As a relative newcomer to D&D, I’d never heard of Planescape until recently. What is Planescape and why would I want to play it? As I scoured the internet, I realized I wasn’t the only one trying to find these answers. So I reached out to my co-workers and friends to get an idea of what Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse is and what it has to offer! In this blog I’ll share what I discovered with you and also show off a variety of Planescape content from the past and present.
You May Enjoy Planescape If You…
📽️ Are a fan of multiversal madness media like Loki and Everything Everywhere All At Once
❓ You love to dabble in the grays (or reds, or colors from outer space) of alignment
🩸 You dug Karlach and Wyll’s stories about The Blood War in Baldur’s Gate 3
⏳ You want to meet a Time Dragon!
Planescape is the D&D multiverse! It’s an expansive setting where anything and everything can happen. Your adventurer can play a part in saving the entire multiverse or sightsee the planes using infinite portals until miracles become mundane. Below I dive into the aspects of Wizards’ latest release that make me the most hype to play!
🚪 The City of Doors
If you think of the D&D Multiverse as a wheel, the city Sigil is the spoke of that wheel. And that’s Si-Gul, not Si-Jul for all my fellow newbies!
As the extraplanar hub, Sigil is chock full of planar portals. Any door can lead to Sigil, and any door there can lead to any other plane! The portals aren’t always open and available for use – sometimes that depends on whether the enigmatic ruler of the city wills it to be.
Sigil’s ruler is The Lady of Pain, and if the name isn’t enough to scare you, she can literally unmake you if you try to interfere with her. She’s so powerful that she can bar literal gods from entering the city! She also has a wicked sense of fashion.
Sigil hosts many factions, some more influential than others, each associated with an outer plane. Their leaders (factols) embody their faction’s philosophies and ideals to a tee. (The Society of Sensation, for example, believe that by experiencing everything, they can understand the multiverse.) As you might imagine, the factions often come into conflict with one another…
👑 Low Level Characters, Epic Interactions
You know all those dragons, gods, and more you’ve always wanted to meet but were too “low-level” for? They’re everywhere in Planescape, hanging out for the most part! I wouldn’t recommend picking a fight with the angels and devils in Sigil’s Smoldering Corpse Bar, but that’s just me.
Perhaps your ambitious Warlock could surprise their patron with a face-to-face renegotiation of their contract. Or your Cleric could go for a walk with their god. It’s all possible – no need to grind until you’re a high enough level to cast plane shift.
Also, anyone from any setting can be found, so feel free to bring in beings from your favorite D&D realms. Planescape can be the ultimate kitchen sink – the planes themselves are infinite after all!
And these epic NPCs aren’t the only important ones in Planescape…
🌬️ Belief Shapes Reality
Have you ever wanted to play in a world built by your dreams? Heck, that’s why I started playing D&D in the first place!
Even the most seemingly insignificant beings in the cosmos have the power to alter the fabric of the multiverse. If enough beings believe a place exists, it does in Planescape. And if that belief differs among believers, different versions of that place exist!
Believe it or not (😏), in older editions of D&D you could even use an optional rule called Belief Points. When you stick to your character’s belief at a cost, you earn these points and use them to affect the outcomes of die rolls and more.
You can also dream up different incarnations of your characters with Glitch Characters in the new Planescape campaign Turn of Fortune’s Wheel! When – er, if – your character dies in the adventure, one of your other glitches joins due to the multiversal shenanigans afoot!
Planescape on Roll20
The three books of Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse come together in one package on Roll20 with new backgrounds, feats, monsters, a rundown of Sigil and the Outlands, and an adventure centering on a multiversal glitch!
🚪 Sigil and the Outlands – Planecape character options, details on the setting of Sigil, and more
💀 Morte’s Planar Parade – a guide to the weird, wonderful creatures of the multiverse
🎡 Turn of Fortune’s Wheel – an adventure in which the nature of the multiverse could change forever…
The team here at Roll20 has fully converted the 5e release of Planescape for the virtual tabletop! That means you can easily create your Planescape character using the 5e Charactermancer – inside or outside of the VTT.
It also means that a TON of prep work for the adventure Turn of Fortune’s Wheel is already done for you – from custom tokens with one-click token actions to maps with ready-to-go Dynamic Lighting. There’s even an Addon with all the rollable tables and maps from the books as well as drag & drop monsters with tokens so you can bring Sigil and the Outer Planes to any game! All the gorgeous art is availble virutally, and relevant info is linked in every handout – Roll20 is quite literally your tour guide through the Planes!
Speaking of other planes…
Planescape on DMsGuild
Available as a PDF and converted for Roll20, this short adventure by Andrew Welker serves as a side quest for Chapter 3 of Turn of Fortune’s Wheel. As the characters explore Sigil, they are approached by an enigmatic businesswoman with an offer. This leads them to the Lower Ward and a conflict between the working class and an interplanar megacorporation. Featured creatures include empyreans, onis, cranium rats, and a giant meat monster!
🤖 For fans of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis!
Welcome to the Cage – Check out other Planescape content for 5e!
Planescape 2e Content
Did you know you can get a ton of classic D&D content on DMsGuild?
🌌 The Planescape Campaign Setting was first released in 1994. Print on Demand files were recently updated to better recreate the original quality.
🌌 The Planewalkers’ Handbook by Monte Cook is four Planescape Box Sets condensed into 1 book that is concise and informative about all things Planescape – also with updated files!
🌌 The Great Modron March is a classic collection of Modron encounters!
🌌 Dead Gods is a 176 page adventure book featuring two scenarios that can be played separately or linked together.
🌌 Uncaged: Faces of Sigil contains tons of characters and groups to populate your Sigil!
So, why play Planescape? Because it’s your gateway to infinite possibilities! Embrace the multiverse, shape your own reality, and let your adventures begin.
Check out Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse on Roll20 today!