Part 1: Schemes in Sigil

The first chapter as written provides a nice introduction to the multiversal glitch and ends with a great reveal of Sigil.

The second chapter is designed to let the characters explore Sigil. It provides a few hooks and some prebuilt encounters, but it’s mostly diversionary from the central mystery of who the characters are and how they got here. Overall the chapter is light on details and requires some amount of DM prep and investment out of the box. We may as well tighten the campaign screws while we’re at it.

Before we get into the weeds let’s talk about adventure structure.

Railroads, Sandboxes, and Funnels

The prevailing sentiment in RPGs is that railroading is bad and sandboxes are good. I get it. We’ve all been there where we felt like we were acting out a predetermined story with only one reasonable choice. It feels constricting and invalidates a lot of choices that came before in the campaign.

I’ve also been in open world sandboxes without clear direction, no overwhelming pressure from the plot, and only a handful of vague clues to go on. Players get lost, and DMs often have to do extra legwork to get the players unstuck and back on the main plot. That can feel unheroic at best and in its worst form as if it doesn’t matter what you decide in the grand arc of the adventure.

While railroading can limit player choice, and a sandbox may leave players adrift, a structured funnel approach can balance agency with momentum.

Structure as Written

Let’s take a look at the broad structure of Turn of Fortune’s Wheel Part One: Schemes in Sigil.

The characters awaken in the Mortuary with the imperative that they need to solve the mystery of their glitch. They escape and meet Parisa in the midst of Sigil. She presents them with a list of unfocused options, but nothing related to their main quest. After a few scenarios the Harmonium pounces on the characters. They’re reminded of their multiversal glitch, and then Farrow conveniently herds them to Fortune’s Wheel.

This is the worst of both worlds. A clear railroad with a big pile of quicksand in the middle. The individual Sigil Encounters are interesting and flavorful, but this is setting up the characters to lose the thread.

Revised Structure

What we need is a good funnel with some clear clues to drive the players and give them a sense of momentum. That means we need to really beef up the Encounters in Sigil. I’m using pieces of the main adventure and some inspiration from Planescape lore to create a mystery that the characters will uncover that ties into the main plot. Here’s a glance at the new structure.

Backstory: A Little Cross-Trade

Beyond deceiving the modrons, the characters are deeply involved in the rest of Shemeska’s scheme. They are a resourceful bunch, otherwise Shemeska wouldn’t have hired them. One of the first tasks she gave them was to arm the devils that were sent to corrupt the Outlands. The characters are the only tie pointing back to Shemeska. They were supposed to be dead, but (in her eyes) at least their memories are corrupted.

There’s a triumvirate of power players in the commerce of Sigil: Shemeska, the King of the Cross-Trade and fixer extraordinaire; Zadara, an independently wealthy and influential investor; and Estavan, a merchant lord and head of the Planar Trade Consortium. They are often at odds in their dealings, but sometimes one of them thinks they have leverage over the others and indirectly works with them.

Enter Koe, a celestial who is selling weapons and magic to both sides of the Blood War. He believes he can accelerate the war and weaken the armies of devils and demons to the point of collapse. In the meantime Koe uses his arms dealing profits to repair the damage where the Blood War spills over from the outer planes.

Knowing all of this, Shemeska arranged for shipments of celestial weapons to be diverted from the Abyss and the Nine Hells and sent to the Outlands. There she and Gargauth empower devils and yugoloths loyal to the up and coming demon prince to tip the scales of the Blood War in his favor.

Shemeska used the characters to execute this scheme:

• Koe procures celestial weapons from Elysium and Mount Celestia with Zadara backing him as a silent investor. Spiral Hal’oight, an aasimar and Koe’s right hand, takes care of his dirty work.
• Tripicus, a scholarly ursinal and member of the Mind’s Eye, alters the enchantments on the celestial weapons using fiendish ichor so that devils may wield them against demons and other foes.
• Spiral hands the weapons over to the Planar Trade Consortium, who falsifies the manifests and quietly smuggles them to the Outlands.
• Additionally the characters are releasing fiends from Curst and smuggling them to the gate towns. There they spread Gargauth’s influence across the Outlands.

The characters’ prior incarnations cut all of these deals. Koe and Zadara don’t know where the weapons are really going. Estavan doesn’t know his rival Zadara is profiting. Once the characters were “eliminated” there was no one left to know Shemeska was behind all of it. If one of the power players figured out a piece of it they wouldn’t have the whole story.

The Players

Each character was involved in the scheme. I’m suggesting the following roles that I’ll refer to in future hooks. Feel free to adjust these descriptions or plot ties based on how your party is built and their backstories.

• The Fixer. This is the charismatic negotiator that had the list of contacts a mile long. They worked out the deal with Spiral.
• The Arcanist. They were knowledgeable about arcane matters and/or demonology. They prepared the fiendish ichor.
• The Procurer. This character always “knew a guy” who could come up with hard to find things and less than legal services. They had the primary contact with Tripicus.
• The Smuggler. They knew how to move items and creatures in and out of places without being detected, and they were the ones to set up the deal with the Planar Trade Consortium.

If there are more characters in the party it’s worth seeding some additional roles or triggered memories that can play into later plot points (the deceiver of the modrons, the strategist formulating assault plans in the Outlands, etc.).

Once they arrive in Sigil proper, the characters can follow any one of their leads to uncover pieces of the plot, find clues that point to their past, and finish it up in a conversation with Shemeska.

Now, on to Chapter One.