I'm trying to work out where to nudge the storyline now in the game I'm running. This small group of players started near their homeland trying to figure out why a large gnoll incursion began recently. They tracked it's source back across the ocean to another continent that the gnolls were fleeing. It turns out the gnolls were fleeing their homelands from the invasion of a strange race of men, never before seen by the human inhabitants of the land. Now the native humans and the invaders are about to clash. The players get involved (they always find trouble), and end up travelling with a duke of the realm who is then captured by invaders. The party is charged by the king, with promises of large rewards of course, to recover the duke.
They learn from elven diviners that the invaders come from another world (shades of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga among others). The duke has likely been taken there. But after trying to scout out the invading army and whatever means they are using to enter this world, they realize it will be nearly impossible to reach it. Another way must be found. More digging leads to uncovering the existence of a portal to Sigil in an ancient ruins overrun by monsters and an evil cult (partially borrowed from the 3rd edition Pool of Radiance module). From Sigil they hope to find a portal to this other prime world. After some more adventures they make it into Sigil.
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(the important part)
Now the characters are adventuring in the city of doors. They've hired an NPC planeswalker at considerable expense to serve as a guide. After much investigation, they think they know where the needed portal is, but they don't yet know how to activate it. The difficulty? The portal is in a section of the Hive that's been quietly taken over by the Planarists. They're seeking to exert control over portals to material planes so they can keep those dirty Primes from planeswalking. They also know what the players are looking for now and have sent mercenaries to kill them off (which failed so far). Yeah, they're getting rather militant in their goal of keeping the primes out.
That's where I've left them. The next step is for me as the DM to get some idea what they need to do to find out how to activate the portal, and then how they're going to reach it, and what the Planarists might do to stop them. I know, it's not entirely clear why the Planarists would rather kill them than let them leave Sigil for another prime world. I developed much of the story on the fly. Give me a break. :P I figure they just hate primes being able to planeswalk and have decided to be more direct in ahh... discouraging it.
So any ideas for their upcoming challenges? I'm just brainstorming at this point, thinking about planning the next part a bit better than many of the previous parts. ;) There are only 3 players in this adventure. They're level 9 right now.
One thing about the planarists that might fit very well with their superiority complex is that they would probably feel that it is there natural right to exploit the prime for whatever advantage they can gain. I can easily see a planarist greenstar adept who has journeyed to several prime worlds in search of starmetal. Since primes are little better than beasts she doesn't have to care when they get in her way and she has to strike them down.
You might want them to seek aid from a faction or do a favor in exchange for a little bit of disguising magic.
Good idea, not sure why I didn't think of it before.
It's one of those basic concepts I can just take and run with it. In this case I went with having them run a little errand for Shemeska. She made a convenient taskmistress because she's got her hands in so many different schemes. They don't have to know why she wants the item she sends them to fetch, and it doesn't even have to be relevant to their main quest. She could certainly arrange for someone to disguise them very well if they complete her task. It threw off the players a bit when they met her tonight and she already knew a great deal about them. ;)
She made a convenient taskmistress because she's got her hands in so many different schemes. They don't have to know why she wants the item she sends them to fetch, and it doesn't even have to be relevant to their main quest.
I love playing the fiendish involvement angle. It really plays on the questions of "What is good/evil?" and "Do the ends justify the means?" Asking that sort of question is what Planescape is about, IMO.
I know, it's not entirely clear why the Planarists would rather kill them than let them leave Sigil for another prime world.
While Cirily, the default leader of the Planarists, is unpleasant and bigoted and not a nice person, neither is she evil. She's a celestial, an eladrin, or was once, and she's unlikely to order instant death to all Primes unless she's gone completely off the deep end.
This presents an opportunity, since it suggests a rival fraction within the Planarists, one that might present a challenge to Cirily's power. The PCs might even find Cirily a reluctant ally in their cause if they help destroy the career of the insolent Planarist leader. Cirily's trying to make her cause respectable, damn it, and she can't have extremists making the Planarists unpopular. At least, not yet...
This presents an opportunity, since it suggests a rival fraction within the Planarists, one that might present a challenge to Cirily's power. The PCs might even find Cirily a reluctant ally in their cause if they help destroy the career of the insolent Planarist leader.
heh... interesting idea. I may have to use that. I'm not sure when I'd fit it in yet. I'd like to get the players further along in their main quests, but having been to Sigil now, I suspect they'll be back for further adventures at a later time. That could provide a hook.
I've certainly done similar things in the past where I kind of mucked up a storyline a bit while creating it on the fly, then had to figure out how to make it fit with other background information. As you suggest, sometimes that effort inspires new adventures.
While Cirily, the default leader of the Planarists, is unpleasant and bigoted and not a nice person, neither is she evil. She's a celestial, an eladrin, or was once, and she's unlikely to order instant death to all Primes unless she's gone completely off the deep end.
Maybe the people who want to kill PCs are not Planarists? This organisation grows more powerful with aby day and some high-ups might be unpleased with that. Murdering the Primes can definitely spoil Cirily's plans, so why not to put some in the dead-book and blame Planarists? The PCs can find the truth, but... will they want to help Cirily? Will she be grateful? Maybe it would be better to help the false Planarists?