http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Chapter1.jpg
[[caption-width:900:You could probably panic a little bit and still be okay.]]

->''This is Planescape Survival Guide, a rousing tale of grand heroism and gallant deeds in a-- okay, you got me. They're [[IdiotHero mostly incompetent]]. But! They are trying to [[SaveTheWorld save the Multiverse]] from [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt utter destruction]].''
-->--'''From the FAQ'''

That's [[http://planescapecomic.com/index.html Planescape Survival Guide]], written and drawn by Travers "Swiftbow" Jordan, in a nutshell.

The "they" in the above quote is actually referring to two separate groups - one an unfortunate band of [[ForgottenRealms Faerunian]] adventurers with a tendency to leap before they look, the other a newly-partnered team of planar travelers swept off their feet into Multiversal politics... and deeper plots. Along the way there's a bunch of evil dark dwarves and a [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness cult of black-robed madmen]] trying to bring about [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The End Of The Multiverse As We Know It]] and a team of [[BloodKnight followers of the]] [[ReligionOfEvil God of Murder]] [[PsychoForHire in it for the killin']] tagging along for the ride. Oh yeah, and there's a [[PollyWantsAMicrophone owl narrator]], a [[CloudCuckooLander halfling who can't stop talking long enough to register reality]], and a [[ChosenOne blue beholder with a secret he doesn't even know]] somewhere along the way.

The art isn't the greatest out there, and the update schedule makes "erratic" look like an understatement, but (most of the time) the story makes up for it.




