Planescape review: Sidetracked

16 Jan, 2025

For the last three years, I've run a Planescape¹ campaign through almost all of its modules. Now, after successfully finishing it, I want to look back and review these adventures, highlighting the pros and cons of each one.

Each module will be rated in three categories, up to 3 points in each:

• Presentation: how easy it is to understand and run the adventure.
• Openness: how open the adventure's scope is, regarding the freedom of choice.
• Quality: Overall quality of the adventure, including the originality and richness of its content, and players' enjoyment.

The full list of currently published reviews is available under the planescape tag.

Sidetracked

In which the modrons take an old Path on their March and stir up new Trouble for the heroes.

• Designers: Monte Cook and Colin McComb
• Source: The Great Modron March², Chapter IX
• Party: 4-6 characters of 6th-9th levels
• Play-time: 1 session
• Locations:
  • Carceri / Othrys (L1)
  • Prime / Toril / The Undermountain
  • Gehenna / Khalas (L1)

Overview

After two previous chapters of sub-par quality, this one looks promising. The modrons have already passed through Plague-Mort and Curst, disappearing into Carceri — the Red Prison plane. They didn't linger there for long, however, using some unknown portal to get to the Gray Waste. Since the portals from Carceri are rare (and most of them well guarded), a new portal sparked keen interest among the planewalkers. The party might decide to follow the March on their own or wait to get contacted by the Fraternity of Order with an offer of 1,000 gp each to get the information about this mysterious portal.

📝 NOTE: The module doesn't bother with Curst, starting directly in Carceri. So, if you want to expand upon the process of actually getting there, you can consult the Planescape Campaign Setting¹ or the Player's Primer to the Outlands³ books. There's also a small section about Curst in the second chapter of Harbinger House. As for the Carceri, this plane is detailed in the Planes of Conflict⁴ boxed set.

Upon arrival on Othrys, the party is greeted by the sight of a recent massacre where Carcerian petitioners have tried to infiltrate the Modron March in hopes of escaping the prison plane. The modrons' path soon abruptly disappears midway, where they had flown to another orb. Luckily enough, a woman in possession of a hot-air balloon is nearby to offer a ride for a fee of 200 gp. She claims to know which orb the modrons flew to and where the portal is. Aach indeed knows this, but being a member of the Revolutionary League, she plans to betray both the party and her own faction, selling the information about the portal in Sigil for her personal benefit. After an uneventful journey through the void, the characters must dive into a pit of quicksand which is the portal they've been seeking.

The ancient portal leads to the world of Toril⁵ and throws the party out into the deep levels of the Undermountain⁶ dungeon. The region described here consists of about a dozen rooms and is filled with magical wards, traps, and dangerous inhabitants. The centerpiece is the Pillar of Gates — a magical tower each section of which rotates in different directions and speeds, providing two-way portals to all Lower Planes (though only some of them are working at this point).

The dungeon is occupied by two NPCs: Cryvistin, the Master of the Gates — a vampire wizard guarding the Pillar, and Paellistra — a high-up drow priestess of Lolth. While Cryvistin is normally antagonistic on the account of his job being guarding the gates, Paellistra is generally neutral and easy-going, at least by drow standards, so she might provide some useful information if a good amount of flattery and gifts are provided by the characters.

Once the characters are done exploring the dungeon, Aach makes her move, trying to trap the party inside the Pillar of Gates (which is currently in the slow process of breaking down). If the characters act fast and smart enough to outmaneuver Aach, they can jump through the only available portal to Gehenna's first level — Khalas. Here they can either follow the River Styx and hitch a boat ride with a marraenoloth⁷ or explore the hot and sulfurous plane and encounter a pair of hydroloths⁸ who will sell them the info on the nearest portal to Sigil for a hefty price.

If Aach gets away from the party, the characters can still collect the reward if they get to Sigil first. Otherwise, she's already sold the info and even vilified the characters spreading rumors of their incompetency. In either case, if Aach is alive at the end of the module, this renegade ex-Anarchist might become an interesting enemy that DM might use at a later time.

Presentation

🖋️🖋️ useable

The only map here is of the small Undermountain's section the party explores, no grid, but the scale is included, along with the cross-section of the Pillar of Gates. Room descriptions could be better: less than half of them have a dedicated header, forcing the DM to read large sections of text to find the relevant description. As usual, the NPCs' and monsters' statblocks are properly detailed, so you won't need to consult any other sources.

Openness

☀️☀️ semi-linear

The whole first part of getting to the secret portal fits on a single page and is a quintessential railroad or, in this particular case, a hot-air balloon ride. Once the party is in the dungeon, the possibilities branch out, but it's still a relatively small region to explore. To broaden it, you can employ The Ruins of Undermountain^9,10 campaign guides and use this module as a jumpstart for a megadungeon campaign.

Quality

★★ good

A nice diversion from the usual upper-plane affairs and a nod to the classic dungeon-crawling experience, this adventure achieves what it had strived for, but otherwise is mostly unremarkable due to its short span.

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