and I want to design a planescape adventure that makes sense and not just sightseeing. Although I see nothing wrong with a little bit of that. I am somewhat overthinking this and I’m somewhat confused on what I need to do to prepare. I want to make portals as rare/common and as lore-friendly as possible. How specifically do you prepare this and run this in a campaign? I know there are books that talk about this but the source material is somewhat vague to me as to how I should run this at the table. How do you run travel when the party is traveling through the city? The map is very complicated. Are the portals essentially “just over there,” or are there highly specific places where portals are that I need the party to go to?

Part of my idea is that I want to start in Sigil and allow my players to go to all the outer planes. I think level 5 would be a good starting level but if someone has a good reason to start at a different level I’ll keep that in mind. I want to give them adventure hooks for all the planes by level so I’m prepared a little bit more. How do you convince your players to travel to a different plane and write a story that connects 2 characters in different planes in a way that makes sense?

I think there should be a BBEG, most likely Orcus. I think he is a great villain; you can find many YouTube videos discussing how he is the most evil creature in D&D. I want to slowly introduce his influence and make a sort of crescendo as the party levels up and adventures. I want to give them freedom to travel anywhere they want to but the end of the campaign will obviously be in the abyss. How do you write overarching villains in your campaigns?

I am confused on what I should do in limbo. I think it’s a very interesting plane with tons of potential for surrealist adventures, intrigue and fun. I just don’t know what to do once the party ends up there or chooses to travel there. I kind of don’t know what I don’t know when it comes to actually running the adventure, word by word, at the table in the moment. I can say “you are in the middle of this brumous conflagration of constantly transmuting chaos matter…” but when it comes to actually traveling there do I just improvise “you see a colossal monastery- you recall from your historical knowledge the Githzerai settlement Shra’kt’lor” or “just ahead you see pink petals floating downward in the chaos soup. Venturing further you see a giant mountain” (Mount Fujiyama, the interplanar mountain much akin to Mount Olympus in Arborea). I think if the party concentrates they have the ability to make a walkable path, which prevents them from just floating forever. If you have run limbo, how do you handle moving around and piloting characters in the plane on the level of writing the prompts of what the characters see and how they move and whatnot.