!Tropes in Planescape Survival Guide

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: BIG TIME with [[spoiler:Aoskar and The Lady of Pain]] as [[spoiler:The Eldest and The Elder]]. Also with [[spoiler:Jergal, [[ForgottenRealms Faerunian]] Demigod of Fate and seneschal of the God of Death, being changed from a loyal scribe to grasping for his ancient abandoned power as a Greater Deity.]]
* AnAxeToGrind: Railah weilds a double-ended axe one-handed, with a longsword in the other. [[{{Badass}} Yeah.]]
* ArtEvolution: The art may not be the best in the world, but the latest strips are an extreme improvement from the first few chapters. ESPECIALLY the TalkingHeads strips. It's visibly obvious that Swift has improved over the duration.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The three sacred items of Aoskar. [[spoiler:They can survive being pulled into the Nothing, which can unmake ''planes''.]]
* AxCrazy: Vec Trasden.
* {{Badass}}: If we haven't made it clear enough yet, '''Railah'''.
* BlackMagicianGirl: Elera.
* BloodKnight: The Cyricists, especially Vec. Also Sarn and Railah.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: A few of the early strips - confined to the first few chapters - have panels showing a bunch of people around a table, obviously playing the story as a D&D campaign.
* ChosenOne: Tchick. He doesn't quite know for what... [[spoiler:And apparently acquiring one of the ArtifactsOfDoom and wearing it for a while qualifies [[TheLoonie Milny]] for the title as well. Gods save us all.]]
* ClothingDamage: Tends to happen to Elera.
* CloudCuckooLander: Milny.
* CoolGate: The teleportation pentagram in Chapter One. On the other hand, it goes to Hell...
* CoolShades: Jerak.
* CrossPlayer: There are three people in the original Sigil party - Torin, Elera, and Talanard. In the BreakingTheFourthWall strips that show the players behind the story, there are four male characters around the table, one obviously being the DM. Whoever is playing Elera dings the trope meter, [[DrinkingGame take a shot]].
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: One for most of the main characters.
** Jerak's charging into Dolrak's courtroom wearing sunglasses and toting an uzi.
---> Jerak: ''Now Dolrak, put down the Balor and say hello to my little friend.''
** Railah [[spoiler:slaughtering all but four of the denizens of Olympus singlehandedly - Good and Evil alike - before The Youngest shows up to stop her... and STILL going toe-to-toe with [[PhysicalGod HER]] before backup finally makes her opt for a tactical retreat.]]
* CuteWitch: Not at first, but pretty accurate once the PaperThinDisguise is broken.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: It's becoming increasingly more obvious that to stop The Nothing, the heroes [[spoiler:are going to have to defeat, obstruct, or otherwise stop [[TheGrimReaper Jergal-Possessed Railah]] '''''AND''''' [[PowersThatBe The Elder/The Lady of Pain herself]]. They might have [[HaveYouSeenMyGod The Eldest]] and [[PhysicalGod The Youngest]] along to help... maybe. Maybe not.]]
* DirtyOldMan: Guess.
* DoomedHometown: Probably played to garner some sympathy for Milny. Doesn't really work.
* DualWielding: Vec Trasden dual-wields twin rapiers in true dervish style, but that pales horribly in comparison to [[{{Badass}} Railah's death-dancing with a longsword in one fist and a]] ''[[AnAxeToGrind double-ended axe]]'' [[{{Badass}} in the other.]]
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:Railah, a former battle priestess of Cyric, is possessed by the dark god of Fate Jergal as his pawn and puppet in his scheme to unmake the Multiverse.]]
* EarthThatWas: The Firstworld is quite obviously our Earth, with the alternate trope that it has been abandoned by magic and the Gods rather than reduced to uninhabitability. It's VERY difficult to reach, but Jerak has managed... and fell in love immediately with sunglasses and automatic weapons.
* EldritchAbomination: One appears when a portal to The Far Plane is opened in Dolrak the Arcanoloth's castle.
* EvilLaugh: Glowy red rocks don't have to breathe.
* EvilSorcerer: Merrel and the Black Robes are an entire cult of them. Also Delia and the Duergar mage whose name I cannot recall.
* EyepatchOfPower: Sarn Kellfrock.
* FluffyTheTerrible: Fred the Dragon.
* ForgottenRealms: Half the main characters on both sides are from Faerun's Dalelands region, specifically the area around Shadowdale. It doesn't take long to get the whole team planeswalking, though.
* FruitCart: Parodied - finding Tchick's conjured apples littering the road, Elera and Torin assume they came from a spilled cart.
* FunWithAcronyms: More people know Eldon as "DOM" - Dirty Old Man - than by his actual name. (Troper included, had to look up the real name on the cast page...)
* GargleBlaster: Balor Ale! Poor Talanard...
* GoodAngelBadAngel: DOM has them. Unfortunately, they're not very different... Good Angel is just better spoken.
* HalfHumanHybrids: Elera is a Fire Genasi (half-Fire Elemental, her father's an Efreet), Torin is an Aasimar (part Celestial), and of course Talanard and Twag are Half-Elves.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod: Aoskar [[spoiler:AKA The Eldest]], with good reason - he's been dead, killed by The Lady of Pain, for some time. [[spoiler:Though it looks like he [[IGotBetter might be getting better.]]]] Also, according to the MysteriousInformant in the Prologue, Cyric - the patron God of all the [[PsychoForHire Psychos For Hire]] - is apparently ''also'' dead, and their powers are being provided by another source [[spoiler:probably [[TheGrimReaper Jergal]].]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Talanard was a Black Robe at some point in the past. (Maybe it would be MookFaceTurn as well, given the one-shot life expectancy of Black Robes...)
* HornyDevils: The Succubi in Jerak's caravan are pretty standard, save Winnie. And Milny, even in her pseudo-Succubus shapechange, is too busy being Milny to even try being seductive.
* IndyPloy: Starts with Telv and Tommy 5, and spreads like the plague from there.
--> DOM: ''So we need a strategy.''
--> Telv: ''BORING! Want to do something stupid with me?''
--> Tommy 5: ''You know it!''
* InstrumentOfMurder: Telv's steel-plated banjo. '''DULCET TONES!'''
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Milny gets turned into a semi-Succubus when she puts on an ancient artifact.
* KillItWithFire: Elera.
