Introduction to the Planar Gaming System

    The City of Sigil was cold tonight.  The typical light mist of water vapors and congealed smoke had already descended, far earlier in the dark than normal.  An hour after Antipeak, the Hive district would normally have been very much alive, even if that life was all of the less than reputable kind.  Not tonight.  Tonight - and for the last four nights - the only signs of life in the slums of the City of Doors were the distant but omnipresent wails of the thousands of Githyanki refugees, cornered away in the Hive Ward where none of the upper crust of Sigil had to hear them.  Only the trained listener would have heard the subtle clicking on the cobblestone that passed toward one of the buildings.
    Mircelle had almost reached the shack she and her companions had made their home for the last two days.  The food she carried under her arms would feed her and her friends for at least another two days.  Hopefully, by then someone could talk sense into the Hardheads and get them to release their stranglehold on the Hive.  Ever since their factol had been killed several days ago, the Harmonium and their allies had had the city under martial law.  Being out after three hours till Antipeak was a crime punishable by incarceration.  If you were a member of any of the outlawed factions (the Doomguard, the Free League, or the Anarchists, at the moment), you would likely never leave the prison with your head attached.  All the more reason to be extra careful in movement.
    "Halt!"
    The word came from behind so unexpectedly that Mircelle almost jumped.  Instead, she slowly turned toward the sound of the voice, her hooves still quiet on the pavement.  Behind her were two humans, one in full battle armor, the other wearing only light armor, but with energy crackling about her hands.  A Harmonium patrol, scanner and guard.
    "You.  Do not move.  What are you carrying?" The guard was the one talking.
    "Food.  I need it for my family."
    "Family?  Hah.  More likely your cell, you Rev League scum."
    "I'm no anarchist!  Are you mad?  I'm Fated, and a trained student of their dueling academy at that!  Insult me again and I will match my blade with your's any day."
    Even Mircelle was impressed with the ease that she could assume her new identity.  She had only been training for this persona for a bit over a month.  She knew that the scanner could not detect her true allegiance, she just hoped the guard was sufficiently intimidated to back off.  Just as a precaution, she scanned the shadows.  Sure enough, one of them moved in response to her glance.  If it was a fight, the Harmonium were in for a surprise.
    The scanner spoke now.  "If you are a duelist, show me your stance."
    A test.  Mircelle reached into her mind, searching for information she would need to convince them.  She recalled seeing the dueling stance, and in the shadows of her mind, the answer she needed formed.  In a flash, she had moved her left foot forward, dropped one bag of food from beneath her arm, pulled her ears back to her head, and pulled a large loaf of bread from the other bag, now wielding it as a dueling sword.
    The scanner was obviously holding back not to laugh.  The guard didn't bother.
    "Yeah, she's a duelist all right.  No one else would be that cocky.  Let's go."  The guard began to walk away, the scanner not far behind him.
    Mircelle breathed a sigh of relief.  If things continued this way, she may actually have to become a duelist to survive.
    Off in the distance, probably somewhere in the Lower Ward, a loud explosion pierced the night, followed by the wails of Harmonium sirens.
    "Never mind, " Mircelle said to herself, "apparently the Rev League still has some teeth left."  She picked up the bag and her improvised dueling sword and went inside to begin planning with her cell.
 

What is the Planar Gaming System?

Most roleplaying games fall into one of two categories: either the game system is designed to be "universal" (i.e. adaptable for any setting that can be imagined) or the game system is inherently tied to a single world or style of world.  GURPS is the most well known (although not necessarily the best) of the universal systems, while there are several well known setting-specific games on the market (White Wolf's World of Darkness Series, Dungeons and Dragons).  The Planar Gaming System is slightly different.  The system was designed with a setting in mind, in particular the Planescape setting originally published by TSR (their official Planescape site is here).  However, this setting encompasses the entire Multiverse, in which any possible reality exists.  Thus, while the Planar Gaming System is setting-specific, the setting demands the system be flexible enough to function as a universal system.

It is hoped that when this project is completed, it will contain a set of rules that can cover most any situation in the Multiverse, and at the same time make sense and be easily memorized or improvised based on the consistency of the rules.  These rules should allow characters who are humans, dolphins, giants, half-demons, dragons, mutants, vampires, cyborgs, or even beings of pure belief without having to make up new rules on the spot.  Any character concept from Sensate thief to Werewolf tribal shaman to High school Football Quarterback and anything in between must be workable.  High Tech, No Tech, Priests, Chronomancers, and Blood Mages, all coexist in the multiverse, and so should coexist in the game system.  That's the goal anyway.

This is the second major revision, created through almost two years of observation and playtesting.  It will be changed periodically, with new ideas being inserted at rare intervals.

Why the Planar Gaming System?

One question that may come to mind (and comes to my mind all too often) is "why bother creating an entire new game system for a setting designed for an existing system?"  Even Wizards of the Coast has abandoned Planescape in an attempt to avoid saturating the market and economically killing themselves again.  What makes me, an unknown student at an inconsequential university, worthy to attempt the recreation and salvation of a game that even its publisher doesn't want any more?

I originally decided to do a conversion of Planescape to a different system in 1998, a year before the line was canceled and two years before Wizards published D&D 3E, a far superior system to AD&D.  When this project began, it was my intention to run the Planescape setting using the best roleplaying system I had thus far encountered, Legend of the Five Rings published by Alderac Entertainment Group.  The L5R system has several advantages over AD&D, including a simple, streamlined mechanic, a more elegant spell system, fully integrated skills, and a combat system so deadly that only fools will rush into battle every chance they get (coincidentally, L5R has no Resurrection mechanic; you die, and that's it).  But what's more, L5R has a more philosophical feel to it than even D&D 3E does, and so it seems to fit much better with the Planescape setting.

Since the initial playtesting began in 1999, many new ideas have been created, and many bugs of transition have been ironed out, only to give rise to new ones.  Many mechanics from L5R had to be generalized for situations they were never designed to handle (like non-humans).  In the process, many outside mechanics from systems as diverse as GURPS, Ars Magica, and yes, even AD&D were called forth to aid in situations, and some of them have remained.  This site is an attempt to collect all the random thoughts and notes on this system into one place for easy access.

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