Beyond Dread Portals now on Kickstarter

I don't know what's in the air, but there seems to be an unusually large number of intriguing Kickstarters this spring. Another one just launched: D101 Games' Beyond Dread Portals.

 

The setting is clearly inspired by Planescape: it focuses on a huge city, Ys, that contains portals to other planes of existence.  But it's not simply a Planescape clone: Ys has its own flavour (among other things, it's an imperial centre, which controls territories on other worlds). 

The setting looks intriguing and fun:

At the centre of the game is the city of Ys, a baroque fantasy city which rules territories on three different worlds. The worlds Ys is in contact with vary in nature, with some being Earth-like, others less so.

Magic is common and an accepted part of Ysian society. The key reason for Ys's success is its army and powerful magical guild working together in territories outside the city.

These territories include the ocean world of Tethys, with its traders, undersea monsters, pirates and religious zealots. Then there is Marn, a world of many small human kingdoms, intelligent humanoid lizards, and vast reptilian monsters. Most recent of the Ysian conquests is Samara, a world of warring kingdoms and a strict caste system.

There are stranger places. Ys has a presence on the blasted desert world of Nespo, with its war machines and undead. At the fringes of Ysian knowledge is the Burning Heaven, a place which may be literally heaven or hell. And connecting them all are the endless tunnels of the world of Erebus.

But the heart of Ys is rotten. Its overlord, the Autarch, is literally a monster. His lieutenants, the Agents of the Autarch, sow discord in the city. The Autarch leaves the apparatus of government and the rule of law to crumble and divides the other power structures in the city, ensuring that nobody can depose him.

The player characters are members of the Explorer's Guild, hired by powerful Patrons to step through one of the magical portals into one of these worlds and undertake adventures on their behalf.

More information on both the setting and system (including a "preview" PDF) is available here.

Anyhow, I'm backing this and am looking forward to reading it. It looks like it would be easy to combine with my (as yet unused) Planescape materials, among other things. (And D101 has produced some very fine games.)

 

Planescape coming in 2023

Here’s the lineup of 2023 releases for Dungeons and Dragons (5^th edition):

 

-       Keys from the Golden Vault

-       Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

-       Phandelver Campaign

-       The Book of Many Things

-       Planescape

 

The last item is the only one of real interest to me (although I likely will at least look at the other books).  

 

I didn’t pay much attention to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons during the second edition era (I played briefly in one campaign, which was fine). An exception was the Planescape setting. My interest was prompted by the Planescape: Torment computer role-playing game (which I didn’t play until 2000, after the setting’s print run had finished up). Upon finishing the CRPG, I tracked down the box set. Even though I never did anything with the setting, I was—and remain—a fan of it.

 

Perhaps I’ll finally run a Planescape campaign once this book becomes available. At the very least, I'm keen to read about it.

Some Classic Dungeons and Dragons Settings to Return?

It looks like “Dungeons & Dragons Is Bringing Back at Least Three Classic Campaign Settings”:

Dungeons & Dragons will be revisiting several classic campaign settings over the next few years. During the closing panel of D&D Celebration 2020 yesterday, Wizard of the Coast's Ray Winninger confirmed that D&D's upcoming slate of publications will include several classic settings highly requested by fans. "I can tell you that there are three of the old settings that we're working on right now that you'll be seeing in the next year or two, including some that the fans have been asking for a very long time " Winninger said during the "Inside the D&D Studio Panel." Some of the more highly requested settings from fans include Greyhawk, Spelljammer, Planescape, and Dragonlance, all of which were seminal and influential settings for past (and current) generations of players.

Personally, I'd love to see Greyhawk in print again. It's my favourite 'classic' TSR setting, and the one that I’ve been using as DM in my most recent D&D games. However, I worry a bit about how it would be handled by the current team at WotC. I'm not too keen on some of the post-Gygaxian history for the setting (especially the break-up of the Great Kingdom). I rely primarily on the 1983 box set for my setting information. Nonetheless, I think that the recent Saltmarsh book was quite good, so perhaps a resurrected Greyhawk will be handled well.

My favourite ‘unusual’ setting is Planesape. I’d love to see a new version of it. The great thing about Planescape is that you can combine it with pretty much any other setting (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, homebrew #978, etc.). But it also has its own very distinctive style and ethos. (And Planescape: Torment is one of the greatest computer role-playing games of all time.)

