D&D 5E Check Out Planescape's Table of Contents & More!

Brandes Stoddard has received a copy of Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse (which come out in two weeks!) and is posting loads of photos over on Blue Sky. You can check out his feed for the whole treasure trove--here's a look at the table of contents.

 

[Parmandur]

I am personally betting on a Big Fat Realms Campaign Setting book in the relatively near future.

I actually think the slip case format would work well for any new campaign settings they come up with, especially if they went with player facing book, GM setting guide, and adventure. "Here is this cool new world we have created AND an adventure to let you know what you are supposed to get up to there."

I agree, I think the format would better fit a brand new Settong designed with the format in mind rather than trying to cram an old Setting into it.

I suspect we will see a big splashy FR product as soon as next year: maybe a slipcase, maybe a big book...maybe a box set to put in Target shelves in the game section next to the Starter Set and Essentials Kit, lol. But, something, and soon.

 

[Demetrios1453]

By the way, I was checking up on Outlands material in 2e products. Removing 2e-specific material, the original box set has 30 pages on the Outlands, and the Player's Primer to the Outlands had 25, with much the later's info just repeating from the first (as it was player-facing and not DM-facing as in the box set), compared to 36 here. Only 7 of the 16 gate towns got coverage in the box set, and while all 16 did get coverage in the Primer, they were all less than a page, compared to 2 pages each here. And that is all with the Planescape line's much larger font and with quotes and art taking up huge swathes of page space, both of which much more than 5e does. The only place the 2e products come out ahead is with the godly realms, with both 2e products having 5 (mostly repeated) pages to the 5e's 2.

 

[Incenjucar]

If the boxed set gets new players to roughly the same spot as the first PS boxed set, it's done its job.

 

[ersatzphil]

If the boxed set gets new players to roughly the same spot as the first PS boxed set, it's done its job.

I don’t disagree, but I do think that ‘this is the core box for this line, further support is on its way” lands different than “this is probably the only product you’re going to get”.

 

[Remathilis]

If the boxed set gets new players to roughly the same spot as the first PS boxed set, it's done its job.

Barring the loss of races (the original PS box had tieflings and bariaurs) I'd agree.

 

[Demetrios1453]

By the way, I was checking up on Outlands material in 2e products. Removing 2e-specific material, the original box set has 30 pages on the Outlands, and the Player's Primer to the Outlands had 25, with much the later's info just repeating from the first (as it was player-facing and not DM-facing as in the box set), compared to 36 here. Only 7 of the 16 gate towns got coverage in the box set, and while all 16 did get coverage in the Primer, they were all less than a page, compared to 2 pages each here. And that is all with the Planescape line's much larger font and with quotes and art taking up huge swathes of page space, both of which much more than 5e does. The only place the 2e products come out ahead is with the godly realms, with both 2e products having 5 (mostly repeated) pages to the 5e's 2.

To follow up on this, Sigil and the Factions get 43 pages in the original 2e set, compared to 45 here, and that's with, again, 2e's larger font.

 

[Parmandur]

I don’t disagree, but I do think that ‘this is the core box for this line, further support is on its way” lands different than “this is probably the only product you’re going to get”.

That goes beyond just Settings even: 5E has the explicit promise.in the product like that every book stands alone with the Core books, with no pressure to buy multiple products to get something functional. 2E...did otherwise.

 

[Remathilis]

I don’t disagree, but I do think that ‘this is the core box for this line, further support is on its way” lands different than “this is probably the only product you’re going to get”.

And that's going to be a permanent failing of ALL D&D settings when compared to the Glut: WotC figured out there is more money in making D&D supplements than in making Eberron supplements or Planescape Supplements. Every supplement book has diminishing returns as it becomes more niche/specialized, and while it might have been nice to have focused books or box sets detailing a particular topic, few players could afford that sort of collection unless they were heavily invested in the setting, a collector, or a completist. (I've tried to support a few different setting lines in my day, and I never could afford to complete any of them and still buy core/generic supplements).

 

[ersatzphil]

And that's going to be a permanent failing of ALL D&D settings when compared to the Glut: WotC figured out there is more money in making D&D supplements than in making Eberron supplements or Planescape Supplements. Every supplement book has diminishing returns as it becomes more niche/specialized, and while it might have been nice to have focused books or box sets detailing a particular topic, few players could afford that sort of collection unless they were heavily invested in the setting, a collector, or a completist. (I've tried to support a few different setting lines in my day, and I never could afford to complete any of them and still buy core/generic supplements).

The only part of this approach that truly bums me out is the art direction: Dark Sun and Planescape felt truly different than a Forgotten Realms game, in no small part because of DiTerlizzi and Brom's visions for those worlds. Van Richtens and Rising from the Last War are both very solid books, but they feel expressly like D&D books rather than a Ravenloft book and an Eberron book. I get why that's a good move for the brand, but I do pine for the old approach.

 

[Remathilis]

The only part of this approach that truly bums me out is the art direction: Dark Sun and Planescape felt truly different than a Forgotten Realms game, in no small part because of DiTerlizzi and Brom's visions for those worlds. Van Richtens and Rising from the Last War are both very solid books, but they feel expressly like D&D books rather than a Ravenloft book and an Eberron book. I get why that's a good move for the brand, but I do pine for the old approach.

I completely agree, but the days where D&D literally competed against itself needed to end.