Planescape Femslash (Inerest Check)

Started by Dhi, March 13, 2013, 03:07:12 PM

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Kunoichi

Well, if you want to take a bit of inspiration from Marvel comics, you could hail from a world with a noted paranoia and distrust of creatures with any kind of shapeshifting ability.  Sort of like the general reaction to mutants, only with shapeshifters, and the mutant registration movement getting translated into a shapeshifter registration movement, along with other laws prohibiting shapeshifters from changing shape without permission.

Then, one day, your character stumbles upon and through a planar portal, winds up in Sigil or on a more friendly plane...  And voila, freedom to experiment, learn, and specialize in transmutation.

meikle

And like the book says, sure, it can be hard to get off the Material Plane if you don't know what you're doing... but there are ways for anyone to do it, and if your world's lucky enough to have a portal to Sigil, that's a surefire way to make the trip.  Conduits to the Outer Planes abound, too, if you're looking to have your character drop off in some place on the Wheel like Limbo or Carceri (might be thematically appropriate for someone imprisoned in their form to make their way to freedom through the prison plane?)

Also I like the idea of a realm of shapeshifters who uses formlock as a way to brand their criminals.
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

O and O and Discord
A and A

Crash

Quote from: meikle on March 21, 2013, 09:16:37 PM
And like the book says, sure, it can be hard to get off the Material Plane if you don't know what you're doing... but there are ways for anyone to do it, and if your world's lucky enough to have a portal to Sigil, that's a surefire way to make the trip.  Conduits to the Outer Planes abound, too, if you're looking to have your character drop off in some place on the Wheel like Limbo or Carceri (might be thematically appropriate for someone imprisoned in their form to make their way to freedom through the prison plane?)

Also I like the idea of a realm of shapeshifters who uses formlock as a way to brand their criminals.

Yeah I am thinking mostly the later, but may incorporate some of the rest too.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

frost rose

#79
Eeee, I need to keep up better.

Welp, as far as NC content goes, I have no issues having it in general and participating in if the situation should so arise. I, um, am probably far kinkier than necessary for this particular game by the looks of it and other people, so unless it manages to surprise me and hit a button, I suspect I will be basically up for anything that might come up.

Quote from: meikleIhaana & Perrin van Slithers: I kind of like the idea that at some point, Ihaana found herself indebted to Perrin and wound up at the heart of a cat-and-mouse (snake and mouse?) chase through Sigil for a few weeks, perhaps headed off by a confrontation between the two (that somehow results in Ihaana not getting knee-capped, preferably!)  Maybe she took pity on a fellow Sensate, or appreciated the opportunity to lead a manhunt.  Maybe she managed to repay her debt through not-entirely-legal means.  I dunno!  It's just a thought!

It's a perfectly fine thought! That seems a more than reasonable way to run across each other in the past. Perrin is not at all above loan sharking and usury — she is, after all, a banker — which gives her plenty of reason to get mixed up with less savoury hijinks. And the Sensates tend to be rather good to their membership — ergo in the canon game they start with several times the cash standard PCs do — which I assume means they do things like signing bonuses, good compensation for archiving experiences, favourable loan rates, and things like that.

Or in this case let's say Perrin ends up doing the money laundering for some of Sigil's less than upright activities, using more honest Society businesses and concerns as intermediaries. Let's say it's in this case a crooked gambling organisation that makes its real money being a vector for interplanar smuggling. Ihaana was involved in a scam there that liberated a monthly cash transfer as it was underway.

Now, that would have been that, with Ihaana and her cohorts lying low until the heat died down and they split the money, but that money was supposed to go to Perrin, who would then not only get it discretely to where it was supposed to go, but also keep a shell game going in the Society's finances to keep the entire operation secret. Without that she suddenly has a lot of unexpected red ink and a serious embarrassment on her hands.

So she goes on the warpath to get it back, finally tracing back through mutual Sensate acquaintances that Ihaana was involved, and goes on a merry chase throughout the city. She refrains from kneecapping Ihaana when they finally confront each other, instead presenting her with a consolidated bill for everything she can find on Society records to pin on Ihaana, plus every fee, fine, lien, and interest charge she can organise, using that to basically blackmail Ihaana into selling out her confederates in a sting to get the cash back.

