u/Worried-Variation268

Hi all! I am interested in expanding the lore of planescape to include ways to connect the gods of all the pantheons, like Yggdrasil, the Infinite Staircase, and the rivers Styx and Oceanus. I think Mimir has some interesting additions, such as the World Serpent Inn and Mount Fujiyama. It got me thinking of other pantheons that don’t have planar pathways. If I recall correctly, there is nothing that connects the gods of the Hindu or the Daoist pantheons, for example. Could other pantheons be added, such as the spirits of Jainism, or the Yoruba pantheon? Please let me know your thoughts!

I think my favorite outer plane is probably Limbo, which is completely subjective, but I like how chaotic it is and how truly anything can happen there. I think the Slaadi are great, but I also agree with Wade Allen’s take that they are too evil. I would like for them to be more neutral. If the githzerai were more good-aligned, I think it would balance it out, but I am unsure how to really change that.

One area of Limbo that I am still somewhat confused about is the Layer of Lost Gods. I love the concept, but I am somewhat perplexed as to what it means to be a “lost” god. There are gods there that have active worshippers, such as Agni, Indra, and Susano’o, but there are also “lost” gods. Does “lost” mean that they have followers that are sequestered in an unknown realm? Could it also mean that they are gods that have lost all power but have not been killed yet? What do you think? I couldn’t find much on this topic, so I am curious to see what you think. Thanks as always!

Hi all! I am curious about taking a party to adventure in Ysgard. It seems like the perfect place to do heroic things, which is always really cool in my opinion.

I am trying to figure out the intricacies of how the plane’s mechanics and magical effects would play out in the broader world. If I understand correctly, those who die on the battlefield are resurrected the next morning. They also regain lost limbs over time.

I was wondering if this means that a player character slain by a dire troll or perhaps a fire or storm giant somewhere that is not a battlefield, perhaps an epic mountain or on the rainbow bridge, would be resurrected, provided they showed great courage and fought back. I don’t see why I shouldn’t run it that way, but I’m curious to see what you think.

I am confused/overthinking about the implications of such a thing, as beings killed through poison or assassination are not resurrected. What I’m thinking is “why wouldn’t people just be out there just trying to assassinate people?” I guess the impermanence of death from battle would also mean that grudges are less impactful than if it were permanent, meaning the people might not want to assassinate, but rather best them in battle. Still, there’s a lingering doubt on how sustainable this is. Wouldn’t someone who is bested over and over again just kind of go insane? What do you think are the broader impacts and implications of the mechanics of Ysgard? I’m excited to see what you think!

Hi all! I’m trying to figure out how I want to run planar adventures. I have a few concerns about using spell keys and components and I am open to suggestions and recommendations.

One example that immediately comes to mind is using spell keys in Baator. For each layer in the Nine Hells, the number of spell keys needed to cast a spell increases exponentially, specifically 3^(x-1), where x is the layer of Baator you are currently on. On Nessus, the 9th layer, you would need 6561 keys just to cast a spell. As you would imagine, this is a logistical nightmare, which is fitting for the Nine Hells. That being said, I want to actually go to these places, since they’ve got intrigue and lots of potential for adventure! A similar sort problem exists for spell components, but it is mostly just a general inconvenience.

Side note: I’m ruminating on whether it is even possible to visit these layers with rules-as-written without just being instantly killed. My initial instinct is yes, but I am not sure. Any experienced Planescape DM is welcome to inform me either way.

If anyone has taken players to a layer like Cania or Nessus, please let me know what your verdict is on the spell keys and components. I am honestly torn on using them. Thanks so much!

Edit: I specified “number of spell keys needed to cast a spell” when it was previously unspecified.

Hi all! I am trying to change the color of the terrain like what MattGM did with his project: https://www.digital-demiplane.com/about. What mods exist that will help me do something like this.

He has a map of Othrys that has all the evil, black and red swampland that is described and illustrated in the D&D source material. I want to do the same for Colothys, like illustrated here: https://mimir.net/layers/carceri/colothys/

I have no idea what I’m doing, and I want to pick up where he left off, designing deeper layers and other assets. What tools did he use that I can find on Hero Forge and Talespire? Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

Hi! I just had an idea for an adventure set in the 3rd layer of the abyss called the Forgotten land. I think this layer is rather fittingly, but somewhat disappointingly, forgotten.

I think there is value in some sort of liminal space treasure hunt, but I don’t have many ideas. Maybe there’s an outbreak of people forgetting things, almost like a literal Everywhere at the end of time. Perhaps this is a very insidious form of entropy, where Zzyczesiya not only wants everything to be dead, but also forgotten, even by the “space” that holds all the planes. I want there to be secrets but what secrets would they be? How would they still be there if the plane is literally forgotten? I’d love to see what you all think!

Hi all! I am planning to run a planescape campaign in Talespire, the 3d VTT. I need to make my own minis, and I think Blender seems to be the best tool to use. I want to make demodands, demons, and other monsters that are not available in the public repository. If anyone can provide me with resources to help me out, some free decent starting models, or any advice, that would help out immensely. Thank you.

