Planescape 5 New D&D Books Coming in 2023 -- Including Planescape!

At today's Wizards Presents event, hosts Jimmy Wong, Ginny Di, and Sydnee Goodman announced the 2023 line-up of D&D books, which featured something old, something new, and an expansion of a fan favorite.

The first of the five books, Keys from the Golden Vault, will arrive in winter 2023. At Tuesday's press preview, Chris Perkins, Game Design Architect for D&D, described it as “Ocean’s Eleven meets D&D” and an anthology of short adventures revolving around heists, which can be dropped into existing campaigns.

In Spring 2023, giants get a sourcebook just like their traditional rivals, the dragons, did in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be a deep dive into hill, frost, fire, cloud, and storm giants, plus much more.

Summer 2023 will have two releases. The Book of Many Things is a collection of creatures, locations, and other player-facing goodies related to that most famous D&D magic item, the Deck of Many Things. Then “Phandelver Campaign” will expand the popular Lost Mine of Phandelver from the D&D Starter Set into a full campaign tinged with cosmic horror.

And then last, but certainly not least, in Fall 2023, WotC revives another classic D&D setting – Planescape. Just like Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, Planescape will be presented as a three-book set containing a setting guide, bestiary, and adventure campaign in a slipcase. Despite the Spelljammer comparison they did not confirm whether it would also contain a DM screen.

More information on these five titles will be released when we get closer to them in date.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Each setting could use its own range of palettes to make things a bit more cohesive without requiring different artists.

I meant that it makes the game as a whole feel cohesive if every book has a similar art style. If every setting is of a drastically different art style, to me it feels like they're too different.

 

[dave2008]

I think it waters down what makes each setting unique and removes the visual cue for what makes Planescape different from Forgotten Realms from Dragonlance. I looked at the new DL adventure and it looked like Tyranny of Dragons to me. With Halflings looking like Kender since 3e though it’s not saying much! But some settings like Dark Sun part of what defined them was their visual style. If you John Blanche or Karl Kopinski’s Warhammer designs and gave them to Jim Lee or John Byrne, two great artists, you wouldn’t have something that looks like Warhammer anymore. It looks like a totally different world. So why would you have cookie cutter art styles take those Tom Baxa, Brom and Tony D designs and render them in technically beautiful renders that does not demonstrate those worlds? You do a disservice to all the artists involved. The original artists who envisioned are lost and the new artists are judged on the old artists strong visions. You can’t have Rob Liefeld draw Sandman anymore than you can have Sam Kieth draw Youngblood and both books really be true to those characters and stories.

It, of course, depends. I didn't like Tony D's art style back in the day so it essentially made Planescape a no go for me. On the other hand, Brom really made Darksun IMO. Being visually distinct has advantages and disadvantages.

 

[dave2008]

This Deadline article:

Hasbro’s eOne U-Turn: Behind Toymaker’s Decision To Sell Indie Film & TV Studio And What’s Next For IP Slate

After more than a year and a half of development, eOne recently started shopping its high-profile Dungeons & Dragons live-action TV series. Shepherded by Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Th…

deadline.com

Summary:

Hasbro was late November's worst performer in that week's S&P 500. Most analysts are pinning the downturn on Hasbro flooding the market with way too many Magic: The Gathering set releases.

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space has also not met sales expectations, and distributors have been left with a lot of unsold inventory from the set. The poor sales of Spelljammer, exacerbated a bit by the Hadozee fiasco, contributed to Ray Winninger's ouster from WotC.

In addition to being a cost-saving move, the Deadline article attributes the move away from an in-house film & TV division with the 2021 death of Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, who was the main driver of expanding the company beyond toys and games and turning it into a TV and film powerhouse.

Goldner was replaced by Christopher Cocks, who had previously been head of Wizards of the Coast. Cocks doesn’t like the volatile profit margins of film and TV production that are not set like putting a wholesale price on a toy, for example, and could fluctuate.

Weirdly, Cocks DOES want to do in-house video game content, which is actually just as volatile in terms of profit margins as TV and movies.

I wonder what that means for Dragonlance then as Spelljammer is currently outselling it on Amazon.

 

[darjr]

I wonder what that means for Dragonlance then as Spelljammer is currently outselling it on Amazon.

Just the hardback mind. The deluxe kit of Dragonlance is selling well too and isn’t included in those numbers.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

For Planescape I suspect Tony DiTerlizzi will be back though probably only for 1 or 2 new commissioned art pieces instead of all the artwork. He might have stated sometime ago he was doing something for WotC. Dana Knuston who's work was also quite important in the look of Planescape though, probably won't be back.

