Planescape Manual of the Planes for 5e on DMSGuild

New on the DMSGuild is the Manual of the Planes for 5th edition. The cover is stunning.

​

It's over 300 pages and the credits page includes folks from The Draconomicon, The Dragonlance Companion, Tasha's Crucible of Everything Else, Planescape: Metropolis, The Honkonomicon and Planewalker.com

​

I love the special thanks.

This project was made possible by Roll20. Thank you for unlocking new horizons for the latest generation of planewalkers, bashers, berks, and touts. We’d also like to thank the giants on whose shoulders we stand when writing this book: Justice Ramin Arman, Richard Baker, Wolfgang Baur, David “Zeb” Cook, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeff Grubb, David Noonan, F. Wesley Schneider, Rick Swan, and all others who helped create and cultivate Planescape and the planes.

I've just bought it and am reading it now.

Manual of the Planes (5e) - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Manual of the Planes (5e) - From creators behind The Draconomicon, Tasha's Crucible of Everything Else, Planescape: Metropolis, The Honkonomic

www.dmsguild.com

Here is the table of contents.

 

[afroakuma]

So you are claiming the spine of the book is important to capturing the feel of the setting? More so than the cover? Is that correct?

I hope not. The feel of the classic books is one reason I didn't pick them up.

However, if so, I'm glad you get what you want!

Have you taken a look at the preview pages, to get a sense of whether it suits you or no?

 

[Incenjucar]

So you are claiming the spine of the book is important to capturing the feel of the setting? More so than the cover? Is that correct?

I hope not. The feel of the classic books is one reason I didn't pick them up.

However, if so, I'm glad you get what you want!

No, I was talking about the interior, y'all started with the covers. The spine is where you'll not be distracted by the book-specific covers and notice the trade dress that applies to most books. Cover is not as important as every single interior page with text.

--

Yeah, it's going to be a natural divide, though ultimately content is what matters.

 

[WhatLiesBeyond]

Can I just say that I LOVE the Content Warning and Being Respectful sections of the DMs Guild listing? To @kenmarable and @WhatLiesBeyond and anyone else who worked on this book - this is very helpful for me and some of my players. I wish more books included this type of information.

Money's tight rn especially after shelling out cash for the physical book. And tbh, I prefer a dead tree version, because then I'll more likely use it. (Edited to add: I will probably pick up the POD next year when cash flow is less restricted)

But I can already tell that my homebrew game that started with Lost Mines (the original) is going to Sigil. And we will answer the question... Why does Lolth want to take over Sigil, what happened to the Lady of Pain, and what the heck does any of this have to do with our 5 PCs?!?

The content warnings and discussions of player respect and prior communication were my idea. There are a lot of elements of planar adventures and classic RPG lore in general which people take for granted, often to the detriment of players, DMs, and campaigns as a whole. I wanted to be as upfront as possible about some of the heavier subjects in this book, as I've seen too many other games mishandle them even when they mean well. I myself have a bit of a fraught history with certain subjects that have led to concerns in my past games.

Of course, I can't take all the credit, as Andrew and Eleanor both did a wonderful job of codifying these sections into something comprehensive and legible. I agree with you that such details should be the standard for RPGs of all sorts.

 

[dave2008]

No, I was talking about the interior, y'all started with the covers. The spine is where you'll not be distracted by the book-specific covers and notice the trade dress that applies to most books. Cover is not as important as every single interior page with text.

--

Yeah, it's going to be a natural divide, though ultimately content is what matters.

To be clear, I didn't start talking about the interiors (that was someone else). I asked you originally if by "boxed set" you were talking about the new slipcase (since it is not a boxed set in the traditional sense) when comparing the interior colors. As far as I can see you never clarified that question specifically (though I may have missed it). However, from context of your other responses, I can see that you did mean the slipcase when you said boxed set.

So follow up question: what, in your mind, is important about the interior graphic design being different between the original and the new books?

To be transparent: I skipped 2e planescape (like a lot of people) and one of the reasons I did was because of the interior graphic design and art (not to mention the Cant). But I had that issue with most 2e products, not just Planescape.

 

[Parmandur]

When I first saw it I didn’t immediately recognize it, I thought it was a cool magic circle and thought about its perfect form etched upon the stones of an ancient ruin of a tower that appeared only the night before.

Meanwhile my soul was screaming at me that this was all of reality and eternity distilled to a beautiful symbol.

The rising realization gave me chills.

It is quite distinct and cool. Feels a bit like a 3E era cover, in a good way.

 

[Reynard]

The content warnings and discussions of player respect and prior communication were my idea. There are a lot of elements of planar adventures and classic RPG lore in general which people take for granted, often to the detriment of players, DMs, and campaigns as a whole. I wanted to be as upfront as possible about some of the heavier subjects in this book, as I've seen too many other games mishandle them even when they mean well. I myself have a bit of a fraught history with certain subjects that have led to concerns in my past games.

Of course, I can't take all the credit, as Andrew and Eleanor both did a wonderful job of codifying these sections into something comprehensive and legible. I agree with you that such details should be the standard for RPGs of all sorts.

I decided to read the content warnings in the preview and generally agree that this kind of thing should be standard. It did seem a little strange that you guys made an effort not to say "X Card" when that is common parlance at this point. Also "safe word" doesn't feel quite right in this context.

 

[Scribe]

Can I just say that I LOVE the Content Warning and Being Respectful sections of the DMs Guild listing?

I'm on the other end, and it is why I wouldn't be comfortable buying it before flipping through it.

 

[afroakuma]

I'm on the other end, and it is why I wouldn't be comfortable buying it before flipping through it.

Anything in particular you'd have concerns about that you'd like addressed?

 

[Scribe]

Anything in particular you'd have concerns about that you'd like addressed?

From what I gather, it's the old planar influence on alignment/behavior that is being cautioned against?

Is that the extent of what is being seen as potentially an issue?

 

[Incenjucar]

To be clear, I didn't start talking about the interiors (that was someone else). I asked you originally if by "boxed set" you were talking about the new slipcase (since it is not a boxed set in the traditional sense) when comparing the interior colors. As far as I can see you never clarified that question specifically (though I may have missed it). However, from context of your other responses, I can see that you did mean the slipcase when you said boxed set.

So follow up question: what, in your mind, is important about the interior graphic design being different between the original and the new books?

To be transparent: I skipped 2e planescape (like a lot of people) and one of the reasons I did was because of the interior graphic design and art (not to mention the Cant). But I had that issue with most 2e products, not just Planescape.

I did mean slip case, I did clarify, and it's not terribly important, it's just really weird to replace sepia and sickly green with jewel tones, like putting rainbows all over Dark Sun.