"I ended up on the wrong side of the Lady, lucky for me I'm not your normal berk. And lucky for you I take notes."
His Spirit scattered around the planes Melvin has seen more in a moment then most cutters see in a life time. more then that, he's taking notes, ever growing, ever changing.
any oddities you guys have out there, things that are new and old things that are not in the basic books, things you want to share.
Oddities will give info on all of thies things as Melvin come upon them.
heh honestly i'm not sure if i shoulf laugh or not.
The Oddities:
Basically i'm pulling together much of what we already have on this site and putting into a sigle book. Also we are adding in information for all you players and GMs out there. New and old information about the planes, places, portals, keys, magical items, etc. the book is going to have a section on magic in the planes as well as planar decriptions for as many planes as we can. source material for this will be many of the planes books like Planes of chaos and planes of conflict.
Nifty. Incidentally, If you need a proof-reader, or someone to do a quick write-up on something, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just hang around and let you know if inspiration strikes me. Of course, If you really do want a section on evolutionary theory on the planes, I'm your man!
Hey thanks, though i don't think we'll be needing those theories...thanks though really. Anyway Jachra and I are working on the book. We are now calling it. Melvins Complete Berks Guide to the Planes.
here is what will go in the book that we know of so far.
Introduction
Melvin's how to get mazed(story)
How to use this book
Chapter 1: planars & primes
What every blood needs to know
planars
primes
So you want to be a berk?
chapter 2: junk & jink
what every cutter's bag needs
Differences
Items
Materials
Where to shop
special stores
Special items and keys
chapter 3: Planewalking
sites, smells, and what's that sound?
Keys & gates
Planar magic
the planes
Chapter 4: intrigues & secrets
lanning the chant
Ive Decided to split this book up. Seeing as how There is one section that could be a kook on it's own, I've split up Melnin's Oddities into two books.
Melvin's Complete Guide to the Planes
A very detailed book for every plane. This book i'm meaning to take the place of the planes books such as Planes of Conflict, Planes of Chaos, Astral Plane, Etherial Plane and so forth. Jachra is working on this with me.
(Reference material for this will be pulled from the Planescape Campaign Setting and Planar books)
Melvin's Oddities
Melvin's Oddities will have oddities of the planes new and old. From Lost factions to Very Rare creatures as well as plot hooks and places to be.
(Material for this will be many sorces, from the books to the Core rules as well as new material people submit to me. Melvin's odities will be a growing book, meaning the more i get the more I'll add as time goes on.)
Is this the kind of thing you're looking for?
Spark Gap
Travelers passing through the quasiplane of Lightning might encounter a chunk of elemental earth covered in metallic protrusions and surrounded by a layer of ozone from near-constant barrages of lightning. This is Outpost L-1 (also known as Spark Gap), a laboratory and way station controlled by the Guvnors. Here research is conducted into the nature of energy, and theories of harnessing and controlling the primal force are tested. In addition to the science facility, a small defense force is kept ready to fend off any natives or raiders interested in the fruits of Fraternity efforts.
Arim Pheori (Pl/male Hu/Wiz12/N/Fraternity of Order A3) has spent the last twenty years administering the outpost, though the recent shakeups in Sigil may soon result in his transfer to Mechanus. Such concerns seem far-off here, however. Such is the nature of the inner planes; keeping Spark Gap well-stocked and in good repair takes up most of Arim’s time. Faction members may stay here at minimum charge and are often invited to help in the research. Others must pay a rather high fee, and Xaositechts are not welcome under any terms.
If you need any other writing done, I'd be happy to oblige.
Wow. thats exctly the sort of thing iim looking for for Oddities. Thanks!
Regarding this book, I assume it will eventually be downloadable in PDF format from Planewalker, right?
Are you looking more for fan-created stuff or more official canonical sort of darks?
What every cutta needs.
A speach I over heard one day
'Right cutta, you think it you know it all now you know some spells and have a sword?
