# Planescape modules - which are any good?



## A Passing Maniac (Jun 12, 2009)

I'm planning on starting up a new Planescape game this fall. I've run the setting several times before, but for the most part I've made up my own adventures. My previous groups have enjoyed their games, but that's more _despite_ the adventures I've come up with rather than _because_ of them -- I'm just not terribly good at that part of DMing.

 I own the modules _The Eternal Boundary_ and _Harbinger House_, both of which I like and might use for this new game. I've also heard good things about _Dead Gods_ and mixed things about _Faction War_, but I haven't seen people talk too much about most of the other adventures or anthologies. So I was wondering: which of the published Planescape modules are any good? Are there any stinkers I should definitely avoid? And are there any non-Planescape adventures you think might work well set in or around Sigil?


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## Dragonbait (Jun 12, 2009)

You already have some choice adventures there.

I'd reccomend _For Duty and Diety_, a FR adventure that takes place in the planes and is designed for Planescape characters, too.

I enjoyed _The Great Modron March_ (which feeds into _Dead Gods_). _The Eternal Boundary_ was also fun, in my opinion. It's easy for a group to get a TPK because they became too greedy (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here). _Doors to the Unknown_ was particularly popular amongst my players, and will have you set for many sessions since it's 3 (or 4) full adventures in one.

I was told _The Deva's Spark_ is not good. Apparently the PCs are observers at some points while an NPC handles the major situations. I can not personally attest to this, since I have never run it.

_Tales from the Infinite Staircase_ and _Well of Worlds_ have some good scenarios.

I've never run _Something Wild_ or _Fires of Dis_, so I can not say anything about those two.

I'd reccomend avoiding Faction War until you have run at least one other Planescape campaign. That way, when the Players are familiar and involved with the factions, so when th wars happen they might feel more invested in different factions...
Or they'll hate it because the Factions they grew to love, changed.


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## kenmarable (Jun 12, 2009)

_Dead Gods_ is definitely great, and I've thought _Great Modron March_ is right up there as well, but I've always been partial to modrons in general. 

In fact, when I ran _Tales of the Infinite Staircase_, everyone had a lot of fun with it, and those three adventures would make a great overall campaign with _Great Modron March_ feeding into _Dead Gods_ with _Infinite Staircase_ intermixed. 

Given how the massive variety of the possible planar locations is one of Planescape's strong points, those anthology adventures are particularly nice because they hit such a wide variety of locales. 

_Faction War_ is a good adventure, but it really changes the balance of power within Sigil, and I think that colors a lot of people's perceptions of it (with good reason). But if you are willing to really dig into the consequences of the war, then it is a nice intense adventure and could cap off early levels in Sigil and transition more out into the planes (which was the initial purpose of the adventure - moving the focus away from just Sigil, but the line got cancelled right after and it looked like nuking the setting before it died).

As for the smaller stand alone adventures, I haven't run any of them, but I remember hearing good things about _Doors to the Unknown_ and some of the ones in _Hellbound_ at least.


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## Shemeska (Jun 12, 2009)

_Squaring the Circle_ which is one of the modules in the _Hellbound_ box set is one of my favorite modules of all time. In fact, it was also the first published module I ever played through from start to finish as a player. If you want to get your PCs into some massive changes on the lower planes, and possibly some major planar politics if you continue past its conclusion and integrate it into a campaign, it is awesome. I <3 Daru Ib Shamiq.

_Dead Gods_ is one of the best D&D modules of all time. Any setting. Any edition. Period. Orcus was never awesome for me prior to this module. And the seeds of the module's plot points are actually hinted at in _The Great Modron March_ and in _Doorways to the Unknown_.

And while I may be in the minority on this choice, I adored _Faction War_. It brings to a head a number of plot-lines that were slowly developed over the course of the Planescape product line, and technically it was only the end of what would have been a few meta-plot arcs that ultimately could have restored the factions to power. And the yugoloth's Temple of Eternal Darkness in Sigil and the artifact therein, the Nightmare Shaft, was something I had fun with in my own campaign.

