Planescape What are the definitive Planescape titles?

[Wasteland Knight]

I was never into Planescape during the time it was an active product.

Planescape came on the market at a time when I was playing games other than D&D, so it stayed underneath my radar, and by the time I came back to D&D 3E was in full swing.

I’m at the point where I no longer buy any gaming products for the “crunch”. Mostly due to some of the Story Hours on this site, I’m interested in actually reading through done of the Planescape material.

I see DriveThruRPG gas most available as .pdfs, so here’s the question:

What are the best/most important Planescape titles? As my budget is not unlimited, maybe give the top three or four if your list is long

 

[Gradine]

If you're not opposed to some banal gameplay breaking up your lore dive, Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition is only $20 and is as good a primer as any on both Planescape lore as well as an excellent example of the kinds of stories to tell in it.

 

[coolAlias]

I have very fond memories of the AD&D Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set - if you can find it for a reasonable price, it's totally worth it.

Lots of cool maps, lore, spells, races, monsters - it had it all. If you're up for converting a few things to 5e, I'd highly recommend it.

If that's not your style, 3e Manual of the Planes is decent, too.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I was never into Planescape during the time it was an active product.

Planescape came on the market at a time when I was playing games other than D&D, so it stayed underneath my radar, and by the time I came back to D&D 3E was in full swing.

I’m at the point where I no longer buy any gaming products for the “crunch”. Mostly due to some of the Story Hours on this site, I’m interested in actually reading through done of the Planescape material.

I see DriveThruRPG gas most available as .pdfs, so here’s the question:

What are the best/most important Planescape titles? As my budget is not unlimited, maybe give the top three or four if your list is long

The Campaign Setting boxed set
Planes of Chaos
Planes of Law
Planes of Conflict

Those will give you a good run-down of the setting and its themes, as well as give you all the fluff you'd ever want on the Outer Planes. Should you wish to continue and read up on the other planes, you would want to take a look at:

Guide to the Astral Plane
Guide to the Ethereal Plane
The Inner Planes

The best part is that 90%+ of the info in all of these is immediately portable to 5e, with only some reorganization of the Inner Planes and the addition of the Feywild and Shadowfell as actual full-fledged planes (although both are discussed in their then-current forms of the Seelie Court and the Demiplane of Shadow)

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

The Planewalker's Handbook has the first appearance of Aasimar, Genasi, and Rogue Modrons.

 

[coolAlias]

The Planewalker's Handbook has the first appearance of Aasimar, Genasi, and Rogue Modrons.

Oh yes, how could I forget about that?! I kept it in my Planescape campaign setting boxed set and eventually they just kind of blended together, but this is definitely a must-have.

 

[Quickleaf]

What are the best/most important Planescape titles? As my budget is not unlimited, maybe give the top three or four if your list is long

Oh man, I gamed the heck out of Planescape. My first campaign chipping my teeth DMing was Planescape. I'd say my top 5 would be:

The Planescape Campaign Setting
The Planewalker's Handbook
Planes of Chaos
Planes of Law
Planes of Conflict