Some of my friends want me to run a 5E game with the Planescape setting.

I'm not familiar with Planescape since it's before my time; some reading revealed it's all from 2E. But there is very little information about it out there.

What exactly is Planescape like, and what makes it fun? Are there any resources to use for running Planescape in a 5E game? Can 5E even handle it?

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;824265Some of my friends want me to run a 5E game with the Planescape setting.

I'm not familiar with Planescape since it's before my time; some reading revealed it's all from 2E. But there is very little information about it out there.

What exactly is Planescape like, and what makes it fun? Are there any resources to use for running Planescape in a 5E game? Can 5E even handle it?

There will be no problem with rules. Planescape is just a campaign setting so the rules were no different, really, from standard AD&D of the day. There were a few tweaks added here and there but nothing major.

I recommend going on eBay and seeing if you can find the original boxed set. Afterwards changes were made (metaplot) which were stupid.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;824265Some of my friends want me to run a 5E game with the Planescape setting.

I'm not familiar with Planescape since it's before my time; some reading revealed it's all from 2E. But there is very little information about it out there.

What exactly is Planescape like, and what makes it fun? Are there any resources to use for running Planescape in a 5E game? Can 5E even handle it?

Planescape is a setting that deals directly with the multiverse of D&D's meta-cosmology. The ostensible "home" of the game, is the City of Sigil, which is a hub of portals to anywhere in the multiverse. The city itself continues to exist without being torn apart by Gods, demons, what-have-you because its watched over by the enigmatic Lady of Pain. Sigil is home to numerous factions who deal with the reality of the Planes (ie knowing for certain not only that gods and demons and heaven and hell are real, but that they are ALL real) by developing specific philosophies.

All in all not only my favourite D&D setting, but one of my favourite fantasy settings period. DiTerlizzi's fantastic artwork really made it too. The supplements go for ridiculous amounts on ebay these days, but with some hunting you can still find the original boxed set for under $100. Thats all you really need, but anything else you can get your hands on is pretty much worth it, up until Faction War. YMMV, but I'd avoid this like the plague.

Also, BTW, Planescape: Torment is generally considered one of the best rpg to videogame translations of all time, and still holds up surprisingly well.

For a fun introduction to the Planes, google up (or rather Bing, since google filters their results pretty bad these days...) some mp3s of the original Planescape CD.

That sounds kind of like Amber.

Note that a lot of the key supplements--including all the big boxes--are on Drive ThruRPG/DNDClassics.

You might find this site very useful:

http://daedaluswing.wikidot.com/faction-backgrounds

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;824305That sounds kind of like Amber.

Amber is more taking on the roles of gods or demigods.

Planescape is more Time Bandits.

Planescape is an awesome setting, but its not traditional D&D. I highly recommend getting the original boxed set. It will be more than enough for a campaign. If I had to choose one "official" D&D setting to run, I would absolutely run Planescape because its "different enough, yet familiar enough" to be tremendous fun for players who have done fantasy to death.

For 5e, you may have to tweak some of the Faction abilities, but its probably minimal work.

You can get the pdf of the campaign box for 2e here.

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;824307Note that a lot of the key supplements--including all the big boxes--are on Drive ThruRPG/DNDClassics.

this dont pay hundereds of dollars on ebay when you can pay a few dozen on d&d classics

i dont have planescape but as far as i can tell its literally just the great wheel given a fancy name for that edition because they decided to focus a lot on it for 2e so unless im massively mistaken you can also check out any of the other editions manuals of the planes

Quote from: tuypo1;824356i dont have planescape but as far as i can tell its literally just the great wheel given a fancy name for that edition because they decided to focus a lot on it for 2e so unless im massively mistaken you can also check out any of the other editions manuals of the planes

You are massively mistaken

oh ok then

Planescape Torment is less than 10 bucks on gog.com so well worth picking up for a darn good intro to the planes.

Quote from: TristramEvans;824357You are massively mistaken

Indeed he is, which is why I felt the Planes in 1e and later in 3e were both better than Planescape, which made the planes too pedestrian.

Quote from: RPGPundit;824805Indeed he is, which is why I felt the Planes in 1e and later in 3e were both better than Planescape, which made the planes too pedestrian.

To each their own I suppose. I felt that Planescape went out of its way to set an atmosphere of wonder and mystery, with intentionally open questions and a sense of deep history for the planes, whereas 1e (and to an extent 3e) largely presented the planes as just extraplanar dungeons with bigger monsters to fight.