I’ll preface this next question by saying that there are many great boards of layers of the outer planes. That being said, not every layer of every plane has been made for understandable reasons. Because of this, I am trying to make boards of some layers of a plane that are not currently found on the Talespire community repository, such as Maladomini, the 7th Layer of Ba’ator, Colothys, the 4th layer of Carceri, and Mount Fuji, which I am using as an inter planar portal for the Japanese pantheon! This is not an exhaustive list, but my point is that I am unsure how to make slabs and boards with the specific colors in mind. Any advice and/or resources will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi all! I am planning to run a planescape campaign in Talespire, the 3d VTT. I need to make my own minis, and I think Blender seems to be the best tool to use. I want to make demodands, demons, and other monsters that are not available in the public repository. If anyone can provide me with resources to help me out, some free decent starting models, or any advice, that would help out immensely. Thank you.

Hi all! I think I have a premise for a mini-campaign set mostly in Carceri, likely at levels anywhere from 10-15. I think I have a storyline in mind but I want to see what you all think. I want to make sure I have everything ready to run so I can plan my first session.

The party starts off either looking for a quest or talking to the quest giver. They are given a guide that takes them to a portal. Then they get to Carceri, specifically Othrys, where the Bastion of Last Hope, the Revolutionary League’s headquarters is.

They still need to walk for a few days to get to the hideout, where they will receive stolen harmonium armor and get the chance to undergo cosmetic surgery to infiltrate the harmonium prison. Maybe they’ll need to go to another orb? Not sure at this time.

During the multi-day walk, I think they’ll need to encounter the Titans, a chain devil and demodand camp, and some other places such as the Botanical Gardens (suggestions are welcome!).

They’ll need to get to colothys to break out the questgiver’s friend and comrade from the Vault (the quest giver will then give the party lots of gold or magic items, and so that the quest giver can get information, etc.).

The party will have to travel to a different orb to get to the nearest portal to the Outlands, which requires some horrific sacrifice of a comrade as an act of betrayal.

That means the NPC they broke out, who is a higher level than the party must betray them. The final battle will probably be set on colothys, although I’m torn between this and the blood red, Martian-esque deserts of minethys, which I thought would make for a better scene/environment.

For the prison camp, run by chain devils and demodands, how many chain devils should there be? I thought about adding catoblepas as mounts and as some sort of “guard dog” type of creature. Should the prisoners be high or low CR, and how many should there be? I thought about adding all sorts of fiends but also hill (and other) giants, and other miscellaneous creatures. What could the party get there?

Could there also be a dungeon with a bunch of fiends that hate each other, but are forced to be in the same place by the demodands?

Please let me know if any of this makes sense, and what suggestions you all have! Thanks a lot!

TL;DR- What creatures do I put in Carceri, or any other plane, that make sense lore wise?

Hi all! I am trying to worldbuild for my adventure in Carceri, and I plan on visiting the other lower planes. I am specifically trying to put different evil creatures in the setting and I want to make sure the setting makes sense lore wise. I know that there are demodands and tanar’ri in Carceri, as well as hill giants, undead, petitioners, and miscellaneous fiends that are specifically native there, but I don’t know if any other creatures scheme there. I am interested in using yugoloths as villains and dubious merchants of magic items, but I recall that they are DESPISED by the demodands.

I am aware that creatures are native to other planes, but can (and do) often migrate to different planes. For example, I know that arcanaloths originate from the Gray Waste, but migrated to Gehenna. Does that mean that they’re never found in Carceri? I know that they’re never really found in the Gray Waste, but otherwise, I’m not sure. I also know Yugoloths made a living tower in Carceri, but I don’t recall the specific subspecies of yugoloth that live there or in Carceri. Thank you for answering all my questions and helping me worldbuild!

Hi all! I am developing a setting with a bunch of quests, including a rescue mission in Carceri. Essentially it’ll be a quest to break a close ally out of prison in Carceri, where the party will have to work with the revolutionary league to get surgery to help them disguise themselves as harmonium agents and get into the Vault.

They will then rendezvous with someone to meet them at the portal to Carceri (maybe he and the guy who the party had to rescue betray the party later since, y’know, Carceri). The blood of someone you trusted might be the key to the portal, and it might actually be a cool end to an arc.

The setting is actually really epic- glowing red sand under a blackened blood-red sky, all these details. Are there any maps of the Vault, or any locations in Carceri that are helpful for DMs? Any support helps; thank you for helping me develop my setting so far.

TL;DR: How do I write the small details once I have the overall plot sort of figured out? I have ADHD so it’s hard to process large bodies of text without fatigue (I’m sorry in advance; I’ll try to separate them into chunks).

Hi all! I am relatively new to DM-ing. I tried to develop a planescape campaign but I got overwhelmed with trying to write a long-term campaign with several arcs. I also just don’t know how I should describe what happens when people travel, what I should describe when they are in a city, and remembering where all the locations are. The answer seems to me like I would just describe that the characters are going in a direction, that just happens to be where we’re going.

