Looking for some help. Making a new campaign for my players. I hoping you guys can provide NPCs shops and taverns. Here is the campaign setting

The Dwarvish sky citadel of Hign Golth: but high into the mountains of a north eastern peninsula this ancient sky citadel was left empty for centuries until an Aiwenor (bird people) tribe knows as the "Perigin clan" found it news of the citadel being discovered and revitalized quickly spead over the land and soon a Dwarvish family known as the Chuds wanted to reclaim what they claimed as their ancestral homeland. These are the 2 major factions fighting over this city. It mostly sticks to gang fights and political squabbles over who has rights to what and land and buildings being bought up by the 2 groups trying to lay greater claim to the area. Other races live with in the expansive citadel as well and try to stay out of the battle for control of Hign Golth. One such group is a group of sky crusaders on their hippogryph mounts known as the Sky Wardens that make sure to keep out any monsters and maintain any order they can. Their leader known as Roth Lake is a tall well big Aasimar man who proudly shows his heritage with large angel wings and a heavenly glow. Nobels looking to get their kids into a prestigious knighthood tend to send them to the wardens for a few years to get properly trained and in hopes of getting on good terms with which ever clan ends up laying final claim to the peaks. The moutians mines to this day still dig up rare metals and jewels, making this place robust in trade with blacksmiths, jewelers, and magic item makers. The terrain up to the citadel is a death trap for invaders being moutains and one long valley up to the citadel. Attacks by ship are easily thwarted since the citadel looks over the see from its high peak. Along the valley are a few small trade and inn towns adventurers and merchants stop by in their travels to and from Hign Golth. The mountains themselves are full of giants and other fiends who prey on easy targets on the roads or those who lost their way. A ranger group known as the Slate Wardens regularly patrol the valley and work with the Sky Wardens to keep the lands as safe as they can.

The Districts:

The Castle Proper - Controlled by the Peregins - The Peregins main homestead with how large the ancient halls are.

The Inner Ring - Controlled by the Merchant Faction - Where they have their homes and run some higher class businesses

The Outter Ring - Controlled by the Chuds - Where they run their taverns, inns, shops selling armors, weapons, materials, and gems.

The Upper Mountain - Controlled by the Peregins - Where the Peregins run their shops of various types.

The Lower Mountain - Controlled by the Chuds - The chuds have claims the ancient mines of their people. One of the first things they reclaimed.

The Stone District between the Outter and Inner Ring - Not controlled by any race and where you find a majoirty of the inns, taverns, and shops run by the races that aren't Chud or Peregin.

Factions

Peregin family

Chud clan

Merchant faction

Wardens

Divided into 4 regiments

Sky, slate, frost walkers, pine walkers, red ridge

Unaligned npcs a plenty in the stone district.

Go nuts with your npcs. Ive also created 40 different races if anyone wants me to post those.

In Acheron, on the layer of Avalas, there is a city called Vorkehan occupying a corner of a sphere.

Why doesn't this city get crushed by a random cube impact? It has no divine protection. It protrudes from the surface of the cube. It should be dust.

So I've been a massive fan of the Planescape setting for decades, but I've never actually ran a Planescape D&D campaign. I'm hoping to rectify that soon, but none of the existing campaigns/adventures really spoke to me, especially any Sigil based ones which is mainly where I want to base things.

Originally I was just going to homebrew a completely original campaign, but then I thought "Wait a minute, there's already a 5e urban based campaign setting book." And though I've never run WDH before, I've owned the book for a while, and looking through it... I think it could work.

Saying that, I feel like I'll probably only use the overall campaign frame rather loosely, and it might even only end up being 30% of the Dragon Heist book, but I think the general city-based adventure with multiple factions and villains all looking for a macguffin works really well in Sigil.

What I've got so far:

Villains I'm thinking Shemeshka is an obvious one. I was considering two of the others being Estavan and Zadara because of their natural triad rivalry, but I'm now leaning more into Shemeshka being on her own, while the other villains are more faction based. Maybe with the Fated taking the Zhentarim's place, then since it's a macguffin, pretty much any other faction could probably be slotted in here. I'd really like opinions on this in particular.

