Review: Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse (5e)

tl:dr; surprisingly good return to the planes, anchored around what looks like a fun campaign.

So I threw in my order for this back in the late spring and I've been paying little attention to the hype since. I was going to be getting this no matter what - all I did do was look back at the old Planescape Core Set (AD&D, 1994) to be able to compare what we got then and now. My expectations were rock bottom after Spelljammer, I was expecting a hack job content-wise so I guess they were set up for success from that angle.

Cover by Tony diTerlizzi

First impression - gorgeous art - I expected no less, especially since I heard diTerlizzi was back on board. It is a slightly softer style than his harder edged 90's stuff - I can see the path through childrens literature such as the Spiderwick Chronicles to get here - keeping the weird but sanding off some of the sharper edges. His Lady of Pain looks a lot less arbitrarily lethal than the one on the main covers and she should be terrifying. Maps and layout are good, this is WotC, those things should be taken for granted. Stylistically there is less 'these places are inherently dangerous' than the previous edition, there is a bit more Bond-esque 'heists and tension against fabulous backdrops' style from the art - more glorious, less grim.

One odd thing though is the weird smell, enough that even the in-house testing team commented on it. Normally cracking the book and taking a deep breath is one of the nice parts of getting a book not a pdf but in this case I'm getting a touch of a headache from having the things sitting open in front of me.

All contents of the slipcase, art by Tony diTerlizzi

So what is all this stuff you get in the slipcase?
Sigil and the Outlands - a 96 page gazetteer
Mortes Planar Parade - a 64 page bestiary
Turn of Fortunes Wheel - a 96 page planar adventure
DM Screen - 4 panels

The three books, art by Tony diTerlizzi

Going through these individually first Mortes Planar Parade - I started here and was pleasantly surprised to find that contrary to rumour planar alignment had not been done away with and in fact there are some neat 'apply planar flavour' templates. We get all the monsters listed by CR, some planar specific traits for petitioners. We also get a neat section with d4 typical types of each creature found on the Outlands - the typical fiends, elementals, giants, fey, etc. of the Outlands. I like this last a lot as a guide to integrating the core monster manual with the planes. One thing that is puzzling is that all the new monsters are grouped alphabetically by *group* - archons, demodands, githzerai, etc. but the index at the front is alphabetically by specific monster - I have to remember that the horsey looking angel is an Equinal Guardinal specifically.

The 54 monsters themselves include the less common planar creatures and faction NPCs - good stuff for Planescape, some odd ones in there. Many of the big planar groups are in the monster manual core book - angels, demons, devils, slaadi - and what we get here are the odder stuff - demodands, guardinals, rilmani, some more modrons and classic planar monsters like the Eater of Knowledge and Maelephant. A good chunk of the monsters we get are faction warriors - handy to give plug-and-play faction specific rivals and probably more helpful than yet another ambush predator from out in the wilds.

Next Sigil and the Outlands - cracking this book my immediate reaction was 'huh' as we get mostly Sigil and a chunk of Outlands and not much on the planes beyond. Fine for the original Planescape Box because you got the outer planes in the DM's Guide to the Planes - but here - you're supposed to fall back on the 26 pages on the planes in the 5e DMG I guess? So all in all you are probably in the same place but just to manage expectations that you are getting detail on the Outlands and Sigil and nothing beyond that.

This book has four bits - 2 pages of intro, 8 pages of character options, 46 pages on Sigil and 36 pages on the Outlands. The intro reintroduces the 3 truths of Planescape - the Center of the Multiverse, the Unity of Rings and the Rule of Threes which is nice to see carried forward. It also lays out the seven themes for Planescape which is a nice piece of transparency into what the designers were going for - Backstage of Reality, Everywhere at Once, Multiversal Scale, No Single Truth, Power and Possibility, Stage of Contradictions and Everything D&D. To me Backstage of Reality, No Single Truth and Stage of Contradictions are three strikes on the same target - that all is not what is may seem and anything can happen in Sigil. That is a minor quibble, it is great to see the grand scale of Planescape laid out. The Character options give you 2 backgrounds and guidance on making your own faction which is interestings. We get 7 feats and a handful of magic - two spells and three items. Some nice stuff to add flavour but not my core focus as a DM.

The Sigil section is effectively one sixth how to run the city, one sixth about the factions driving politics in Sigil and two thirds locatoins in Sigil split out by the six wards (including Undersigil). Assuming you are coming cold to Planescape then it comes across more as a shinier place than previously - it has some grim wards as it always did - the Hive, the Lower Ward - but it is presented as much more likely that adventurers might find themselves in the Ladys or Clerks Ward and not get chased out by Harmonium patrols. For each ward we get notes on what faction holds sway there, locations and a d8 encounter table. We close out the whole section with a handy double page spread with d10 Sigil adventure hooks, d6 Faction Missions, d8 Sigil Calamities and a 35 entry d100 encounter table. The tone has changed a bit but there is good useable stuff here to run a city campaign. I think

For the Outlands after an intro page we get two-page spreads for each of the Gate-towns including d4 hooks for each. I like this, pithy, good enough to get going. The rest of the Outlands get a shorter shrift with 3 pages covering 18 sites with a single paragraph each. You can combine this with the DMG Chapter 2 to get your planar paths and cook up your own planar adventures on the Outlands, certainly it is a step up with regards to the Gate-towns but all the realms of the Powers now fade into the background and all the Outlands is effectively 'hinterlands' never mind what lies beyond the Gate-towns.

Finally Turn of Fortunes Wheel - I will go into this less as I hope to run it for folk I know read this but it basically comes in three bits - a set up which gets the adventures conceit rolling which is a nice homage to Planescape past, a middle section with a block of locations/missions that can be done in whatever order you get to them and then the finale. There are multiple callbacks to old events in Planescape but nothing so critical that you cannot come to this cold and just run it directly. The starting conceit I can see being tough to land, particularly in 5e, but once you've done it I think it could pay off really well and make this a really interesting campaign. I was pleased with the more open format - that there are multiple locations where one could drop in your own content, other modules or whatever - in places it is encouraged. This contracts pleasingly with the railroad that was the adventure in the Spelljammer set and was my main concern with a planar jaunt. You can go anywhere, easily on the planes - the core part of this adventure is a scavenger hunt which suits that nicely.

On initial reading I was a bit meh about the adventure - mainly around the set up and the villain - I was thinking the central scavenger hunt section was gold from the get go - but as time has passed I have gotten more enthusiastic about running it. The proof will be in the running, of course.

DM Screen - great art across the whole thing - rear side has four panels, a general 5e rules recap on one, all the conditions on another, Sigil/Outlands lists (Gate-towns, factions, wards) and encounter tables and finally planar portal generators on the last panel (appearance, destination and keys). Pretty good stuff a decent mix of frequently referred elements of the core rules and generators for Planescape specific stuff.

Wrap up - comparing this to what was in the previous edition I think we don't do too badly. The tone has shifted to something more cosmopolitan and swashbuckling, less gritty and angsty, your mileage may vary on that one. The factions are still there, but not held as 'the way to play Planescape' anymore. The overview of the inner and outer planes that was once a chunk of the old version is now directly in the DMG - instead we get a much beefier Bestiary, albeit with a focus on faction adversaries. I might have liked a few more tools for cooking up planar campaigns, some more DM guidance on making Planescape distinct but you can kind of figure that out yourself with the bits that are in here. My expectations were not good after Spelljammer and this was a pleasant surprise - and for the detail on the Gate-towns, a worthy (if pricey) addition to my Planar collection.

Other reviews on GamesRadar, Strange Assembly, Geeks Under Grace.