Well you're just about as green as prime you are berk.
Dispite the fact you may have been feed some line from some 'blood' as far as it goes Sigil is a safe place to be.
The lady keep all dem nuttas in check ya see and in sigil your never too far from some one with a mind like yours you follow cutta?'
Though the lack of proper speach was there the man is right.
Dispite Sigil having a fearsome reputation your never to far from some one with a like mind.
In the outer planes your very thoughts are treated like an infection one that must be imdiately cleaned.
Those of you procuring this book have most proberly skipped right to this section.
You will need to find the following items. (I'd like it if there was a picture ala the players hand book but alas I can not draw)
A sharp spade.
Two thick strips of cloth, one wide and thick the other thiner and shorter
A pile of loose cotton, two fists of
An animal blader of water.
A sharp long nail.
A peice of wood two inchs long and a half thick
Though to you dear reader this may seem like a rather random collection of items these may very well save your life.
Be sure that none of these items are enchanted.
The planes are infused with the very nature of something weather that be a thought mentality or idea or on the other side of the scale an element, sense or feeling.
Just like here where you read, too much of something is not a good idea.
When travelling to these mundane items can provide a number of handy ways out of various situations.
When you encounter an area that you fear the air may be posioned take your thick wide cloth and dose it in water then tie it over your mouth and now breath through this.
This is only a stop gap messure if possiable find some other way to breath in this area.
When encountering blinding light, take the thin cloth and put it over your eyes and tie it.
If the light is still blinding simply fold and fold again until you can see 'normally'
When encountering ear piecing screams or howls.
Take the cotten and stuff it in your ears until you block out the noise.
When encountering mind numbing pain via envoriment not from wounds if you have wounds treat them.
Take your piece of wood and stick it in your mouth and bite down hard until you find yourself regaining control of your body.
When encountering a mental attack from the enviroment, take the long nail and insert into your fore arm between the two bones.
This will be very painful.
This is the desired result focus on the pain of your own body to the exlusion of outside sources to regain your composure.
There is a varity of procedures that I could right down with these simple bag of tricks however that would most proberly take up the majority of the book.
there are many magical means of surival on the planes however magic is fickle and these are tangable they 'should' remain uneffected.
That was agreat one. and I CAN Draw BTW. I will definatly be puting that into the book. Whichby the way WILL be in PDF. to be downloaded.
Anyway Jachra has not spoken to me in a few weeks but i'm sure he's hard at work. (knock on wood)
Okay, this is driving me nuts. Would you guys please proofread your posts? I don't understand the point of writing something as long and inspired as Caladors' post and then not going to the trouble of making it read well. Good writing is re-writing, as they say.
I don't mean to get into a philophocy discussion, but this is a forum, Which was created for the quick and reliable transfure of information from one person to another. Therefore Proof reading that information while it makes everything pretty, is overshadowed by the information it's self. I've never understood how people could get so worked up about it. Did you not understand the information given? If that is the case maybe you should once agian read the post. If you just want it to be pretty, sorry man you are in the wrong medium. very few people actually have time to proof read everything the post on a forum. they want bto get their words out quickly and if they make a couple typos along the way they may or may not catch it when the read over their work and check it. For example if i write a long work such as thgis one i will read over it agian, because i find it important but being that as it may i will more then likelly miss a couple things.
Oddities of the planes, an excerpt from What every cuter needs.
The Hollow
With all of the less than just causes out there. with all of the hipiciticall racism, and hate disguised as "it's for the greater good" It stands to reason my dear cutters that the most hypicritical of places can be found in the most ironic places. The hollow is one of those places. You can Find the Hollow in the upper planes but good luck actually finding it. interesting how that works aint it.
With the right Key you can get into The Hollow from just about any of the upper planes, a few exceptions are the Astral and etherial planes, and any of the quasielemental planes. These planes are not linked closelly enough to THE Hollow.