* KnightTemplar: The Harmonium Guard and the Mercykillers are the traditional Planescape examples, amusingly parodied when a NON-KnightTemplar Harmonium - Larry the Tiefling Paladin - is arrested and [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment hung upside-down from the wall]] for suggesting that Tchick might ''not'' be responsible for the destruction of the city block where he was found unconscious.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Talanard.
* LeeroyJenkins: The first of many gets Tommy 5 killed.
* MagicKnight: Delia.
* MagnificentBastard: Merrel has the potential, if he could only pull off a XanatosGambit or two. Railah, on the other hand, takes the title and spikes it in the endzone with the power of [[{{Badass}} sheer and unadulterated awesomeness.]] [[spoiler:It helps that she's [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by [[TheGrimReaper Jergal]], a former Greater Deity who [[XanatosRoulette put the whole scheme into motion]].]]
* MeaningfulName: Archimedes.
* {{Mooks}}: Pretty much every Black Robe except Merrel dies in one hit.
* MoreDakka: One of the best things Jerak picked up from his time on the Firstworld.
* MysteriousInformant: "The Info Imp" and the nameless Black Robe from the prologue.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Where to '''start!??'''
* NobleDemon: Jerak, Grull, and Winnie don't convince much of anyone that they're merchandising for the Forces of Darkness.
* NurseJenny: The Tommys. Same look, same mentality, same Full Plate And Long Sword... same tendency to be the first and only to die. Though that may not be their real names, just the one that Gerand and Telv label them as soon as they meet.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Fred is an Orange Dragon - not the kind you'd find in an expansion book or 3rd party package, but rather the crossbreed of a male Red and a female Gold.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Appears to be Subverted at first - the Duergar (Dark Dwarves) worship [[spoiler:Jergal, ex-God of Death and Fate and master of The Nothing]], rather than their normal [[ForgottenRealms Faerun]] racial deities. Once you get past that, though, there's not much different about them: they still guzzle alcohol like water and live for a good scuffle (even the [[SquishyWizard mage]]).
** I should point out, though, that Sarn isn't Scottish. (Thanks to his eyepatch, he's forced to [[TalkLikeAPirate talk more like a pirate]].)
* OurElvesAreBetter: Mostly averted - the elves and half-elves are pretty typical to D&D standards - but played straight with Meleras, the AffablyEvil Drow Ranger who still worships Lloth but is also willing to work with other races. [[spoiler:The fate of the Multiverse at the mouth of The Nothing is ''that bad''.]]
* PaintingTheFourthWall: Archimedes's narration bubbles, for one.
* PalsWithJesus: The main characters are pretty friendly with [[spoiler:[[PowersThatBe The Witch/The Youngest]]]], and one even ends up getting one-on-one sparring training with Thor himself. Not a bad deal.
* PaperThinDisguise: The Crazy Witch is [[spoiler:The Youngest]] with a hairstyle tweak, a funny hat, and a very slightly longer nose. [[spoiler:The Lady of Pain isn't fooled.]]
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Elera - when she's pissed - and Delia - all the time. Oh and Merrel too, for being the guy who takes out city blocks in a fit of rage.
* PollyWantsAMicrophone: Archimedes. Likely the most intelligent character in the cast...
* PsychoForHire: The Cyricists again. And the Duergar. Also a couple of the heroes have moments...
* PunctuationShaker: Frd'gl'fn'd'pq'zter. He goes by "Fred" for a reason.
--> Findellinia: ''It's in the traditional tongue of our ancient race!''
--> Goronkodar: ''It's unpronounceable.''
* RebelliousPrincess: Elera.
* RedShirt: The Tommys.
* ReligionOfEvil: Varlan and Vec (and supposedly Delia) worship Cyric, God of Lies and Murder, and the Duergar worship [[spoiler:Jergal, former God of Fate, Death, and Oblivion who is looking to reclaim his Greater Deity status then [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt unmake the Multiverse via The Nothing]].]]
* RuleOfThree: It's Planescape, what did you expect?
* RunawayBride: Elera ''again''. The two go hand in hand, expectedly.
* ScheduleSlip: The most common comment in the chatbox on the front page: "It's been (random time amount, usually two weeks to a month)... Where's the next comic?"
* TakenForGranite: Silly Black Robes. Tee hee!
* TalkativeLoon: '''MILNY.'''
* TalkingHeads: Some of the early, black and white strips are nothing but this. Thankfully it stops around Chapter Two.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Milny by a country mile.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: We figure Destiny must be either drunk or high.
* TheCavalry: The paladins showing up in the prologue to chase off the Cyricists. Their troops never show up again, as the story quickly leaves [[ForgottenRealms Faerun]] and moves on to the {{Planescape}}.
* TheMultiverse: It's {{Planescape}}. It's everywhere. And it's about to be eaten by...
* TheNothingAfterDeath: It could very well be lifted straight from the pages of the NeverendingStory, it is so close. Obviously inspired or suggested by it, at the very least... and that fact is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the first chapter.
* TheScrappy: Milny when she's first introduced. [[spoiler:Later chapters she becomes ''slightly'' less annoying, and her recent upgrade to ChosenOne seems to be intended to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap Rescue Her From The Scrappy Heap]].]]
* ToHellAndBack: Thanks to Talanard jumping on an active pentacle.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Telv is actually more of a sociopathic Chaotic Neutral, but he fits.
--> DOM, Gerand, Twag: ''It was '''EVIL!'''''
--> Telv: ''Pretty nifty! Er, I mean, '''EVIL!'''''
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Talanard is terrified of the Blood River. Thanks to LaserGuidedAmnesia, he doesn't know '''why''', but he is.
* XanatosRoulette: [[spoiler:Jergal gave his Phenomenal Cosmic Powers up to Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul years ago, apparently with the plan to steal them all back in the future and fuel his scheme to Unmake the Multiverse. [[JustifiedTrope He gets away with this nigh-impossibility]] because he's the God of Fate and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
* YourMileageMayVary: A lot of Planescape fans might not be very fond of the story's penchant for extreme AlternateCharacterInterpretation.





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