As you likely assumed from the title, I have AuDHD. That makes it difficult for me to plan things out. I get overwhelmed with the prospect of players choosing to go somewhere different, or a detail that doesn’t make sense narratively. When I try to write a campaign, I just get overwhelmed by the blank canvass and I don’t know what I don’t know. Essentially I just want to make sure I’m doing this right so I can “calibrate” my mind to write correctly, so to speak.

My problem is that I come up with many different ideas for quests but when I try to link them, they all just come across as a series of “point As” instead of “A, B, C, etc.” I essentially just wrote adventures where send my party to different places with no narrative through line. I came up with a few ideas for quests to different planes. I am using 2e’s lore with 5e’s mechanics, because learning an entirely new system is somewhat cumbersome.

My first quest essentially involves the party meeting in the Hive Ward in Sigil, where they notice a bunch of insects erupting from a baker’s bread cart, a white sticky film on the surface of a local fountain, cracks in a planar portal, etc.

They are tasked with taking out this insect nest. Little do the party know that the demon lord Tharzax is corrupting the air somehow (haven’t thought that out yet). This influenced will get worse as the party levels up (mostly for game design’s sake).

There are several insectoid obyriths that I want to include, like the ekolid, the chasme, the draudnu, the golothoma, and probably others. Each infestation returns with a higher CR, and the party can only get rid of the pests permanently if they kill tharzax in his layer, Driller’s Hives, in the Abyss. I want this to incubate (literally) in the background as the party does other quests. I just don’t know how to describe the world like the prewritten modules do.

Since there’s not really much to go off of in official texts that describe this layer, aside from “this layer is where insects kill each other and two competing hives are at war, and by the way, the air makes you go mad (except if you’re a paladin)” so I get stuck trying to think of what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I also want the xaositects to be somewhat sympathetic, as I don’t think they should be malicious or evil. I just see them as this sort of “sour patch kids” type of morality, where they don’t do anything egregious or good, but if they feel threatened by too much order or authority, they resist through roundabout ways. They kind of interact with the universe to see what happens.

The xaositects are capable of doing great things if they band together, and apparently made the most beautiful painting in the D&D multiverse, among other things!

I think that in the same way that the githzerai shape the chaos of Limbo, the Xaositects should at least transiently adopt patterns that exhibit some sort of productive pattern, and if/when they “betray” the party, it should be temporary, and they should always have a way of getting back to a party’s aid and gaining their trust to accomplish their goals.

Since people have goals, the xaositects should also have goals, at least most of them. I’ve thought about this but I just don’t know how to make them sympathetic enough for the party to at least accept their quests. I say this because I have a few ideas for quests when the party reaches higher levels. I want the xaositects to be flexible so that the party can have access to more planes and more quests. I think they should be aligned to both good and evil groups, as long as they’re chaotic and not too evil. Maybe I’m just using motivated reasoning, I dunno.

One adventure is a quest to the domain of Susano’o (Mount Fujiyama) and Barnstable in Limbo, as well as other shenanigans with a bunch of cool random creatures that I would otherwise never include.

Another adventure is a heist, prison break, and infiltration mission where you infiltrate the Vault in Carceri using the Revolutionary League’s surgical disguises and false identification to rescue a wrongfully-imprisoned comrade, we’ll call them Agathys Christie.

I also want the party to fight Orcus, and perhaps other powerful demons. Another one is retrieving rare and magical materials from Shurrock in Bytopia for a legendary blacksmith, perhaps the best in all the planes.

I’m thinking of ideas for Gehenna, as well as more of the upper planes. I have a lot of ideas but I don’t know what to do for the small details, like describing the world, and other step-by-step, operational things that DMs do at the table. Any advice is appreciated, and if you made it this far, thank you so much; it means a lot! :)

Hi all! I have a general idea of a quest line for a campaign related to Driller’s Hives, and connecting the quest with Orcus, as stated before. Since Orcus and Tharzax are coplanar beings, reaching Orcus after defeating tharzax would be as “simple” as going deeper into the abyss.

My idea for the Tharzax quest is to introduce the party to the insect swarms in the slags, and have the swarms keep coming back, each time with more and more powerful insectoid obyrith demons. Eventually they will need to confront tharzax head on, but they won’t be able to until they reach the epic tier of play. I haven’t found a stat block for tharzax but I think I can make one based on similar demon lords and a little bit of creativity. I’m not sure how to give the party that information, which is one reason why I’m posting this.

My idea for the overall campaign and world is to introduce the party to several different events simultaneously that relate to different planes while they’re at a low level, and gradually open up the planes from “friendlier” to objectively more dangerous planes.

Now I’m thinking about what quests the party can take that start in Sigil, and lead directly to Bytopia, Mount Celestia, Arcadia, Mechanus, Limbo, Gehenna, Carceri-all the planes. Please let me know what ideas you have for some unique questlines! I’m not sure which details I need to give to the party to advance the questlines and how to give them, so any help is appreciated. My interpretation is to have some random people the party talk to give details piecewise, and let them piece together the details. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as always!

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.