The end of the module itself I don't think closes any doors. Rather it opens up a massive amount of plot hooks. Do any of the mazed Factols escape their prisons? I had that question enter into my second storyhour actually, and Factol Terrance of the Athar showed up (still inside his maze) in my first storyhour/campaign as at once both a tormented figure, and one that had learned a poignant lesson through his imprisonment and came to peace with it. Mazed isn't dead, and people have escaped those mazes before even in canon (Vartus Timlin).

I've never actually run a Planescape campaign set pre-Faction War. But again, I didn't find the setting till it was already out of print, so maybe I'm out of the mainstream on that. I loved it regardless.


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## TarionzCousin (Jun 13, 2009)

I've always thought that it was interesting that the longer adventures for Planescape were much more interesting and fun to play: Tales of the Infinite Staircase, Modron March, Dead Gods.

I've run four PS campaigns and I've never run one of the smaller modules. Nothing grabbed me.

However, let me be the first to mention that you should avoid running 



Spoiler



Die Vecna Die!


 at all costs.


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## Shemeska (Jun 13, 2009)

TarionzCousin said:


> However, let me be the first to mention that you should avoid running
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Technically not a Planescape module, product-line-wise. But it took liberties with some major setting assumptions and ideas from more than one setting, to be nice about it.


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## Zaukrie (Jun 13, 2009)

I hope Modron March is good. I just found and bought a copy at half price books today.


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## I'm A Banana (Jun 13, 2009)

> In fact, when I ran Tales of the Infinite Staircase, everyone had a lot of fun with it, and those three adventures would make a great overall campaign with Great Modron March feeding into Dead Gods with Infinite Staircase intermixed.




That is a stellar idea. It's going into the cannon for my PS4e Campaign.


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## kenmarable (Jun 13, 2009)

Zaukrie said:


> I hope Modron March is good. I just found and bought a copy at half price books today.



Sorry, it sucks. I was just trying to trick people so that you would also be interested in Dragon #354 that deals with some of the consequences of having Orcus bound to the modrons for a while (hint: it ain't good). Got ya!!

Just kidding, and I feel like a sell-out for plugging my own article, but it's one of the only official sources that I know of that really deals with the fall out from Modron March other than "and they all went back to normal, but quieter since we're more interested in formians now".

Either way, I hope you like Modron March. Obviously I enjoyed it and found it very inspiring! Good luck!


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## kenmarable (Jun 13, 2009)

Kamikaze Midget said:


> That is a stellar idea. It's going into the cannon for my PS4e Campaign.



I actually had a pretty big 4e Planescape campaign planned out here going across the major adventures, but couldn't get the players interested.  Hopefully they'll come around because I'm eager to try some true-to-theme Planescape in 4e.

You'll have to let us know how it all goes!


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## Oryan77 (Jun 13, 2009)

Eternal Boundary is great. I've run it 3 times 

I also really like Fires of Dis. That is one that never gets any attention, but I thought it had a lot of really awesome roleplaying opportunities. So far, for a small adventure, I think it included more interesting and in depth encounters than any other adventure I've run of its size. 

I came really close to running Deva Spark. I liked what I read, but as I started to write notes & actually give it some thought, I realized it's a really campy adventure. I don't remember what it was exactly, I just remember thinking, "I think the players will think this is too corny."


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## avin (Jun 13, 2009)

Just don't run Die Vecna Die.

I'm using a post Faction War for my current 4E Planescape game but I'm not particularly fond of the module itself. Except for some dude punishment 

So, where's 4E Modrons?


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## Jack99 (Jun 13, 2009)

Shemeska said:


> _Dead Gods_ is one of the best D&D modules of all time. Any setting. Any edition. Period. Orcus was never awesome for me prior to this module. And the seeds of the module's plot points are actually hinted at in _The Great Modron March_ and in _Doorways to the Unknown_.




