Quote from: WarthurThe problem with the cool is that, sooner or later, if you're overexposed to it you just get jaded.

That's when it's time to go back to sigil and resume Urban Fantasy mode.

Or, you know, play another game. There's many, many games that I like to hit once in a while that I don't want to play constantly.

I don't want steak or pizza every night, either.

Quote from: RPGPunditMuch like they were presented in the Manual of the Planes; large and archetypal, the kind of place you go to adventure in when you're too cool for anything on the material plane anymore (in other words, getting to the planes is something that should start happening once you've hit high level, and not usually before that); full of utterly hostile environments and overwhelming experiences.

RPGPundit

I suppose so.  But I mean what would they BE like?  How do you fit in the Archetypal aspects?   How do you make it The Realm of the Gods?  

That sort of thing.  That I think is the challenge, and for inspiration I take an absolutely huge amount of drugs.  *Just kidding*   But really, any thoughts on that?   The question in my mind has to do with How you make the setting fit in with the idea of the Mythic Realm.

"I don't like this setting. Therefore, it sucks!"

:rolleyes:

Planescape was the film noir setting of AD&D 2e. It was tremendous at evoking that feeling, and I loved it for it.

I don't know about "myth" (Elric/Corum's planar adventures were not very mythical, but they would be very appropriate for a D&D campaign), but I agree with the rest of Pundit's points, and add a new one:

9) It mostly seemed to attract people who loved only Planescape, hated A/D&D, and wanted to make the latter conform to the former. The result was just like the sickening back-and-forth we see now about
"I dislike about D&D, and it should conform to my expectations instead."
"But you don't like D&D, look, D&D is the game with levels, classes, hit points and Vancian magic and carnivorous gelatine. You hate all of this stuff. Maybe you should try something else if you plainly dislike it so?"
"No, I like D&D. But isn't it time to ditch archaic stuff like levels, classes, hit points and memorisation? That's just nostalgia and rose coloured glasses. What D&D could use is some good social contract rules, and a stunt/action point system."
":suicide:"

Hoo bloo gloo, and so on, except "back then" the same debate featured slightly different points of argument.

Quote from: MelanI don't know about "myth" (Elric/Corum's planar adventures were not very mythical, but they would be very appropriate for a D&D campaign), but I agree with the rest of Pundit's points, and add a new one:

9) It mostly seemed to attract people who loved only Planescape, hated A/D&D, and wanted to make the latter conform to the former. The result was just like the sickening back-and-forth we see now about
"I dislike about D&D, and it should conform to my expectations instead."
"But you don't like D&D, look, D&D is the game with levels, classes, hit points and Vancian magic and carnivorous gelatine. You hate all of this stuff. Maybe you should try something else if you plainly dislike it so?"
"No, I like D&D. But isn't it time to ditch archaic stuff like levels, classes, hit points and memorisation? That's just nostalgia and rose coloured glasses. What D&D could use is some good social contract rules, and a stunt/action point system."
":suicide:"

Hoo bloo gloo, and so on, except "back then" the same debate featured slightly different points of argument.

Almost reminds a person of certain 4e discussions of late . . .

Yeah, but back then, they were talking about White Wolf things instead of social contracts and APs.

My own planes would look like a blend of the following sources:

1. The "Paladin in hell" image in the old AD&D manual; its the most classic and ideal image of what the abyssal realms should look like from the point of view of the PCs.

2. Moorcocks' Elric stories where he travels through the planes, for the more "alternate material planes" type of things and the more survivable areas.

3. The wilder parts of Zelazny's Amber.

It should be big, immense, and very menacing; you should have to have some serious magic to be able to get there, and some really serious power to be able to even survive there for any length of time.

RPGPundit

I think then the problem isn't with Planescape as a setting, but rather that it was sold to you as "the Planes" and your interpretation of the setting differing from the guys that wrote it.

I find those a good model (except Zelazny, whose works I do not know), but add others, such as C. L. Moore's hellscapes, various Dying Earth stories by Vance, and of course some old D&D modules (Rob Kuntz's Maze of Zayene series). They do not have to be high-level places either - just unusual.

Quote from: StumpydaveI think then the problem isn't with Planescape as a setting, but rather that it was sold to you as "the Planes" and your interpretation of the setting differing from the guys that wrote it.

Planescape was a lot like a Superman movie where Superman can shoot sticky strands of spiderweb from his fingertips, wears a red-and-blue costume with spidery patterns, and works as a reporter for a city newspaper.

Quote from: MelanI find those a good model (except Zelazny, whose works I do not know), but add others, such as C. L. Moore's hellscapes, various Dying Earth stories by Vance, and of course some old D&D modules (Rob Kuntz's Maze of Zayene series). They do not have to be high-level places either - just unusual.

Yes, of course I should have added that my 4th influence are the pre-planescape D&D modules that dealt with the Planes.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Caesar SlaadThat's when it's time to go back to sigil and resume Urban Fantasy mode.

*blinks*

Precisely what, in my previous posts, suggested to you that that wasn't precisely what I was saying?

Quote from: MelanYeah, but back then, they were talking about White Wolf things instead of social contracts and APs.

Don't stunt points/action points come from Exalted?

Has anyone ever said what the Lady of Pain really was? Was she a parody of Lorraine Williams?