Which also leaves her with potentially vengeful former cohorts and their associates out there too. (More of them, anyhow.) Whether or not Perrin forgave the entirety of Ihaana's technically-legal-but-seriously-underhanded debt depends on whether or not you want to have her fangs still sunk in or not.

So like that or something similar maybe? Or a variation on it if you have a better idea! (And if you can tolerate my words words words.)
There was a SIGNATURE here.

It's gone now.

Dhi

Quote from: Crash on March 21, 2013, 08:27:54 PM
Dhi - Do you have a preference for Avi's?  Real People or Fantasy Art? Some GM's prefer one over the other.
As much as I'd like to see pictures of cosplay as modrons and the Lady of Pain, no preference!

For a lot of folks, the art of Tony DiTerlizzi is the style for Planescape. DiTerlizzi's art is in turn heavily influenced by fantasy greats Rebecca Guay and Brian Froud. But at this point, so many terrific artists have been influenced by Planescape's characters and style that it would be criminal to try to limit the art style. But for myself, I'm going to try to use a lot of DiTerlizzi. I'm a DiTerlizzi fangirl.

MdG

Quote from: Dhi on March 22, 2013, 01:55:23 AM
As much as I'd like to see pictures of cosplay as modrons and the Lady of Pain, no preference!

For a lot of folks, the art of Tony DiTerlizzi is the style for Planescape. DiTerlizzi's art is in turn heavily influenced by fantasy greats Rebecca Guay and Brian Froud. But at this point, so many terrific artists have been influenced by Planescape's characters and style that it would be criminal to try to limit the art style. But for myself, I'm going to try to use a lot of DiTerlizzi. I'm a DiTerlizzi fangirl.

Spot on, Dhi. DiTerlizzi was Planescape and his distinct semi-steampunk, urban feel made the setting unforgettable (together with much better writing than was the norm at the time...just see Planescape: Torment, which is one of the few electronic spin-offs that truly captured the tabletop experience).

In relation to NC, this would need to be worked into the plot, make plot sense and be agreed (i.e. not sprung upon the character out of the blue and for apparently no reason).

When it comes to character connections, I've agreed an outline with meikle for Rysse and Ihaana, which I will update to my main character sheet or the OOC thread once finalised. I'll have a think on connections with other PCs, but please let me know if you have any ideas and I'd be delighted to discuss!

meikle

#82
QuoteAs much as I'd like to see pictures of cosplay as modrons and the Lady of Pain, no preference!
I hope 'none' is an okay option, because I totes don't know where I'm going to find a picture of someone with a halo tattoo and tons of facial piercings.

QuoteSo like that or something similar maybe? Or a variation on it if you have a better idea! (And if you can tolerate my words words words.)
Well, you certainly took it in a much more ... hostile direction?  I'm not sure it would be an ideal to have a "blackmailed you into selling out all of your friends" degree of antagonism right off the bat?  I guess it depends on whether or not Dhi is hoping for a group that can function cohesively.  I don't see being able to play Ihaana in an even remotely cordial manner with someone who pulled something like that over on her, though.  I was looking to form a little interesting character background, I wasn't quite looking to destroy my character's reputation, finances, and social standing for the sake of a PC connection.  I mean, I can see Ihaana bailing on the Sensates outright if someone who'd been a member nearly as long as Ihaana'd been alive went out of their way to screw her over.

I guess my original aim was to give the characters some history and texture (in the form of conflict), but having that conflict resolved by having my character getting massively boned and dropping a wedge the size of Texas between the two wasn't quite the texture I had in mind. :p
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

O and O and Discord
A and A

Kunoichi

Well, there's always the option of the Sensates having sent Perrin to act as legal defense during the trials mentioned in Harmony's backstory, with her having been the one responsible for the brilliant defense case that got the adventuring party out of the jam they'd wound up in...