 

Two Decades of Baldur’s Gate

There is a decent article at PC Gamer on the 20th anniversary of the classic computer role-playing game (CPRG) Baldur’s Gate (BG).

I must confess that BG—and the other ‘Infinity Engine’ (IE) AD&D-based CRPGs, including Baldur’s Gate II (BG2), Icewind Dale (IWD), and Planescape: Torment (PST)—have given me a surprising amount of joy since 2000 (when I first played BG). This is despite the fact that these games almost derailed the completion of my PhD 2000-2002.

[A map of the region covered by the original Baldur's Gate game.]

I’m not a fan of CRPGs or video games in general. I’ve never played any massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs), like the World of Warcraft. With respect to computer games, I played far too much Civilization during the 1990s. However, I only dabbled with Diablo during that decade, and simply couldn’t get into it. The same applies to most other CRPGs that I’ve tried over the years. But—aside from Neverwinter Nights (NWN)—BG, BG2, PST, and IWD are the exceptions. 

(I like Neverwinter Nights, and I’m glad that there is now an ‘Enhanced Edition’ version that I can play on my Mac. I especially appreciate the wide range of fan-produced modules for NWN, some of which are superior to the original, rather lacklustre campaign. But I never found NWN as engaging as the IE games. One reason is that I find it far less visually impressive, despite being ‘3-D’ [I’ve never understood the appeal of 3-D in anything: movies, games, etc.]. Another reason is that NWN employs the 3rd edition D&D rules, which I like less than AD&D. But enough of NWN…)

There are a few reasons why I find the classic IE games like Baldur’s Gate to be special. One reason is aesthetic. The music is magnificent. And visually, I find these games beautiful to look at. The screenshots below (with the ‘game information sections’ cropped out) don’t really do justice to how great the games look on a large computer screen:

[The player character in BG is from Candlekeep. Towards the end of BG, the party returns to Candlekeep. Here is the party and some Seers.]

[The party discovers a dragon mural in a dungeon during the Siege of Dragonspear.]

[The party at the top of the Iron Throne headquarters within the city of Baldur's Gate.]

[The symbol of Bhaal burnt onto the surface of the Boareskyr Bridge.]

Another reason why I’m a fan of the IE games: their stories and characters. The BG series and (especially) PST have engaging overarching storylines, with multiple paths to success, including different routes for ‘good’, ‘neutral’, and ‘evil’ inclined characters (as well as for characters of different classes, etc.). To a great extent, the settings in these games are genuine ‘sandboxes’: they have maps with loads of optional encounters, quests, and areas (to be explored or ignored as you wish). Since they have overarching plots, though, there are some ‘necessary’ areas and encounters, but these often can be resolved in different ways.

The IE games also have some wonderful NPCs—both characters that can join your party, as well as minor characters with whom you can interact. Here is one exchange between two party members—Jan Jansen (an irreverent gnome illusionist/thief) and Keldorn (a serious paladin of Torm)—that I think is quite funny:

And since I teach philosophy in the real world, I find amusing this exchange in the town of Trademeet in Baldur’s Gate II:

With respect to the settings for these games—the Sword Coast, Amn, and Icewind Dale of the Forgotten Realms (BG, BG2, and IWD), and the torus city of Sigil within Planescape (PST)—I delight in the ways that they embrace the ‘stew’ of disparate elements that make up ‘D&D’—and somehow make them work. By this I mean such elements as ‘Vancian’ magic-users, Scottish dwarf fighters, ‘Christian-not-Christian’ paladins who associate freely (often in the same adventuring party) with ‘paganistic’ druids, the Great Wheel cosmology, the Blood War (the eternal conflict between Chaotic demons and Lawful devils), and so forth. This all somehow makes sense in these games—and in fact is one of the reasons why I returned to D&D for some of my tabletop gaming after a long absence (most of the 1990s).

