[Planescape] Essential products?

[buzz]

Today I found a NM copy of the Planescape Campaign Setting box set for $23 at a local used bookseller. Inside were the complete contents of that product, plus the second PS monstrous compendium.

I was planning to sell them and reap a small profit, but there's something about the content (and the wonderful DiTerlizzi art) that's making me want to explore this setting a bit more.

So, tell me... what products in the PS line would fans of the setting reccomend as "essential" to running a campaign, or at least as standout products? If I were to use the material, it would be with 3.5 (though the idea of using something like Unisystem or HERO has crossed my mind). Anyone want to comment on whether certain products may have been made moot by 3e products like, say, the MoP?

I honestly wouldn't normally touch a 2e product with a 10' pole, but there's just something wacky-crazy cool about PS.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

I agree. PS is the only thing I bought (new) for 2E except the PHB. The other stuff sort of fell into my lap.

The only thing I'd tell you not to get would be A Player's Guide To the Outlands. It had an audio cd with a small piece about each gatetown and a book. The cd had its moments, but the book(let) was tiny.

Since you're looking for the setting stuff and not necessarily the rules you could also skip the Planewalker's Handbook, it was good and it had the Genasi and some other stuff, but so does Races of Faerun.
The boxed sets for Planes of Chaos and Planes of Conflict are good, I never got my hands on Law and Hellbound. The large boxed sets always come with three or four nice posters, usually double-sided.
If you plan to use the factions, the Factol's Manifesto is great (too bad the binding was so fragile, pages had a habit of falling out after some light reading). Uncaged: Faces of Sigil has a lot of interesting NPCs and plots.
The monstrous compendiums are nice, but there aren't that many creatures in them that haven't been converted yet. That being the case, the price of getting your hands on them will probably outweigh the benefit of buying them.

Of course, they all have DiTerlizzi's excellent artwork. This may not have been too much help, but I got to babble about Planescape. All is right with the world.

 

[Zappo]

In The Cage: A Guide To Sigil is a must if you want to run adventures in Sigil. It details dozens of places and structures of the city.

I recommend getting the first Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix. While you won't need much the stats for the monsters if you play 3E (you can find most conversions at www.ps3e.com or www.planewalker.com), the book has very detailed ecology/organization/background info for every single creature, as well as a beautiful DiTerlizzi illo.

Factol's Manifesto if you plan on using the factions a lot, naturally.

Then, if you plan on using a plane or set of planes in particular, you should buy the corrseponding boxed set or book. There are three boxed sets covering all outer planes, and three book for the Astral, Ethereal and Inner planes.

If you want adventures, I suggest the Hellbound: the Blood War boxed set (also excellent if you just want info on the Blood War), The Great Modron March, and Dead Gods.



Edit: forgot to mention... I hate 2E too, but keep in mind that Planescape books are usually 95% background and setting, and that stuff is system-independant. I am running a 3E planescape campaign with no troubles at all.

 

[Southern Oracle]

I'll second the above posts on the original boxed set, In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil and The Factol's Manifesto as being essential products for a Planescape campaign in any edition. The 3E Manual of the Planes brings some of the planar concepts for Planescape in line with the current edition and would be a big help as well. In a pinch, though, you could get away with the info that's in the revised Dungeon Master's Guide.

For support products in 3E format (and soon to be 3.5E format), visit http://www.planewalker.com for player character races, post-Faction War faction write-ups, expanded skills, and new feats (both for planar characters and faction members). I also have to plug my Dragon article "Fractious Factions" in issue #287 and my web enhancement for it (see my sig below for a link).

While I'd recommend the Planescape Monstrous Compendiums for DiTerlizzi's artwork, most of the creatures have been converted to 3E/3.5E in one source or another, and more are showing up all the time. For example, I just picked up the Book of Exalted Deeds and it has the rulers of the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia; Talisid and the Five Companions of the guardinals; Morwel and Faerinaal from the Court of Stars; the aleax; owl, sword, throne, and warden archons; asuras; bariaurs; coure, firre, shiradi, and tulani eladrins; equinal, musteval, and ursinal guardinals; hollyphants; moondogs; and quesars, as well as new templates and creatures appropriate for outer planar adventuring.

