Planescape Setting

[Pants]

Just because 3e has had the "lets give the gods stats so powergamers can kill them" syndrome,

Ahem, 1e AD&D gave stats to gods...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Ahem, 1e AD&D gave stats to gods...

...and killing Gods does not make one a powergamer

 

[Turjan]

Just a side question... did Monte do the original Planescape or was involved there?

Yes, he was one of the main authors. "Beyond Countless Doorways" was written by authors who originally wrote for Planescape.

The original author of the setting itself was David "Zeb" Cook.

 

[Pants]

...and killing Gods does not make one a powergamer

Another salient point.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

I voted "Leave Planescape floating on the Astral Plane."

As did I. Planescape had its fifteen minutes of fame already.

 

[Shemeska]

I'll tentatively answer WotC but with the caveat of it being contingent on them having certain people write it, preferably Monte or any of the other original members of the PS design team, and not certain members of the current WotC designers stable. Without naming names, I don't trust certain folks to understand the gist of the material enough, or care to do the reading on it, to be able to make the product up to snuff when compared to the Planescape books. Those same folks would be fine on other products, I don't question their ability to write enjoyable material at all, but from things I've seen I really don't feel that they have enough of a sense of the setting or the style of writing to handle it properly.

For instance, The Planar Handbook was Planescape pastiche at best, pure and simple, and at worst it was akin to screwing a corpse in a few places therein. Harsh but perhaps accurate. It had names and places sprinkled about but it lost the feel, lost the tone, and lost the style that Planescape had. And it was the style and feel of it all that made it a joy to play in and a constant and continuing inspiration.

I'd love to see Planescape back in print, but I'd rather see it not done than see it done wrong and butchered. I'd rather have no expectations than to have high ones and see them dashed.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Not one to argue with the King of the Crosstrade, I have to agree with Shemeshka and others on this one. I don't want to see PS butchered, and WotC's production values really are tops, and without a connection to the myriad campaign worlds, I suppose it would lose something vital. That said, I think that the choice of authors/designers on this project really is the most critical facet of the whole idea.

I guess more than anything, I really just want future WotC products with allusions to the planes to move beyond Faction War and its aftermath. The official word was always that thangs change quickly on the planes, but WotC seems stuck on a vague, factionless Sigil.

 

[Starman]

I would like to see Planescape back in print.

I do like the idea that has been tossed around here on ENWorld of WotC doing a one-off hardcover for each of their old settings. I think that these would generate a lot of sales without them diluting their market. They could do one a year, or something. Come on, a lot of us have our favorite old settings. Wouldn't you just kill for a 300 page glossy-page, full-color, hardcover treatment for 3.5 (assuming it retained the feel of the original material)?

Starman

 

[Turjan]

I do like the idea that has been tossed around here on ENWorld of WotC doing a one-off hardcover for each of their old settings. I think that these would generate a lot of sales without them diluting their market. They could do one a year, or something. Come on, a lot of us have our favorite old settings. Wouldn't you just kill for a 300 page glossy-page, full-color, hardcover treatment for 3.5 (assuming it retained the feel of the original material)?

I'm not too sure about this. Look at the treatment of Dark Sun in Dragon and Dungeon this year. I was not really convinced about that effort.

 

[Starman]

I'm not too sure about this. Look at the treatment of Dark Sun in Dragon and Dungeon this year. I was not really convinced about that effort.

That's why I said "assuming it retained the feel of the original material." Now, whether Wizards can actually do that or not is another question. On Dark Sun, I would say that they started changing it too much right after it came out (Troy Denning's awful novels). Planescape changed drastically, as well, with the end of the Faction War adventure. Granted, it wasn't supposed to end on that note, but if WotC, or someone else, kick started the setting again, how would they handle it?

I would love to see a lot of the old settings redone for 3.5. The most important part, as someone mentioned above, is getting the right authors and development team behind it. Put Monte Cook and gang behind Planescape and I think it would be a beautiful thing.

Starman