And then there are the ‘mods’ (which I believe is short for ‘modifications’, although it may also be short for ‘modules’). The ‘modding’ community—which has been reinvigorated in recent years thanks to Beamdog’s release of ‘Enhanced Editions’ of the IE games—has helped make these games, and especially the Baldur’s Gate series, highly re-playable. Mods can provide new NPCs (including characters to join your party), additions for existing NPCs (e.g., expanded dialogues for party members in BG1), new magic items, new encounters, and even entirely new adventures for your games. Install enough mods and your next BG2 game will be quite different from all previous ones! 

Finally, while I prefer playing tabletop RPGs to CRPGs, there have been times in my life when this wasn’t possible, and the IE games (as well as NWN) were there to fill the void. Even when I am lucky enough to have a regular group, adult life makes getting together for games rather difficult (adulting is tough!). Thankfully, I can ‘dip into’ my Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, or Icewind Dale game for an hour whenever I like. 

So, to Baldur’s Gate I say: happy birthday old friend!

New settings for Dungeons and Dragons 5e?

It looks like some new settings for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition will be announced by Wizards of the Coast later this year ("Dungeons & Dragons plans to announce several additional publications in 2018 which will add new campaign settings for players outside of the Forgotten Realms").

Personally, I'd love a 5e version of Planescape. It's my favourite 'official' setting ever published by TSR (though, tragically, I've never run or played in a pen-and-paper campaign). It is, I think, the most 'uniquely AD&D' setting ever -- it's 'mythology' in rooted in AD&D's distinctive, weird cosmology (the plethora of planes and their relations to each other), as well drawing heavily on singular AD&D creatures like the Githyanki, Tieflings, and so forth. I appreciate its strange mix of being a hub within a Moorcockian multiverse (and its associated 'law-versus-chaos' factionalism), and its gritty proto-steampunk aesthetic (I'm not a huge fan of steampunk generally, but I like the way it is expressed in the look and ethos of Planescape). Also, thanks to the presence of so many portals ('doors') to other planes, it's easy to connect Sigil to other D&D worlds. So I really hope that this happens!



As for other old TSR settings, I suspect that Mystara (which I used to really dig, but find a bit too 'goofy' these days) and Greyhawk are just too similar to the Forgotten Realms to be done again with full-blown campaign books. Yes, I know that the fans can spell out many 'important' differences among these settings, but from a distance they're all 'kitchen sink D&D' worlds'. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But WotC already has FR.

I'm not that familiar with Spelljammer. It never grabbed me back in the day. But I'd have an open mind to it, if a new version were to be published. Likewise I would consider checking out a 5e version of Dark Sun, which always struck me as quite intriguing, but I never picked up for some reason during 1990s. Among the more recent settings, I don't know much about Eberron, but it looks distinctive and I would consider looking into it as well, should a 5e version be produced.

However, I have zero interest in Dragonlance. In fact, I loathe it. I personally would be grateful if it never reappears as an official setting (though if it does, it should be easy enough to ignore). It gave my teeth too many cavities back in the 1980s...

DiTerlizzi on Trampier

I’ve mentioned in the past at this blog my deep and abiding fondness for the art of David Trampier (1954-2014). 

Well today I discovered that the artist Tony DiTerlizzi has a lovely tribute to ‘DAT’ here. (DiTerlizzi is best known to RPGers for his work on the wonderful AD&D Planescape setting. Apparently he also is known for some children’s stories and stuff.)

[Trampier's Fire Giant from the original G3 module]

[DiTerlizzi's middle-school version]

Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition

So it turns out that the Planescape teaser that I mentioned earlier was for the forthcoming 'Enhanced Edition' of the Planescape: Torment computer role-playing game. ("NewbieDM" was right!)

Here is the official announcement.

While I'm disappointed that we won't be seeing a new version of the Planescape campaign setting for 5e D&D, at least not in the immediate future, I'm happy to see an 'enhanced' version of the classic Planescape: Torment CRPG coming out soon. The original PS:T is probably the greatest CRPG ever produced, rivaled only by the Baldur's Gate series. (While PS:T has a better story and setting in my view than the BG games, it has less replay value and is less of a 'sandbox'.) The fact that Chris Avellone, the Lead Designer of the original game, is involved gives me confidence that this will be great.

I still have my original box set for the AD&D version of Planescape. Maybe replaying the CRPG will motivate me to dig it out again...

The Return of Planescape?

Curious.

There is a brief note on this 'countdown' at Enworld.