Personally, I'd shy away from the large adventures such as Modron March and Dead Gods to begin with, if only because of the massive amount of work needed to convert them to the current edition. I'd recommend both Tales of the Infinite Staircase and Well of Worlds, both of which are collections of shorter adventures that can introduce a party to the planes. The former's adventures are all linked by an overarching plot but can be played separately without worrying about it.

The other boxed sets in the Planescape series are very useful for expanding specific settings on their respective planes. Planes of Law, Planes of Chaos, Planes of Conflict, and Hellbound all have great background information, even if the crunchy bits are out of date. A Guide to the Ethereal Plane, A Guide to the Astral Plane (I think that's the title -- I don't have it), and The Inner Planes round out the source books if you plan on having a party spend a lot of time in those areas. As a last recommendation, I'd say download the web enhancements for the 3E Manual of the Planes here for the World Serpent Inn and modrons, both of which are essential for my Planescape campaigns.

 

[Hardhead]

Yeah, PS is so much style, you don't need to do much "converting." To my mind, the essentials are:

Planes of Law/Chaos/Conflict: Each of these boxed sets detail the planes that are lawful/chaotic/neutral in great detail. Planes of Law is widely considered to be the best. I'd suggest buying it first. Eventually you'd want them all in a long-running PS game.

Also, you'll want the PS Monsterous Appendix. It was so chocked full of ecology notes that it's practically a role-play supplement for wierd outer-planar races. A lot of the monsters have been converted to 3e in some product or another now.

Factol's Manifesto: A lot of these had binding troubles and have begun falling apart. I bought the ESD of this one to replace my paper copy. Anyway, The Factol's Manifesto is a combination of interesting NPCs, places in Sigil and plot hooks that's essential in running almost any campaign.

Faces of Sigil is the best NPC book ever, bar none. If you want some ideas on interesting NPCs, this is the book to go to.

In the Cage: Not the best PS book, but it does have lots of info on Sigil, so it is very useful for running PS adventures in the City of Doors.

Hellbound and it's companion product, Faces of Evil: A *very* good pair of supplements. Lots of ideas, and both are interesting reads. Just not "key" to PS. To a limited extent the BoVD has info that duplicates some stuff in Faces of Evil.

Guide to the Ethereal/Astral/Inner Planes: All good, solid supplements, but detail places you probably won't be going much.

Lastly, if you want an adventure, I can't suggest Dead Gods enough.

 

[BOZ]

natch, the CS plus the three other "main" boxed sets (law, chaos, conflict), and the first two MC's are essential.

and as far as monsters, to supplement what you don't find at the official sites, the creature catalog has plenty of outsiders conversions. (mostly because yours truly was/is a big PS fan!)

 

[SpuneDagr]

At SVGames you can download all the stuff as PDFs. It's cheaper than trying to collect all the books.

http://www.svgames.com/downloads-wotc-adndplane.html

 

[guedo79]

I've got a full collection. I could only echo what others have said. I've found that all the books are a good reference/read and about 50% of them I would go back to often for npcs and such.

I've got some planscape books and adventures for trade if your intersted. Email me if you are.

 

[der_kluge]

Probably my most favorite PS book is "On Hallowed Ground", mostly because it has so much use outside of PS. It has like every god listed, many of them in detail, but in the back is this most awesome appendix which lists every god by sphere of influence. Need a god of numbers? Done. Need a god of trickery? It's got 'em. Very handy, IMHO.

Also, I really liked the Planewalker's Handbook. Lots of good information in that book; very nicely done.

But, essentially, like Al-Qadim's core book, all you _really_ need is the original boxed-set.

 

[A2Z]

Okay, nothing's really essential. You have the CS, then that's all you really need to start. Besides, finding the rest of the boxed sets and books isn't easy these days. I think you were pretty lucky to find the CS and Monster Appendix for 23$.

Sure if you could find them, and were willing to pay the money, the rest of the stuff is great for atmosphere. (I have an almost complete set and I love it, but not having the majority of it wouldn't keep me from playing PS). As it is you're all set to go.

The only other thing I would recommend, (if you don't already have it) is the 3E Manual of the Planes. It'll give you quick rules for adventuring on the different planes. Those plus a bit of imagination is all that's essential. Actually, I'd argue the only 'essential' is imagination. But hey, that's me.