meikle

#84
Quote from: Kunoichi on March 23, 2013, 12:14:06 AM
Well, there's always the option of the Sensates having sent Perrin to act as legal defense during the trials mentioned in Harmony's backstory, with her having been the one responsible for the brilliant defense case that got the adventuring party out of the jam they'd wound up in...
That was only a month or so prior to the start of the game, though, right?  For characters who have been regulars at the Civic Festhall for years, it might not make as much sense for too many of the characters to have never run into each other prior to that (unless they don't participate too much in the Society's dealings.)  Perrin's been a Sensate for nearly two decades, and I imagine Ihaana's been around for three or four years.  I dunno when Alzeggra showed up in Sigil but she's old enough to have been around for a long time, too.  For characters who have been in the same faction for years, it kind of makes sense to have some degree of familiarity with one another, even if it isn't super involved.

edit: I have been accused of overthinking things in the past so maybe I am doin' it again.
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

O and O and Discord
A and A

Crash

I picture my changeling having been only recently inducted into the Society.  She will be living at he dorms and very new to Sigil that way my lack of setting knowledge comes off as good RP.  ;D

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

meikle

That second picture is a major character in the Planescape video game.  It might be hard to distance her from Annah. :p
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

O and O and Discord
A and A

Crash

Ahh, ok.  I have no idea of these things so thanks for that.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

Crash

Fixed broken links and removed cannon character pic.  Lets try again!

Changeling Pics



"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

frost rose

Quote from: melkieI guess my original aim was to give the characters some history and texture (in the form of conflict), but having that conflict resolved by having my character getting massively boned and dropping a wedge the size of Texas between the two wasn't quite the texture I had in mind. :p

I was proooobably reading too much into it then. I kinda was going off kneecaps as a guideline to magnitude of the debt involved, and was sorta working out how to get something of that level, but without actual violence involved. In retrospect,  it's a bit more obvious being a figure of speech. Mea maxima culpa~

(Granted, I still like that overall sketch. I won't use it here obviously, but I think the tactic fits. Hmm…)

*coughs* But yeah, as to the degree, that is totally something I would end up doing to one of my own — Perrin gets off unusually lightly mainly because I stumbled upon the notion of Dutch snake people, found the idea hilarious, and it kind of spiraled from there.

As far as overthinking things, I don't think you are! While there are something on the order of fifty thousand Sensates in Sigil if I'm remembering correctly, there is one big palace where they all tend to hang out, so there's a good chance they'd have rubbed elbows before. And it's not like a 20 foot long snake is low profile. And beyond that, getting everyone wrapped in together in some recent events may be advantageous — it would be the required tavern scene, or the equivalent thereof, and act as implied prelude when things start happening.

Skipping back a moment with Ihaana, a more moderate version could easily be done — or invert the thing. Have perhaps a few really bad jobs or other strokes of misfortune leave Ihaana having to juggle some tricky finances, falling back on her Society membership and its benefits are really bloody wealthy to keep other less pleasant people off her back. Until Perrin catches wise to what she's doing while auditing, and does a much lesser feat of naked bribery, collecting the debt under herself, and offering to forgive the lot for helping set up a sting in a similar situation.

And then if we wanted to tap into Perrin in Mechanus to get at least most of the people all hanging out in one spot pre-story, it could be more than having the Sensates send her, but instead that once Ihaana realises their fate hangs on Modron legal proceedings, she ends up being the one who actually knows a plane travelling lawyer who she's on something like good terms with.

And then voila, four people — I think — all in the same spot.
There was a SIGNATURE here.

It's gone now.

Skynet

Quote from: frost rose on March 23, 2013, 04:27:04 AM

And then if we wanted to tap into Perrin in Mechanus to get at least most of the people all hanging out in one spot pre-story, it could be more than having the Sensates send her, but instead that once Ihaana realises their fate hangs on Modron legal proceedings, she ends up being the one who actually knows a plane travelling lawyer who she's on something like good terms with.

And then voila, four people — I think — all in the same spot.

I like this idea; gives a great way for our characters to know each other, and given the risks and circumstances of the matter they'll know how the others react when in sticky situations.

meikle

Quote from: frost rose on March 23, 2013, 04:27:04 AMAs far as overthinking things, I don't think you are! While there are something on the order of fifty thousand Sensates in Sigil if I'm remembering correctly, there is one big palace where they all tend to hang out, so there's a good chance they'd have rubbed elbows before. And it's not like a 20 foot long snake is low profile. And beyond that, getting everyone wrapped in together in some recent events may be advantageous — it would be the required tavern scene, or the equivalent thereof, and act as implied prelude when things start happening.
I'm not sure what the exact statistics are for Sigil; the Guide to Sigil only specifies "more than a million" locals and that 2/3rds of those are transients, so, 50,000 sounds like it'd probably be about one in every six Cagers?  I kind of imagine that unaffiliated/Independents would be the most populous among the commonfolk of Sigil, though they may still be; I imagine the Society of Sensation draws more followers than, say, the xaositects do.  Oh well; planar demographics aren't my specialty.