The Hollow or Mu, the best I can explane it is a Splinter Plane that takes up the same as several of the upper planes. Not that the hollow is very large at all, It's little more than a City, but many of the elements of the planes such as the beast lands an Ysgard can be gound within it's walls
The City is an anomolly if you've ever seen one, there are no law here, no right or wrong, As a matter of fact you cannot die while in Mu. Why? because time is erelivant in The Hollow Even more so then in other realms. you might step into The hollow onday and find yourself looking face to face at yourself whoi ad been there what seemed to him or her to be several days. Alighnment has no pull on The hollow. Why, I suppose it is because The hollow is a binding of the planes. Think of it like the tar holding the planks of a well made ship tight.
The Hollow is not very large, but then agian thats a relitive term as far a planar Cities go. Several Factions have tried to take controll of the City in the past but the truth is that no one can trully claim controll out of somthing that has a mind of it's own. Every so often The Hollow shuts ist';s self off from the upper planes adn by extension anyone within The City is zipped back to their home plane. Or back to where their key directs them.
If you are going to visit the Hollow you need not worry about lost time in the planes, While time has no meanin within the Hollow, You will exit the Hollow exactly 22 hours (as the cage turns) later. However if you happen to be in The hollow durring the later months (agian lets keep it simple and use Sigil time) make sure you have a key that links you back to the Cage or wherever you come from. Otherwise you may find yourself zapped back to your original plane. Planars that means whatever plane you were born in, Primes, I hope you like the prime material world.
The hollow in typically used a trade post and you would not believe the hypicitical deals that go on there. Deva's trading with Balors while not comon can happen from time to time. What? You thought all Deva's were loving and beautiful? You got alot to learn berk.
Another thing the Hollow is good for is quick escapes. While in the hollow you cannot Die, you don't age and because you can spend months there at a time you can also find a way out of the trouble you may be in. one way may be to dispose of the key that got you to The Hollow in the first place do this and you'll find yourself Zapped back to wherever you came from. Keys to The Hollow typacly take the from of a rock or stone that can be at times pretty plane looking. regardless you will never find one of these rocks where it is supposed to be. you may find a Ysgardian Dymond in the pits of Battor, or the Red-Gold stone frm Bator in the Pride of the beastlands. Thats the way you Find a Key to The Hollow. Many many people find these keys and don't recognise them for what they are, even experience cutters like myself.
Using a key to get to The hollow only works in the upper planes. Luckelly Keys to Hollow either work or they don't. No in between. When a key to hollow fails to work, you will end up in the plane that has the closes relation to the plane you came from. thats pretty spiffy, just make sure when you use a key to The hollow you know where you are and where you will end up if the key does not work.
Sorry, I guess it's a bit of a pet peeve for me. Not to mention the fact that Calladors' posts tend to be barely readable (and sometimes not at all). Oh, and your post had more than a few errors, but yeah, I could read it, so I guess it's no big deal.
Anyway, what I do is I read over everything I write once or twice and that usually gets rid of most of the errors. Even for a long post, that rarely takes more than a couple minutes, but I guess a lot of people have a weaker sense of spelling or grammar than me. I won't bring this us again in any case.
Okay everyone, I've inputted information you have given me into Melvin's Oditties. There is an Entire Chapter that is empty right now because, lets face it, There are a crap load of planes and i'd like to get the small stuff out of the way first. If anyone wants to take over one of the planes that would be great. Personally I am Working on the Astral and Etherial planes, all the others ore open. This little PDF is not a finished work by any means. I DID the artwork on the cover as well as the Design. I hope you like it.
http://thegamemasters.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/mevins_oddities.pdf
After reading your proposed layout, I have a few questions.
1) Is this book intended for players, DMs, or both? The first few chapters look like they're aimed at beginning players, while Chapter 4, for example seems to be something not everyone should read.
2) Why are various locations around the planes detailed in a section called 'Lanning The Chant', under 'Intrigues and Secrets', rather than in the entry for their respective plane?
