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Message: <blockquote data-quote="IronWolf" data-source="post: 2008391" data-attributes="member: 21076">IntroductionBecause I've never been a Planescape player, or even a player of 2E for that matter, my views on this book may be different from someone who was more intimately familiar with the original source material presented here.  I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone who is brand new to the stuff.  And with that perspective, my impression of the book is that it absolutely rocks!  As is typical of the new D&D books, the artwork is excellent, the layout (while many find if questionable) is superb and the production values are extremely high.ContentsIntroductionThis nicely written little snippet sets out what the Manual of the Planes intends to do, which is quite admirable, in my humble little opinion.  The book is designed, not to be a traditional campaign supplement, but rather as a series of planar "modules" if you will, that can be picked up and plugged into any campaign.  There are even copious notes and suggestions for alternate ways of doing things, and changes that can be made.  Sometimes they show surprising lack of creativity in dealing with some problems (like, if you eliminate the Astral Plane, then certain spells simply will not work) but more often than not, the ideas are solid and useful.Chapter 1: Nature of the PlanesFor those unfamiliar with the ancient AD&D concept of planes, first (as far as I know) spelled out in the very first Dungeon Master's Guide, this chapter gives all the nitty-gritty on what the planes are all about.  It also talks some about the Great Wheel cosmology of the Greyhawk setting, as well as giving several ideas for alternate cosmologies, including one they call the Multiverse.  Most of these ideas are trimmed down rather than alternate ideas at this point.  This is good, basic information, written in a way that is conducive to easy understanding.Chapter 2: Connecting the PlanesThis chapter goes into the basics of how the planes interact with each other, how one may travel from one to another, or otherwise affect another plane (certain spells which actually call on the Ethereal or Astral plane, for example.)  Again, it's a relatively short chapter with good, solid, basic information.Chapter 3: Characters and MagicLots of solid rules information here; in fact that's definately the focus of this chapter.  First are clarifications and further information on the rules for having "ECLs"; characters with effective character levels higher than their actual class levels.  Four new prestige classes are detailed, which seem appropriate for a Planescape-type campaign, thus furthering the initially-stated goal of creating Prestige classes that add flavor rather than power, and then literally dozens of new spells are detailed, almost all of them specific to planar adventures.Chapter 4: The Material PlaneShort as this chapter is, I initially wondered why it was even included at all.  However, it does turn out to be useful as a seedbed of alternate worlds and alternate ways of presenting the adventurer's home world.Chapter 5: The Transitive PlanesThis plane is more useful, detailing each of the three transitive planes, the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane and the Plane of Shadows.  It also sets up a formula that the next three chapters follow; the plane is given a brief introduction, and then a "stat block" of planar features.  This is followed by a more detailed account of the plane, movement, combat and other basic rules descriptions, and then a few pages describing features, inhabitants, and a few key locations.  There are also lots of optional side-bars detailing optional strategies, set-ups and configurations.Chapter 6: The Inner PlanesThis chapter is the same as the previous, except for the six inner planes.Chapter 7: The Outer PlanesThis chapter is the same as the previous except for the many outer planes.Chapter 8: DemiplanesThis chapter is somewhat similar to the previous ones, yet it has rules for creating demiplanes and then a couple of examples.  It is an extremely short chapter.Chapter 9: MonstersLots of new monsters, including templates for creating half-elementals, creatures of most of the other planes and all kinds of other neat goodies.  It features a return of many of the Planescape creatures, like yugoloths and others.  I'm kinda a sucker for new monsters anyway, but these are all well done and very colorful in terms of fitting into the campaign setting.Appendix: Variant Planes and CosmologiesWithout spoiling the surprises, this chapter features all kinds of neat goodies and different ways of doing things, including a cosmology based on dream-realms rather than planes, extra planes like an elemental plane of wood, and others.  Much of it is probably not going to be used a whole lot, but it's incredibly refreshing that they even added it at all.  I can't get enough of the way this book presents options and ways of thinking about using just parts of it without throwing off the whole system. ConclusionI have never seen an RPG book so obviously designed to be used in a modular fashion.  See something you like, but you don't want the whole thing?  Not only does this book provide ideas on how to separate components seamlessly, it provides a number of ideas to get the process going!  For a die-hard tinkerer and home-brewer like myself, this makes this book one of the most useful I've ever picked up for an RPG ever.</blockquote>

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