Even though the TSR sponsored Planescape events at GenCon are rather sparse (especially after the one seminar on the subject was cancelled), a few hardy DMs run Planescape events. One fairly regular offering has been two or three games run by the folks at Game Base 7. Having gone through Planescape withdrawal this past year, I decided to give one of the events a try.

I will admit that I was going in with slightly lowered expectations. I had heard bad things in the past about Planescape events run by GB7. However, I hadn`t heard any specific reasons as to why the games were supposed to be bad. So, I figured I`d risk disappointment and boredom by joining one of the games. I am happy to say that the event was not as bad as I`d been led to believe. Unfortunately, I can`t say that it was a stellar performance, either.

One thing that didn`t measure up to my (admittedly high and demanding) standards were the pre-generated characters. Not a single one was planar in any way. No planar races, no faction allegiances, not even anything planar in their short histories. Essentially, they were just mid-level primes who happened to be in Sigil and were supposed bloods.

Something I found out after the game started was that I could have brought a character of my own creation into it - this was not specifically mentioned in the overview in the event book. A couple people had taken advantage of this and did have true planar characters (one githzerai and one bariaur). Overall, I found it odd that a Planescape game didn`t come with Planescape characters.

The other was the game itself. While it did take place in Sigil and feature a few planar creatures (an alu-fiend) and locations (The Golden Bariaur Inn), it seemed to be a bit lacking in Planescape-ness somehow. The plot seemed rather mundane. However, I suspect that most of this impression came from the fact that this was a two-part event. The first half took place in Sigil, while the latter half took place on a layer in the Abyss. I did qualify to go to the second round, but since it started at the same time as The Big Announcement, I didn`t attend.

Overall, while it wasn`t quite up to par, I do recommend that people give the GB7 Planescape events a try. Heck, we might want to contact them ahead of time to make sure there`s enough interest for them to schedule another one or two at GenCon 2000. If there`s enough players who actually know the system, they might get around to upping the content and making these events something to really remember.