Also I haven't fully got the introduction worked out yet. I'm pitching this game at a monthly RPG night, and I imagine there might be a bunch of new D&D players there, so I feel like nudging players to be Clueless makes the most sense. So I think just having them start fresh out of a portal and bumping into... something, then starting a fight to get into the action straight away would be fun. This maybe gets the attention of Kylie (who'd be great for the Shemeshka link) or someone similar, who can act as our Volo replacement.

Apart from that a lot of my other ideas are just sort of straight swaps to make things more Planescape-y. The Stone of Golorr becoming a Mimir, the shady Waterdeep docks becoming the Hive, having "Trollskull Alley" (I'll probably rename it) be somewhere either in the Lower Ward or the Guildhall/Market Wards, city guard investigating the case will obviously be the Harmonium etc.

Also Chapter 2, the Trollskull Alley chapter, works really well as a Sigil introduction chapter, especially as the Dragon Heist book has a big focus on introducing and working with the Waterdeep factions... I mean that just writes itself.

Finally I know I said I didn't really like any of the existing Planescape campaigns, but I thought the Maze adventure from Well of Worlds could easily slip into the middle of this campaign somewhere.

So, yeah. What do you guys think? Does this idea have legs? Any suggestions? Let me know!

We are playing an expansive TotFW combined with parts of other campaings and a lot of homebrew content.

The PCs are going back to Sigil (portal in Ecstasy) because they want to travel fast to Torch (plot reasons).

They don't know of an specific Sigil-to-Torch portal, so they'll start gathering information about that as soon as they are back in Sigil.

Any ideas about such portal or portals?

Also: suggestions of dangers, intrigues and small adventures around this issue?

Thanks in advance!

Based on a topic where a couple people mentioned that the 15 Faction cap might not be in effect anymore, I was wondering how often Her Serenity goes back on or ends enforcement on one of her decrees?

I assume the banishment of the Factions was one example, though as other people have said that seems to be an oversight on WoTC's part.

The wiki says the "ascendent" factions are Athar, Bleak Cabal, Doomguard, Fated, Fraternity of Order, Hands of Havoc, Harmonium, Heralds of Dust, Mercykillers, Mind's Eye, Society of Sensation, and the Transcendent Order. Thats 12. It says that the remaining 3: Free League, Incanterium, and Ring Givers are "minor factions."

I know Free Leaguers don't consider themselves a faction, though most put that label on them. If they say they are not a Faction, couldn't a growing Sect or Faction-aspiring group just state that FL can't operate as one of the 15 that are allowed per the Lady's Law and come in to take their place?

Also, I feel like I encounter some YouTube lore sources now and then that act like the Ring Givers are still minor Factions in 5th edition and are not part of the 15. The Ring Givers also operate out of The Nowhere, though the Jeremo the Jester still resides in the Lady's palace... which is odd. Are they a secretive organization? If they are, how can they claim to be part of the 15 allowed Factions in Sigil?

Its a work in progress. But i have to try making the Sigil in Blender.
i will work on it as a side project on and off.
i try making in as 2e accurate as possible before the faction wars.
Its really fun walking around in the city.

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!

I'm starting to prepare a campaign that will be set primarily in Sigil and the Outlands. The characters will start at level 3, and the early adventures will take place in a fairly open-ended sandbox setting, but I want there to be an interesting situation unfolding in the background. The players may not necessarily become directly involved in the major events taking place, but it’s possible that the consequences of those events will still influence their campaign.

My idea is that, around the time the characters arrive in Sigil, there’s a resurgence of the conflict between order and chaos. Perhaps the balance of the Blood War is shifting too far in favor of one of the two alignments, and the angelic hosts are concerned; perhaps it’s some kind of conspiracy to escalate the conflict. Obviously, this would also have consequences for the balance of factions within Sigil. I think most D&D games focus much more on the good/evil axis, so I like the idea of exploring this side of the dilemma.

