Written by: Zachary Velcoff
This post is the last in a four-part series about the best battlemaps for the Planescape setting. In this article, we’ll review the top ten battlemaps for the Gate-Towns of the Outlands.
In case you missed them, be sure to check out the first articles in this series: Planescape: Top 10 Battlemaps for Turn of Fortune’s Wheel, Planescape: Top 10 Battlemaps for the City of Sigil, and Planescape: Top 10 Battlemaps for the Outlands.
Spaced out evenly along the rim of the Outlands disc, each of the sixteen Gate-Towns is a portal to–and a reflection of–the Outer Planes. The Gate-Towns have a philosophical and cultural affinity for the planes to which they lead, but should they ever become too similar to those planes, they risk being absorbed by them. Thus, their very existence is a balancing act; should your PCs venture to the Gate-Towns of the Outlands, their actions may tip the scale. And of course, should your PCs venture to the Gate-Towns, you’ll want battlemaps for their journey.
Although there are 16 Gate-Towns, each of which corresponds to one of the 16 Outer Planes, this is only a Top 10 list. Fret not: Czepeku battlemaps for the other 6 Gate-Towns are suggested in Planescape: Top 10 Battlemaps for Turn of Fortune’s Wheel.
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Battlemaps for the Gate-Towns!
Mountaintop Observatory
Bedlam, Gate-Town to the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, sprawls across the three tiers of a windswept crater. Its bitter and put-upon residents shout to be heard over the omnipresent gale. At the crater’s center, the tower of Sablereach grasps for the sky like a drowning titan’s arm reaching above the surface; within its ebony walls lies the Gate to Pandemonium.
Witherbeak Observatory sits atop a cliff in the Bleakheights, Bedlam's highest tier. The institute is home to meteorologists and inventors alike. Its gnome mage founder, Professor Orbys Bumblewing, is the frequent victim of both the Nimbus Knives gang and of her own wind-powered contraptions. These devices, corrupted by the evil seeping through the Gate, are a threat to all who use them. If Professor Bumblewing calls upon the party to test an invention, or to defend it from theft by the air genasi gang, or to put a stop to an experiment gone haywire, you can stage their visit to Witherbeak Observatory on the Storm Open variant of Czepeku’s Mountaintop Observatory.
Solar Cathedral
Between the bucolic hillside farms of Ecstasy, Gate-Town to the Blessed Fields of Elysium, plinths of wood, marble, and crystal rise from the fertile earth. Its Gate, a fountain of mercury atop the ivory Bone Plinth, emits a calming aura that dampens the emotions of its people. The citizens of Ecstasy, outwardly friendly and cheerful, keep any negative emotions hidden beneath the surface.
The rulers of Ecstasy are the Lightcaller, an ancient gold dragon, and the Nightwhisperer, an ancient silver dragon. The former emerges from Solrise Tower to reign over the day, and the latter from Moondark Tower to reign over the night. They've never been seen together. Mysterious stuff, eh? Should your party seek an audience with either ruler of Ecstasy, stage their meeting in Czepeku's Solar Cathedral. Use the Original Day or Sun God Ground Floor variants for Solrise Tower and the Original Night or Moon God Ground Floor variants for Moondark Tower.
Alchemy Dungeon
Fortitude, Gate-Town to the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, is a walled garden: prim and proper and symmetrical. Its beneficent but materialistic citizens agonize over appearances, valuing uniformity and order above all else. The Storm Lords, four elemental genies, guard its Gate, a green flame that burns atop a seven-stepped ziggurat.
On the second floor of Fortitude's Beehive Boutique, visitors to Doctor Goodcheer's salon are beautified outside and in. The good doctor is actually a mind flayer who drains away negative emotions from his customers for use in his secret underground lab. If a player's makeover goes awry, you can stage the party's investigation of the Beehive Boutique's basement in the Purple variant of Czepeku's Alchemy Dungeon.
Vampire Mansion
Across the Screaming Gate lies Hopeless, Gate-Town to the Gray Wastes of Hades. Its people, morose and monochromatic, live dull and drab lives under the watchful eyes of High Cardinal Thingol and her eye tyrant enforcers. Its Gate, the Wishless Well, is a pit of bubbling tar that often spills over, painting the town black and belching forth oozes and fiends.
The crumbling villa of Tomdon Manor lies on the edge of town. On eerie nights, the old estate resounds with haunting and enticing music. If the party receives a summons to a ball at Tomdon Manor, set the scene with Czepeku's Vampire Mansion. Start with the Original variant, then pivot to the Ghost variant as the spirits awaken and their danse macabre begins.