Having a recent pull-together isn't a bad idea at all, I just think there is benefit to having connections that go back further than four or five weeks, even if they're just "I remember bumping into you at that baatorian a cappella show!"  I mean, why not?  The absence of such a connection provides a little texture, too, when it's not a blank slate all around.

QuoteSkipping back a moment with Ihaana, a more moderate version could easily be done — or invert the thing. Have perhaps a few really bad jobs or other strokes of misfortune leave Ihaana having to juggle some tricky finances, falling back on her Society membership and its benefits are really bloody wealthy to keep other less pleasant people off her back. Until Perrin catches wise to what she's doing while auditing, and does a much lesser feat of naked bribery, collecting the debt under herself, and offering to forgive the lot for helping set up a sting in a similar situation.

And then if we wanted to tap into Perrin in Mechanus to get at least most of the people all hanging out in one spot pre-story, it could be more than having the Sensates send her, but instead that once Ihaana realises their fate hangs on Modron legal proceedings, she ends up being the one who actually knows a plane travelling lawyer who she's on something like good terms with.
"Never trust a slaad," Ihaana learned the hard way, and later, "Never trust a snake."  She probably ends up regretting the result of going to the faction for help (even if she did it without letting many people know), which leaves her wary but at least she gets out of the situation in one piece.  Not being worked over so hard that she's left with a mind for revenge is probably good for party cohesion.

And that is a pretty good plot for getting (almost) everyone in the same place at once yes.
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

O and O and Discord
A and A

MdG

Quote from: meikle on March 23, 2013, 04:41:54 PM
I'm not sure what the exact statistics are for Sigil; the Guide to Sigil only specifies "more than a million" locals and that 2/3rds of those are transients, so, 50,000 sounds like it'd probably be about one in every six Cagers?  I kind of imagine that unaffiliated/Independents would be the most populous among the commonfolk of Sigil, though they may still be; I imagine the Society of Sensation draws more followers than, say, the xaositects do.  Oh well; planar demographics aren't my specialty.

I agree on the stats. I would expect "card-carrying" members of factions to be relatively few on the ground (perhaps in the order of a couple of thousand per faction) with many more unaffiliated or independents with some sympathy or other for one faction or other, but without formal commitment, much in the way that members of political parties are usually far fewer than the numbers of voters.

And like political parties, there are hangers-on and members of convenience, which is very much my current proposed angle for Rysse. She has no interest in faction conflict or ideology, but is a member of the Society in order to supplement her physical and emotional addiction to the Sensorium. In exchange, she contributes particularly lurid, visceral sensations, which has so far ensured that the higher-ups at the Society turn a blind eye to her lack of conviction.   

Skynet

I've always imagined that, barring factions which require significant devotion, most "members" either pay lip service to factions or make minor contributions because they support their goals.  Sort of like how people can vote for a political party candidate in an election without being part of the group, or how somebody can donate money to church without being a priest.

Dhi

I'd like to see faction numbers much lower than 50,000, at least inside of Sigil. If the Sensates are populous enough to fill a small city, then the organization becomes a milling horde of anonymous faces and interacting with any of the factols is unlikely. I want to use the factols- they're well-defined and interesting characters, which lend some humanity (or tieflingity) to what are otherwise abstract philosophies. I especially would like to use Darius, Erin Montgomery Darkflame, Pentar, and Rhys. Since you're weaving your backgrounds around the Guvners, Hashkar might be cool as well. He's got a much more interesting backstory than you would think to look at him, and it touches on some setting concepts that might otherwise go unsung. But, at the same time, I don't want to get too ambitious.

Dhi

Quote from: Crash on March 23, 2013, 02:09:32 AM
Fixed broken links and removed cannon character pic.  Lets try again!

Changeling Pics


That first one looks sort of like a changeling's natural form to me.