Seems other people must agree with you. I mean, amazon.com wants $50 and amazon.co.uk wants $85 (£60+) for an adventure


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## Shemeska (Jun 13, 2009)

Jack99 said:


> Seems other people must agree with you. I mean, amazon.com wants $50 and amazon.co.uk wants $85 (£60+) for an adventure




And that's the real unfortunate thing about no longer being able to buy the (legal) pdfs of those adventures. The print runs weren't super high for some of the later Planescape products, and between the collectors market for some of them, and some hardcore fans, the prices for some of the original stuff can get to silly levels. I shelled out three figures for an unopened _Hellbound_ set (though that's a story that involved me getting into an unknowing bidding war on Ebay with one of my players who didn't know my ebay name and was bidding on what he wanted to give me for a birthday present).

Staying on the right side of the law, some of those are going to be expensive. With luck though, you can find a used copy at used book stores from time to time (Clueless snagged Hellbound for $5, grrr). Some of those modules (though not all of them, I'll be realistic here) were among the better of the 2e era, and Dead Gods being among the top 10 all time IMO.

I really wish that WotC would at least consider selling pdfs of 1e/2e and other pre 3e editions. It wouldn't compete with 4e, and it would (re)open a market for them. Win/win situation for them I think, but I don't know how realistic the hope is anytime soon. I can keep my fingers crossed though (and if they do, please put out a professional quality scan of 'On Hallowed Ground' because there was never an officially made pdf of that one, just pirate copies of varying quality).


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## The Serge (Jun 13, 2009)

Oryan77 said:


> Eternal Boundary is great. I've run it 3 times
> 
> I also really like Fires of Dis. That is one that never gets any attention, but I thought it had a lot of really awesome roleplaying opportunities. So far, for a small adventure, I think it included more interesting and in depth encounters than any other adventure I've run of its size.



I agree, it's my favorite PS adventure.  It was also one of the earliest returns to Hell in 2ed.  It was a lot of goodness (well, you know what I mean) wrapped in one adventure.

As far as PS and other pdfs, I'm not surprised with WotC's decision.  If they're not making money off of their own products, why allow someone else to?  Still, it does suck and it does make it difficult for folks trying to collect materials to do so without spending a boatload of money.


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## wingsandsword (Jun 13, 2009)

Shemeska said:


> (and if they do, please put out a professional quality scan of 'On Hallowed Ground' because there was never an officially made pdf of that one, just pirate copies of varying quality).




Amen.  The one pre 3e book of any edition and setting I still want, and it's nigh impossible to get, especially at a non-outrageous price.  It's the one book I'd even buy in pdf format if the quality and price were even vaguely reasonable.

As for the topic of the thread, as was said, avoid Die Vecna Die at all costs.  It was one of the last 2e products made, and takes great liberties with Planescape, Greyhawk and Ravenloft in one huge uber-crossover module.

I'd recommend For Duty and Deity, you can't beat the price: Free and Legal (Previous Edition Dungeons & Dragons Downloads).  WotC still has some 1e and 2e products for free download buried way down on the official D&D site.  It's a FR/PS crossover module, a good way to get PC's from a material world (especially the Realms) into Planescape.  If you're starting the campaign at above 1st level it could be a kickoff module.  If not it's also a good way to segue into any conventional adventures on the prime.  As a module it's okay, not exceptional, but certainly fun and playable.


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## A Passing Maniac (Jun 13, 2009)

Thanks for all the advice so far, guys.  Sounds like _Dead Gods_ and the anthologies are the things to look into, and maybe _Hellbound_, which from what I've read seems like a great resource even if I don't use the adventures in it. I'm not sure I'll have enough _time _to run all of this, though... Just how long are the big adventures like _Dead Gods_?

And fortunately, I know a Planescape fanatic who bought all or nearly all the PDFs and owns physical copies of several box sets and modules, so I don't need to worry about shelling out tons of money for them. Hooray for saving hundreds of dollars!


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## Zaukrie (Jun 13, 2009)

For PS fans, send me a PM or email. My very local half price books gets some guys collection every few months. Right now, every DArk Sun book/box set appears to be at the half price.

Mail rates just went up, so I'll not buy for you unless you pay my price plus shipping (I need no profit).