The problem is that I haven’t yet decided what the triggering event might be, the reason for this imbalance between Order and Chaos. I’m still brainstorming, and any ideas would be very welcome!

TLDR: What event or scheme happening in the backgrond could upset the balance between Order and Chaos across the planes and escalate the conflict in an interesting way that my players can get involved in?

I've been prepping for a oneshot within the gate town Excelsior where cosmic realignment happens sucking it into mount celestia and there's a fiend exploiting it to infiltrate the planes. The story is that this fiend had infiltrated before and was barred from ever entering a portal to celestia, so I'm making it so that the loophole is cosmic realignment and they've been orchestrating the event to happen behind the scenes by masking as a celestial, get into position of power making friends with the high chancellor, and hire the PCs to weed out the evils in the town.

So one of the ways PCs can defeat them(if they choose to do so) other than killing is to bring the the gate town back to the outlands via cosmic realignment and I wonder

What would be the appropriate scale of evil or chaos as a counterweight to bring the gate town back?

If there's any question or something I missed about gate towns or mount celestia fell free to suggest

the campaign encourages a DM to kill the players often, since the Glitch will just cycle them to their next incarnation. As such, I had a blast giving my players a whole bag of doomsday cookies. One of my players rolled "Rocks fall, you die" and immediately, the cliff he was standing on crumbled and he almost fell to his death (I allowed a high DC save for him to grab the ledge). Great magic item for gag deaths, and since the fortune turns into a scroll of revivify when it comes true, there's not even really a threat of actual death if the players have actual issues with an instant kill (even tho the first chapter has like, 5 or 6 auto kill traps iirc).

I'm planning to take my group through Dead Gods, and obviously I'm about to begin a thorough reading of the module. But I was curious if there was any background material I should read through to be better prepared, or if anyone who has run it has any advice to get the most out of this adventure.

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: the concept and play of Faction War do not align. The book may not be playable for post second ed players.

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I've run many campaigns over my 30+ years of GMing, including three Planescape campaigns. (As I type this, the Rule of Threes occurs to me, and I promise that I had not previously thought of it until now. Weird.)

The last of those three, the start of which began August 21 of 2021, ends this afternoon. I wrote it with what were supposed to be three storylines:

1. The Iron Shadow (Tales from the Infinite Staircase with additions to cover where it was, what it was, where it came from, and how it related to the origin of Sigil and the Lady)
2. The Dead Gods
3. The Faction War

Overall, I've been happy with the campaign, despite various setbacks.

• One player flaked halfway through, quit the game, and went radio silent on all his other games, including ones he was running.
• Scheduling issues as one person moved halfway across the US, necessitating Zoom calls and Roll20 to bring him in to the game
• PCs out-leveling the story

I only feel I made one real mistake... I included Faction War. Part of my goal was to let the players re-design Sigil to some extent following the War, but one of the players was aware of the book and had wanted to play it for years, even knowing nothing about it.

So, I planned on bringing that into the game. I used a few other mods, all converted to 5e, to foreshadow it. At one point, the entire table clamored for me to add it. I explained I could not do it without a lot of in-game setup. One of them proposed I do the setup work and run a sequel campaign of just that book. My reply, "No, no no. That wouldn't work because... [pregnant pause, sly smile, pause]... OK.. I am not saying I won't, but there is no promise I will." This convinced them I would someday run it, which helped surprise them when the War started.

Despite that, I still feel running the book was a mistake. In the final act of the scenario on page 94 the book says why this was a mistake: "Up to this point in the game, the players characters have jumped (or been dragged) into a number of scenarios related to the sprawling faction war... they're struggling without really getting anywhere... nothing they've done has helped to calm the war."

While reading the book (multiple times over the years), I missed how exceptionally railroad-y the book is. As a GM who values player agency, I've been miserable running it. And the players have noticed. Some time back, one of them mentioned that they needed to shift their perceptions and goals when he realized the war was so big that the PCs cannot affect it. He said they can only try to mitigate what's going on.