I'm playing a changeling bard in a jazz age Eberron game who I love to death, and I use this image for her seldom seen natural form:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/8dd22fbd36e57558d6a0455a1bef92a5/tumblr_migqxyRDwT1s1nfszo1_1280.jpg
Black, soulless eyes; small, inexpressive, almost vestigial mouth and nose; vacant expression; hair the unfortunate texture and color of dried straw. In her chosen form she's spritely and charismatic, but strip that illusion away and she's a complete outsider, impossible to mistake for human.

frost rose

#96
Aha, I looked it up, and Factol's Manifesto is what I was (mis-) remembering. In fact, in particular it has Factol Montgomery claim over 40,000 Sensates in Sigil, and presumably a few more scattered through the Gilded Hall and the rest of the planes. A lot of them anyhow. So yeah, a lot of the permanent residents, maybe as few as 1 in 10, if we go by 1.2 million total population and 40k Sensates exactly.

Of course, considerably lower here then is a possibility, given the feel Dhi wants, and honestly I think I'd probably do the same in her position. Or at least make most of the nominal faction members only people who hang out with the faction rather than card carrying members themselves. That said, I'm going to take that figure as official for just a moment in service of a digression.

For starters, that's an absolutely terrifying transient population. Sigil's going to look like a year-round intensely popular resort with that kind of imbalance, and it's even worse than it looks, as children and the elderly will be underrepresented in the transient population, so your primed aged workers will be disproportionately foreign transients. That is going to cause some very odd and interesting dynamics in terms of Sigilian economics.

This actually does explain why the Sensates are so massively wealthy, tho'. They have a stranglehold on the entertainment market in the most ungodly massive and popular vacation town in all of reality. Even with only 40,000 members — which as MdG suggests, many of whom are probably not philosophically Sensates, but entertainers wanting in on the action and the like — they're going to be swimming in sickening amounts of cash as everyone from all over the planes essentially comes and injects money into the Sensate pockets. Sigil must have some huge imports, too. Both on account of making up the tremendous import/export balance they'll otherwise have, and to make up for the fact that most of their labour is going to be transient.

Man, I may not be a specialist in planar demographics either, but now that I'm thinking about them I kind of want to be. This is fascinating from a socioeconomic standpoint.

Anywho, stopping here so I don't end up boring everyone.

Quote from: meikle"Never trust a slaad," Ihaana learned the hard way, and later, "Never trust a snake."

Aww, but she's so friendly! She can't help it if she's evil.

And don't get me wrong, I agree with it being neat to having history together. Especially since all of the people who've been around longer than a few months probably have spent enough time around the Civic Festhall that they've at least had a few casual encounters. With Perrin it's easy, too! "Hey, aren't you that big snake who harasses the massage staff and has an abacus fetish?"
There was a SIGNATURE here.

It's gone now.

Dhi

If you're delving into books like Factol's Manifesto and Uncaged: Faces of Sigil, you may encounter some spoilers. Factol's Manifesto has the spoilers pretty clearly marked, but Uncaged is purely a DM's book and the spoilers fly without warning.

frost rose

Quote from: Dhi on March 23, 2013, 06:44:22 PM
If you're delving into books like Factol's Manifesto and Uncaged: Faces of Sigil, you may encounter some spoilers. Factol's Manifesto has the spoilers pretty clearly marked, but Uncaged is purely a DM's book and the spoilers fly without warning.

I will do my very best to refrain then! I have the complete collection — in legal paperback no less! — from ages and ages ago when I actually GMed a planescape game back in highschool. But fortunately as far as spoilers go I can only remember bits and pieces as it's been like a decade or so. I'll be careful to stick around the PC-friendly sections. And the rest will be all muddled remembered estimates, a la my stab at the Sensate faction numbers.
There was a SIGNATURE here.

It's gone now.

Dhi

Very cool! I used to have a full collection. I lost some of it when my apartment collapsed. I managed to get some stuff like the Planes Of boxed sets for about $45, but Hellbound: The Blood War was going for something like $200. As much as I wanted to flip to the end and see who won the Blood War, I couldn't really justify that.  :-\

So who did win the Blood War? It was the devils, right? All the pit fiends got commemorative rings?