Accessories
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Planescape Accessories
Product:
Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix
I
(2602)
Designer:
Allen Varney (Editor)
What's
It About? Durr...monsters, and
lots of them. All the core monsters you simply can't run a
Planescape game without are in here.
What
Do You Get? A 128-page
softback book stuffed with monsters; most of them seen
before (but not like this!), and a (very) few new ones
too.
Merits:
A must-have collection of
monsters. My favourite parts are the random pieces of
information and anecdotal stories about many creatures --
this was expanded upon in later PSMCs to great effect. Since
this books' pretty much essential, it's great that it's also
really good!
Flaws:
Nothing we haven't seen before
here (in MC8 the Outer Planes MC Appendix), though the style
and the art (all-new) is miles better. If you already have
MC8 you shouldn't avoid getting this...PSMC1 really does
knock spots off it.
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Product:
In The Cage: A Guide To Sigil
(2609)
Designer:
Wolfgang Baur and Rick
Swan
What's
It About? A book which
explores Sigil ward by ward, stopping at many sites of
interest.
What
Do You Get? A 128-page
softcover book, plus a detailed map of Sigil with lots of
new locations and some street names.
Merits:
Sigil in greater detail: a better
map than in the original boxed set, too, if you ignore the
dreadful punks running around the edge. The best sections
are labelled "the dark" and contain secrets that're pretty
useful in campaigns. Other information is of variable
quality; the sort of stuff it's not too hard to come up with
yourself.
Flaws:
Only 1 temple, faction HQs only in
minor detail. The latter of course is fixed in the
Factol's Manifesto. I get the impression that In
The Cage sparked a lot of new good ideas (many NPCs
briefly mentioned in here appear in Uncaged, for
example) but in itself, ITC is useful, if not
breathtaking. The artwork is average; not much DiTerlizzi
here. Perhaps we've just been spoiled in other books. It's
still well worth the cash.
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Product:
The Factol's Manifesto
(2611)
Designer:
Tim Beach, Dori Hein and J.M.
Salsbury
What's
It About? Anything to do with
Sigil's factions you'll find here, from secrets and plots to
the factol's stats. FM described each faction's goals
and motivations, history and current
status.
What
Do You Get? A 160-page
softcover book, and a poster showing each factol or a
prominent faction member.
Merits:
A must-have for any DM interested
in the factions or Sigil. Great plots, secrets and cool
pictures of the faction HQs and factols, as well as NPCs
from each faction and details on how to join, and how to
role-play factioneers.
Flaws:
Secrets tend to be mixed with
text, so many parts are no good for showing players. Try
photocopying the relevant parts, perhaps? But certainly buy
it!
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Product:
Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix
II
(2613)
Designer:
Rich Baker
What's
It About? A book of monsters
new and old, and very necessary if you want to be able to
follow many other Planescape releases without wondering what
those strange creature you're missing are like. All the
older beasts are rewritten and very much more interesting.
There are also a few new sects written up as monsters; the
Merkants, Ragers, Incantifiers and
Prolonguers.
What
Do You Get? A 128-page
softcover book.
Merits:
Some great, original monsters and
new planar races (the eladrin, guardinals and rilmani for
starters).
Flaws:
More detail on the societies of
these new races would have been very helpful, and
explanations of the way they fit into their planes and the
Grand Scheme of Things. The back of the book also claims
there are nearly 100 new monsters. I counted about
70...
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Product:
Uncaged: Faces of Sigil
(2624)
Designer:
Ray Vallese
What's
It About? A book of NPCs might
not sound very interesting but you'll not find as many
clever plots, fascinating characters and original ideas this
side of Sigil. The exciting part is that each of the 40+
characters has a story, and each story is woven in with the
others to create an incredibly complex and vibrant web of
intrigue. Simply brilliant -- in fact it impressed me so
much I decided I wanted my own version; see Cage
Rattlers on the Mimir for
yet more characters to mingle with those from
Uncaged..
What
Do You Get? A 128-page
softcover book.
Merits:
What, you want me to praise it
more? Just go and buy it; you'll not be
disappointed.
Flaws:
I don't have a single word of
complaint. Absolutely my favourite Planescape release
yet.
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Product:
The Planewalker's Handbook
(2620)
Designer:
Monte Cook
What's
It About? Don't worry, it's
nothing like the Complete ... Handbook series of
releases; The Planewalker's Handbook is highly
imaginative and deals more with explaining confusing planar
ideas, adding to options for planar PCs and providing
background information for players than it does adding stats
to Planescape.