3) Do you plan to follow canon, or invent new material for things like Planar Magic?
I also have a few suggestions:
1) Even if you don't believe in grammatically correct posts, a published document should be as polished as possible. I don't mind doing proofreading and editing, if you prefer not to. Currently I'm at the tail end of a rather time-intensive university project, however, and cannot guarantee results in less than a week.
2)The current layout is rather confusing. Why not make a master table of contents instead of having chapter-based tables?
3)Writing contributions would be easier if we had a better idea of what you want for each section. For example, are you looking for descriptions of planes, places on planes, adventures on planes, etc. in Chapter 3? What would go under the 'Differences' sub-heading in Chapter 2?
4)I think a lot of your book could be filled in with information from this site. A project is currently in development to create descriptions and overviews of each plane, for example. On a similar note, I wouldn't recommend just reproducing material that other books cover in more detail.
5) This is just a personal opinion, but the orange-pink text on a white background is a bit hard on the eyes after awhile.
Interesting how you say that. As Stated abouve, ther are alot of things out there that this sight has not pulled together. That Is what this book is planned for. If you can point me towards the PDF that has indeapth information on every plane, Then sure, I'll check it out and remove the Plane Walking section of my book. The Goal of Melvin's Oddities is not to replace the PSCS in any way. It is meant to pull together information on this sight that is not already pulled together.
Regardless, this book will, as much as D&D 3.5 allows follow the guidlines set out by AD&D as far as Planar Effects on magic and other effects the plane may have, like keys and how they work, what form keys take for a plane etc.
Grammar. If there are alot of squiggly lines underneath words in your reader, sorry. If you are reading a piece of the section that is being told by a "Cutter" expect there to be major grammar problems. If you would like to edit my work please do. I welcome the help.
Layout. To make a point, The layout for this book is based very simply off of the layout of many of the original planescape books. hence the melon colored text, as well as the sayings directly under the melon colored line. IE: Chapter 4
_________________________________________________
Lanning the Cant
Who this Book is meant for. To be honest this Book is geared to every one. It has information that every Player and every GM would find usefull. After all the book--almost 90% of it--will be written as a journal that Melvin took and is in distribution throughout the Planes. There may be some small sections that are geared more towards GMs then to players, but nothing that a GM needs to worry about the players exploiting.
*yawn* guys I really want to SP Check this post, but i'm at the library and it is just not possible, i have to go but i'll post agian tomarrow with hopefully an update.
Hey, sorry if my last post came off a bit harsh. Chapter 8 of the PSCS is currently in development (Clueless is coordinating it in another thread here), but will have an overview of each plane as far as I know. In regard to grammar and the like, I wouldn't mind doing some proofreading on future submissions. I can't guarantee anything will be done the next day, but I'll try to edit them as they come in.
Are you looking for entirely original material, or is data from the Encyclopedia and the source books fair game for the Oddities? I know spell keys, for example, are already mostly specified in the various 2nd. edition Planescape texts. Oh, one more question. Should submissions be mostly in-character, or is a basic descriptive tone preferred?
Hmm Great questions all.
Okay Anything is fair game. Infor fromn the Sorcebooks, Novels, Original Material. About chapter 8. yes it will have an overview of the planes but an overview of the planes is FAR different than than "indeapth look at"
If you look at the Planescape core book from D&D it has a general over view of the planes. Every plane. but Every plane has it's own sorcebook. By the time we have Melvin's Oddities done There will be a VERy large and indeapth area for the planes. (more then likelly i will set aside 20-30 pages for every plane meaning that there will be enough info for several sorce books.
Upper planes,
Lower planes
Elemental planes
Astral and Ethererial Planes
ETC.
Layout: I was thinking about this. and it seems that it would be a good idea to have most of the book In Character while off to the side have pieces (as in the original where the page was layed out as an ripped pieceof parchment) that gives "In Game Terms" This would keep the book in the spirit of the AD&D book.