Sigil I suspect will be both changed "too much" and "not enough" for just about everyone who cares. It's inevitable that's going to happen. Sure they based Sigil off of London in the 1800's but could also pull some inspiration from Modern Day London or other metropoli.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For Planescape I suspect Tony DiTerlizzi will be back though probably only for 1 or 2 new commissioned art pieces instead of all the artwork. He might have stated sometime ago he was doing something for WotC.

I believe he later said it was MTG cards. He's very communicative on his Facebook page.

Sure they based Sigil off of London in the 1800's but could also pull some inspiration from Modern Day London or other metropoli.

A mayor with inexplicably terrible hair will champion Sigil closing all existing planar gates and promises that it will make the city more successful and wealthy! #Sigxit

 

[Incenjucar]

I meant that it makes the game as a whole feel cohesive if every book has a similar art style. If every setting is of a drastically different art style, to me it feels like they're too different.

Hence why you could use pallettes to keep each setting effectively color coded so that settings could still have a visual identity. If every single book looks exactly the same it's all going to blur together and become more forgettable.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

A mayor with inexplicably terrible hair will champion Sigil closing all existing planar gates and promises that it will make the city more successful and wealthy! #Sigxit

Cirily, is that you?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I also wouldn't be opposed to Sigil taking some of the visual cues of the depictions Piltover and Zaun from Arcane (mainly because I'm rewatching that series), but I'm sure others would be quite opposed to that idea.

I definitely feel Planescape during it's run in 2e, basically abandoned and ignored David Zeb Cook's guidelines for what isn't in Sigil from the original boxed set.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I also wouldn't be opposed to Sigil taking some of the visual cues of the depictions Piltover and Zaun from Arcane (mainly because I'm rewatching that series), but I'm sure others would be quite opposed to that idea.

I dunno, I think that'd be fine, but I'd want more diversity really. The issue with Piltover/Zaun is that it's a simple 1800s-style rich/poor divide, which isn't really what Sigil is about. There can absolutely be rich/poor areas but it's the not the central conflict of the setting, whereas in Arcane it drives that entire setting, and is at the heart of everything.

(Also re: 1800s London you may wonder if that was also rich/poor - it was a bit, but the truly rich didn't live in London-London at all if they could possibly help it in the 1800s, which Sigil did kind of reflect. They were in the countryside or areas that only came to be considered London as the suburbs appeared in the 1900s)

Sigil I suspect will be both changed "too much" and "not enough" for just about everyone who cares.

I tend to agree.

I suspect they'll try and modernise it without actually understanding it, and end up making it just as ultra-bland as the end of Faction War (Monte Cook)/4E takes on it. I don't think there's anyone currently working at WotC who really "gets" Planescape. I'm not sure there's even anyone senior who has mentioned really loving it. I'm pretty sure Winninger got it, but he's out, unfortunately. It was started under his watch so maybe that'll help.

But equally they won't modernize it enough to make it something new and interesting.

I strongly suspect Dark Sun, which I'd be unsurprised to see come out for 1D&D, will share this fate. Though unlike PS I think DS has some actual fans in senior WotC employees.

I definitely feel Planescape during it's run in 2e, basically abandoned and ignored David Zeb Cook's guidelines for what isn't in Sigil from the original boxed set.

Absolutely.

That's why Planescape has always been kind of a setting on the edge of being ruined, before Monte gave it a swift shove over the edge. It was a very wild, beautiful, singular vision of a setting, that could only have come from someone exceptionally erudite like Zeb Cook.

It seemed like none of the other designers really "got it", or not fully, but it was so strong it mostly worked anyway even as it travelled further and further from what made it such a singular and special setting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Dark Sun could easily work by leaning in hard to the environmental apocalypse of the setting. Centering that would be a great way for it to feel more modern, even if it's always been a major element of the setting. (And hey, WotC could probably benefit from the Streisand Effect over people being upset about D&D being too "woke" as a result.)

 

[Incenjucar]

It really is vital to have fans of the work be involved. You can't write what you don't understand, and it's hard to fully grasp Planescape without being a little obsessed with it.

 

[Zaukrie]

I think Dark Sun could easily work by leaning in hard to the environmental apocalypse of the setting. Centering that would be a great way for it to feel more modern, even if it's always been a major element of the setting. (And hey, WotC could probably benefit from the Streisand Effect over people being upset about D&D being too "woke" as a result.)

