Planescape Planescape IS D&D Says Jeremy Crawford

Planescape is Jeremy Crawford's favourite D&D setting. "It is D&D", he says, as he talks about how in the 2024 core rulebook updates Planescape will be more up front and center as "the setting of settings".

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[Remathilis]

I'm more worried about the more front and centered part like they said. I do not want Planescape and Sigil to be the default setting. I understand that I can keep or skip as much as I want and I can still make my home games and play in FR if I want without using it, but I do not want to feel like I'm playing wrong if I do not want Space D&D or Visit the Gods D&D.

I think the idea isn't to turn D&D into a world/reality hopping setting (unless you want it to) but to establish certain commonalities exist through all the worlds of D&D. Not a radical or new idea, just one where they embrace that each setting is part of the greater whole rather than an isolated island.

Of course, a group can modify that as they like, just like any other part of the game.

 

[Reynard]

I’m pretty sure the first time I ever saw the word “multiverse” was in a D&D product…. in the 1980s. It’s not exactly a new thing for D&D. And it’s definitely in the the current 5E core rulebooks.

The product was probably a Dragon Magazine and the context was probably a Palladium games ad...

 

[Maxperson]

My particular beef with Planescape is that it is the only oversetting. Doesn’t matter where you start from, as soon as you go into the planes, you MUST play Planescape. As @Remalthilis said, everyone meets in that bar in Sigil.

If you don’t actually like the Planescape stuff, DnD is really sparse on the ground for planar adventuring.

Yeah. That's why they need to make a Manual of the Planes. Then you can use the planar information in a cosmology of your own choosing and run more detailed planar adventures.

I don't agree that Planescape is the only oversetting, though, and you touch on it below.

But I’ve got Spelljammer, which I can use to do the same thing and not have to worry about incorporating a bunch of lore I happen not to like.

When 2e Spelljammer came out and I was doing my first read through, I instantly thought to myself, "I can use this instead of planar travel and connect everything." I believe that was the intent or part of the intent of the setting. You can use it as a different oversetting or incorporate it, whichever you choose.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah. That's why they need to make a Manual of the Planes. Then you can use the planar information in a cosmology of your own choosing and run more detailed planar adventures.

I don't agree that Planescape is the only oversetting, though, and you touch on it below.

When 2e Spelljammer came out and I was doing my first read through, I instantly thought to myself, "I can use this instead of planar travel and connect everything." I believe that was the intent or part of the intent of the setting. You can use it as a different oversetting or incorporate it, whichever you choose.

Spelljammer was intended to connect the worlds of D&D in a fun way. Planescape was designed to make the existing connections easier and more fun to play. Both were cool and worthwhile in my book.

 

[AnotherGuy]

My particular beef with Planescape is that it is the only oversetting. Doesn’t matter where you start from, as soon as you go into the planes, you MUST play Planescape. As @Remalthilis said, everyone meets in that bar in Sigil.

If you don’t actually like the Planescape stuff, DnD is really sparse on the ground for planar adventuring.

But I’ve got Spelljammer, which I can use to do the same thing and not have to worry about incorporating a bunch of lore I happen not to like.

So I guess that’s a win for everyone.

Although I get your frustration, from a practical PoV, do you believe WotC should have treated the Planescape oversetting like it did it's material plane settings and create competition? As it did with Greyhawk, FR, Dragonlance, Mystara etc.

 

[Azzy]

Also, while I'm largely indifferent to published settings, it seems to me that, as a matter of storytelling, the possibilities that WotC is closing off by limiting themselves to a single cosmology massively outweigh those they open by connecting more settings to that cosmology.

WotC didn't start the fire—It was always burning, since the Wheel's been turning.... TSR started that one a long time ago.

 

[Echohawk]

The product was probably a Dragon Magazine and the context was probably a Palladium games ad...

A search of the Dragon magazine archive indicates a first use of "multiverse" in The Politics of Hell in Dragon #28 (August 1979). But the Players Handbook used it more than a year before that (June 1978) in Appendix IV: The Known Planes of Existence (page 120). I can't find it used anywhere in a D&D source before the PHB.

Edit: The first Palladium advert in Dragon (based on a quick search) seems to be in issue #73 (May 1983).

 

[Echohawk]

That's why they need to make a Manual of the Planes.

Given how Spelljammer essentially treats Wildspace systems as Astral locations (i.e. like planes) and given the lack of much/any information about specific systems (Greyspace, Clusterspace, etc.) in the Spelljammer set, I would not be entirely surprised if, instead of a Manual of the Planes, we get a Manual of the Multiverse which covers a mixture of planes and wildspace systems.

 

[Reynard]

A search of the Dragon magazine archive indicates a first use of "multiverse" in The Politics of Hell in Dragon #28 (August 1979). But the Players Handbook used it more than a year before that (June 1978) in Appendix IV: The Known Planes of Existence (page 120). I can't find it used anywhere in a D&D source before the PHB.

Edit: The first Palladium advert in Dragon (based on a quick search) seems to be in issue #73 (May 1983).

That's a lot of research to shoot down a joke.

 

[Echohawk]

That's a lot of research to shoot down a joke.

I didn't intend to detract from the joke. I should rather have replied to Morrus's post. Sorry!