Hey guys,
have you ever thought about doing a Planescape/Talislanta mashup campaign?
Sigil is rather neat and" different" backround for action and intrique though I am not a big fan of the the classic "tolkienesque" player races nor the DnD ruleset. So what I am after is basically Sigil+Talislanta cultures, and maybe tweak the planes to fit Talislanta.
What would you say are the pros/cons/pitfalls of this plan and how would you
go about implementing it to practise?
I am not familiar with Talislanta, and i am not a big fan of Sigil;
but I do like The Outlands, which surrounds Sigil for 1,000 miles plus, in all directions including the Gate Towns with portals to the Outer Planes. You can probably establish something in The Outlands, and go from there? The closer you get to the Spire in the center of The Outlands, which is the true center of the multiverse; less and less magic will function. The farther out you go, more and more magic will function. Sigil, sits suspended atop the Spire. Plop your desired base of operations in a part of the Outlands, perhaps in relation to one of the Gate Towns?
Thanks for the reply!
The Tradegate might function as a Las Vegas of sorts, which would allow alot of interesting plotlines, Outlands
would work well, imo.
Quote from: Angry Goblin on February 15, 2024, 12:46:38 AM
Thanks for the reply!
The Tradegate might function as a Las Vegas of sorts, which would allow alot of interesting plotlines, Outlands
would work well, imo.
Tradegate, and its link to Bytopia; was also the initial hook for me, as well. Bytopia has a more civilized / developed option, as well as a more wild / undeveloped option. Tradegate could function as a familiar town down the road, from what you drop into The Outlands.
Well, the LOOK of Talistlanta races seems perfect for Planescape...
Definitely agree with removing leves/dwarves in favor of more exotic species.
What else do you want to use?
Are you familiar with the Midnight Realm? The Tarterans are devil-blooded hybrids living in a city on the edge of dimensional oblivion. It's set in the Talislanta cosmology and I'll bet is already at least 75% of what you are looking for. There are a couple of different versions.
QuoteTradegate, and its link to Bytopia; was also the initial hook for me, as well. Bytopia has a more civilized / developed option, as well as a more wild / undeveloped option. Tradegate could function as a familiar town down the road, from what you drop into The Outlands.
This sounds like a plan! 8) thanks!
Quote from: Eric Diaz on February 15, 2024, 10:23:05 AM
Well, the LOOK of Talistlanta races seems perfect for Planescape...
Definitely agree with removing leves/dwarves in favor of more exotic species.
What else do you want to use?
Cool, thanks for the comment, the classical races seem a bit out of place in the exotism of Planescape tbh.
Regarding "what else", the factions are awesome, I fell in love with Dustmen when playing Torment back in the day ;D
Do you have recommendations?
Quote from: pawsplay on February 15, 2024, 10:56:47 AM
Are you familiar with the Midnight Realm? The Tarterans are devil-blooded hybrids living in a city on the edge of dimensional oblivion. It's set in the Talislanta cosmology and I'll bet is already at least 75% of what you are looking for. There are a couple of different versions.
Hey, thanks for pointing that out! I have both the "Midnight Realm" and "The Darkness". I didn´t really think of that. Though, playing basically
demons is not really my cup of tea. How would you go about mixing those up with the members of the Seven Kingdoms folk? Or do you have more suggestions?
I don´t mind if it makes sense canonically for either setting as long as it makes a good story! ::)
Well, you would have the Tarterans take the place of the tieflings. You could stick in a Sigil-like city, and have it populated primarily by the Seven Kingdoms races. It's hard to imagine how to include the more primitive folk, but you could have Phantasians mooring their windships outside the city gates.
Does Talislanta even have Coffee shops?
How would my multi-class hair stylist/Childhood Trauma Counsellor translate?
Quote from: pawsplay on February 16, 2024, 01:57:01 AM
Well, you would have the Tarterans take the place of the tieflings. You could stick in a Sigil-like city, and have it populated primarily by the Seven Kingdoms races. It's hard to imagine how to include the more primitive folk, but you could have Phantasians mooring their windships outside the city gates.
Yes, true regarding tieflings. True, just thrust "Sigil" in and give it a go. Atleast if the Seven Kindgoms are present, that is pretty good already, the primitive cultures can be rare exeptions. The windships are a pretty interesting idea, actually.
Quote from: Grognard GM on February 16, 2024, 03:39:56 AM
Does Talislanta even have Coffee shops?
How would my multi-class hair stylist/Childhood Trauma Counsellor translate?
Hah, aiming towards the AD&D Planescape, not 5e :D :D can´t stand that shite.
Quote from: Angry Goblin on February 16, 2024, 12:57:05 AM
Quote from: Eric Diaz on February 15, 2024, 10:23:05 AM
Well, the LOOK of Talistlanta races seems perfect for Planescape...
Definitely agree with removing leves/dwarves in favor of more exotic species.
What else do you want to use?
Cool, thanks for the comment, the classical races seem a bit out of place in the exotism of Planescape tbh.
Regarding "what else", the factions are awesome, I fell in love with Dustmen when playing Torment back in the day ;D
Do you have recommendations?
I don't have much to add really... I am not very familiar with either setting. But will follow this thread, sounds like a cool idea.
Talislanta + Planescape.
I'm super-familiar with both (I was a writer for the last edition of Talislanta, and I've been playing Talislanta since 1e) - some constraints to consider:
1) Are you talking about a mashup free of any specific context? i.e. you're just populating Sigil with races from Talislanta? Or are you wanting to weave them together?
