Manual of the Planes Excerpt: Shadowfell

[Ktulu]

Color me excited (I believe that's a variant of fuschia). Can't wait to get my hands on this book.

While I would have loved separate books for each major plane (feywild, shadowfell, astral sea, Elemental chaos, etc..) seeing how much info could be crammed in, I'm equally happy to get a book with everything all at once (nothing like running a game in the shadowfell, only to have the feywild book coming out first).

Ktulu

 

[Scribble]

Color me excited (I believe that's a variant of fuschia). Can't wait to get my hands on this book.

While I would have loved separate books for each major plane (feywild, shadowfell, astral sea, Elemental chaos, etc..) seeing how much info could be crammed in, I'm equally happy to get a book with everything all at once (nothing like running a game in the shadowfell, only to have the feywild book coming out first).

Ktulu

I'm hoping their plan is everything in the MoTP with extra coolness being added through the DDI. (and maybe a MoTP II at some point...)

 

[Negflar2099]

I am very disapointed that the shadowfell only darkens non magical light sources.

Yes but using a magical light source will probably draw every big and nasty for miles around. At least it will when I DM.

 

[TheWyrd]

I think what generally has me the most excited about this is a sense that they figured out that they weren't doing anyone any favors by having 'special cases'. People don't go to the planes so they can fumble around in the deep ethereal. They have all this old IP so why not put it out there as default from the start so they don't have to strain to flesh it out later on.

 

[Dedekind]

This has me pretty excited. I like how the Shadowfell is shaping up, conceptually.

The Domains of Dread are great for multiple reasons. Most important of these is the fact you can do adventure, story arc or campaigns built around them. Very cool.

 

[Shemeska]

People don't go to the planes so they can fumble around in the deep ethereal.

Speak for yourself

They have all this old IP so why not put it out there as default from the start so they don't have to strain to flesh it out later on.

There's a difference I think between say, the 3e Manual of the Planes introducing a sort of Planescape-lite for its edition, and the 4e Manual of the Planes shoehorning a stilted version of Ravenloft into its edition. The 'domains of dread' don't feel the same to me, stripped out of context as they are, presented in the 4e MotP excerpt.

The level of detail also seems to be less than the 3e MotP, which was already slimmed down as it was an edition prior to now, but I can't say that I'm all too terribly surprised given the design focus of 4e to this point. Still hoping to be surprised by something awesome and planar, but so far not seeing anything that really sparks my imagination (and they're capable of it I know, given how much I adored Cordell's 2e 'Guide to the Ethereal' especially the deep ethereal, which apparently nobody goes to fumble around in.)

 

[EricNoah]

Is this one on the "pay" side of DDI? I have this thing where when I go to the link, I see a brief flash of the page, then the content in the middle (black text on white background) disappears and all I see is a wide gray strip where it should be.

Hmm. Maybe it's my ad blocker...

(edit) Yep, that's what it was. Never mind!

 

[The Little Raven]

Maybe it's my ad blocker...

That's likely. I had that problem myself a while back. The preview is a free one, so you should be able to access it.

 

[Scribble]

There's a difference I think between say, the 3e Manual of the Planes introducing a sort of Planescape-lite for its edition, and the 4e Manual of the Planes shoehorning a stilted version of Ravenloft into its edition. The 'domains of dread' don't feel the same to me, stripped out of context as they are, presented in the 4e MotP excerpt.

Is it really stilted and shoehorned to someone who's never actually experienced the original Ravenloft Campaign setting though?

 

[Lackhand]

There's a difference I think between say, the 3e Manual of the Planes introducing a sort of Planescape-lite for its edition, and the 4e Manual of the Planes shoehorning a stilted version of Ravenloft into its edition. The 'domains of dread' don't feel the same to me, stripped out of context as they are, presented in the 4e MotP excerpt.

I feel certain I'm going to regret asking this -- but how so? Sure, there's not much detail on what the domains are, but what's so horrible about saying "there are mysterious and unknown demiplanes out there which cannot be escaped; they tend to be solipsistic about a single dark point, which can provide a clue or method for escape". Sure, it doesn't sketch them out; given that it doesn't provide detail to what those Nuggets of Evil are, just that they exist... what's wrong?

The level of detail also seems to be less than the 3e MotP, which was already slimmed down as it was an edition prior to now, but I can't say that I'm all too terribly surprised given the design focus of 4e to this point. Still hoping to be surprised by something awesome and planar, but so far not seeing anything that really sparks my imagination

I dunno. I didn't find a lot in this excerpt to fire my imagination, but how long is the book + how much is in it? I imagine that the entry-page entries for _all_ of the planes will be tedious & skippable for me, but the sites of interest and so on will prove more entertaining. I'll have to see

The detail doesn't seem so far down from 3e, which was fairly condensed and spotty in places anyway. We'll see, though; it's entirely possible you're right.

(and they're capable of it I know, given how much I adored Cordell's 2e 'Guide to the Ethereal' especially the deep ethereal, which apparently nobody goes to fumble around in.)

<common misconception>isn't the deep ethereal empty?</common misconception>