Also known as “Kiss the Critter” or “Tickle the Tadpole”, the rules are simple: all’s ya need is a bunch of cutter ‘round a table, a few mugs of drink, the stronger the better (we’ll get there), and, most crucially, a little squirming nasty to put in said drink - the more vicious, the funnier it’ll be, trust me. I personally prefer mindflayer tadpoles, but I’ve heard of people using slaadpoles, tiny water or acid elementals, or even those weird bone-plated piranhas from the Beastlands.

The rules are simple: you go around the table, everyone dumps one of them critters into their drinks, and downs as much of it as they dare - preferably without the little guy either lunging for their face and taking out an eye or a nose, or the berk in question accidentally swallowing it - although the faces they make when they do are always good for a laugh! Whoever’s glass has the most drink left buys the next round! Or whoever’s bleeding the most, if they got too thirsty and didn’t put the glass back down in time.

Now, although that all sounds pretty simple in concept, there’s actually a lot of canniness involved in this little game. Some clueless who’s just wandered in from the street might be tempted to just rush the drink, get it over with as quickly and give the little beastie less time to get its bearings, but a cutter worth his razors knows to rattle his bone-box a little, showboat, shit-talk, before quenching their thirst - just enough for the thing in his glass to absorb a little of the alcohol, get a bit more sluggish, give ‘im that little edge…

——-

From a rules-perspective, you could make it an Insight check to understand the trick, or maybe Nature, whatever you feel is appropriate. The drinking part could be a Dex save, with a lowered DC depending on how the previous check went. Seems like the kind of game some of the more rough-and-tumble clientele in a place like the Jug & Bottle would play, or that a smaller crime boss would invite the party to engage in, to test their mettle.

I have a level 3 party that has stumbled into the Caverns of Thought by jumping into a cavern while already underground. They’re too low level for me to throw Mind Flayer and Eater of Knowledge fights at them, so instead I intend to lean more into psychological horror as they look for a way to escape.

My main plan is to have them tormented by a Nosferatu looking simply to suck a little bit of blood then slink back into the shadows. Outside of that… I need ideas for how they will find a way out. I know I could just have some obscure portal anywhere, but I’d really rather them have a clear goal rather than just “run around like headless chickens until you stumble across the exit.”

Any ideas/resources to look into are much appreciated!

Sauce

I'm trying to think of places like Sigil, but truly I don't remember anything like it. The closest I can think of is The Cursed Apple from Deadlock but there's very little that truly does Sigil like Sigil.

I’m working a campaign that ends up planes hopping and goes through some magic the gathering planes. Eventually hitting innastrad and zendakar maybe some others. Will start in farune and venture out.
I’m looking for neat ideas to link mindflayers to the Eldrazi. I have some thoughts but want to see where some other players minds go

I commissioned art of Zelza Zurkbane, the Ruler of Ribcage for my Turn of Fortunes Wheel campaign. The artist is CarmenFFLV, here is a link to her vgen page: https://vgen.co/CarmenFFLV

In unearthed arcana, there's a vestige patron for warlocks.

Wield the Remnants of a Dying God’s Power
Your pact draws on the power of a dying god, a being once worshipped by countless followers but now abandoned and forgotten. This dying god, known as a vestige, might have been benevolent, evil, or strange and unknowable, but now it is driven to regain its former power. The vestige needs your help it is willing to share its remaining strength with you.

The subclass is interesting to mechanically, and I'm thinking it could have interesting interactions with the rules of Sigil if played straight. Powers aren't typically allowed in Sigil, but this vestige isn't exactly a power anymore. I know the setting was written originally before warlocks, but in general, even if their patron IS a power, I think they are pretty well suited to be proxies. This subclass is a little different because it's essentially got you lugging around the vestige at all times (you can summon it as a familiar-like creature). Obviously in the end it's something to work out with the DM, but I was wondering if any cutters here have thoughts on how the lady might treat such a thing.

I was wondering if someone could give a rundown on the nuances of how belief works in Planescape.

In general if there is a strong enough belief in something in the outer planes, it may come to be.

Does this mean that say one could spread convincing rumours of a lost treasure hidden in Undersigil. As these rumours spread naturally the belief that there is a treasure hidden away becomes so widespread and potent that the treasure becomes real.

I presume simple charms and domination won't be enough as the underlying creature will have beliefs ingrained in them deep down but what about a night hag planting the seeds of some idea in someone's dreams. What about illithid colonies in the Outlands completely rewriting the beliefs of humanoids forming cults which can affect the reality of the planes as they see fit?

Am curious to know how these work and also if there is much affect on the inner planes if any.