2) Talislanta has *fantastically* powerful magic... but traversing the Planes would be tricky based on the assumptions of the setting. The "standard" setting is one of exploration and rebuilding after an apocalypse. Having denizens from Talislanta capable of realistic traversal (Cymrillians, Phantasians, Tanasians - or any former Phaedran cultures. *maybe* Rajans among others) would probably mean they got there accidentally OR are in league with some really dark shit. Hence the Midnight Realms - which really is just talking about Devils and Demons (depending on how you want to classify them in D&D terms).
3) If you want to handwave it - easy! Any of the Phaedran races would easily fit in. One way could be a semi-permanent gate opens up in the Maelstrom (the magical after-effects of the apocalypse which still linger in the world) which allowed Cymrillian/Tanasian casters to solidify it. Mind you, this would create some interesting political ramifications potentially where you could import/export elements from each setting into the other. It would completely change the political dynamic of the Seven Kingdoms should the Tanasians gain access to Sigil - they would immediately start plotting to regain control of Cymril again. Likewise should a non-Seven Kingdom's faction gain access first. Something to consider, and it would make awesome setting fodder for you.
From a Sigil standpoint, it would be a cool opportunity for D&D-based characters to get exposure to the Talislanta cultures and maybe even GO there. You could import a lot of the Talislanta dimensional races/monsters (again see the Midnight Realm book). I HIGHLY recommend you read the 4e Codex Magicus for looking at the real powerful magic-cultures and histories of Talislanta so you'd have a good grounding on the likely people to enter Sigil first. Or at least to give you an idea of who would have the greatest interest in such connections.
But I think there is more value in having a D&D character getting explore the Talislanta side than vice versa. That said - I've always thought Talislanta would be *AWESOME* to introduce into Spelljammer... But Planescape definitely could work too!
I'm interested in hearing what others do with Planescape, especially outside of Sigil. The Lady of Pain sledgehammer inside Sigil, is a very cool concept; but I'd love to see the Outlands explored. So much territory, to work within.
Quote from: Eric Diaz on February 16, 2024, 07:19:15 AM
Quote from: Angry Goblin on February 16, 2024, 12:57:05 AM
Quote from: Eric Diaz on February 15, 2024, 10:23:05 AM
Well, the LOOK of Talistlanta races seems perfect for Planescape...
Definitely agree with removing leves/dwarves in favor of more exotic species.
What else do you want to use?
Cool, thanks for the comment, the classical races seem a bit out of place in the exotism of Planescape tbh.
Regarding "what else", the factions are awesome, I fell in love with Dustmen when playing Torment back in the day ;D
Do you have recommendations?
I don't have much to add really... I am not very familiar with either setting. But will follow this thread, sounds like a cool idea.
That´s alright, I am not exactly an expert on them myself.
Quote
1) Are you talking about a mashup free of any specific context? i.e. you're just populating Sigil with races from Talislanta? Or are you wanting to weave them together?
Thanks for the reply! That is a very good question. I´d probably go with weaving them together to Talisscape ;D
So far, I don´t know about the specifics though. Talislanta lore is great, so I´d give a heavier emphasis for Talislanta, but include the planes, factions and Sigil atleast. I don´t mind replacing the denizens of the planes with Talislanta equivalents or some such to fit better.
Quote
2) Talislanta has *fantastically* powerful magic... but traversing the Planes would be tricky based on the assumptions of the setting. The "standard" setting is one of exploration and rebuilding after an apocalypse. Having denizens from Talislanta capable of realistic traversal (Cymrillians, Phantasians, Tanasians - or any former Phaedran cultures. *maybe* Rajans among others) would probably mean they got there accidentally OR are in league with some really dark shit. Hence the Midnight Realms - which really is just talking about Devils and Demons (depending on how you want to classify them in D&D terms).
This is something I do not have answers for, I´m afraid. Though I´d skip the "really dark shit", though some parts of Midnight Realms could be included for sure.
Quote
3) If you want to handwave it - easy! Any of the Phaedran races would easily fit in. One way could be a semi-permanent gate opens up in the Maelstrom (the magical after-effects of the apocalypse which still linger in the world) which allowed Cymrillian/Tanasian casters to solidify it. Mind you, this would create some interesting political ramifications potentially where you could import/export elements from each setting into the other. It would completely change the political dynamic of the Seven Kingdoms should the Tanasians gain access to Sigil - they would immediately start plotting to regain control of Cymril again. Likewise should a non-Seven Kingdom's faction gain access first. Something to consider, and it would make awesome setting fodder for you.
This sounds like an absolute blast! Large scale changes, I´m very much fine with them 8)
Quote
From a Sigil standpoint, it would be a cool opportunity for D&D-based characters to get exposure to the Talislanta cultures and maybe even GO there. You could import a lot of the Talislanta dimensional races/monsters (again see the Midnight Realm book). I HIGHLY recommend you read the 4e Codex Magicus for looking at the real powerful magic-cultures and histories of Talislanta so you'd have a good grounding on the likely people to enter Sigil first. Or at least to give you an idea of who would have the greatest interest in such connections.
You mean that Talislanta would just basically be a plane just like any other which the player characters can enter from Sigil? I will read the Codex Magicus again, thanks for the tip! 8)
Speaking of Spelljammer, Talislanta (at least prior to The Savage Lands, I don't know it) had Archaen civilization start with essentially a spelljammer crash. The survivors of the crash hybridized with and/or conquered some of the locals and created what would eventually become the human-like civilizations. The Neurians couldn't adapt to magic, and became the intellectual Sindarans and learned to rely on alchemy to compensate. There isn't any great difficulty at all adapting Talislanta to a Spelljammer campaign; the Talislantans of the New Age are cosmologically ignorant and have no space-faring capability of their own. Their knowledge of local dimensions and planes is very limited, as well, basically, the Astral, the elemental plane, the void, and a few points of interest in between.