100%

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

This is like somebody writting a novel decades or centuries ago, and when this is readen by members of new generations and among these there are artists who start to paint the characters and scenes of the story, we can realises they don't share the same vision. And this is not wrong.

In the game the players have got their own vision about how is Planescape, or how should be. Maybe somebody creates a new underground layer within Sigil, or there is a portal toward an alternate timeline.

Don't worry too much about the canon because later the lore has to be changed in your tabletop, at least to avoid players to know too much because they have read the fandom wikis.

And new we are in the generation who watchs "Ricky & Morty", a very bizarre cartoon for adults. Next to this Sigil is Walt Disney, or maybe more Jim Henson's "Labyrinth".

Planescape Factions / Characters - TV Tropes

Dungeons & Dragons Main Characters Index Character Classes | Creatures | Deities | Playable Races Campaign Settings: Dragonlance | Eberron (Dragonmarked Houses | Religions | Nations) | Forgotten Realms (Gods | Factions | The Legend of Drizzt …

tvtropes.org

 

[teitan]

I think Dark Sun could easily work by leaning in hard to the environmental apocalypse of the setting. Centering that would be a great way for it to feel more modern, even if it's always been a major element of the setting. (And hey, WotC could probably benefit from the Streisand Effect over people being upset about D&D being too "woke" as a result.)

I think it can work as is. I really don’t think people are as sensitive to its themes as many believe especially since other games portray those themes and there are crickets around them.

 

[teitan]

For Planescape I suspect Tony DiTerlizzi will be back though probably only for 1 or 2 new commissioned art pieces instead of all the artwork. He might have stated sometime ago he was doing something for WotC. Dana Knuston who's work was also quite important in the look of Planescape though, probably won't be back.

Sigil I suspect will be both changed "too much" and "not enough" for just about everyone who cares. It's inevitable that's going to happen. Sure they based Sigil off of London in the 1800's but could also pull some inspiration from Modern Day London or other metropoli.

The new work for WOTC was for explicitly Magic, it wasn’t new Planescape or D&D work but he may very well have a piece or three in it anyway.

 

[humble minion]

I wonder what that means for Dragonlance then as Spelljammer is currently outselling it on Amazon.

Bear in mind that due to supply chain problems, SotDQ wasn't even available through Amazon for a long time in some places (Australia for instance). I got a copy of the deluxe edition through a (possible fortunate) online game shop, but even those are getting a bit thin on the ground now. Supply is starting to trickle in, but loads of outlets are still out of stock. Supply is definitely affecting sales right now.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think Dark Sun could easily work by leaning in hard to the environmental apocalypse of the setting. Centering that would be a great way for it to feel more modern, even if it's always been a major element of the setting. (And hey, WotC could probably benefit from the Streisand Effect over people being upset about D&D being too "woke" as a result.)

Yeah that would be the classic move and absolutely idiots will call WotC "woke", and then the idiots will immediately be trampled by hordes upon hordes of posters rushing to say "THATS WHAT IT WAS ABOUT IN 1991 YOU DUNCE!", because everyone loves to correct someone on the internet.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think it can work as is. I really don’t think people are as sensitive to its themes as many believe especially since other games portray those themes and there are crickets around them.

Have you considered that many of those other games have different audiences? And the games with more similar audiences have made similar changes. You'll notice Paizo got rid of slavery in Golarion for PF2, for example. Comparing some edgy OSR game with a few thousand regular players to D&D with tens of millions may not be very helpful.

Also 5E's audience skews hard Gen Z, and hard to the "socially conscious". This is easy to see from WotC's age figures and from discussions of D&D among younger people (I read some particularly eye-widening discussion of "how Paladins behave" among some 20-somethings lately - suffice to say EGG would turning in his grave, pro-paladin-committed-genocide as he was - at one point the conclusion was reached that Devotion and Ancients Paladins would "probably be vegan" even because of their oaths, lol). It's also easy to see in the popular D&D podcasts, and so on.

As such I think you'll find slavery is a little more of a hot-button issue with D&D's audience (and Pathfinder's audience) than it is with that of say, Dungeon Crawl Classics or whatever these "other games" you're thinking of are. Indeed, which games are you thinking of?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah that would be the classic move and absolutely idiots will call WotC "woke", and then the idiots will immediately be trampled by hordes upon hordes of posters rushing to say "THATS WHAT IT WAS ABOUT IN 1991 YOU DUNCE!", because everyone loves to correct someone on the internet.

The easiest way to get an answer in MMORPG is to ask a question and then have a friend give the wrong answer. You won't be able to keep up with the "helpful" corrections after that.