Planescape Planescape IS D&D Says Jeremy Crawford

Planescape is Jeremy Crawford's favourite D&D setting. "It is D&D", he says, as he talks about how in the 2024 core rulebook updates Planescape will be more up front and center as "the setting of settings".

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[dave2008]

I guess it's fair to say that I conflate the Great Wheel with Planescape. I really don't see how they are separate from each other. Planescape subsumed the Great Wheel in pretty much every published product.

I disagree. It is an issue of perspective I guess. The wheel predates planescape and doesn't need planescape to function, so IMO planescape can be completely ignored! I skipped 2e and 3e and came back to D&D with 4e. I will be picking up and really learning about planescape for the first time with 5e. Whether I incorporate into my game is TBD.

1e Deities and Demigods:

 

[Scribe]

Why did we get all the intermediary steps between the alignments? What was the historical reason for that?

 

[dave2008]

Why did we get all the intermediary steps between the alignments? What was the historical reason for that?

What do you mean?

PS - I don't have the answer, but I also don't understand the question!

 

[Scribe]

What do you mean?

PS - I don't have the answer, but I also don't understand the question!

In your last image, all the dark grey planes are the ones which are 'between' the core ones of LN/LG/NG/CG/CN/CE/NE/LE.

Like Acheron being LN/LE.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The 5e DMG gives multiple ideas for other cosmologies and also talks about making your own. So while the Great Wheel is the default, 5e encourages DMs to use whatever they like. Nobody is pushed into the Great Wheel.

Ah, but who knows what the new DMG will say about cosmologies, particularly in light of Planescape being written with the "not a new edition" in mind.

 

[Maxperson]

Ah, but who knows what the new DMG will say about cosmologies, particularly in light of Planescape being written with the "not a new edition" in mind.

They won't change that section to remove the alternate cosmologies. They are not going to "force" a cosmology on the players. They will simply present it as the default cosmology and have the alternate cosmologies in the DMG.

 

[dave2008]

In your last image, all the dark grey planes are the ones which are 'between' the core ones of LN/LG/NG/CG/CN/CE/NE/LE.

Like Acheron being LN/LE.

OK, I understand your question. And as I promised: I don't know the answer!

 

[Demetrios1453]

Honestly, the more I think on it, with Planescape now, and with a plane-hopping Vecna adventure and the release of the updated Core rulebooks next year, it would make a lot of sense for a Manual of the Planes type book in the not to distant future, especially with Crawford saying things like this...

 

[Echohawk]

Why did we get all the intermediary steps between the alignments? What was the historical reason for that?

My theory (not supported by any specific research):

Gygax's approach was (to a significant extent) to cram as many fantasy concepts into AD&D as possible. Think of any "common" fantasy creature (giant, unicorn, vampire, zombie) and it gets an entry in the Monster Manual. I suspect the same applied to the planes. Gygax made a list of all the afterlife locations he could think of, and there were more than nine on his list. To fit them all in, the easiest approach was to double the total in the outer ring. And presto, we get the diagram in the back of the Players Handbook.

As an aside, this kitchen sink approach is the reason I fell in love with AD&D in the first place. I loved the fact that almost every fantasy creature my 12-year old self was aware of had a spot in the Monster Manual and I spent hours staring at that planar diagram in the PHB before I realised there was an actual Manual of the Planes (which I also loved).

 

[Maxperson]

In your last image, all the dark grey planes are the ones which are 'between' the core ones of LN/LG/NG/CG/CN/CE/NE/LE.

Like Acheron being LN/LE.

Gygax was into tendencies. LN with evil tendencies and the like. I think those in-between ones are where a character doesn't quite fit into an axis.