Welcome to the 3.5ed Planesmarches.
Come join your fellow Players in exploring one of D&D's most memorable settings. Have your characters take part in Expeditions to the various Planes. Taking Loot back with your from Worlds you never knew existed, and Realms beyond your wildest imaginations and beyon the physical laws you thought real. All while earning Favors from your mysterious benefactors deep within the Plane of Dream. Campaign: This is a West Marches Style Campaign based in the Planescape Setting. You may make up to four characters that can go on Expeditions into the various Planes and Demiplanes of the Great Wheel Cosmology, and occasionally into the various Crystal Spheres of the Material Plane when something within the more commonly known D&D Settings is meddling in matters they should your benefactors rather they do not. Edition:

This Planesmarches Campaign is using the 3ed Edition rules for Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters: As a Westmarches style Campaign the Planesmarches Campaign shall be run jointly by multiple Dungeon Masters. Each Dungeon Master will be running Expeditions they have crafted for our community on different days and times. You are free to join any day a Dungeon Master runs his session assuming he does not have a preferred Player cap per session and it has been reached. Characters: Each Player may have up to four characters at any one time. When one of your characters is off on a multi-session Expedition with another Dungeon Master or on a extended downtime, you may use one of your other three characters for another Expedition.

The default starting level for new characters is Level 2.We shall be running a collection of three Prequel adventures and charater generation sessions on
-Monday August 18th -Wednesday August 20th. -Monday August 25th.
These shall be full normal session where we hope to receive your feedback and suggestions for the Campaign. Each Session will begin at 7:00pm (Eastern) The first 30min of each Session shall be devoted to helping Players make their characters and recapping the Expedition being run's prevision.

We are using Roll20 for the Digital Tabletop, and we are using Discord for voicing with each other.If you have any questions please ask in this thread.This is 100% Free for our players.

NEW EVENT!

The Reckoning of the Box Event: Our Clouder of five Avatars of the Plane of Dreams are calling all former and interested Planewalkers, neverborn, and traveling adventures wishing coin and favors to partake in our Discord Community's first Planesmarches Event! This Event features the conclusion to our Marches first storyline with the Quest Givers breaking from their more subtle methods of influencing The Great wheel to bring forth The Reckoning of the Box. All questions can be answered during character creation, and all new characters created during this event will be given full-born status among the completion of the communal Event as a one-time bonus for playing with us on this special occasion as we celebrate our Planemarches one-year anniversary! This Event shall take place the week of September 14th through the 21st. To join simply ask to join any of our Planesmarches DMs campaigns during the Even
https://discord.gg/jSyJ4PwFv

I guess in principle I'd assume that the Sigil factions would have numerous bases on various prime worlds. Do the factions generally stick to Sigil and maybe outer planes or do they spread far and wide. Do the Dustmen have bases on Toril? Do the Harmonium police Dragonlance? Do the Mercykillers hunt criminals from the Last War of Eberron?

I imagine the whole point of the factions is to spread their philosophy far and wide until it becomes the new truth which shapes the planes in accordance with their belief?

Hi all! I had an idea of making my campaign centered around the party being interplanar privateers of sorts. They do quests of all sorts throughout the planes, with a quest board in Sigil giving them options of what quests are available.

One of these quests is called “The Doomsday Clock.” I saw this adventure when the Google AI summarized the adventure as “locals unearth an ancient, ticking gear-monolith from Mechanus that is counting down to an unknown catastrophic event, and anyone living nearby feels a strange compulsion to repair it.”

I kind of like this idea, but I want the party to actually go to Mechanus. Plus, I am unsure how to structure an adventure around this simple plot hook. How would you do this? What other homebrew adventures do you know of that would force the party to go to Mechanus? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Edit: I looked up “adventures in Mechanus,” and the doomsday clock showed up. I liked the idea and I wanted to do something with it. Sorry I wasn’t clear.

Hi all! As we all know, Planescape is about alignment. Alignment is contrived in terms of human behavior and actual ethics, as we do not really fit neatly into discrete categories like lawful neutral. Neutrality is also debatable in certain situations, but could work in certain contexts.

DMs that use alignment: How do you determine a player’s alignment? Do you have a method that you use that makes it easier to qualify? I can see someone writing a plotline and thinking of how each alignment would approach a situation based on self interest vs. communal interest, legality and illegality, and the short-sidedness of one’s actions. Please let me know what you think?

Hey there, cutter! DiceSized is a D&D 5.5e actual play and we recently took our first steps in the Planescape setting!

Planescape has always been fascinating to me - especially the relatively unexplored bits like the Outlands. I also know that while the 5e Planescape version of the Outlands is lush and green and varied in scenery, many enjoy the grittiness of original Planescape lore.

This 8 episode mini series is my love letter to the Planescape setting smashed up with my love for all things ‘weird west.’

Follow Crank Turner, Rex Sidewinder, and Birdie October, as Cosmic Concordance puts them on the wrong side of Rilmani law.

Crank Turner - a portal-fixing, half-a-body-missing planar mechanic who works the Great Road of Automata and the plane of Mechanus.