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## Ginnel (Jun 13, 2009)

wingsandsword said:


> Amen. The one pre 3e book of any edition and setting I still want, and it's nigh impossible to get, especially at a non-outrageous price. It's the one book I'd even buy in pdf format if the quality and price were even vaguely reasonable.
> .



 *stares at his copies of hallowed ground* the only bad thing I have to say about it is I would have liked more pictures of the gods themselves, but having said that the dam thing is pretty dam jam packed as it is 
I've ran the Eternal Boundary (with slight modification of course) that seemed fairly fun, nuts I've got the DM'ing itch again.


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## TarionzCousin (Jun 14, 2009)

avin said:


> Just don't run Die Vecna Die.



I hear that's not officially Planescape anyway.


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## Shemeska (Jun 14, 2009)

TarionzCousin said:


> I hear that's not officially Planescape anyway.




*makes the Elder Sign*

Speak not its name, lest it gain power from the invocation.


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## Mikaze (Jun 14, 2009)

I didn't even know The Vecna, The touched on Planescape until 3E rolled around.  One bullet dodged, I suppose.

I've got a soft spot for Harbinger House, and one of the aftermath possibilities wound up permanently in my homebrew.  I _wish_ I had been able to run Hellbound and the Modron March.  Heck, just part of the March would have been fine.


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## Orius (Jun 14, 2009)

The only two Planescape modules I have are Something Wild and Hellbound.  Never ran them, so I can't really comment.  I also have the For Duty and Deity .pdf around somewhere.  I guess they're both okay, haven't taken a look at Wild in quite a while, but I don't remember it being lame.  Hellbound is pretty good, but if you think the Blood War was always lame, you won't like it.  Some people hate the end result of Squaring the Circle, but it did give the PCs the chance to affect the setting in a big way.  I was never a big module buyer, only have a handful of 2e modules, and never bought any 3e ones.



Shemeska said:


> I shelled out three figures for an unopened _Hellbound_ set (though that's a story that involved me getting into an unknowing bidding war on Ebay with one of my players who didn't know my ebay name and was bidding on what he wanted to give me for a birthday present).




Ouch.  If Hellbound is that popular, I'm glad I bought it when it was new.



> (and if they do, please put out a professional quality scan of 'On Hallowed Ground' because there was never an officially made pdf of that one, just pirate copies of varying quality).




Hmm, I have On Hallowed Ground, and it's probably my least favorite PS product.  I think it's because I was expecting it to be a PS-themed update of Legends and Lore and I was very dissappointed with it, because it's almost 100% fluff.  Some of it's ok cause it gives a lot of background on planar cosmology and who the gods interact, but I don't think I've ever made much real use out of it.


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## Henrix (Jun 14, 2009)

Shemeska said:


> I shelled out three figures for an unopened _Hellbound_ set




Yeah, I managed to get it 'cheap', I don't know how, really. I think it was one of the lowest prices in a long time, and it still was U$50.

I got lucky on the Planes of Conflict, in that I found one without a box (still almost pristine books) for very little.


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## wingsandsword (Jun 14, 2009)

Orius said:


> Hmm, I have On Hallowed Ground, and it's probably my least favorite PS product.  I think it's because I was expecting it to be a PS-themed update of Legends and Lore and I was very dissappointed with it, because it's almost 100% fluff.  Some of it's ok cause it gives a lot of background on planar cosmology and who the gods interact, but I don't think I've ever made much real use out of it.



Oddly enough, the same reasons you don't like it are the reasons that other people like it.

It's very fluff heavy with almost no crunch, which makes it pretty edition-independent, and while some D&D deity books are swimming in stats for gods and avatars (3e Deities and Demigods being the worst offender, but most books doing this to some degree) in all my years of DMing and playing I've never seen those stats actually get hauled out onto the gaming table and used.  

Planescape materials generally were of the mindset that in direct combat mortal vs. deity = mortal automatically loses and no stats are needed.  Now a Epic level PCs armed with greater artifacts and extremely well prepared vs. a demigod could be _theoretically_ possible and might make for a good campaign-ending final battle, but for stats you'd only need once in a campaign (and even then, probably not that often) and could (and probably should) be customized for the campaign there is no need to fill precious sourcebook space with it.

