I am considering a UW hack (yes, not a hack from AW, but starting with UW as the base) in a fantasy Planescape-style setting. What things would you consider critical in a setting like this?
I have the following bullets recorded:
– Origins would become species based, allowing for complex planar hybrids
– Careers would be a simple conversion, but I’d like to add more and possibly create “exit paths” to account for growth into new careers.
– As there’s no space ship, and travel would be portal based, work spaces would have to be replaced conceptually with something different
– LOTS more factions, some pre-assembled. In the planes, everyone has their causes and philosophies
Thoughts? This is all conceptual currently.
That’s a really neat idea, and I love me some Planescape. I have some thoughts on this which I’ll try to write up this evening.
I guess I’d also want to add mechanics or moves for faction membership – the Dungeon World Planarch Codex rules come to mind: at the beginning of a session as long as you uphold the ideals of your faction, you roll for some Hold to spend on faction moves.
I never played any Planescape. Some care would be needed to “skin” it for UW play, of course. You will notice the cover of UW suggests both exploration of alien planets (wildernesses, weird dimensions?), and deep urban adventures. How you configure Planescape “society” is up to you; that is where things may take more work.
Seems like you’d want some sort of “headquarters” rules that mirror the starship rules.
I think one of the old Conan AW hacks (World of Conan or Hyborean Age) had some hardholder-esque rules for hideouts that might inspire.
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Hmm, that could work. In the past we generally kept the group headquartered in Sigil and gave them rooms with their respective factions.
So perhaps the “workspace” could be more like a private living space, which can either be in a faction HQ or in a custom unit for the party. I like this.
I also need to figure out what to do about Interface. I feel like it should become more philosophical, allowing for interaction with the ethos of a given group or plane or something.
I hope you do this Aaron Griffin! I had a similar thought for a dark fantasy setting.