What
Do You Get? A 160-page
softcover book. New character kits, spells, proficiencies,
"belief points", equipment, PC races and magical items as
well as useful dark on the planes, an expanded cant guide
and more. For DMs it's useful, for players it's
essential!
Merits:
Gives away a lot of useful chant,
but very few secrets, so DMs are fairly safe letting players
buy their own. Provides a much-needed background to the
planes, gate-towns, factions and general planar concepts for
players, and is a useful tool for DMs asking the more basic
questions.
Flaws:
Not much to say, really. Some
mention of psionicists would've been nice, other than that
it's virtually perfect.
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Product:
A Guide to the Astral Plane
(2625)
Designer:
Monte Cook
What's
It About? All things Astral;
the plane, its magical effects, time, its inhabitants the
githyanki, bizarre locations, and some scary creatures too
you mightn't have thought lived there.
What
Do You Get? A 96-page
softcover book.
Merits:
Fantastic ideas here, and some
very strange concepts (an infinitely small plane!?). After
meeting the 'yanki on their home ground, you'll be scared to
go through conduits, let alone walk the
Astral!
Flaws:
Some formal adventure ideas would
have been helpful, coverage of psionics in more depth, and
the book does sort of end abruptly, but these are minor
quibbles indeed.
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Product:
The Fiends: Faces of Evil
(2630)
Designer:
Colin McComb
What's
It About? Everything you ever
wanted to know about the fiendish races, and their cousins
too.
What
Do You Get? A 96-page
softcover book.
Merits:
Written in-character throughout,
Faces of Evil offers half-truths and lies as well as
the real dark. It's up to the reader to determine what's
what. Xanxost the slaad is simply wonderful; it's worth
buying the book for his chapters alone.
Flaws:
If you're a fan of hard game
information and stats, or dislike ambiguity or the cant,
you'll not get on with this book. If you're like me, you'll
adore it.
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Product:
Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix III
(2635)
Designer:
Monte Cook
What's
It About? Inner Planar,
Ethereal and Astral creatures
What
Do You Get? 128 perfect bound
book with all-new art and many monsters, some old, but most
are brand new, and very bizarre indeed! There's also a
section on "normal" inner planar beasts, and a useful index
summarising all monsters from all planes from all TSR
books...
Merits:
This is the strangest bunch of
monsters you've ever seen, but they're all useful. Some of
them'll become old favourites in time, I guarantee. If
you're serious about Planescape, or want to use the Inner
Planes to their fullest potential -- or learn some of the
incredible plots that're going down there -- this book's a
must-buy!
Flaws:
Some of the art is a bit dodgy,
but then other art's great. There are some hard-to-pronounce
monster names too, but that's intentional, I'm
sure!
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Product:
A Player's Primer to the
Outlands
(2610)
Designer:
Jeff Grubb and Colin
McComb
What's
It About? What it says, berk:
A brief guide to the main features of the Outlands; the
gate-towns, realms, sites and so on, plus a new magical
item: the Mimir. Ring a bell? Why yeah, that's what I named
this site after ;-)
What
Do You Get? A 32-page
softcover book, a poster map of the Outlands, and a 41-track
audio CD.
Merits:
Useful booklet, though more for
DMs than players in my opinion. Information tends to be
brief and pretty sparse...DM's Dark sections would
have been useful. The Mimir's voice itself and the sound
effects on the CD are amazing.
Flaws:
The other accents on the CD are a
bit cheesy. The art is very sparse in the book, though the
maps of the burgs are useful. On the whole pricey for the
amount of information the booklet contains, though for sheer
cool value the CD can't be beaten. A lot of people have
criticised PPttO but I have a real soft spot for it
myself :-)
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Product:
On Hallowed Ground (2623)
Designer:
Colin McComb
What's
It About? A very complete
reference to the powers of the Planescape setting, mainly
concentrating on real-world pantheons. TSR game world powers
(Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Krynn, Birthright) powers are
mentioned briefly. Realms of each power are named, and often
described, as are the petitioners. The first third of the
book is devoted to explaining why the powers are like they
are, the rest to cataloguing the powers themselves. The
tables at the back are also very useful.
What
Do You Get? A 192-page
softcover book.
Merits:
Indispensable if you're interested
in the powers, or priests on the Planes. OHG blows
Legends and Lore away in terms of cool ideas and
general Planescapiness. It's very thorough, although some
pantheons from Legends and Lore were not
included.
Flaws:
The artwork isn't as good as the
usual Planescape standard we're spoiled with, and the cover
feels very flimsy, especially considering OHG is
pretty expensive. Definitely worth buying, though
perhaps after you've got some of the other more
generally useful PS books.
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