Sigil via Sorcerer

[Judd]

Reading the works of China Mieville has made me yearn for Planescape and I had a nice conversation with the fella who introduced me to GMing, back in the day.

Sorcerers are those who know how to make the planes work for them.  They can tell a demon from a devil and work their way out from the Lady of Pain's Maze.

Demons are: Raw and dangerous pieces of the planes that are attached to your character.

Examples: An animal from the primeival forest from which all dark forests are born.

A demon or devil.

A clockwork weapon from the heart of Mechanus.

A lantern whose light is a piece of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Your shadow having been replaced by shadwostuff from the quasi-elemental plane of the same name.

Humanity is:  Being true to your home culture.  When you make your character, you list 3 Cultural Descriptors that are linked to your character.  Being
an example of them is how one gains Humanity.  Using these pieces of the planes disconnects you from your people.

When you hit Humanity 0 you become engulfed by one of your Demons and it leads to your doom.  Narrate a Doom Kicker that will begin your character's demise and removal from the game.

Rituals are: Magic rituals or simple walking through the wrong/right portal in Sigil, haggling for a new raw piece in the market.

Descriptors:

Stamina

Fighter:  You are a brawler or a trained soldier, either way, your good to have in a tussle.

Rogue:  You are a sneaky bastard, always angling from the shadows.

Monk:  You are trained in the martial arts.

Useless:  You spent your time with books or in a temple, not learning to use your hands or the mundane tools of killing.


Will

Grunt:  You are at home in battle and have no use for book learning.

Wizard:  You have studied the arcane arts.

Bard: Your tongue is silver and people just talk to youl.

Holy:  You have studied a god and know the Holy Rites involved.


Lore:

Clueless Primer Berk:  What the fuck is this place?  Is this a dream?  Where am I

The Athar: Gods and dieties are a fool's game.

The Believers of the Source:  Godliness is within us all if we have the courage to grasp it.

The Bleak Cabal:  Stop gawking and look within.

The Doomguard: The 'verse is a dying beast and we are here to ease its passing.

The Dustmen:  We are living in a cruel afterlife joke and only we comprehend the punchline.

The Fated: Might makes right.

The Fraternity of Order:  Find the pattern that applies to everything.

The Free League:  We are surrounded by zealots and idiots.

The Harmonium: Peace, love and carry a big stick.

The Mercykillers:  Not  Merciful Killers, but rather those who would Kill Mercy.

The Revolutionary League:  Mundane power is an illusion and I disbelieve.

The Sign of One:  I am the center of the 'verse.

The Society of Sensation:  Experience everything in order to reach enlightenment.

The Transcendent Order:  Let your instincts lead you to transcendence.

Xaositects:  Let the chaos flow.

Special thanks to entropy 402 for giving me the list of factions.

[Ben Lehman]

I want humanity to be something else, probably because all my favorite Planescape characters are sigil-born.

How about this:  Humanity is free will -- the ability to make choices.

The whole of the planes, really, is a giant alignment map.  As you progress in the game, you become indebted to any number of outside forces that want to draw your towards "their side."  The art of the Planescape game, in my experience, is to bargain these forces (law, chaos, good, evil) off of each other and try to keep your will and moral agency your own.

yrs--
--Ben

[Ben Lehman]

Also, if you don't have Tiefling and Aasimar as Lore descriptors, how does planar blood enter the game?  Is it a type of demon?

yrs--
--Ben

[Judd]

Also, if you don't have Tiefling and Aasimar as Lore descriptors, how does planar blood enter the game?  Is it a type of demon?

yrs--
--Ben

I reckoned all of that would be cover.

[Bailywolf]

The Unnatural descriptors from Sorcerer & Sword would play well here- along with selling down and capping Humanity at start of play.  You might cap your Humanity at 3 and take a pump to Lore to represent how you are indebted by your blood to higher forces of a certain alignment, and though you do gain in power, you also will never have the kind of Free Will an uncompromised character would have.

Real demonic heritage would work great as a Parasite demon.

-B

[Judd]

I'm still tinkering with this and some good ideas and thoughts came out of the RPG.net thread.  

Demons are:

Philosphical ideals (parasites, I'd make 'em) including alignment, demons & devils, hungry demi-planes, intelligent artifacts, elementals, and angels all of which somehow embody a philosophical ideal of a plane of existence and attempt to exert this ideal onto everything and everyone in their own ways.

Humanity is a plural definition:

1) Devotion to an ideal

2) Heroism

Devotion gains when:

A) The character puts themselves or others on the line for their philosophy.

B) They turn someone else to their way of thinking.

C) Solve a problem with their philosophy.

Devotion loss when:

A) The character backs down from their philosophy's goals and ways, turns their back on what they believe in.

B) They admit to the shortcomings of their philosophy.

Heroism gains when:

A) A character risks life and limb in a selfless manner for a noble cause.

Herosim loss when:

A) A character turns their back on the needful completely.

Rituals are:

Street deals, arcane rituals, prayers, a stroll through Sigil, research, a religious debate with a Githyanki...etc.

Gods would use the rules for Angels in Sorcerer and Soul.

I think all of the rest would just about stay the same.

Further thoughts?

When you hit Humanity 0 you have two choices:

Burn Out or Fade Away.

Your philosophy is about to either lead to your demise or lead to you becoming a believe in nothing, someone who has as much spark as a cog in Mechanus.

Burn Out

You set up a new kicker that leads off your death scene and it is played out immediately. Your next PC can be brought in to the game through this scene or as some consequence of it.

Fade Away

Your PC puts down their symbols and fades into the background of Sigil, becoming just another faceless berk in the city with a infinite gates.

Past

Past consists of three words.

The species or race of the character + the vocation + the home plane.

Examples:

Elven Bounty Hunter from Hell

Half-Demon Mortician from Prime

Githyanki Sellsword of Sigil