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Best Version of the Outer Planes for your GH Campaign:
| 1st Edition Dragon Articles |    13.27% (45) | | Manual of the Planes | 23.60% (80) | | Planescape | 28.91% (98) | | Manual of the Planes, 3rd Edition | 22.42% (76) | | Homebrew (please explain!) | 3.83% (13) | | Other 3rd party supplement (and tell us why!) | 7.96% (27) |
Total Votes: 339
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| "Best Version of the Outer Planes for your GH Campaign:" | Login/Create an Account | 8 comments |
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Not entirely Outer Planes, but... (Score: 1)
by eanondson on Fri, February 28, 2003
(User Info | Send a Message) | My preferred planes system which I use is the one that came in the Immortals Boxed set. I'm wierd that way.
Eric Anondson |
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Re: Best Version of the Outer Planes for your GH Campaign: (Score: 1)
by grodog on Sat, March 01, 2003
(User Info | Send a Message) http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html | I'm a big fan of the Primal Order supplement _Chessboards_, which, along with Ed Greenwood's "Theory and Use of Gates" (The Dragon #37) and most of the literature detailed therein, have most-shaped my multiversal cosmology.
So, I did vote for some other 3rd party product, but I could just as easily have voted for homebrew, too.
Allan. |
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Re: Best Version of the Outer Planes for your GH Campaign: (Score: 1)
by MichaelSandar on Sun, March 09, 2003
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I had to choose Planescape. It's the only developed setting I think that adds the "umph" needed in the Outer Planes. |
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Re: Best Version of the Outer Planes for your GH Campaign: (Score: 1)
by chatdemon (chatdemon@hotmail.com) on Thu, March 13, 2003
(User Info | Send a Message | Journal) | I voted Homebrew, but in all honesty, my vision of the planes draws heavily from Planescape, the Manual of the Planes 3rd edition as well as products like Armies of the Abyss (3rd edition demons supplement from Green Ronin) and Legions of Hell (same but dealing with devils).
I don't really use the astral and ethereal planes per se, to me they are just layers of the prime that can be used for travel and communication if you know the proper magic. Creatures from those planes I either relocate to different homes or ignore altogether.
Likewise, the elemental, quasi-elemental and para-elemental planes are not true distinct planes, but merely layers that help build the prime. Mortals from the prime can't go there, but unlike the astral and ethereal, I do maintain the homes of cratures native to those planes.
I also have a confusing setup where each pantheon/mythology has its own version of the planes that do exist outside of, and connected to each other and the usual planes found in Planescape and the MotP3e. This means that, for example, in addition to the Abyss, there is also a CE aligned Suel Hell (Beltar's Pit) and a CE Aligned Orcish hell (the Rotting Field), and multiple other versions of the same general plane concept.
This idea of variant, myriad planes came from one of my players, who pointed out that having one coherent cosmology has no foundation compared to real world myth. If one compares the standard D&D cosmology (As outlined in whatever source you use, it doesn't matter which) to the layout of the heavens and hells as defined by your religion and then contemplates such alternate ideas such as the Classical Greek, Egyptian or Norse cosmologies, it becomes apparent that there is little compatibility behind all the versions of the cosmos defined by human religion. We figured the same would likely be true in a fantasy realm.
This also explains why, even in planescape, you don't find a lot of dead souls (petitioners if you will) of creatures not of the core races in the heavens. Of course there are no dead Gold Dragon souls floating around Mechanus, dragons have their own heaven to go to (let's call it Nevercloud). Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, such as the followers of Eilistraee of the Drow, who abandoned the cosmology of her pantheon due to diametric opposition to the way Lolth runs the Demonweb and established (With Odin's assumed permission) a realm for herself and the souls of her followers in the Norse Realm of Ysgard.
Obviously I've taken such places as Ysgard, Olympus and Merratet (to name a few) out of the core cosmos and returned them to the cosmos of the proper pantheon they belong to. Initially it would seem that that means that PC planetravellers from Oerth could never visit Mount Olympus, since there are no Greek pantheon worshipping cultures on Oerth (that we know of), but keep in mind that all the planes (except the prime and alternate primes, which only connect to the core cosmos planes and the planes of the cosmoses occupied by the pantheons worshipped on that prime) are connected, however distantly.
I consider possible divine alliances and friendships when debating where such planar bridges might lie. One example might be that Mayaheine is allied with Athena in 'big picture' planar politics, and therefore has portals on her plane that lead to Athena's realm on Olympus, which planetravellers from Oerth might find and use to get to Olympus and beyond.
Anyway, I think I'v rambled enough, but I am now considering the idea of fleshing this stuff out a bit more and making an article or series of articles for the site. We'll see :-)
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Re: Best Version of the Outer Planes for your GH Campaign: (Score: 1)
by HeresJohnny on Sun, April 13, 2003
(User Info | Send a Message) | Bit of a strange one this...my first use of planar material was Q1, and then Inferno from Judges Guild.
Most of what was then used was a mixture of creative thinking or drawn from various articles written in fanzines etc.
The Manual of the Planes added some desperately needed guidance, but also raised the issue of scope...it's tough enough keeping track of a small kingdom and not having players march across half a continent, then you allow planar exploration...major headache.
Planescape brought a whole new dimension to this but I feel removed some of the mystique that surrounded divinities etc.
For myself I adopted the astral plane only, with alternate worlds, rather than planes...it made keeping track of various spells etc etc much easier, and tended to make things more 'real' to my group and myself.
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