Insanity in the Planes - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Insanity in the Planes

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
rikutatis
Aug 08, 2004 18:43:55 The Gatehouse is packed with barmies that went crazy for one reason or another. Many of them just couldn't grasp the full magnitude of the Planes. The horrors of the Abyss, the raw chaos of Limbo, the home of the gods. A mere mortal was not meant to witness all these wonders and it's no surprise that many planewalkers lose their minds.

You see, a player of mine suggested me to use the insanity rules presented in WOTC's Unearthed Arcana in my Planescape campaign. He thought it'd fit just fine with the mood of the campaign.

I don't own that book yet and I'm not familiar with the rules in question. Even if I end up dismissing the material in UA, I still think that it could be interesting to add some rules for insanity in a Planescape campaign to give it a slightly darker twist. As long as the rules are innovative and flexible, adding to roleplay instead of limiting it, it could be interesting to watch as the characters go down the path of madness.

Some events could be more disturbing than others. In the beginning the character could just develop quirks, but eventually he'll just become more and more unstable. I know this doesn't work for all kinds of campaigns, but it's still an idea to consider.
#2
zombiegleemax
Aug 09, 2004 10:43:13 What a coincidence. I start working on adapting the UA insanity rules for Planescape and five minutes later look in here and find someone has started a thread I was going to start myself.

Now, there's a lot of things in the UA rules that cause insanity checks and so forth that I don't think should in a campaign like Planescape. Anyone just wandering down a street in Sigil might see a Tanar'ri, for instance. Under the UA rules, that would require a sanity check, and in no time at all the whole of Sigil would have to move to the Gatehouse. So obviously, meeting monsters can't be enough to cause a sanity check, except perhaps particularly strange and rare ones.

Likewise, magic can be strange and dangerous in Planescape, but most magic doesn't cause mages to go insane. Some does, but that's the exception.

So sanity checks would be rarer in Planescape than they would be in many campaigns that use the sanity rules (certainly a lot less than in Call of Cthulhu). Insanity is not at the forefront of Planescape's style.

Nevertheless, it clearly has a place. Look at Pandemonium, or any
Bleaker.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for my question. One character in my Planescape campaign (I'm the DM) wants to play an alienist, or at least a character aiming for the alienist PrC. I'm not sure how much Lovecraftian potential there is in Planescape, so any guidance you can give me on this would be appreciated. perhaps I should start a new thread for this question but it seems relevant to the whole sanity question.
#3
sildatorak
Aug 09, 2004 12:48:27 Well, the Far Realm can easily exist as a place beyond the veil of the known multiverse. There are also several places that can fill Lovecraft's behind space/limitless void concepts. Gehenna, Acheron, Carceri, and Vacuum all have voids to some extent. If you want to get some primewalking involved you could give the Phlogiston that suspends the crystal spheres of prime material worlds a little bit of a tweak to make it more compatible with Lovecraft's ideas. That could have some really enriching potential for a campaign as it wouldn't focus on any single prime material sphere in particular, but on the plane as a whole.
#4
zombiegleemax
Aug 09, 2004 16:53:55
Originally posted by The Venerable Archmage

One character in my Planescape campaign (I'm the DM) wants to play an alienist, or at least a character aiming for the alienist PrC. I'm not sure how much Lovecraftian potential there is in Planescape, so any guidance you can give me on this would be appreciated. perhaps I should start a new thread for this question but it seems relevant to the whole sanity question.

In my campaign, the Far Realm is actually the Ordial, where everything is all it can be all at the same time. It's the plane where belief becomes substance in all its possibilities and aspects basically collapsing time, space and all dimensions into one.
#5
zombiegleemax
Aug 10, 2004 4:02:57 What an interesting idea. I may have to plagarize that .

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 rikutatis Aug 08, 2004 18:43:55	The Gatehouse is packed with barmies that went crazy for one reason or another. Many of them just couldn't grasp the full magnitude of the Planes. The horrors of the Abyss, the raw chaos of Limbo, the home of the gods. A mere mortal was not meant to witness all these wonders and it's no surprise that many planewalkers lose their minds. You see, a player of mine suggested me to use the insanity rules presented in WOTC's Unearthed Arcana in my Planescape campaign. He thought it'd fit just fine with the mood of the campaign. I don't own that book yet and I'm not familiar with the rules in question. Even if I end up dismissing the material in UA, I still think that it could be interesting to add some rules for insanity in a Planescape campaign to give it a slightly darker twist. As long as the rules are innovative and flexible, adding to roleplay instead of limiting it, it could be interesting to watch as the characters go down the path of madness. Some events could be more disturbing than others. In the beginning the character could just develop quirks, but eventually he'll just become more and more unstable. I know this doesn't work for all kinds of campaigns, but it's still an idea to consider.
#2 zombiegleemax Aug 09, 2004 10:43:13	What a coincidence. I start working on adapting the UA insanity rules for Planescape and five minutes later look in here and find someone has started a thread I was going to start myself. Now, there's a lot of things in the UA rules that cause insanity checks and so forth that I don't think should in a campaign like Planescape. Anyone just wandering down a street in Sigil might see a Tanar'ri, for instance. Under the UA rules, that would require a sanity check, and in no time at all the whole of Sigil would have to move to the Gatehouse. So obviously, meeting monsters can't be enough to cause a sanity check, except perhaps particularly strange and rare ones. Likewise, magic can be strange and dangerous in Planescape, but most magic doesn't cause mages to go insane. Some does, but that's the exception. So sanity checks would be rarer in Planescape than they would be in many campaigns that use the sanity rules (certainly a lot less than in Call of Cthulhu). Insanity is not at the forefront of Planescape's style. Nevertheless, it clearly has a place. Look at Pandemonium, or any Bleaker. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for my question. One character in my Planescape campaign (I'm the DM) wants to play an alienist, or at least a character aiming for the alienist PrC. I'm not sure how much Lovecraftian potential there is in Planescape, so any guidance you can give me on this would be appreciated. perhaps I should start a new thread for this question but it seems relevant to the whole sanity question.
#3 sildatorak Aug 09, 2004 12:48:27	Well, the Far Realm can easily exist as a place beyond the veil of the known multiverse. There are also several places that can fill Lovecraft's behind space/limitless void concepts. Gehenna, Acheron, Carceri, and Vacuum all have voids to some extent. If you want to get some primewalking involved you could give the Phlogiston that suspends the crystal spheres of prime material worlds a little bit of a tweak to make it more compatible with Lovecraft's ideas. That could have some really enriching potential for a campaign as it wouldn't focus on any single prime material sphere in particular, but on the plane as a whole.
#4 zombiegleemax Aug 09, 2004 16:53:55	Originally posted by The Venerable Archmage One character in my Planescape campaign (I'm the DM) wants to play an alienist, or at least a character aiming for the alienist PrC. I'm not sure how much Lovecraftian potential there is in Planescape, so any guidance you can give me on this would be appreciated. perhaps I should start a new thread for this question but it seems relevant to the whole sanity question. In my campaign, the Far Realm is actually the Ordial, where everything is all it can be all at the same time. It's the plane where belief becomes substance in all its possibilities and aspects basically collapsing time, space and all dimensions into one.
#5 zombiegleemax Aug 10, 2004 4:02:57	What an interesting idea. I may have to plagarize that .