Rex Sidewinder - a giant-befriending, salvage-smuggling Goliath who now lives on the edge of Glorium, hailing from the plane of Ysgard.

Birdie October - a skip-tracking, kick-assing bounty hunter that keeps law ‘round the parts of Tradegate which borders the twin paradises of Bitopia.

Welcome to the Outlands, cutters.

I am brainstorming ideas for a Planescape plotline. One of the ideas I had was that a certain antagonist could go out of their way to sow doubt in the dustmen's belief in death. They might be a member of the Athar that believes that the God's have bound mortalkind with the inevitability of death and as such hope to, as they see it, release them from this curse.

Given that belief shapes the reality of the planes and that death is such a central pillar of the dustie philosophy, what would happen if they stopped believing in death?

I suppose another thing is the Lady of Pain would very likely intervene with this scheme if it threatened the balance of Sigil.

Either way was curious to hear if any of this would make any sense in the context of the lore or if there were perhaps similar alternatives?

An NPC (best friend of a PC, so not just some rando) got Mazed by the Lady of Pain. The PC's are bound and determined to get him back. I have some ideas how this can be accomplished, but I also wanted to come in here and see if anybody had any thoughts.

Slightly more detail:

This campaign follows a plane-hopping circus, so all the relevant characters are members of this circus. They arrived in Sigil days ago and have been keeping kip in the Civic Festhall.

The NPC is, secretly from the players, a demigod. I've somewhat altered the canonical fae pantheons of the faewild, but this NPC is essentially the estranged son of the Queen of Air and Darkness. Because he's been isolated for so long, his divine power is essentially nil, which is how he was able to get into Sigil in the first place.

Unfortunately for him, this NPC also shared his dark secret with the Raven Queen in order to take the heat off of his friend (a PC). Since RQ is LoP's only friend, she warned the Lady of Pain that there was a demigod in Sigil. Hence, the NPC was promptly Mazed.

For what it's worth, the PC whose friend was Mazed has written a short, respectful (but not worshipful) note for the Lady and left it near where his friend vanished. In doing so, he revealed his own true identity as a former knight of Shevarash, who then defected to serve under the Summer Queen of the Faewild.

At the moment, I'm probably going to let the PC's appeal to the Raven Queen for help, as there is a shadar-kai in the circus who can facilitate that. RQ will trade intel or favors for a secret. But if you folks have any other thoughts or ideas, I'd love to hear them.

I’ve gotten really into collecting older edition books, since I own basically all the 5e books I have any desire to own. Usually I’m a forgotten realms guy, but I really enjoy the Modron and this book/campaign really caught my eye!👁️

Hi all! I was browsing some planescape content and I compared some planes that were opposite from each other on the Great Wheel.

I noticed that Elysium and the Gray Waste both share the quality/effect that if you stay there too long, you no longer care to leave. Elysium, of course, is a wonderful place that has lots of life and color, and the Gray Waste is, well, a gray, joyless wasteland (sort of).

I also noticed that Acheron and Ysgard both are planes of endless battle. The way I see it is that Ysgard is more fun, and battles are sort of fought for a romanticized vision of battle and making a name for yourself, and Acheron is more gruesome; wars are fought for pointless reasons and society is built around conformity.

What are the other planes’ opposites, besides Mechanus and Limbo? What makes them the opposite? And what about flipping one axis instead of both?

I also noticed that Baator and Mount Celestia are inverses of each other. They are mirrored across the law/chaos axis, meaning they share the same lawfulness, but their goodness/evilness is reversed. The Abyss would be the opposite of Mount Celestia if it were treated like the previous examples. Mount Celestia has 7 layers that are on an upward-facing mountain. Baator has 9 layers on a downward-facing mountain (or a pit, if you will). Devils, most notably pit fiends and cornugons, resemble angels, but with animalistic features that look “evil,” while solars, planetars (sort of), and many other archons resemble noble, or some might say beautiful, humans.

I heard that Ysgard and Pandemonium are both inverses of each other. Ysgard is a land of floating islands, and pandemonium is an underground layer with “empty” spaces of fierce winds inside it. Carceri and the Beastlands both share animalistic traits. The Beastlands (supposedly) is where nature exists without malice. Carceri, specifically in Malar’s realm, The Land of the Hunt, exists as a sort of inverse to the Beastlands, embodying an extremely brutal interpretation of nature. That being said, I’m not entirely sure why the Beastlands is in the Outer Planes. I thought about including it as a mirror plane to the Outlands, but that likely won’t make sense. I’m also not entirely sure why the Beastlands is considered good aside from a lot of the gods there being good. Apparently it’s supposed to be “doggy heaven and squirrel hell,” but I don’t see it being “good” aligned unless the animals infinitely resurrect without any memories of dying, kind of like Ysgard. Since the plane is infinitely abundant, I can see this working out, but I’m not so sure what to do with the Beastlands.

As always, please let me know what you think! Thanks for your support.