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Based in the Seattle area.
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Reviews (2)
Apr 12, 2024
A multiverse awaits in this interplanar supplement for 3e and 3.5.
During the lifetime of 3e and 3.5 there was never any official support from WotC regarding any of the Planescape content (Sigil, the Outlands, or any of the gate-towns), making this book the prime resource for a planar campaign. Indeed, contained within are brief excerpts about such specific locations, but most of the book is dedicated to describing and envisioning each of the planes themselves rather than a hub-like setting to tie them all together. Some might consider that a bit of a letdown, and although there is a dedicated fanbase to compiling, running, and creating new content for 3e Planescape, it is still a shame that Wizards declined to continue it in any substantial form until 5e with a newer, lighter boxset.
That all being said, this book does an excellent job of giving dungeon masters a whole suite of tools to use for each plane, even going so far as to provide multiple different template cosmologies to use should the standard Great Wheel not befit your campaign. 3rd and 3.5 have always been very good about allowing players and DMs to craft characters and worlds precisely as they would like to (244 classes across all the supplements alone is proof enough of that) and this book is no exception. The descriptions of each plane with plenty of opportunities for a story hook or entire campaign in between the nuances of each realm such as gravity, air pressure, and miasmatic atmospheres.
The layout of the 3e-era books is greatly reflected by 4th and even 5th edition to this day. The density of info and balance of page design, art, and substantive content feels best in these editions as modern books can feel a bit light and non-commital with the information they contain. Typically a description of a plane consists of a sizable paragaph or three describing the plane itself, then a list of facts regarding it's makeup such as the aforementioned gravity and other notable features, followed by an image to give the imagination something to build off of that pulls the essence of what the particular plane in question is into one cohesive visual.
Challenge that against the current layout for 5e which contains much of the same information, but all of it is very squished together to give the appearance of immense pillars of text until you realize that a sidebar-sized piece of art is dominating the edge of either page. Don't get me wrong, I adore the design of 5e despite it's messiness at times (recognizing that it could be better), and I'm not saying the information is lacking or worse than how this book handles it, not at all. All I am positing is that the 3rd edition supplements had a very clean, detailed, list-like structure that it stuck to quite well in my opinion across most of the products that is more reminiscent of older 2nd edition books, which further serves to showcase 3e as that tipping point between old TSR design and newer WotC stylings. Two very different vibes for two very different eras of the game.
Included in some of the later chapters of the book is a short bestiary of creatures that players might encounter while traversing the planes or perhaps a particularly cruel DM would care to toss as a challenge to the more careless or ignorant players that heed warnings but once in a blue moon. Classic foes like Githyanki or Yugoloths, to the Grinch-like depictions of the Mercane and Bariaurs, all the way up to the poster child for the 1st and 4th edition Manual of the Planes books in the form of the Astral Dreadnought and a handful of other wild encounters.
All in all, if you're looking for an older supplement to lend more info on the planes beyond what the current PHB or Planescape content covers, then the Manual of the Planes for 3e is a great pickup and a lot of fun is to be had hopping from one strange realm to another in a picaresque campaign.
Recommended for: Dungeon Masters, players interested in seeing how the rules operate in different environments, and anyone looking to run a Planescape campaign using 3e or 3.5.
Feb 13, 2024
Solid book for any 3rd Edition collector and those interested in Realmslore.
An in-depth look at the pantheon of the Forgotten Realms from 3rd Edition. As newer versions of the game have come out and Realmslore has been updated to match you may find a few discrepancies between the content featured in this book and what is known about the gods as of the 1490s DR, but that's not to say the content within is entirely useless. Indeed, it provides a window into how these gods and deities were a mere hundred or so years prior to the current Forgotten Realms timeline that can provide not only a springboard for a campaign revolving around a specific deity or set of deities but also an opportunity to explore how exactly these gods have changed over the decades and why.
A good example of this is Auril, the Frostmaiden. I have been running an Icewind Dale campaign based loosely off of the Rime of the Frostmaiden adventure and one of my players is a Warforged that was built by the cult in the old visage of the goddess. That visage was directly inspired by the image of Auril that's within this book, and the information about her followers allowed that player to have knowledge about the immense changes that have happened since she claimed the region as her domain. Without having read the section about her in this book, we wouldn't have been privvy to how drastically different her entire operation is post-Spellplague, and it even opened up some new questions and roleplaying opportunities that we get to answer in the coming months.
The broad strokes of many of the gods contained within remain the same as they've been for many decades, but the finer details for nearly all of them differ from their modern interpretations. For 3rd Edition players there are also some additional Prestige Classes and info about temples for encounters complete with grid maps, new magic items and weapons for players to use, and plenty of reading material to keep anyone interested in the holy situation of Faerun occupied for many nights.
Recommended for: Dungeon Masters, faith-based player characters (Clerics, Paladins, etc.), lore-focused backstories particularly revolving around religion, faith, and gods.