Personally, I see ch8 having a chapter on each plane, much like 2e Planes of Chaos/Law/Conflict but shorter. Future books could expand on each, adding sites, creatures, NPC's, encounter ideas, and current events. They would be far lengthier, taking up a book a plane or, perhaps, as Draigon said, one for each grouping of Planes (3 Upper Conflict, 3 Lower conflict, 5 Chaos, 5 Law, Astral, Ethereal, Inner, etc.)
Does that seem like what is happening, or even reasonable?
It's what I'm aiming for on my end of things.
I don't know why we'd want to lump them together. PDFs don't exactly have a minimum length.
one reason. for lumping them together should be obvious. Printing. If a GM wants to havea hardcopy of the book they can print say a 120 page PDF easier then a 700 page book.
another is SIZE. when was the last time you tried DLing a 700 page pdf complete with cover aret, full color art and borders? i can tell you it takes a few minutes on DSL and those of you still using Dial up would be waiting weeks. I'm trying to make Oddities as friendly as possable. to all on this site. Besides i see little Reason for cluttering up all the neet little things in Oddities with Melvin's Complete Berks Guide to the (Planes)
(oh yeah i meant to repeat what mentioned several pages back. I'm splitting the book. remopving the section with planes because i realize it will be VERY big, I left it in the sample layout PDF by accident. )
EDIT: Previous post deleted on grounds of total irrelevance caused by lack of sleep. Hopefully this one will make sense.
Wow, 20-30 pages per plane is an ambitious project. Do you have any kind of deadline or time table for something like this? I can't help but think that without a pretty dedicated group of writers this could take a long time, especially if you're also working on the Oddities.
hmm Timeline...When it's done it's done. I did not meen that i WANTED 20-30 pages per plane, only that I'll set asside 20-30 pages for each plane. If a plane takes less then 20 then thats excelent, but i do not think that with all the Graphics, Quotes (that are in larger formats) and side bars (for ooc info on the planes and how they effect the system) and other formatting of the book that we will get the actuall info in less then 15 pages. right now for example the Astral Plane is 13 pages, but that is only text add in the formatting and we are talking somewhere like 21 pages or so.
A little info about Melvin, for anyone who wants to write up somthing that he is telling. Melvin is a Prime Wizard who stumbled upon a Gate to Sigil. While in Sigil he began Plans to create a Key that would allow him free access to every plane. Unfortunatly for him the Lady of Pane had her own ideas. Just when Melvin began his ritual the section of sigil he set up shop in began to crumble away. Then, almost as suddenly as it began the catastophe stopped and Melvin found himself face to face with the Lady of Pain.
Melvin was mazed, and found his soul scattered throughout the planes.
Melvin has picked up some of the inflections of speach from the planes, though he still speeks fairly propper as far as cutters go.
When Melvin learned what had happened to him he began studdying the planes and writing his many journals.
Melvin's oddities is a compiled book of Melvin's works from around the planes.
(thats a very rough scetch of who melvin is)
Update on the Oddities PDF. I've included both Astral and Etherial planes. together they add 40 pages and cange to the PDF (and thats without formating the way I want it.)
thats the good news.
The bad news is that my laptop along with all the info for melvin's oddities is out of town right now. I'm going to continue with the next Plane on my list however.
I'm working on The Beastlands (yeah i know, not exactly in alphabetical order but hey, I'm the only one that has been taking on a plane i get writers preference =)
Edit: I'm thinking that Oddities will be several books, having thought about how much space on plane will take up. i know i've mentioned this before but it bears repeating. so if anyone wants to do some cover art--I'll be doing some--grab a plane and submit a cover.
agian planes i have finished writing
Astral 90%
Etherial 90%
Beastlands 1%
What do you mean by oddities, exactly? Would an entry on the mating habits of bladelings be appropriate, or would you rather see a page on the evolutionary development of reptilian humanoids?