Hi, i'm a new DM who is consitering starting a Planescape campaign.
I don't know exactly what materials to use in a PS campaign and I would appreciate it if someone here can tell me some useful resources(2nd or 3rd edition) for a PS campaign.
New to Planescape
Thu, 2006-11-23 15:37
#1
New to Planescape
Thu, 2006-11-23 15:54
#3
New to Planescape
Well, I have been looking into PS for a while now(I read almost all of this site's content), I just started DMing though.
Just list the important 2nd edition PS stuff I should look into plz and ill buy it off Ebay or something.
Thu, 2006-11-23 15:59
#4
New to Planescape
Downloading the PDF's is way cheaper (and easier to find what you want). I liked the Planes of... books but it really depends on when you're setting your campaign (pre/post FW) and what you want it's focus to be - Do you want much faction input? How heavily are the fiends featured? Are you exploring the Inner and Transitive planes, etc.
The Planewalkers Handbook has some really nifty features regardless so that could be a good place to start.
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:03
#5
New to Planescape
Hmm, I will mostly be exploring the various planes. I wanna hit them all, so the more info the better.(althoughg I have a great interest in the lower planes mostly)
I woun't be delving too deep into factions. My players will be joining them, but it will not be big in my campaign.
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:15
#6
New to Planescape
If you want to hit all of the planes (by which I assume you mean Outer Planes) what you should get the Manual of the Planes (3e), the Planes of Law boxed set (2e), Planes of Chaos Boxed set (2e), Planes of Conflict boxed set (2e), and if you are particularly interested in the lower planes you should get Faces of Evil: Guide to the Fiends (2e) as well. Download all of the 2e stuff as PDFs off of RPGnow or a similar place.
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:25
#7
New to Planescape
OK, the Planes of Chaos/Law/Conflict are going to be pretty helpful. To be honest I haven't read A Guide to the Astral Plane/The Inner Planes yet but I own them and I've heard good reports. If you want to be able to effectively portray Fiends then "Faces of Evil" is pretty much a must and "Hellbound" will be very handy too.
I'd also probably get "In the Cage" and "Uncaged- Faces of Sigil" if the players are going to be spending any amount of time in Sigil but if not then you could probably get by with the PSCS stuff, it's slightly different anyway and pretty comprehensive.
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:30
#8
New to Planescape
k, ty for al of your help, I'm sorry if I asked too many questions but I really am clueless as what to get 
.
One final question, where should I go to get stats for planar creatures I will use in my campaign?
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:21
#9
New to Planescape
Yeah, those look good to me, but I'm interested in all the planes.
Here's what I have decided to get in 2nd edition:
Planewalker's Handbook,
Player's Primer to the Outlands
Guide to ethereal plane
guide to astral plane
Hellbound the Blood War
The Inner Planes
Planes of chaos
planes of law
planes of conflict.
Plus I will get manual of the planes.
Any suggestions, are these good? And also, where do I go for stats for creatures?
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:40
#10
New to Planescape
You pretty much need to piece together the stats from a variety of sources. The basic 3.5e Monster Manual is an obvious must (I assume you have it); Fiend Folio also has stats for a variety of planar creatures. You also might want to consider getting the 3e Fiendish Codexes; they aren't Planescape canon, but they provide good 3e stats for fiends (apart from the infuriatingly, incomprehensibly underpowered Demon Lords and the sort). This site has good stats: http://www.geocities.com/paranoidus_maximus/creatures.htm#nether
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:42
#11
New to Planescape
Yeah, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the MM sequels have some good material too as well as the MoTP and Planar Handbook (see other thread)
Thu, 2006-11-23 16:59
#12
New to Planescape
Oh, just a final piece of advice - don't worry about translating all the intricacies of 2e Planescape into 3e, or, if you feel that you need to, start your players on chaotic planes until you get the hang of all the restrictions and conditions so you can explain inconsistent application. The rules can get a bit too much to handle, especially for a new DM.
Sun, 2006-11-26 04:01
#13
New to Planescape
Pfft, you really don't need to get the Second Edition PS stuff at all. I've found that pretty much everything I've needed has been somewhere on Planewalker, or its sister sites. The 2e books do have pretty pictures, however. Oh, and the Manual of the Planes is pretty nice too, even if it gets some of the details wrong.
Sat, 2006-11-25 16:51
#14
New to Planescape
k, thanks so much.
Sun, 2006-11-26 12:24
#15
New to Planescape
It's a bit of a tangent - but in all honesty, I think the Fiendish Codex series went the right way with Demon Lord stats. If you read the small text, the stats are meant to represent the weakest possible Demon Lords/Lords of the Nine.
This is great - because Epic Rules don't work. Let's just say you want to play 1st edition style - where the Gods and Demon Lords are actually approachable by mortals - at least if they get high enough in level. So if you want to have your 19th-level party have a climatic battle against Jubilex after weakening him with the Bottle of M'rek Talle and taking it to the 821st layer of the Abyss? Sure.
If you want to scare them away, or make him an incredibly hard challenge? Advance him. That's what it says. They give you guidelines, and it's really not that hard to do. Give him Cleric casting equal to his hit dice and four more hit dice, and he's suddenly one of the most powerful creatures to grace third edition.
This is good. It's a workable.
Now, I'd like you to step back and look at the stats in the Book of Vile Darkness and Dieties and Demigods.
They're completely unapproachable. There is no way they can or will ever be used in a normal game, so all they are is masturbation for whoever created them - "Look, he has 189990 hit points and immunity to everything! I'm the best monstar designer ever!"
So yeah, I like the Fiendish Codex stats.
Sun, 2006-11-26 16:23
#16
New to Planescape
The BOVd's stats aren't that ridiculous, gee, at least 2/3 of the monsters in the ELH are stronger than them. And Juiblex is only as strong as a Balor.
I do admit that SDA's are a little overpowered, but all else about the deity stats are just fine.
The demon Lords are what you want them to be, if you want non-epic, the FC versio ns are just fine. If you want epic and canon consistant lords that are on par with the gods, there is always Dicefreaks.
How new to DMing are you? How experienced at roleplaying are you? Planescape is, at least in my eyes, definitely the most difficult to DnD setting to DM. I would advise you to initially familiarize yourself with the downloads and general content of this site and the Manual of the Planes (3e). After that, decide what aspect of Planescape and what planes you want your campaign to focus on and download the relevant boxed sets off of RPGnow.com. That is at the bare minimum for a good campaign' ideally, read as many 2e Planescape books as possible, you can get most of them for a very reasonable price at RPGnow.com.