On Hallowed Ground is so cool (IMO) because it's a huge honking book of pretty much pure fluff about loads of deities and pantheons, and it had that gigantic index in the back of every deity from every D&D world sorted by portfolio and alignment.


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## Orius (Jun 15, 2009)

That's not quite my angle.  I'm okay with the fact that the book doesn't have Thor's AC and hp; I had no problem with the 2e approach that the gods should be above and beyond what the players could fight except under VERY unusual circumstances.

My problem was that I wanted the spheres for the various mythological gods because by the time I got into D&D and Planescape, Legends and Lore was out of print.  I was hoping the book would have that information but it didn't.  Well, it's not an issue anymore, since I can just go here and get an .rtf of the text.  So yeah, it's still entertaining reading, but there's a practical side of me that doesn't like spending money on game products I'm not getting much use out of in my games.


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## Thanael (Jun 15, 2009)

Dragonbait said:


> I'd reccomend _For Duty and Diety_, a FR adventure that takes place in the planes and is designed for Planescape characters, too.




This one is even available for free as a pdf at WotC' Previous Edition Dungeons & Dragons Downloads.

Edit: O well, shoulda read the thread first.


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## Ruined (Jun 15, 2009)

I agree with most of the posts here in regards to Dead Gods and other mods. I love Eternal Boundary - hands down my favorite. I don't enjoy Infinite Staircase and Modron March as much, but their beauty is that they're compilations, so you can pick and choose which ones to use.  Well of Worlds was the same way.

I wanted to chime in about the Planar Setting boxes (Planes of Chaos, Planes of Law, Planes of Conflict).  Each one had a number of smaller vignette modules that had lots of flavor and potential. Those are great ways to display the flavor of various exotic locales.  Arsenic, the low-level adventure for the Abyss, is a personal favorite.


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## Piratecat (Jun 15, 2009)

Zaukrie said:


> I hope Modron March is good. I just found and bought a copy at half price books today.



One big caution about the Great Modron March: it's slightly schizophrenic in that it expects the PCs to follow the modrons around and help them, and yet the first adventure paints them as uncaring jerks who trample everything in their path. My players had no interest in helping them after that, any more than they wanted to help a flood or a forest fire. You may want to consider making them more sympathetic in order to get total buy-in.

I loved Dead Gods, of course, and (with some of the really railroady elements removed) loved Harbinger House as well.


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## Piratecat (Jun 15, 2009)




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## Zil (Jun 15, 2009)

Orius said:


> Hmm, I have On Hallowed Ground, and it's probably my least favorite PS product.  I think it's because I was expecting it to be a PS-themed update of Legends and Lore and I was very dissappointed with it, because it's almost 100% fluff.  Some of it's ok cause it gives a lot of background on planar cosmology and who the gods interact, but I don't think I've ever made much real use out of it.



That's funny.  Of all the Planescape books, I think I referred to "On Hallowed Ground" the most of any of them during the Planescape games I ran.  I think it's probably because I ran a lot of adventures that involved the various powers and their realms and found "On Hallowed Ground" as a good reference and inspiration for that.  

After "On Hallowed Ground", the PS reference I drew on the most for inspiration was probably "The Factol's Manifesto".   

If I had to pick just one of those two books, I'd probably go with the Factol's Manifesto because it captures much of what I think is the core spirit of Planescape.


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## lin_fusan (Jun 15, 2009)

I will echo other people and say all of the modules are good except for 'Deva Spark' which was not only cheesy, but did relegate the PCs into secondary characters. 

'Doors to the Unknown' is interesting in that it has an incredible hook, but goes in a different direction that is almost a little disappointing. 

'Tales of the Infinite Staircase' is very sandboxy, which might be a problem, because there are a couple of adventures that really don't have anything to do with the main plot, and PCs might get the feeling that they are wandering around lost. I sometimes felt that each adventure should have been more tightly related to the main plot.

I love 'The Great Modron March' but only ran a couple of adventures. I echo a previous poster that said the adventures assume you will help them, but what if the PCs are Chaotic and want to hinder Law?