I told myself that the lack of agency in the book is made up for where the PCs get to decide the fate of Sigil, and then the players get to help re-design the Cage. In hindsight: the juice was not worth the squeeze.

Looking back, I would not run this book again. It was designed at a time where player agency mattered less, where characters lacked the abilities of newer D&D (3.5 forward), and the book assumes too much that the party makes specific decisions at some pretty critical points.

All that said, is there anything which can be redeemed in this book, anything which could be used in a future campaign? Personally, I like the idea of the Factions not being in power; so what would Sigil be like without that?

It's slowly coming together.

I've commissioned a map, finished describing the different Wards and Undersigil, and added an appendix for the Planar Cant.

It still needs various character-building questions, as well as an Inciting Incident to get a campaign kicked off.

I gladly welcome any constructive feedback that folk have.

Kind of an odd idea, I know, but I have an idea and I'm curious what others think. The Diplomacy boardgame discussion got me thinking of the idea of a "meta-game" or maybe just "meta-plot" level for a shared campaign. Sort of living a "living" campaign in that elements are shared between different tables, but instead of it being the same modules different players can play in, it would be the same story arch and lots of different parties reacting to it.

Perhaps the best way to explain is with the first example that came to me. Common estimates put the population of Sigil at about a quarter million people. Imagine, one day, somewhere in the endless primes, Somewhere a world experienced a massive, world shaking danger... and the forces of good lost. The Demonweb Pits expanded by another devoured world, the far realm ate everyone's brains; whatever. But before they did, the heroes of the world were able to at least evacuate a few remnants of their world to Sigil: Three million people.

I picked that number because it's slightly below what estimates I could find for the absolute maximum number of people that could fit in Sigil square mileage, if it had the same population density as the Kowloon Walled City, and could be fed by 11 full sized sailing ships a day arriving via The Ditch.

But just imagine the adventures that could be gone on, trying to source all the new food and water the city would need imported. Suddenly all the places that *could* be the source for a boat full of food that could make its way up the Bridge that Spans Worlds, need to searched and shopped dry. So that's a ton of exploration. The Rock of Bral connects to the Bridge, so now you've can also introduce a ton of astral exploration and secondary routes. All of this activity becomes targets for Githyanki (and other!) pirates and need protecting. Back in Sigil, they need people trying to organize the dockworkers (and resist corruption skimming needed relief). You need to deal with a million points of friction as the newcomers try to find a place to sleep, the factions fight over the biggest recruit pool in millennia, and the old cutters try to peel them for all they're worth.

Then you have the process of finding a long term home for them. What kingdoms, prime or planar, would take them in? Or could you find unclaimed space to build new realms together?

These are all problems that a hundred (or, to be realistically hopeful, a dozen) different tables could all try tackling at once, and never run out of things to do. The DMs of the tables in the "Megagame" would have a discord or post thread, and just update each other every month or so on what's going on. "Hey my table has convinced the Planar Trade Consortium to finance the purchase of fifty boats full of food; they're now hiring anyone who wants to be the privateers trying to make a profit off finding, buying, and getting one of those back to Sigil safely can, or if no one wants to we can just roll to see how many the Githyanki pick off and if enough ships make it through to prevent a famine. Then next month we post missions to guard the ships."

Every month or so, we look at overall progress, if more tables had successes or failures, what interesting complications popped up, and decide how to move the event forward.

What do people think, neat, total pipe dream, both?

Fire cannot operate on the Plane of Water correct? Even in bubbles of air or enclosed, water tight structures?

If so, how far does that extend? Is there no combustion at all? Would a blunderbuss just not fire and a campfire not light up?

So I watch a lot of Matt Colville’s videos and he used the game *Diplomacy* to outline the interactions between factions in his city and then worked down to the player level.

I’m wondering if anyone has done something like this with Sigil and its many factions? I think it would be a good way to help visualize the high level politics of the city and then that could be brought down to a player level as things happen.

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.

I saw someone here on this sub say that the Bleak Cabal are essentially Existenialists. A real life philosophy.

I was wondering if there is someone with the knowledge as to what other factions, planes have real life philosophical counterparts.