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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2457628" data-attributes="member: 172">Well, that rather depends. Does the secretary or the engineer or the administrator do the "best job"? That really rather depends on what job you are trying to do.If you had to pick just one product, I'd say pick up Manual of the Planes (3e). It has the Great Wheel, which is pretty much the standard. It also has a baseline system for defining planes (which made it into the 3.5 DMG) and great ideas for non-Great Wheel cosmoligies and related concepts. The next two books on your shopping list should probably be either or both Mongoose's Book of the Planes and FFG's Portals and Planes. If you want some resource planes or planar sites, DM's Directory of Demiplanes and Beyond Countless Doorways are great resources.I'll make a quick list of available planar products, focusing more on generally useful products than campaign (i.e., Planescape specific) products. I will not list anything I don't own, nor will I list many planesape products I don't feel especially useful outside of that setting. Of third party products, I am focussing on ones I actually use:AD&D 1e<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Manual of the Planes - The original expose on the great wheel cosmology. Also has some interesting and never replicated material on elemental creatures that I still use, and some material on alternate prime materials that gets paid homage in Beyond Countless Doorways.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragon Magazine "Nine Hells" article - a great reference if you want to campaign in hell. An interesting read if you don't.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=4385" target="_blank">Tales of the Outer Planes</a> - Despite the title, was not all about the outer planes, and included some forays into the elemental planes. An odd juncture in D&D history, it stood on the precipice. It presumes a deity dominated outer planes (an image that many old schoolers cling fastly too), but provides adventures for low level characters (which is something some old schoolers refuse to consider.)</li> </ul>AD&D 2e<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monster Compendium Outer Planes Appendix - First reference to the blood war, tanar'ri, and baatezu. (No, it wasn't planescape.) Not too noteworthy other than that, but it did have the best art for some creatures.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Planescape Campaign Setting - Introduced portal concept to D&D, and provided a stripped down MotP type catalog o the planes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Planes of Law/Chaos/Conflict - A great resource for planes of the great wheel and adventures therein.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Guide to the Inner Planes, Guide to the Astral - Rounding out material on the great wheel cosmology.</li> </ul>D&D 3e:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Manual of the Planes - Revives the classic expose of the great wheel, introduces the 3e system for cataloging planes, and some great ideas for variant cosmologies. A very nice, idea filled, useful reference.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Planar Handbook - A 3.5, more player oriented reference to the planes. I was a bit disappointed, but there are some tidbits in here that you will want for planar gaming, like 3.5 versions of planar spells and planar substitution levels. Other resources include planar races, monsters, and sites.</li> </ul>D20 Third Party Products<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Portals & Planes (FFG) - A fantastic idea mine for planar gaming. It's not great wheel, but has some ideas that can be plugged in to the classic great wheel. Also provides variant planar pathways that you can use as a means to get your players to the planes. (I based <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=69918" target="_blank">my current campaign</a> on the "River of Worlds" concept.) Great ideas for new portal concepts, planar campaigning, and creating new planes, monsters (man my players hate the chaos-spawn template <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> ), as well as a few tidbits for players, including new PrCs and a system for making variant PC races that live in unusual environments.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Classic Play: Book of the Planes (Mongoose) - Another great planar resource. It provides an even more detailed look at defining planes (recommened!), an alternate, somewhat simplified cosmology, some nifty and useful planar factions, spells, and a great catalog of planes. Some of my favorite includes a plane of epic stories and a plane hopping tavern. Very nice, very flavorful</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">DMs Directory of Demiplanes (RoninArts) - A interesting selection of well defined demiplanes. There was a print run, but it's principally available in PDF</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Secrets of the Planes - Planar Factions (Lions Den Press/RoninArts) - If you like the concept of plane-faring factions with their own agendas as campaign-drivers, etc., there are a few here for you to play with.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Six Planar Gates and Six Living Planar Gates (RoninArts) - A pair of short PDFs with some interesting ways to get PCs involved in the planes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book of Fiends (Green Ronin) - Provides a bevy of fiends for your game, which serve as everpresent foes. Nicely done and very flavorful, particularly the Legions of Hell and Hordes of Gehenna sections (I gotta say I am getting a lot less use out of the Abyss section, but it will still be useful for populating the abyss if your players ever head that way.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Aasimar & Tiefling (Green Ronin) - Provides a great system for brewing your own planetouched races. Also has a lot of plane specific options that go beyond just the planetouched.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Beyond Countless Doorways (Malhavoc Press) - A catalog of planes by the old Planescape crew. Features an alternate cosmology with some interesting ideas, as well as about 20 extensively detailed planes, some suitable for extended campaigns. Also has an appendix on alternate worlds. Great stuff in here. Available as a hardback, or on PDF.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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