jdnd/CLAUDE.md

D&D Campaign — Planescape / Deck of Many Things

This repository contains a Planescape D&D 5e campaign being documented for publication.

Repository Structure

• Deck-of-Many-Things.md — The main campaign document (~160 pages). This is the publication manuscript.
• Everything else — Working notes, scribbles, and reference material for the campaign's current state of play. Not part of the publication.

Setting

The campaign is set in Sigil (the City of Doors) and surrounding Planescape locations, including the town of St. Parnas. It centers on the Deck of Many Things — a man named Green has been running a scheme where he recruits people to draw cards, taking a cut of wishes and gems while pawning off the risks.

Tymora, goddess of Good Luck, is watching the situation with concern. The Deck is being used far more than it historically has, and nobody knows why it isn't vanishing.

Key NPCs

• Rennick — Fraternity of Order employee (Casino Investigator & Theoretical Fortunologist). Has discovered something dangerous, is in hiding from Crow and the Xaositects. Has asked the party for help.
• Crow — An Incantifer (aberration wizard) hunting Rennick. Uses spell constructs (Fire, Divination, Movement, Defense) each with 80 HP.
• Sergei Pavel — Xaositect Bariaur Fighter LV4, also hunting Rennick. Travels with Jinn. Claims to be president of the Xaositects.
• Jinn — Xaositect Water Genasi, Sergei's companion. Doesn't know what she knows until she tries. Skills and spells randomized daily.
• Rico Sparks — Tout (information broker). Planetouched human with static electricity. Charges 5GP per conversation, first one's free.
• Lada — Halfling Priestess of Tymora, Theoretical Fortunologist. Connected to Rennick.
• Rackle — "The Punching Bag." Drew three terrible cards (Euryale, Ruin, Rogue). Lives in an abandoned watchtower near St. Parnas.
• Green — Runs the Deck of Many Things operation.
• Tom (Timon Pherenikos) — Fraternity of Order courthouse receptionist, half-Oread.
• Mr. Thorne (Darius Thorne) — Owner of Skyledge.
• Jakarta — Costume and set designer.

Key Creatures

• Sasuko-y-Saso — Beholder-kin allied with or connected to the story.
• Kekele — Aaracokra Battle Master Fighter LV5, party ally or NPC.
• Pig — A giant with three stat blocks (Sick/Recovering/Fully Healed).
• Ant colony — Worker, Soldier, and Queen ants with stat blocks.
• Goblins — A goblin crew in a casino (Grylla the priest-leader, Snurk the warlock, six goblin fighters).

Factions

• Fraternity of Order — Lawful bureaucratic faction. Rennick works for them. Known for absurd paperwork.
• Xaositects — Chaos faction. Sergei and Jinn are members. Hostile to Rennick's ability to predict random events.
• Harmonium — Law enforcement in Sigil.
• Incantifers — Powerful, dangerous wizards. Crow is one.

Working Notes (not for publication)

• Character/NPC files — crow.md, kekele.md, sasuko.md, Reggie Drum, 4th Level Fighter.md
• Session prep — Next Session.md, Rennick_s Messages_.md
• Location/encounter files — The Punching Bag.md (Rackle's story), Fraternity-Forms.md (bureaucratic props), shops.md (magic item shop inventories)
• Stat blocks — Creature Stat Blocks.md (ants, Pig, Sisters, etc.)
• Visual assets — cards/ and faded/ (Deck card images), Scrolls/ (prop scrolls as SVG/PDF), dungeon-map.svg/png, Steel-Door.png, Elar-Mossbrow.webp
• Docx files — Word versions of several markdown files

How to Help

When assisting with this campaign:

• Use D&D 5th Edition rules unless told otherwise.
• Maintain consistency with established NPCs, factions, and lore described above.
• Planescape slang is used in-world (berk, cutter, blood, the Cage, etc.).
• Stat blocks should follow the formatting conventions already used in the existing files.
• The campaign has a mix of humor (bureaucratic absurdity, quirky NPCs) and serious plot (powerful artifacts, assassination threats).
• The DM values creative, flavorful content over mechanical optimization.