Books for Planescape?

As far as I know, this is a listing of all the officially published planescape modules, along with their ID numbers. I'll leave it to more experienced cutters to point out which ones are the best, but I will say that Hellbound: The Blood War is pretty much agreed to be one of the better ones.

2600 Planescape Boxed Set
2607 Planes of Law
2603 Planes of Chaos
2615 Planes of Conflict
2634 The Inner Planes

2604 The Well of the Worlds
2611 The Factol's Manifesto
2609 In the Cage; A Guide To Sigil
2610 A Player's Primer To the Outlands CD.
2624 Uncaged: Faces of Sigil
2623 On Hallowed Ground
2620 The Planewalkers Handbook
2625 A Guide To the Astral Plane
2630 Faces of Evil: Fiends
2632 Tales From the Infinite Staircase
2633 A Guide To the Ethereal Plane

2601 PSM1 The Eternal Boundary
2605 PSM2 In the Abyss
2606 PSM3 The Deva Spark
2608 PSM4 The Fires of Dis
2614 PSM5 Harbinger House
2621 PSM6 Hellbound: the Blood War
2626 PSM7 Doors To the Unknown
2619 PSM8 Something Wild
2628 PSM9 The Great Modron March
2631 PS10 The Dead Gods
2629 PS11 Faction War

You can get these products via download in PDF format for around $5 from a number of sites. There's another thread - that hopefully someone else will remember where it is - where sites selling the PDFs are listed. Whilst it's nice to have the books, if you can fit them on a CD or DVD and carry them around it makes it a lot lighter too

Anyway, here is my 10 minute review of the various books.

2600 Planescape Boxed Set
- Get this if you have not got any Planescape material yet. It's a great introduction and contains quite a bit of information.

2607 Planes of Law
2603 Planes of Chaos
2615 Planes of Conflict
- These three box sets give a lot of information about all the planes around the great ring broken down in to Law, Chaos and Conflict. Lots of location and planar effects information as well as some adventure hooks and monsters information (2nd edition).

2634 The Inner Planes
- This book contains useful information about the Inner Planes, but I've personally never been very excited about the Inner Planes.

2604 The Well of the Worlds
- A great book with lots of adventure write-ups. Each one is fairly short and they cover a variety of levels. The first adventure is also a good way of getting characters from a Prime world on to the Planes.

2611 The Factol's Manifesto
- Lots of information about each of the Factions including some DM's dark. Information on NPCs within the Factions and it is a great resource if you make use of Factions in a campaign.

2609 In the Cage; A Guide To Sigil
- It does exactly what it says on the cover, it's a guide to Sigil. The city is big and a single book cannot cover it all, but this book does a decent job of providing information about NPCs, locations, services, the various wards, some history and more.

2610 A Player's Primer To the Outlands CD.
- This contains a load of audio files that are recordings in a Mimir. This is a device that you can record speech on. I've used it a couple of times in a campaign, but on the whole I've not done much further with it. Great plot device though if you use the information as plot hooks.

2624 Uncaged: Faces of Sigil
- One of the best Planescape books in my opinion. It has information about major NPCs within Sigil. It gives stats, background information and tips on how to role-play them, what their goals and motivation is. As well as how the NPCs are connected via webs of intrigue and plans. Well written and great artwork.

2623 On Hallowed Ground
- A lot of information about deities. Some useful lists and information about the various Powers around the Planes.

2620 The Planewalkers Handbook
- One of my favourite as it contains lots of useful information crammed in to one book. If you only get the basic box-set and one other book, then this would be a contender in my opinion.

2625 A Guide To the Astral Plane
- Ever wondered about what travel is like on the Astral plane and what you might encounter? Well this book contains all that information and then some.

2630 Faces of Evil: Fiends
- An amazing book that provides a huge wealth of information about the fiends. If Fiends and/or the Lower Planes are going to feature in prominent way in a campaign then I would heartily recommend reading this book.

2632 Tales From the Infinite Staircase
- A series of linked adventures that can be inserted in to an ongoing campaign. Also has information about the Infinite Staircase in general and other useful bits.

2633 A Guide To the Ethereal Plane
- Like the Guide to the Astral.. except that this covers the Ethereal. So next time someone asks you about an Ether Gap and whether it is safe to go through one - read this and you'll find out for sure.

2601 PSM1 The Eternal Boundary
- Good starter adventure and introduction to Sigil, aimed at low levels.

2605 PSM2 In the Abyss
- I own a copy but have never read it cover to cover. Have not heard such good reviews for it.

2606 PSM3 The Deva Spark
- Good adventure partially set on the Upper Planes. Has some interesting concepts.

2608 PSM4 The Fires of Dis
- Like In the Abyss, I've not read it in a long time.

2614 PSM5 Harbinger House
- Brilliant adventure in Sigil and beyond. Not for new starters to the planes and once players and GM have some experience it's a really good adventure to run.

2621 PSM6 Hellbound: the Blood War
- Amongst the top Planescape products. This box set contains information about the eternal Blood War, more information about fiends and tactics and schemes that they use as well as a top shelf adventure.

2626 PSM7 Doors To the Unknown
- A curious adventure in several parts that can be quite fun. Set in Sigil and a couple of other places.

2619 PSM8 Something Wild
- Good adventure, solid fun and aimed at lower levels if I remember correctly.

2628 PSM9 The Great Modron March
2631 PS10 The Dead Gods
- Two linked mega-adventures that can form a campaign all on their own. Classics of Planescape adventuring and sure to keep you entertained for a year or more in a regular PS campaign.

2629 PS11 Faction War
- This is the adventure that changed Sigil. If ever you hear about people saying Pre-FW and post-FW (Faction War) then you know this is the adventure. It had some very mixed reviews at the time, but has now become generally accepted as the way to go forward. It has some very useful information about Sigil in the first chapters of the book and then goes in to the adventure.

'AkumaDaimyo' wrote:

Thanks, that's very helpfull.

Which of the NEW 3.5 books would you say is most usefull in terms of monsters and races that would be encountered in Planescape? Seems Fiendish Codex is a must as is the Demon one. But what of MM II, III, and IIII?

Definitely the Fiendish Codex, I've heard good things about it.

I haven't picked it up yet but there is a discussion on another thread about Monster Manual IV having 3 Githyanki types (Soldier, Gish and Captain).

I'm waiting for the special edition Monster Manual before I get the 3.5 version but I understand all the Celestials, Demons and Devils from 3.0 are in as well as entries for Githyanki and Githzerai (which aren't in 3.0). Looking at the 3.5 table of contents it looks like the Yugoloths are missing, but they are in Monster Manual III.

Monster Manual II is severly lacking in planar material though it does have three Yugoloths (Marraenoloth, Arcanaloth and Yagnoloth).

Then of course there is the Lords of Madness, while not really a "Planescape" book, it does contain extensive information on Mind Flayers and the plane called the Far Realm.

In addition to those "Monster" books consider the Manual of the Planes which give details on all the standard core D&D "Great Wheel" planes as well as alternate cosmologies, planes and demiplanes. The Planar Handbook contains info on planar PC races, spells and equipment as well as (and this is the best part) details on the Githyanki capital Tu'narath and Sigil!!!

-420

EDIT: Whoops! How could I forget my favorite link of all time? Modrons!

Da whowhat? Have a link so I can see what you're talking about? I'm not familar with that one at all.

I took a look at the Table of Contents (Kestral's link "Excerpt 1") and it looks like this book simply expands on the martial classes and new combat options. Not really "planar material" as it were. Though it does introduce a new Rakshasa, I hardly think a single outsider is worth buying a D&D book for.

-420

Just the fan material - want links?