Starting a Planescape Campaign (PWH)

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The vastness, diversity, and new concepts of the Planescape setting present a challenge to any Dungeon Master. The first decision involves the campaign's characters: Are they all primes, all planars, or a mixed group of both? Whichever option is chosen determines, at least in part, the direction and nature of the campaign.
==Prime to Planar==
The easiest way to start a planar campaign: Take PCs from a prime world they're already familiar with and thrust them onto the planes, either as the culmination of an adventure or by happenstance (perhaps that neat-looking chunk of crystal they picked up turned out to be a portal key). This campaign depends heavily on the characters' (and players') unfamiliarity with the setting. Players learn all the new concepts as their characters do, and the DM should tailor his adventures to take advantage of both their naivete and their willingness to rush in where planars fear to tread.
Obviously, not all primes are alike. Every individual is unique, and the world of origin can greatly vary the outlook and abilities that a prime brings to the planes with him.
===Aebrynis===
Natives of the Birthright Campaign setting know virtually nothing about the planes. The full reach of the multiverse is completely beyond their experience, and so primes of this world arrive on the planes more clueless than most. At first, they can respond only with absolute surprise to the fact that the world beyond theirs encompasses so much more than they ever imagined. But rather than flee back to their insular prime world, some of them seem to forget about Aebrynis and stay to explore the planes. After all, folks of this world characteristically rule by force and by birthright, and they look upon the planes as just another domain to be won. (DMs are warned, however, that the bloodline ties to Cerilia are severed should a blooded Cerilian prime stay on the planes, and that any blood abilities should wane accordingly.)
===Athas===
The rough and rugged Athasians (from the world of the Dark Sun setting), despite their world's virtual lack of access to the planes, adapt well when they're thrust into the multiverse. As harsh as some of the planes might be, the world of Athas is almost as bad, with its lack of water, often choking air, and relentless heat. The natives take such conditions in stride and are often glad simply to have found a cooler place where they can always be assured of having enough to drink! Some take a mercantile approach and devote themselves to searching out a permanent portal back to Athas, for an Athasian who does so can quickly find himself fabulously wealthy by supplying Athas-bound natives with water and metals, two commodities rare on that world.
===Krynn===
Fact is, primes from this world (of the Dragonlance Saga) who end up on the planes just about define the clueless image, and most want nothing more than to find a way home. Somehow these addle-coves get it into their heads that all of the Outer Planes are the Abyss, and that it's pretty much all evil and dangerous. And self-involved? Even the vain berks of Tori! have nothing on the Krynn natives when it comes to self-absorption.
===Mystara===
Though Mystarans are very aware of other planes, they cling fiercely to the prime belief that their world is at the center of the multiverse. In general, they see the planes as places to visit and even explore for a bit, but not suitable places to stay.
===Oerth===
The people of this world know a little of what's beyond their own crystal sphere, but they're very afraid of it (perhaps wisely, it should be said). An open gate on Oerth (the Greyhawk campaign setting) is a bad thing, as the natives stand convinced that armies of fiends will come pouring through it eventually. Once they reach the planes, though, they're more or less willing to put those prejudices aside and can become planewalkers as adept as any planar.
===Toril===
No doubt about it, the most frequently represented world among the primes on the planes is Toril (the world of the Forgotten Realms setting). Numerous gates and portals dot this world, and many Torilians study the magics that can take them to other planes. Only the fact that they're incredibly self-involved and caught up in their own affairs keeps Realms-folk from becoming a more integral part of the planes as a whole. They can become astonishingly skilled planar travelers, but they never quite lose the conviction that Tori! stands at the center of it all, and that the planes just exist as extensions of their own world.
==Planar Natives==
Playing a prime is easy—it's just like playing any AD&D character thrust into a strange situation. But planars have lived all their lives in the strange hodge-podge of settings that comprise the planes.
Planar know a bit of the dark. Players with these characters should be familiar with most of this book, as well as whatever other material the DM lets them read. Bear in mind, though, that a planar raised on some backwater part of the Great Ring—like a berk from an isolated Outlands village or tiny Arborean burg—may have no more planar knowledge than a prime. Use the character's background to determine who she knows, what she knows, and how much of what she knows is true.
==Mixed Group==
A group made up of both planars and primes encompasses a great variety of skills and knowledges—a boon to all involved. The planars have the information and attitude, while the primes contribute a fresh perspective and can offer new insights that planars—many of whom already believe they know all the answers—might overlook.