D&D 5E Connecting the Planes: What New Interstitial Setting Do You Want?

[Torquar]

Let us beat down the LoP.

I can punch Odin into another ZIP Code and feed Hexor his own teeth; why does some snotty waif in a sword mask get the kind of no-sell powers reserved for popular wrestlers?

Because Sigil is her Lair, and she has the Lair Action "Send trarget creature or object to inescapable demiplane".

 

[Fenris-77]

I guess it depends on what you want. If you want a complete planar mythology then stuff like Manual of the Planes is great. I have no use for that kind of content. I want to know how and why my players could get there, survive there, and whom they might interact with. Other than that I need a brief outline and a bunch of hooks and rumours. That's why Sigil is a such a cool center point - it's got access to everywhere anyway, and it's packed to the gills with factions, faces, intrigue and adventure hooks. If you reimagine it slightly as a Spelljamming port, in addition to the doors, and add that kind of regular traffic in and out of the city, I think it sounds awesome as a central nexus for adventure.

 

[Mecheon]

I can punch Odin into another ZIP Code and feed Hexor his own teeth; why does some snotty waif in a sword mask get the kind of no-sell powers reserved for popular wrestlers?

That's only what she looks like to allow people to avoid the sanity loss while she's trying to keep her city free of annoyances messing it up.

You uh, don't want to see what happens when the mask comes off and she unveils her true form. Tends to involve deities ending up as blood splatters


Anywho, I remain a fan of 4E's Astral Sea with a heaping spoonful of Planescape to go along with it

 

[SkidAce]

@Ruin Explorer , you keep saying that planes books are full of useless info, yet I buy and use as many as I can get.

Manual of the Planes (3) Beyond Countless Doorways, Portals and Planes, Planescape box sets, etc., Primal Order, Chessboards, etc ...

I mine that stuff for bit and parts and adventure locals all the time.

(Of course my home campaign from the 80s to now IS a multidimensional nexus, so there's that...)

 

[Mercurius]

I voted Manual of the Planes but really meant "all of the above." Or to quote an oft-used meme, "why can't we have both?"

I want a big book of cosmology with different cosmologies that explain the plains and multiple ways to explore them.

It shouldn't be Planescape or Spelljammer or whatever. It should be all of the above, with options and guidance on how to cook up your own brew.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

(Of course my home campaign from the 80s to now IS a multidimensional nexus, so there's that...)

Yeah that might be a minor factor mate lol.

And you're still describing something that's largely useless, because you're basically picking through it for additional usable info.

It shouldn't be Planescape or Spelljammer or whatever. It should be all of the above, with options and guidance on how to cook up your own brew.

Why can't we have both? Because there's absolutely no possible way for WotC to do justice to what you're describing in a single book of 256 pages (which will also inevitably have a lot of pages devoted to monsters, archetypes, lineages, probably spells and so on), which is the maximum we're getting. That's one of the key reasons I'm against what you're suggesting, this sort of multiverse cookbook, because all you'll get, is a ton of quarter-arsed junk. I've seen it plenty of times before in TT RPGs - "we covered everything in minimal detail and it was useless to everyone!". In older RPGs they'd then release actual sourcebooks for all the stuff they quarter-arsed, but WotC isn't doing that.

Also, I've never, ever seen a writer who was any good at "options and guidance on how to cook up your own brew" write for WotC. Not even once. I don't think WotC hires people who are good at writing that kind of advice - hell I don't think there are many people in RPGs who are any good at writing that kind of advice. There are huge numbers who totally incorrectly think that they are, unfortunately! And I'm sure it's one of them who'd get to write the advice section, which would (based on previous experiences, not just from WotC) be actually extremely narrow-minded, with a really limited array of ideas, some of which were clearly much more favoured than others, and none of which had much in the way of surprise, charm, or depth.

I guess what I'm saying is I want a quality book, not just a bunch of junk some dude spitballed.

 

[Coroc]

...

Three Settings for the Grognards who are no longer spry,
Seven for the Realms-lords for the lore that's well-known,
Nine for Magic Players new to the die,
One for the Dungeon Master on his dark throne
In the Land Between Settings where the Space Hamsters fly.
One Setting to rule them all, One Setting to find them,
One Setting to bring them all and let the PCs travel between them.

...

haha your little poem is gold

 

[Li Shenron]

I am undecided...

I love Planescape, but I don't want it ruined by a "reboot" to the lore made to justify the publishing of a new book, and a mere rules update is probably not enough for WotC.

A generic Manual of the Planes packed with ideas for inspiration would be nice, as long as it's not the usual boring Great Wheel, which it probably would be anyway.

Maybe the best bet is Spelljammer, since I am not interested and that would mean that whatever they put out I am safe

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Honestly my favorite take was 4E's Astral Plane/Astral Sea, which was effectively a Planescape/Spelljammer mash-up where the gods have fleets of dominion ships, ruined fragments of other planes and god corspes serve as adventuring sites, and there's a faction called the quom who travel on world ships made from the remains of their sentient home plane in search of its pieces in an effort to restore it.

The 4E version didn't take place in the Great Wheel, but I don't think it would be difficult to just transplant most of this to 5E's Astral Plane (which is still sometimes called the Astral Sea).

 

[SkidAce]

Yeah that might be a minor factor mate lol.

And you're still describing something that's largely useless, because you're basically picking through it for additional usable info.

Why can't we have both? Because there's absolutely no possible way for WotC to do justice to what you're describing in a single book of 256 pages (which will also inevitably have a lot of pages devoted to monsters, archetypes, lineages, probably spells and so on), which is the maximum we're getting. That's one of the key reasons I'm against what you're suggesting, this sort of multiverse cookbook, because all you'll get, is a ton of quarter-arsed junk. I've seen it plenty of times before in TT RPGs - "we covered everything in minimal detail and it was useless to everyone!". In older RPGs they'd then release actual sourcebooks for all the stuff they quarter-arsed, but WotC isn't doing that.

Also, I've never, ever seen a writer who was any good at "options and guidance on how to cook up your own brew" write for WotC. Not even once. I don't think WotC hires people who are good at writing that kind of advice - hell I don't think there are many people in RPGs who are any good at writing that kind of advice. There are huge numbers who totally incorrectly think that they are, unfortunately! And I'm sure it's one of them who'd get to write the advice section, which would (based on previous experiences, not just from WotC) be actually extremely narrow-minded, with a really limited array of ideas, some of which were clearly much more favoured than others, and none of which had much in the way of surprise, charm, or depth.

I guess what I'm saying is I want a quality book, not just a bunch of junk some dude spitballed.

Take a look at Beyond Countless Doorways sometime, you might like it.