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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm capable of considering something a good product, without thinking it's something I would want myself.

Sure. 4e was a good product I strongly disliked, for example.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Heliopolis is a Greek name for a city, not Egyptian. And, well, we're talking Arcadia, which is named after a region of Greece. Why should the Egyptian gods be basically forced into being dumped into someone else's house? In fact, why are they even there and not, once again, their actual realm the Duat?

Naming a layer after gods isn't giving them the full respect of that mythology, especially when there's the aformentioned "Oh wait that's not actually where they live" from, y'know. The actual mythology

Mechanus does not act like nirvana in any way shape or form despite their early attempts to go 'yeah uh Nirvana that's totally a clockwork realm'. This is because nirvana is a state, it is the freedom from wordly desires and karmic reincarnation. It is freedom from the cycle of rebirth. I suppose one can argue an infinite robot realm is freedom from desires, but alsoo if we're acting like naming a realm after a philosophical concept is actually intending for it to be serving as the domain or home of deities then that's just laughable.

We're not making realms based on how much things influenced stuff, we're mkaing fun fantasy realms to adventure through. Like, let's be honest, Ysgard is only there due to that one highly liked Dragon magazine article. But regardless, this is part of why they're not going to show up in future stuff. 2E paid them the barest amount of lip service and shoved the gods willy-nilly (Go and read Deities and Demigods and see how many are just shoved into "The Plane of Air"). Imagine posting that today. They'd be torn to shreds, especially if they made the incredibly bad attempt to even remotely touch the Hindu deities. Plus, given how 'well' this fandom shows how it 'likes' changes, even to the setting where there's long established causes for things to just change on the behalf of the micro-managing Dark Powers as directors who absolutely would just reset a realm and change it up if its not going well....

Heliopolis).

Greco-Roman influence is by far the greatest on the Cosmology, but it's also the greatest influence on Western Civilization, so it makes sense in a it'd have the greatest influence on D&D, Archons come from Greek Heremetism/Neoplatonism inspiration (Gnostics influence would have them much darker), Aborea is Olympus + Elves, Gehanna is actually a Greek word I think but for something in Judaism, Tartarus/Elysium/Hades are obvious, River Oceanus is Greek as well. The Norse have Ysgard, but also the second layer of Hades oddly.

As for Heliopolis being a Greek name for an Egyptian city, most of the Egyptian/Mulhorandi Gods use their Greek names, Bastet being an exception. Example they use Isis instead of Aset as the name for a Goddess.

But this is fine, even alot of Pagans use the Greek names.

As for why no Duat, I'm not sure, but the I don't know enough about the process through which the D&D Cosmology came to be.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Heliopolis).

Greco-Roman influence is by far the greatest on the Cosmology, but it's also the greatest influence on Western Civilization, so it makes sense in a it'd have the greatest influence on D&D, Archons come from Greek Heremetism/Neoplatonism inspiration (Gnostics influence would have them much darker), Aborea is Olympus + Elves, Gehanna is actually a Greek word I think but for something in Judaism, Tartarus/Elysium/Hades are obvious, River Oceanus is Greek as well. The Norse have Ysgard, but also the second layer of Hades oddly.

As for Heliopolis being a Greek name for an Egyptian city, most of the Egyptian/Mulhorandi Gods use their Greek names, Bastet being an exception. Example they use Isis instead of Aset as the name for a Goddess.

But this is fine, even alot of Pagans use the Greek names.

As for why no Duat, I'm not sure, but the I don't know enough about the process through which the D&D Cosmology came to be.

Gehenna is in name and origin Jewish/Hebrew.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

One thing that occurred to me is that the Factions of Sigil, is that the Factions do a better job of representing certain eastern religions (even if they follow warped versions of those religions) than the attempts to include Gods and Philosophers from those religions in the game. Mainly the Heralds of Dust (Buddhism, but with Necromancy) and the Transcendent Order (Taoism, but more martially inclined).

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

One thing that occurred to me is that the Factions of Sigil, is that the Factions do a better job of representing certain eastern religions (even if they follow warped versions of those religions) than the attempts to include Gods and Philosophers from those religions in the game. Mainly the Heralds of Dust (Buddhism, but with Necromancy) and the Transcendent Order (Taoism, but more martially inclined).

In the setting I'm working on, I removed the notion of factual gods and replaced them with the factions of Planescape as pantheon/religion/philosophy a character can follow.

Of course, each one of them has a multitude of sects, heresies and attempts by wannabe immortals to pose as gods.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Gehenna is in name and origin Jewish/Hebrew.

What Is Gehenna?

Another Greek word that is translated hell is "Gehenna." This word is used twelve times in the New Testament with Jesus employing it eleven times.

www.blueletterbible.org

 

[DarkCrisis]

People in here thinking a corp cares about anything over pure profit is laughable. At the end of the day the choices are made that will make them the most money. Sure that may have lairs of sugar candy coating on it but lets not pretend it all starts and stops at profit.

 

[Micah Sweet]

People in here thinking a corp cares about anything over pure profit is laughable. At the end of the day the choices are made that will make them the most money. Sure that may have lairs of sugar candy coating on it but lets not pretend it all starts and stops at profit.

To be fair, a corp that isn't publicly traded can have other considerations than just maximum profit as well.

 

[Mercurius]

I haven't purchased any D&D books in over two years (or played in about four), but this one has my interested piqued.