'Dead Gods' is great for the epicness.

I've used bits and pieces of 'Faction War'. 

I wished I have been able to use the other adventures...


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## Oryan77 (Jun 15, 2009)

Since we're showing off modrons, I'll show off mine


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## Southern Oracle (Jun 15, 2009)

I will second the votes for _The Great Unknown, Harbinger House, The Great Modron March, Dead Gods, _and _Faction War._  I'm currently on the 8th year of my online campaign that encompasses those last three modules.

I'd also like to recommend "Umbra" from _Dungeon_ magazine #55 (by Chris Perkins), _The Vortex of Madness and Other Planar Perils _(by Chris Pramas),and _The Harrowing_ from _Dungeon_ magazine #84 (by Monte Cook).  The latter two are not official Planescape products, but they are planar adventures that have the scope and complexity that do the Planescape setting justice.


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## EP (Jun 16, 2009)

Fires of Dis is the hands down choice for me, although Dead Gods and Faction War were pretty sweet. I still keep a copy of Dis on the desk to flip through when writing my own adventures. It was the first adventure I had read (as DM) where everything was accounted for and there were so many behind-the-scenes events going on to keep the players in line or have it all make sense.


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## Tzarevitch (Jun 16, 2009)

"Dead Gods" is the gold standard. It is epic in scope and fun to play and run. It is easily one of the best adventures I have ever run. "Harbinger House" is quite good too as is "Tales from the Infinite Staircase." 

The long adventure in the Hellbound boxed set was good and epic in scope but it doesn't work in 4e as demons and devils don't do that anymore. You need to rework the premise of the adventure but the adventure itself is good.

"Something Wild" was subpar. "Doors to the Unknown" is very good in the beginning, but the ending was a severe letdown (I'd replace the bad guy with something workable.) 

I wasn't too fond "Faction War" but that is more of a personal thing. The adventure itself wasn't bad. "Eternal Boundary" or whatever it is called, and "Fires of Dis" were ok. 

"The Great Modron March" had some interesting bits but it really didn't make much sense over all. I only ran it as a prelude to "Dead Gods." 

"Deva Spark" was pretty awful. Don't even pick it up. 

"Paladin in Hell" is an excellent planar adventure although it wasn't part of the Planescape setting. As a warning, the adventure starts with a railroad, and the premise of why you are sent on the mission makes no sense, but the adventure locations more than make up for it. It has easily two of the coolest advanture locations ever. Seeing my players' jaws drop when they explored the ship for the first time was priceless. 

Tzarevitch


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## Tzarevitch (Jun 16, 2009)

Piratecat said:


> One big caution about the Great Modron March: it's slightly schizophrenic in that it expects the PCs to follow the modrons around and help them, and yet the first adventure paints them as uncaring jerks who trample everything in their path. My players had no interest in helping them after that, any more than they wanted to help a flood or a forest fire. You may want to consider making them more sympathetic in order to get total buy-in.
> 
> I loved Dead Gods, of course, and (with some of the really railroady elements removed) loved Harbinger House as well.





I have to agree on the Great Modron March. My players wouldn't help them after that first adventure. 

Tzarevitch


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## Frost (Jun 17, 2009)

Another vote for "The Eternal Boundry" here.  It was the only PS module I ran, but it was an excellent introduction to the whole setting.


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## Tzarevitch (Jun 17, 2009)

Zaukrie said:


> For PS fans, send me a PM or email. My very local half price books gets some guys collection every few months. Right now, every DArk Sun book/box set appears to be at the half price.
> 
> Mail rates just went up, so I'll not buy for you unless you pay my price plus shipping (I need no profit).





That's because so many of the Dark Sun books/adventures trully sucked. And I say this as a fan of Dark Sun. The Planescape adventures tended to be of much higher quality and they show up second hand far less often. 

Tzarevitch


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## Kobold Avenger (Jun 17, 2009)

I really liked Tales of the Infinite Staircase, it's more of a module meant to spread across a campaign.  Maelost was quite an interesting and unusual place.


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