Lich Catacomb
In the shadow of Blightsteel Keep lie the crumbling streets of Plague-Mort, Gate-Town to the Infinite Layers of the Abyss. Its spiteful, treacherous citizens plot against their oppressors and each other in equal measure. Its Gate, the Pit, lies deep within Blightsteel Keep, guarded by the Hounds, demonic soldiers loyal to Plague-Mort's ruler, the bariaur Archlector Bex.
Those who run afoul of the Archlector are sentenced to be tossed into the Pit as punishment. If your party–or their allies–are sentenced to such a fate, set their daring rescue attempt on the Original Night variant of Czepeku's Lich Catacomb. Can our heroes stop the Hounds from hurling them and their friends into the howling portal to the Abyss? Find out here!
Steamy Japanese Bathhouse
At the center of the Vale of the Spine sits Ribcage, Gate-Town to the Nine Hells of Baator. Its denizens are structured into a rigid caste system in which the power-hungry climb the ranks through betrayal and cunning. Within the obsidian walls of the Citadel of Cinders lies its Gate, a pillar of flame that transports its wielders to Avernus. Rumor has it that those versed in the arcane arts can alter the pillar's composition, thereby changing its destination to another of the Hells.
Beyond the walls of Ribcage lies the Gymnasium of Steam, a volcanic spring resort where aristocrats rub shoulders with soldiers of fortune and infernal spies listen closely for any secrets that should slip from their lips. If your players seek to unwind after an arduous journey through the Vale of the Spine or from an even more arduous journey through the Nine Hells, use the Original Night variant of Czepeku's Steamy Japanese Bathhouse for their trip to the Gymnasium of Steam.
Grand Cathedral Crypt
Eight concentric octagonal walls surround the army camp of Rigus, Gate-Town to the Infinite Battlefield of Acheron. Its citizen-soldiers adhere to strict military ranks, the highest of which are the Crown Generals, six rulers who lead vast armies in campaigns across multiple worlds. Only the Crown Generals can lower Rigus's penultimate ring, a massive elevator, to the Lion's Gate. There, they march their armies into Acheron.
The highest ring of Rigus is home to the mausoleums of the Crown, where the Crown Generals reside in death–and in undeath. The most powerful of these undead generals is the fallen paladin Nagaro, whose campaign of conquest cut a swath of destruction across the world of Krynn. If the players seek an audience with General Nagaro, set it in the Molten variant of Czepeku's Grand Cathedral Crypt.
Bullywug Swamp
The buildings of Torch, Gate-Town to the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, are set into the steep sides of a trio of volcanoes that protrude from a fetid crimson swamp. The most powerful of its leery, covetous denizens belong to the Family, a secretive criminal syndicate with its fingers in every pie in town. One hundred feet above the central volcano, Maygel, the Gate to Gehenna hovers in mid-air.
If your players seek to scale the volcanic spires of Torch, they’ll first have to brave the Bloodied Marsh surrounding them. The Bloody Night variant of Czepeku’s Bullywug Swamp is perfect for this.
Overground Dwarven City Center
Tradegate, Gate-Town to the Twin Paradises of Bytopia, is a place of labor and craft, of fair trade and economic prosperity. Its citizens–artisans, merchants, and handyfolk–do business in the lodestar, a magnetic cobalt currency minted right in the middle of Tradegate. Its Gate differs from other Gate-Towns in that it is not a place but a person: the Trade Master, a white-bearded bariaur who barters with would-be travelers to determine a fair price for their transport to Bytopia.
At the center of Tradegate's five triangular districts is the Everything Emporium, a plaza of shops where oddities from across the planes can be purchased. If your players are in the market for local honey, maps of the planes, gnomish inventions, or dwarvish tools, they're likely to find it in the Everything Emporium. Set their shopping trip to this whimsical market in the Dreamland variant of Czepeku's Overground Dwarven City Center.
Chrono Chaos Ruins
In some ways, Xaos, Gate-Town to the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, feels like a microcosm of the Outlands: a place of extreme and diverse environments packed together tightly into a single town of peaks, marshes, hills, and shores. Its denizens are as varied as its terrain, with githyanki and githzerai working toward reunification in harmony, slaadi seeking hosts for their brood, and modrons engaged in futile efforts to bring order to entropy. The form and location of Xaos’ Gate are constantly mutating, but despite this, it isn’t hard to find: chaos swirls about it like a cloud of mosquitoes over a bog.
The modrons of Mechanus's latest attempt to "correct" Xaos was the Cube, a clockwork bastion of law that was to hover over–and impose order upon–the Gate-Town. Instead of influencing Xaos, however, the Cube was influenced by it. Its inner workings are now a four-dimensional dungeon of non-Euclidean geometry. If modrons recruit the party to rescue their peers from the Cube, or if our heroes venture in on their own in pursuit of treasure and glory, set their foray into the Cube on the Time Break variant of Czepeku's Chrono Chaos Ruins.
For more Planescape content, please check out the other articles in this series: