Tony DiTerlizzi is an artist I loved as child for his art in the Spiderwick books and find myself running into and just as much enjoying as an adult for Dungeons and Dragons.
I won't stop hoping for a sequel to PS:T, some how, some day. Have been DMing since 1996, and I still draw so much inspiration from this setting. It's haunting and eerie and gorgeous.
@@ce5122 That's true, I'd honestly feel a bit robbed if it was a sequel or prequel or even with the same characters / timeline. There are so many incredible ideas waiting to be explored here
I reached a point in my gaming life where I was almost not playing anymore & was seriously considering selling my books (all 1st ed). My first exposure to 2nd ed. wasI stumbling on a Planescape campaign centered in Sigil & have never looked back. My favorite setting both as DM & player.
YES! I was so excited to see you cover this and you did an incredible job! I couldn't have put it any better when you said how underutilized Planescape is, thats why I try to tell everyone I can about how great it is to keep the spirit of the setting alive.
Thank you so much!! It was a tough setting to cover because there's just so much to explain haha. Glad I got Solaire's approval though and 100% agree - it's kind of incredible nothing more has been done with it! Hopefully one day!
I've always said this could be a tv show. So much potential. Center it in sigil, and every week could go to a new realm and/or even the feuds between the factions.
It has lived rent free in my mind since I opened the original box at 15 years old. Sometimes I let it out to fascinate and begile a new generation of players. When I moved from the east to west coast for university those were the only campaign books I kept mailing that box cost me a lot of money. i still have them all though the first mm has no cover anymore.
Thank you so much! Was actually extremely difficult to fit all the info in such a relatively short video while making it a tight narrative - glad it came off that way to someone out there in the world!
The best part? Sigil Cant, and finding yourself slipping into it in everyday life. "Ya bleedin' berk, plan on rattlin' yer bone-box 'til some cutter writes yer name in the dead-book? Bar that!"
I adore the planescape setting and Torment. Peak DnD for me. I GM for friends and they've just arrived in Sigil after a few sessions in the Forgotten Realms. Its amazing to see it return in 5e and thankfully I've got all my experience from the AD&D books and Torment to flesh it out. Loved this video - keep up the top work!
There were actually 4 books for the 5e treatment for the setting, its just that the 4th book is a PDF found on the DMsGuild website. Its called appropriately enough "Manual of the Planes (5e)" ($29) and contains far, far more mechanical content the the three other physical books.
Another source of inspiration is Invisible Cities from italo Calvino, which have been mentioned in a interview. Invisible Cities, or Città Invisibili, is a modern italian classic. I was surpised and intrigued that it was seen as a source of inspiration.
Glad to see that on spite of all the upheaval between TSR, WotC, and Hasbro (Hasbro: until all are one!) that such an interesting and original setting hasn't wound up becoming a forgotten realm.
100%, I think it' a testament of the community that's sprung up around Planescape - even without the recent release it still had a pretty large number of fans compared to the other settings
Hands down the most interesting D&D setting, Sigil still influences me. It had exactly one problem: d&d's system was a terrible fit for a location where a djin, demon prince and fey queen could be room mates, with a beholder landlord, and frequent a bar run by a lich. The premise of the city at the center of existence was far too wild for the actual rules to handle well.
That's a great point - you really do have to wonder how planescape would have fared if it wasn't tied to DnD - if it was made for a video game or book series it could have really thrived - although it is hard to imagine because as much as I see your point that it doesn't mesh well at times within DnD so much of what makes it planescape is born from it. Hard to divorce the two
See thats where as a person who played D&D through the 80's and 90's and was big time into Planescape campaign setting its not that hard for it to work. I went from free form D&D straight into PS, and was hugely into the Planes years before PS as a campaign setting even started (I still own the old precursor of PS, the Tales from the Outerplanes which takes place with a proto Sigil as a multiversal nexus which is a Inn/Bar that has doors to places allover the multiverse... the World Serpent Inn), i loved the Outer and Inner planes from day one with the first Manual of the Planes in 1st Edition. You just have to think of it this way... all those more popular settings and campaigns that take place nowdays and back then like Faerune, Dragon Lance, Dark Sun etc etc, they are literally the backwater hicksvills of the universe... the actual meat and potatoes of reality is going on everywhere else, ie the Planes... Its the old thing, every prime material inhabitant has this ignorant view point that they are the center of the universe... when in reality they are basically nothing, them and their world/crystal sphere are the finite in an infinite universe. They are the cave dwellers who one day suddenly find the opening to the rest of the world, most of them cant handle the revelation, but some do (and oddly it kinda mirrors how PS was from what i saw taken by D&D players in reality, they didnt like their 'world' being reduced to insignifigance). Watching this video, it seems to have mixed a little of the more modern Outer planes, such as the idea the material plane is at the center of the universe... which it isnt, that would be the Spire and Sigil, the Material plane is kinda side adjacent with the Inner Planes leaking into it creating reality, the Astral is kinda a bridge between the rigid reality of the prime and the infinite possibility of the Outer Planes (I mean they describe the Astral in PS as an infinity small yet infinity large plane that doesnt actually even exist, hence why its the grave yard of forgotten gods). Its the old idea of the Material begin born from primal elements, creating life that then created belief that formed the seed of the Outer Planes that then became refined as belief over eons as base neutral belief was refined and compartmentalized into finer and finer forms becoming the outer ring of the outer planes with these realms of physical and belief becoming linked through the plane of the mind, the Astral, and the rise of gods etc etc... kinda very much like the Chaos Gods of Warhammer. Its a shame PS never got completed, since for me PS is the actual D&D reality its all of them mushed into a glorious whole, and the Bloodwar arc for the setting with the Yugoloths grand plan was getting to a point that would have been like Warhammer End Times but actually good. PS was just way to cerebral and out there (which it didnt have to be, you could easily make a low level hack and slash campaign in it that took in place in places like Baator and the Abyss, you just had to be creative) for most players, to me far to many players where too stuck in their love for settings like Forgotten Realms... which unfortunately is still their main setting, and every time they try to take a bit of PS and shift it over into modern D&D i cant help but wince in pain at how they mascare it, since they seem to continue to try and make their specific 'world' the center of the universe with the Outer Planes as these 'small' asides... when its the reverse.
I'm not sure why you say that? A good DM is only limited by their imagination. But maybe I'm just too optimistic. Like Brennan Mulligan from Critical Role, I just see nothing but potential in all directions. Players and GM work together to make an amazing story happen, house rules help, but really don't seem that necessary if your team is heavy on the RP part of the RPG.
My very first experience with D&D (not with ttrpgs generally, but with D&D itself) was a 2e Planescape game as a preteen in the 90s. Spelljammer was my second, so I had a pretty wacky introduction to D&D lol
@@exitsexamined well I'd already played traditional fantasy with the Palladium Fantasy RPG before that, and was a big fantasy nerd type of girl as a kid, so it wasn't that unusual (and I had played the Eye of the Beholder dungeon crawler/CRPG games before I played D&D so I had somewhat of a grip on the Forgotten Realms as a setting from that)
Ha ha, my first campaign was a Planescape and we rapidly shifted into Pathfinder because we all liked the 3.5 but less complicated rules. It was a blast and I have always loved PS ❤
Planescape is a cool setting with great lore, but from my experience, it’s a setting not a lot of players want to play in compared to Forgotten realms, Dark Sun, Greyhawk and even Spelljammer. Players struggle to relate to the setting.
Sigil is the best place in the realms. Everything you can imagine is there, and everyone is exactly as powerful as everything else thinks they are. You can also open portals to anywhere by doing almost anything. Like you fart in the wrong place and end up in Bator or some shit.
My experience with the setting is through Planescape Torment. That's where most of my love comes from so there's probably plenty of factors I'm missing but personally I think the main reason why Planescape hasn't been explored more is that it's just too abstract and heavy for people to take chances with it. It's why thought provoking and slow sci fi movies like 2001 A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner tend to be box office flops but Star Wars and Terminator do great. I'd imagine with studios and audiences that buy a D&D product, they typically want high fantasy adventure. Take Baldur's Gate 3 for instance, it's a well made game to be sure but it's about as safe as you can get, it fills out all the fantasy quotas, it doesn't require a whole lot of thinking, the characters aren't that complex (Them being easy on the eyes doesn't hurt either). It's mostly about how many creative ways you can mess around with the story. Now ask that same audience if they wanna play a weird philosophical game where anything can happen and it's not like a typical fantasy setting in the slightest. I'm not saying nobody would want that but I can see why companies might not wanna take risks with it
@exitsexamined I love it I wish we still had it. I had even DarkSun which I also love. And yes please if you can cover AL Quadim I would seriously love it. I'm trying to recreat that world in my world with different gods but yes I would love if you coverd that.
I’m not sure if a large majority would say their favorite is planescape if only because I’m unsure how much the broad community knows about any setting that isn’t FR.
I was basing that statement on reddit polls and internet articles so it could be that I'm wrong haha. It would be sad though if most people didn't know about it!
Around 12 minutes... "You wake up from a Hangover... I mean Death..." I would argue, if it were possible like that... A person being magically brought back from death would definitely be groggy like he just woke up with a hangover. It's definitely how I feel anyways.
I have two very small nitpicks for the video, the quote at 2:28 was very confusing, especially when only listening to the video I suggest to remark when a quote is being read. Second, the audio on the sponsored spot was clipping just a bit, and that's all. This is a really nice and concise overview of this wonderful and beloved setting and I really enjoyed it. I also like the variety in your videos and look forward to whatever you bring next.
Hey thanks so much for the feedback, I'm still actively trying to improve with each video so I'll keep those in mind. Glad you enjoyed it overall and I'm excited for what the upcoming videos as well!
Excellent analysis and very informative, really into the Planescape setting atm because yeah it's super cool. Really hope more is done with it in the future but I agree there are right and wrong ways to adapt something of this scope.
I very much like the idea - unlikely as it may be - of the success of BG3 encouraging video games set in other settings. Would love to see a hollow world game.
Me too, so many of these settings are just generally underused for all there amazing ideas. I never got around to hollow world though! How would you compare to PS? Maybe I'll cover it!
Planescape wasn't intended to be a niche product, it was intended to be an answer to tabletop RPG trends in the 90s that were a threat to TSR's dominance then and have since petered out. Without that market relevance it's not coming back no matter how good it was.
Interesting take! Which other tabletop RPGS in particular do you think it was an answer to? And I guess planescape has already came back in 5E - or do you mean become popular again? But I guess it's always been popular!
The Planescape core box is my last remaining DnD and I will be buried with it. The greatest bar none. Also, this channel is criminally under-subbed. Earthsea? Planescape? C’mon!
Because you were presenting this as a history and introduction to Planescape, for those who knew little to nothing about the setting, I wish you would have the shown the multiverse as it was in 2e, then talked about the post 2e retcons to the cosmology. Back then the great wheel was not the whole of the multiverse, it referred to the arrangement of the outer planes. There was no Faywild or Shadowfeld, the closest thing you had to those would be dimiplanes in the Ethereal plane. The prime was not the center of the multiverse, necessarily, this being one of the many reasons planar people referred to primes as clueless. There are so many people who don’t know about this kind of stuff right now, that I feel you have done them a disservice by not even acknowledging these things. They might spend a couple of hundred bucks to get their hands on the original boxed set only to find that they have a much larger learning curve than they assumed or are willing to take on.
@@exitsexamined It was a setting which included realm rules for management by PCs. 2k years ago gods came down and fought, they died in a titanic explosion and the humans, elves and dwarves in herited those powers through blood, called the birthright. Creatures which gained the most godly power, mostly the evil champions became horrific monsters, while the champions of the good gosd wage war to be the new emperor. All quake in fear of the Gorgon, the creature who gained the most power and is now an importal fiend waging war across the centuries. Also had a fantastic game on PC called, Birthright, the Gorgon's apprentice.
Hey! Do you mean the recent additions to 5E? I think I mentioned the Adventures in the Multiverse books in this video! Or do you mean new novels? If it's novels I would have to update the description!
Did you miss the part where they released a wonderful updated setting three piece for it, earlier this year? And the part where Sigil has become part of the Core D&D Canon? Other than that, I am looking forward to revisiting it more, I expect we'll get more books within the greater Planescape Setting going forward, since the main focus of the trio of books was definetly just Sigil and the Outlands.
I dont play D&D and barely know anything about it. But Planescape is the only interesting setting I have seen of it. But it also seems unused which is sad because Id probably be into D&D if it was meta
As someone who was big into Planescape when it was around, and who has pretty much the entire 2e campaign/modules/manuals etc as PDF on a DVD from 20 years back... I hope they never actually try and bring it back. It would be a disaster under what Ive seen and know about Wizards these days... the setting, the ideas worked when stuck along side 2e AD&D but what D&D is now, it just would either be a complete mess or it would be so badly watered down or painted beige that it would fail (my god to have the old Teiflings back.. you know the ones that werent just colored skin and goat horns, but could be anything the player wanted and the DM allowed). Could have worked in 3rd edition and they still had alot of that Planescape feeling with the Out Planes in that edition, but now nope... The Baatorians, Yugoloths and Taanri had actual character back then and the Bloodwar arc that spanned multipal campaign adventures, the Celestials, the Factions, the Planes felt amazing and the scope both infinity broad but also if needed razor thin. The thing i loved most about PS was the fact every other campaign setting that often took itself either to seriously or acted like it was THE poster campaign setting of the game was made to feel small... It was like, oh your from Faerun? is that supposed to mean something to me berk? now if you'd step aside so i can serve the Red Abashi behind you his order... PS was the "I dont even know who you are" of campaign settings.
Dark Sun is on the list and hopefully should get it within the next 2-3 months, just will take me a little while because sadly I don't have as much experience with the setting, so need time to research!
I would like to see a video explaining Whatever Happened To Johan And Peewit? Without the Johan stories, we wouldn't even have the Smurfs, but Johan and Peewit are fairly obscure in the U.S but are getting a cult following.
Interesting! To be honest I had never heard of it! I put it on my list now - when and where did this air on television originally? Is that how you found it?
@@exitsexamined Johan was first introduced in comics by Peyo, and Peewit was added in later issues. One of their issues, The Magic Flute, was the first Smurfs story I believe. The 1980s Hanna Barbera Smurfs cartoon had a few episodes with Johan and Peewit. I first watched them on Boomerang in the 2000s when they used to re-run several Hanna Barbera shows.
Ol us fart here. I remember the special. He was called pee wee in the states i guess. The smurfs had this sythesized voice that reminded me of the musical aliens from transformers season 3. Not usual. The sang a song about what the word smurf meant because the smurf used it for all types of words and how it confused the smurfs that the humans were confused. I think it was a tonal thing. I dont know how they explained it in the chinese version, though😄
You know, I feel that current Planescape is trying to be “Torment”. Even modules started off at a morgue. And comic adaptation of it involved amnesiac who revived after each death (albeit revived as different person and not like Nameless). This isn’t new since most of Planescape knowledge being from Torment game.
But they easily fit as the axis of the Inner Planes, essentially quasi-Material planes. (Feywild = Material + Positive Energy, which is why it is so vibrant, overwhelming, but still very dangerous; Shadowfell = Material + Negative Energy, making it the dead-and-undead grimhole it is)
Any history of the Planescape setting that doesn't address how much of it is a reaction to the success of White Wolf's World of Darkness games at the time is incomplete, IMHO. The focus on factions and themes makes this pretty blatantly obvious, and I think some of the developers have admitted it, as well. It certainly went in directions that no White Wolf game ever did, there really is nothing else like it, but its influence can't be denied. Also, the Feywild and Shadowfell were not part of the original Great Wheel cosmology. Those were retconned in for the 5e version.
Hey thanks so much for reminding me - there were so many links I had to the description I totally forgot. I added to the description now but here it is as well: uo-planescape.wdfiles.com/local--files/pubblicazioni-e-materiale/Fire_and_Dust_by_James_Alan_Gardner-%281996%29_planescape_rejected_novel-pdf_version.pdf
No problem, great vid! Planescape and Dark Sun are my ride-or-die settings, but the novels for planescape are a bit of a nightmare to track down. Anything I can find is a godsend
I honestly 100% know what you mean - it was kind of insane trying to find the planescape books for this video, normally I'd do audiobooks but that just was not an option for most of these haha. How is Dark Sun? I never got into it myself but I'm thinking about doing a deep dive into the setting for one of these videos but I don't know enough about it to know if it would make sense. Are there books in that setting too? As a concept it seems really interesting though
@@exitsexamined There are books! I was introduced to it reading the novels by the same Troy Dennigs you mention in this video. But never got a chance to check the campaign setting, IIRC there is little consistency between novels and setting because both were developed by different authors working parallel and not communicating with each other. Think MadMax dark fantasy.
One of your sources pegged it as “D&D does Mad Max”, and that’s certainly a part of it, but also bits of dune, Conan, and John Carter of Mars pop up. Magic sucks the life out of the planet, wizard overlords run wasteland slave states, psionics are a cultural institution and natural fact of life present even in animals, life is cheap and death is cheaper, and secret societies struggle for liberty and environmental restoration. It’s definitely dark and edgy, but not nihilistic; it’s got big environmental and egalitarian themes, but it gets there by presenting a world where the bad guys won, chattel slavery is rampant, and the planet is dying. It then expects the players to take a stand against these things, with the understanding that such work is HARD and dangerous, and will likely take generations. Heroes don’t just need to save the day, they need to inspire the next generation to continue the work. Speaking of 2e stuff first, The product line is divided into three eras; the first releases present the world as it is in a starting year, but don’t tell you WHY it is the way it is, just legends and heresay. Then, the sourcebook “Dragon Kings” introduces epic-level play, and also reveals the deepest secrets of the setting to show how things ended up so bad. Then, a revised boxset was published after a series of five tie-in novels (put a pin in that) changes the setting substantially; most find it inferior or that it changes core things about the setting they liked. I don’t mind it so much, but it is definitely secondary. As far as adaptations go, there were a couple of old school crpgs, and I think a season of the neverwinter mmo. In the 2e era there was a series of five tie in novels called the “Prism Pentad” that most don’t like (I think the audible audiobooks are VERY well done though, great reader they got) because the 2e setting had a Metaplot. Each novel would have reveals and change the setting of contemporaneously published rpg products, which felt like an albatross to a lot of people. There were a couple other novel series in that era that few remember, and whose names escape me at the moment, and then a couple novels in the 4e era. The setting was semi-supported in 3.x via dragon/dungeon magazines and fan sites that had the official blessing. And in 4th edition, they put out two dark sun rpg books as a lean setting launch (setting + monster book) during the last year of normal (not Essentials) 4e. It’s quite good, but it does suffer from wotc’s need to brand integrate all of their stuff; classic dark sun didn’t have tieflings and Dragonborn, but you bet that 4e did. Similarly, classic dark sun had 11 foot tall half giants as a player race, but 4e dark sun used the already present Goliath as a substitute. Currently, Dark Sun is dead. During the post-ogl apology tour, the D&D producer they sent out to do the rounds said that dark sun is too problematic to bring back, because it has those elements of slavery and racism in it. But I think viewing it that way misses the point that it sets up a party to really take a stand against those things explicitly in the world building, and if done with a canny eye can make something that is exceptionally timely and relevant; I mean, there’s definitely something cutting about warring despots that suppress human rights and whose industry is killing the planet, right? I also think that since dark sun is so siloed off in terms of its own lore and player options, it’s not very brand-integrative. For example, fey, angels, and devils don’t exist in Dark Sun, so any player or dm options in those arenas are useless in that setting, which definitely hurts with the current expectation that all player options must always be in play at all times. I think they’re right to make the calculation that it isn’t profitable, but I think they’re wildly off the mark in terms of it being offensive or problematic. If you want to talk more about this, I’m happy to help start your research off, but that covers a good eagle-eye view of it!
It was much harder than it has any right to be to not accidentally slip into the wrong pronunciation throughout the video haha I'm surprised big dnd channels messed up though, which ones?
Berk! Im sorry im currently watching the vid and he kept sayin all the clues that i was leavin showing how old i was and that i was og!LE ME ALONE AND STOP POSTING ON MY THREADA!
I'm not as optimistic as you are about a planescape setting revisited. Tides of numererorwhatever its called did not hit the same spot, didnt make me feel engaged in the world, didn't draw me in to the world at all because the world was too disjointed. It was more like a description of an acid trip than something that built a world with real beings in it that interacted with each other. It was less philosophy and more just describing weird sensations your character is supposed to feel over and over again and it meant exactly nothing to my character because I didnt feel like part of a bigger world at all.
"You know, this person sounds kinda depressed and he's talking about Torment. Wonder if they've heard of Grimbeard." "What can change the nature of a man." "Dang he really is just saying what Grim said." "Grimbeard!" "Hah, called it."
@@exitsexamined That's rad to hear. I've gone through your Dark Sun, Planes, and now Earth Sea which I have no clue why I didn't know of that last one. You've got a good thing going on!
Yes yes, it's so annoying that happened with this video I'll have to do a rerelease on it because of that issue. If you take a look at every other video past that one on the channel I fixed it,
@@exitsexamined Good stuff, all the best with it. Voice recording can be a pain. Also, consider looking at an AI upscaler - it may be able to fix what you already have.
There was a ton of information about the history of planescape and the setting itself I would have loved to include but I really try to keep the videos as lean as possible. There's so much in these videos I touch on, history of the setting, explaining the setting, the future of the setting, so sadly I have to pick and choose. In the future though I might do a longer form of this video where I can go into more details and I'd love to mention him then
@@Grogeous_Maximus It is confusing! There are two cooks (unrelated) Zeb was working on - Monte worked on some of the additions to the setting and I believe Tides of Numenaria. But honestly there are a TON of amazing people who worked on these series over the years that in a deeper dive I'd need to go into specifically the artist behind the original drawings Dana Knutson who's work is incredible
When I considered, which settings for the 5E to purchase, Planescape was one of the best on the market. The ones I dont get are the MTG based ones... Theros inspired by Greek mythology? Well, why not just play ancient/mythological Greece setting? Many DnD monsters are from there! Ravnica, big city full of guilds? Sigil sounds similar and is more interesting. Strixhaven? Sorry, sounds just like they could not get Harry Potter licence... And school setting is not interesting to me. All the new playable races there are just "lets take an animal and make it intelligent", which I am not fan of. Planescape? Yes please, more...
@@exitsexamined It was an odd comment, Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd is widely regarded as the most popular 5e releases. It's one of, if not the most sold, adventure for 5e.
The problem with Planescape is at least modern planescape is Wotc uses it as the crux for their multiverse when Planescape only really works in a vaccum
I find that fascinating. I was reading a book on the history of d&d, and it said that the reason cook wanted to make this was to make Spelljmmers more meaningful, since players would just use them as glorified transportation and not make this a setting in and of itself.
Planescape is setting that is really fun to read, but has very little content that GMs could actually use to make adventures with. There's just nothing to do in Planescape.
Hm that's interesting - when people generally talk about their favorite settings Planescape is always up there. I wonder if it's because it's a great setting or people actually enjoying DnDing there
I did a quick wiki research session and although it seems like a really cool book, I didn't see anything about multiverses and the settings looks like a classic sword and sorcery fare without too much philosophy, but I'm not familiar with it! Which aspects are similar you think?
@@exitsexaminedyeah the elric series is the earliest mention and use of multiverse/multiple realms for the setting. It doesn’t come up right away but in the later books it becomes very important.
It's not my opinion, it seems to be the general consensus I saw across Reddit, reviews, and UA-cam reviews. It's cool if you disagree though and don't like it, in fact it's probably understandable depending on why - speaking of, if you don't like it, why not?
you never played it then. its one of the only 5e campaigns that is any good. there are over 1000 encounters and theyre all well done. the main quest is solid.
Whoa that's a huge statement! So I'm not knocking your comment but I'm genuinely curious, do you think no good media or "great things" have happened since the 90's?
At risk of deep cynicism, PS is way past its prime. 3rd Edition onward began to loot the scope and strangeness of Planescape, but without much of the distinct flavor behind it. Lots of odd races became more commonplace and even planar weirdness would crossover into the Prime more. 5th Edition wasn't going to make Planescape special. If anything, they made it even less so with mostly pastel mush aesthetics seen in the other books as well as bland new ideas like glorified food trucks and other modern gentrification. Plus, the weird melding of 4th Edition planes like Feywild and Shadowfell to the prior Great Wheel feels so confused to me. Also, bloody hell, the Demons and Devils chilling at a bar, Wizards overused that so much... whether through hype or in production. Anyway, this comment is too negative. I happily point people back to the 2nd Edition version as well as rules to convert it over, all without spending too much more money. I feel they'll get the most out of things that way. Also, those who say Sigil wrong don't get mazed, they just get berated as the Clueless and Primers that they are. Anyway, as your Tout, I expect some jink for the trouble, basher!
If anything, I wish Planescape had the same level of fandom love as Mystara. The latter has had a crazy amount of love from its fans! Magazines that continue today, lots of fan gazetteers, etc... I trust fans over companies any day.
All fair and interesting takes! You know I sadly have not gotten into Mystara yet! I'm thinking about covering it for a future video but I'm not sure if it has a interesting history compared to Planescape - how would you say they compare?
@@exitsexamined Mystara is a mix of pulp novels, historic fantasy and lots of weirdness tucked in corners. There's plenty to examine. Likewise, it's mostly split from the baggage of AD&D and 3E+.
uh no, the art in the new campaign book is FANTASTIC and not at all muddy or washed out. there are over 1000 encounters and all of them are themed to make use of the aligned factions towns and districts. u never played it i guess
I love Brian Froud 's artwork! So much woke crap around , but now female pronouns aren't used , look at "hero" , "Warlock " , "God " ,etc to define women !
Funding. Black Isles gave the entire Planescape -Torment to one team only, which signaled that nobody else can legally make money by joining-in or collaborations based on the books and roleplaying rulebooks. Also: Stupor. You don't need the world's best narrators for a mid-level-at-best RPG. Especially not, when on a tight budget. BG3 shows it still COULD be done, but the ways of the industry impair a lot of efforts AND manifold the industry is so obsessed with dominating that foul plays the fandoms!
Tony DiTerlizzi is an artist I loved as child for his art in the Spiderwick books and find myself running into and just as much enjoying as an adult for Dungeons and Dragons.
Everyday I wake up and curse myself for existing in a timeline where Planescape Torment never got a sequel
I won't stop hoping for a sequel to PS:T, some how, some day.
Have been DMing since 1996, and I still draw so much inspiration from this setting. It's haunting and eerie and gorgeous.
there’s nothing to make a sequel out of though, the best we can hope for is another game set in the planescape setting
@@ce5122 That's true, I'd honestly feel a bit robbed if it was a sequel or prequel or even with the same characters / timeline. There are so many incredible ideas waiting to be explored here
This def
It certrainly isn't as good, but technically 'Torment: Tides of Numenera' is a sequel, isn't it?
I don't consider Plabescape a setting for D&D, but rather just the outer planes that exist and can be visited in any setting.
Yeah it's almost like the setting in between the other settings
Planescape Torment is just amazing. The companions were all so greatly written and the banter was truly 10/10.
I reached a point in my gaming life where I was almost not playing anymore & was seriously considering selling my books (all 1st ed). My first exposure to 2nd ed. wasI stumbling on a Planescape campaign centered in Sigil & have never looked back. My favorite setting both as DM & player.
It was my FIRST D&D game ever, and I'm happy to be ruined from the start xD
YES! I was so excited to see you cover this and you did an incredible job! I couldn't have put it any better when you said how underutilized Planescape is, thats why I try to tell everyone I can about how great it is to keep the spirit of the setting alive.
Thank you so much!! It was a tough setting to cover because there's just so much to explain haha. Glad I got Solaire's approval though and 100% agree - it's kind of incredible nothing more has been done with it! Hopefully one day!
I've always said this could be a tv show. So much potential. Center it in sigil, and every week could go to a new realm and/or even the feuds between the factions.
Made me realize that's probably my favorite art style. It reminds me of my own dreams
Diterlizzi is such a fantastic artist :] I love the design and feel of all the OG manuals
It has lived rent free in my mind since I opened the original box at 15 years old. Sometimes I let it out to fascinate and begile a new generation of players. When I moved from the east to west coast for university those were the only campaign books I kept mailing that box cost me a lot of money. i still have them all though the first mm has no cover anymore.
This is underappreciated. A very nice summary with a Cohesive narrative
Thank you so much! Was actually extremely difficult to fit all the info in such a relatively short video while making it a tight narrative - glad it came off that way to someone out there in the world!
Our Planescape game started in 1996 and we are still playing it now. We just started a new campaign in Sigil a couple of weeks ago.
Planescape is awesome, but the wildest experiment is definitely spelljammer
The best part? Sigil Cant, and finding yourself slipping into it in everyday life. "Ya bleedin' berk, plan on rattlin' yer bone-box 'til some cutter writes yer name in the dead-book? Bar that!"
I imagine when they were first coming up with the setting the design team would just constantly yell at each other in the cant
I adore the planescape setting and Torment. Peak DnD for me. I GM for friends and they've just arrived in Sigil after a few sessions in the Forgotten Realms. Its amazing to see it return in 5e and thankfully I've got all my experience from the AD&D books and Torment to flesh it out. Loved this video - keep up the top work!
There were actually 4 books for the 5e treatment for the setting, its just that the 4th book is a PDF found on the DMsGuild website. Its called appropriately enough "Manual of the Planes (5e)" ($29) and contains far, far more mechanical content the the three other physical books.
Another source of inspiration is Invisible Cities from italo Calvino, which have been mentioned in a interview.
Invisible Cities, or Città Invisibili, is a modern italian classic. I was surpised and intrigued that it was seen as a source of inspiration.
Glad to see that on spite of all the upheaval between TSR, WotC, and Hasbro (Hasbro: until all are one!) that such an interesting and original setting hasn't wound up becoming a forgotten realm.
100%, I think it' a testament of the community that's sprung up around Planescape - even without the recent release it still had a pretty large number of fans compared to the other settings
I see what you did there.
Hands down the most interesting D&D setting, Sigil still influences me. It had exactly one problem: d&d's system was a terrible fit for a location where a djin, demon prince and fey queen could be room mates, with a beholder landlord, and frequent a bar run by a lich.
The premise of the city at the center of existence was far too wild for the actual rules to handle well.
That's a great point - you really do have to wonder how planescape would have fared if it wasn't tied to DnD - if it was made for a video game or book series it could have really thrived - although it is hard to imagine because as much as I see your point that it doesn't mesh well at times within DnD so much of what makes it planescape is born from it. Hard to divorce the two
See thats where as a person who played D&D through the 80's and 90's and was big time into Planescape campaign setting its not that hard for it to work. I went from free form D&D straight into PS, and was hugely into the Planes years before PS as a campaign setting even started (I still own the old precursor of PS, the Tales from the Outerplanes which takes place with a proto Sigil as a multiversal nexus which is a Inn/Bar that has doors to places allover the multiverse... the World Serpent Inn), i loved the Outer and Inner planes from day one with the first Manual of the Planes in 1st Edition.
You just have to think of it this way... all those more popular settings and campaigns that take place nowdays and back then like Faerune, Dragon Lance, Dark Sun etc etc, they are literally the backwater hicksvills of the universe... the actual meat and potatoes of reality is going on everywhere else, ie the Planes...
Its the old thing, every prime material inhabitant has this ignorant view point that they are the center of the universe... when in reality they are basically nothing, them and their world/crystal sphere are the finite in an infinite universe. They are the cave dwellers who one day suddenly find the opening to the rest of the world, most of them cant handle the revelation, but some do (and oddly it kinda mirrors how PS was from what i saw taken by D&D players in reality, they didnt like their 'world' being reduced to insignifigance).
Watching this video, it seems to have mixed a little of the more modern Outer planes, such as the idea the material plane is at the center of the universe... which it isnt, that would be the Spire and Sigil, the Material plane is kinda side adjacent with the Inner Planes leaking into it creating reality, the Astral is kinda a bridge between the rigid reality of the prime and the infinite possibility of the Outer Planes (I mean they describe the Astral in PS as an infinity small yet infinity large plane that doesnt actually even exist, hence why its the grave yard of forgotten gods). Its the old idea of the Material begin born from primal elements, creating life that then created belief that formed the seed of the Outer Planes that then became refined as belief over eons as base neutral belief was refined and compartmentalized into finer and finer forms becoming the outer ring of the outer planes with these realms of physical and belief becoming linked through the plane of the mind, the Astral, and the rise of gods etc etc... kinda very much like the Chaos Gods of Warhammer.
Its a shame PS never got completed, since for me PS is the actual D&D reality its all of them mushed into a glorious whole, and the Bloodwar arc for the setting with the Yugoloths grand plan was getting to a point that would have been like Warhammer End Times but actually good.
PS was just way to cerebral and out there (which it didnt have to be, you could easily make a low level hack and slash campaign in it that took in place in places like Baator and the Abyss, you just had to be creative) for most players, to me far to many players where too stuck in their love for settings like Forgotten Realms... which unfortunately is still their main setting, and every time they try to take a bit of PS and shift it over into modern D&D i cant help but wince in pain at how they mascare it, since they seem to continue to try and make their specific 'world' the center of the universe with the Outer Planes as these 'small' asides... when its the reverse.
Can’t disagree more
I'm not sure why you say that?
A good DM is only limited by their imagination. But maybe I'm just too optimistic. Like Brennan Mulligan from Critical Role, I just see nothing but potential in all directions. Players and GM work together to make an amazing story happen, house rules help, but really don't seem that necessary if your team is heavy on the RP part of the RPG.
My very first experience with D&D (not with ttrpgs generally, but with D&D itself) was a 2e Planescape game as a preteen in the 90s. Spelljammer was my second, so I had a pretty wacky introduction to D&D lol
That sounds like an amazing intro haha. How was going to more traditional settings afterwards?
@@exitsexamined well I'd already played traditional fantasy with the Palladium Fantasy RPG before that, and was a big fantasy nerd type of girl as a kid, so it wasn't that unusual (and I had played the Eye of the Beholder dungeon crawler/CRPG games before I played D&D so I had somewhat of a grip on the Forgotten Realms as a setting from that)
Yeah, wacky but also excellent: 2 of the most unique D&D variants ever.
Ha ha, my first campaign was a Planescape and we rapidly shifted into Pathfinder because we all liked the 3.5 but less complicated rules.
It was a blast and I have always loved PS ❤
Planescape is a cool setting with great lore, but from my experience, it’s a setting not a lot of players want to play in compared to Forgotten realms, Dark Sun, Greyhawk and even Spelljammer. Players struggle to relate to the setting.
I agree. I absolutely loved Planescape: Torment, but neither I nor my players have much interest in playing it as a setting.
Sigil is the best place in the realms. Everything you can imagine is there, and everyone is exactly as powerful as everything else thinks they are. You can also open portals to anywhere by doing almost anything. Like you fart in the wrong place and end up in Bator or some shit.
It is kind of the best example of a multiverse that was put on top of a setting, equal parts terrifying and also hilarious
2ND Edition Settings. The ONLY time D&D actually had genuinely good, atmospheric, cohesive art.
Thanks for the great review 👍🏼 I still have the 5 discs physical copy of the P:T ❤ Expirience of a lifetime!
Oh man I forgot to mention the whole 5 disc thing in this video haha. Experience is the right word to describe that game haha
My experience with the setting is through Planescape Torment. That's where most of my love comes from so there's probably plenty of factors I'm missing but personally I think the main reason why Planescape hasn't been explored more is that it's just too abstract and heavy for people to take chances with it. It's why thought provoking and slow sci fi movies like 2001 A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner tend to be box office flops but Star Wars and Terminator do great. I'd imagine with studios and audiences that buy a D&D product, they typically want high fantasy adventure. Take Baldur's Gate 3 for instance, it's a well made game to be sure but it's about as safe as you can get, it fills out all the fantasy quotas, it doesn't require a whole lot of thinking, the characters aren't that complex (Them being easy on the eyes doesn't hurt either). It's mostly about how many creative ways you can mess around with the story. Now ask that same audience if they wanna play a weird philosophical game where anything can happen and it's not like a typical fantasy setting in the slightest. I'm not saying nobody would want that but I can see why companies might not wanna take risks with it
I still have that 😊 I used to have Darksun amd AL Quadim too but I lost them 😥
How did you like Al Quadim? I was thinking about it covering it in a future video but I don't know much about it!
@exitsexamined I love it I wish we still had it. I had even DarkSun which I also love.
And yes please if you can cover AL Quadim I would seriously love it.
I'm trying to recreat that world in my world with different gods but yes I would love if you coverd that.
I’m not sure if a large majority would say their favorite is planescape if only because I’m unsure how much the broad community knows about any setting that isn’t FR.
I was basing that statement on reddit polls and internet articles so it could be that I'm wrong haha. It would be sad though if most people didn't know about it!
Around 12 minutes... "You wake up from a Hangover... I mean Death..."
I would argue, if it were possible like that... A person being magically brought back from death would definitely be groggy like he just woke up with a hangover. It's definitely how I feel anyways.
You know I originally put that in as a reference to Disco Elysium but honestly, fair enough haha
@@exitsexamined I got that I promise! My brain just likes to go EVERY direction at once sometimes.
I have two very small nitpicks for the video, the quote at 2:28 was very confusing, especially when only listening to the video I suggest to remark when a quote is being read.
Second, the audio on the sponsored spot was clipping just a bit, and that's all.
This is a really nice and concise overview of this wonderful and beloved setting and I really enjoyed it.
I also like the variety in your videos and look forward to whatever you bring next.
Hey thanks so much for the feedback, I'm still actively trying to improve with each video so I'll keep those in mind. Glad you enjoyed it overall and I'm excited for what the upcoming videos as well!
I still have all my Blood Wars cards. I only played it once, but I break them out every once in a while just to look at Tony Diterlizzi's sick art.
How was playing it? Wasn't able to get my hands on it!
Excellent analysis and very informative, really into the Planescape setting atm because yeah it's super cool. Really hope more is done with it in the future but I agree there are right and wrong ways to adapt something of this scope.
Hey thanks so much I'm diving deep into Dark Sun at the moment and it's interesting to see the similarities
I very much like the idea - unlikely as it may be - of the success of BG3 encouraging video games set in other settings. Would love to see a hollow world game.
Me too, so many of these settings are just generally underused for all there amazing ideas. I never got around to hollow world though! How would you compare to PS? Maybe I'll cover it!
Watching this I'm reminded of Empire of the Petal Throne, and tons a lesser extent the Skyrealms of Journey.
Planescape wasn't intended to be a niche product, it was intended to be an answer to tabletop RPG trends in the 90s that were a threat to TSR's dominance then and have since petered out. Without that market relevance it's not coming back no matter how good it was.
Interesting take! Which other tabletop RPGS in particular do you think it was an answer to? And I guess planescape has already came back in 5E - or do you mean become popular again? But I guess it's always been popular!
Vampire the Masqurade was as big ttrpg rival in the 90s.
Interesting! I guess it was released in 91 so three years before Planescape. I do wonder if that was cutting into the DnD market
@@exitsexamined The devs have spoke before about how the 'faction' system in VtM inspired planescape dustmen etc
@exitsexamined drive through RPG has reprints and PDFs of material :]
The Planescape core box is my last remaining DnD and I will be buried with it. The greatest bar none. Also, this channel is criminally under-subbed. Earthsea? Planescape? C’mon!
Because you were presenting this as a history and introduction to Planescape, for those who knew little to nothing about the setting, I wish you would have the shown the multiverse as it was in 2e, then talked about the post 2e retcons to the cosmology. Back then the great wheel was not the whole of the multiverse, it referred to the arrangement of the outer planes. There was no Faywild or Shadowfeld, the closest thing you had to those would be dimiplanes in the Ethereal plane. The prime was not the center of the multiverse, necessarily, this being one of the many reasons planar people referred to primes as clueless. There are so many people who don’t know about this kind of stuff right now, that I feel you have done them a disservice by not even acknowledging these things. They might spend a couple of hundred bucks to get their hands on the original boxed set only to find that they have a much larger learning curve than they assumed or are willing to take on.
-One of my 2 fav settigs along with Birthright, don't suppose you might do that setting?
Actually I know nothing about birthright, i wanted to cover ravenloft next, but I'll throw brithright on the list, what's it deal?
@@exitsexamined It was a setting which included realm rules for management by PCs. 2k years ago gods came down and fought, they died in a titanic explosion and the humans, elves and dwarves in herited those powers through blood, called the birthright. Creatures which gained the most godly power, mostly the evil champions became horrific monsters, while the champions of the good gosd wage war to be the new emperor. All quake in fear of the Gorgon, the creature who gained the most power and is now an importal fiend waging war across the centuries. Also had a fantastic game on PC called, Birthright, the Gorgon's apprentice.
Didn't we get like 3 books on Planescape recently?
Hey! Do you mean the recent additions to 5E? I think I mentioned the Adventures in the Multiverse books in this video! Or do you mean new novels? If it's novels I would have to update the description!
Also, first time I ever heard of a Tiefling was in planescape
I could die in peace if Planescape Torment was remade ala Baldurs Gate 3. Dark Sun world is also an untapped treasure trove.
Did you miss the part where they released a wonderful updated setting three piece for it, earlier this year? And the part where Sigil has become part of the Core D&D Canon? Other than that, I am looking forward to revisiting it more, I expect we'll get more books within the greater Planescape Setting going forward, since the main focus of the trio of books was definetly just Sigil and the Outlands.
I dont play D&D and barely know anything about it. But Planescape is the only interesting setting I have seen of it. But it also seems unused which is sad because Id probably be into D&D if it was meta
Have you ever thought of looking into things like Red Steel and Ravenloft: Mask of the Red Death
?
I think I have one book for Planescape. Never got into it and I'm not sure where I got the book. Probably at a convention back in the 90's.
Check it out, if it has the art that alone is worth a look!
As someone who was big into Planescape when it was around, and who has pretty much the entire 2e campaign/modules/manuals etc as PDF on a DVD from 20 years back... I hope they never actually try and bring it back.
It would be a disaster under what Ive seen and know about Wizards these days... the setting, the ideas worked when stuck along side 2e AD&D but what D&D is now, it just would either be a complete mess or it would be so badly watered down or painted beige that it would fail (my god to have the old Teiflings back.. you know the ones that werent just colored skin and goat horns, but could be anything the player wanted and the DM allowed). Could have worked in 3rd edition and they still had alot of that Planescape feeling with the Out Planes in that edition, but now nope...
The Baatorians, Yugoloths and Taanri had actual character back then and the Bloodwar arc that spanned multipal campaign adventures, the Celestials, the Factions, the Planes felt amazing and the scope both infinity broad but also if needed razor thin.
The thing i loved most about PS was the fact every other campaign setting that often took itself either to seriously or acted like it was THE poster campaign setting of the game was made to feel small... It was like, oh your from Faerun? is that supposed to mean something to me berk? now if you'd step aside so i can serve the Red Abashi behind you his order... PS was the "I dont even know who you are" of campaign settings.
Any chance of doing Dark Sun or Crimson Skies?
Dark Sun is on the list and hopefully should get it within the next 2-3 months, just will take me a little while because sadly I don't have as much experience with the setting, so need time to research!
I would like to see a video explaining Whatever Happened To Johan And Peewit? Without the Johan stories, we wouldn't even have the Smurfs, but Johan and Peewit are fairly obscure in the U.S but are getting a cult following.
Interesting! To be honest I had never heard of it! I put it on my list now - when and where did this air on television originally? Is that how you found it?
@@exitsexamined Johan was first introduced in comics by Peyo, and Peewit was added in later issues. One of their issues, The Magic Flute, was the first Smurfs story I believe. The 1980s Hanna Barbera Smurfs cartoon had a few episodes with Johan and Peewit. I first watched them on Boomerang in the 2000s when they used to re-run several Hanna Barbera shows.
Ol us fart here.
I remember the special. He was called pee wee in the states i guess. The smurfs had this sythesized voice that reminded me of the musical aliens from transformers season 3. Not usual. The sang a song about what the word smurf meant because the smurf used it for all types of words and how it confused the smurfs that the humans were confused. I think it was a tonal thing. I dont know how they explained it in the chinese version, though😄
Just to be clear, ots a joke about tonal language, not communism. It being smurfs
thanks for reminding me i had to buy the new manual. do you know about the server that uses neverwinter nights 2 to recrete sigil?
Whaaaattt no idea, hadn't heard of that. That sounds rad
Hey you pronounced Sigil correctly have a follow!😊
haha I would love if that's the standard for every subscribe "only subscribe if pronounce sigil correctly" welcome to the channel!
@exitsexamined it is for me, planescape is such an important part of my teenage years that I do take it seriously lol
You know, I feel that current Planescape is trying to be “Torment”.
Even modules started off at a morgue.
And comic adaptation of it involved amnesiac who revived after each death (albeit revived as different person and not like Nameless).
This isn’t new since most of Planescape knowledge being from Torment game.
There was no Feywild or Shadowfell in Planescape.
Good point! I was mainly trying to explain the planes as a whole!
But they easily fit as the axis of the Inner Planes, essentially quasi-Material planes. (Feywild = Material + Positive Energy, which is why it is so vibrant, overwhelming, but still very dangerous; Shadowfell = Material + Negative Energy, making it the dead-and-undead grimhole it is)
Can you cover Animorphs?
Any history of the Planescape setting that doesn't address how much of it is a reaction to the success of White Wolf's World of Darkness games at the time is incomplete, IMHO. The focus on factions and themes makes this pretty blatantly obvious, and I think some of the developers have admitted it, as well. It certainly went in directions that no White Wolf game ever did, there really is nothing else like it, but its influence can't be denied.
Also, the Feywild and Shadowfell were not part of the original Great Wheel cosmology. Those were retconned in for the 5e version.
I got it and haven't take it out of it package yet lol
Is the link to that pdf of the unpublished book in the description? None of those look to be it and I’d love to read it!
Hey thanks so much for reminding me - there were so many links I had to the description I totally forgot. I added to the description now but here it is as well: uo-planescape.wdfiles.com/local--files/pubblicazioni-e-materiale/Fire_and_Dust_by_James_Alan_Gardner-%281996%29_planescape_rejected_novel-pdf_version.pdf
No problem, great vid! Planescape and Dark Sun are my ride-or-die settings, but the novels for planescape are a bit of a nightmare to track down. Anything I can find is a godsend
I honestly 100% know what you mean - it was kind of insane trying to find the planescape books for this video, normally I'd do audiobooks but that just was not an option for most of these haha.
How is Dark Sun? I never got into it myself but I'm thinking about doing a deep dive into the setting for one of these videos but I don't know enough about it to know if it would make sense. Are there books in that setting too? As a concept it seems really interesting though
@@exitsexamined There are books! I was introduced to it reading the novels by the same Troy Dennigs you mention in this video. But never got a chance to check the campaign setting, IIRC there is little consistency between novels and setting because both were developed by different authors working parallel and not communicating with each other.
Think MadMax dark fantasy.
One of your sources pegged it as “D&D does Mad Max”, and that’s certainly a part of it, but also bits of dune, Conan, and John Carter of Mars pop up. Magic sucks the life out of the planet, wizard overlords run wasteland slave states, psionics are a cultural institution and natural fact of life present even in animals, life is cheap and death is cheaper, and secret societies struggle for liberty and environmental restoration. It’s definitely dark and edgy, but not nihilistic; it’s got big environmental and egalitarian themes, but it gets there by presenting a world where the bad guys won, chattel slavery is rampant, and the planet is dying. It then expects the players to take a stand against these things, with the understanding that such work is HARD and dangerous, and will likely take generations. Heroes don’t just need to save the day, they need to inspire the next generation to continue the work.
Speaking of 2e stuff first, The product line is divided into three eras; the first releases present the world as it is in a starting year, but don’t tell you WHY it is the way it is, just legends and heresay. Then, the sourcebook “Dragon Kings” introduces epic-level play, and also reveals the deepest secrets of the setting to show how things ended up so bad. Then, a revised boxset was published after a series of five tie-in novels (put a pin in that) changes the setting substantially; most find it inferior or that it changes core things about the setting they liked. I don’t mind it so much, but it is definitely secondary.
As far as adaptations go, there were a couple of old school crpgs, and I think a season of the neverwinter mmo. In the 2e era there was a series of five tie in novels called the “Prism Pentad” that most don’t like (I think the audible audiobooks are VERY well done though, great reader they got) because the 2e setting had a Metaplot. Each novel would have reveals and change the setting of contemporaneously published rpg products, which felt like an albatross to a lot of people. There were a couple other novel series in that era that few remember, and whose names escape me at the moment, and then a couple novels in the 4e era.
The setting was semi-supported in 3.x via dragon/dungeon magazines and fan sites that had the official blessing. And in 4th edition, they put out two dark sun rpg books as a lean setting launch (setting + monster book) during the last year of normal (not Essentials) 4e. It’s quite good, but it does suffer from wotc’s need to brand integrate all of their stuff; classic dark sun didn’t have tieflings and Dragonborn, but you bet that 4e did. Similarly, classic dark sun had 11 foot tall half giants as a player race, but 4e dark sun used the already present Goliath as a substitute.
Currently, Dark Sun is dead. During the post-ogl apology tour, the D&D producer they sent out to do the rounds said that dark sun is too problematic to bring back, because it has those elements of slavery and racism in it. But I think viewing it that way misses the point that it sets up a party to really take a stand against those things explicitly in the world building, and if done with a canny eye can make something that is exceptionally timely and relevant; I mean, there’s definitely something cutting about warring despots that suppress human rights and whose industry is killing the planet, right?
I also think that since dark sun is so siloed off in terms of its own lore and player options, it’s not very brand-integrative. For example, fey, angels, and devils don’t exist in Dark Sun, so any player or dm options in those arenas are useless in that setting, which definitely hurts with the current expectation that all player options must always be in play at all times. I think they’re right to make the calculation that it isn’t profitable, but I think they’re wildly off the mark in terms of it being offensive or problematic.
If you want to talk more about this, I’m happy to help start your research off, but that covers a good eagle-eye view of it!
Thank you for not repeatedly calling it sijil like the big dnd youtubers have been doing
It was much harder than it has any right to be to not accidentally slip into the wrong pronunciation throughout the video haha
I'm surprised big dnd channels messed up though, which ones?
Sigil. With a hard g as in gum. Thats the city of doors
And the Lady shall be visiting those channels. Its mazes for them, rocky. Mazes.
Berk! Im sorry im currently watching the vid and he kept sayin all the clues that i was leavin showing how old i was and that i was og!LE ME ALONE AND STOP POSTING ON MY THREADA!
I combine planescape and spelljammer
That honestly sounds like a hot mess in the best possible way
I'm not as optimistic as you are about a planescape setting revisited. Tides of numererorwhatever its called did not hit the same spot, didnt make me feel engaged in the world, didn't draw me in to the world at all because the world was too disjointed. It was more like a description of an acid trip than something that built a world with real beings in it that interacted with each other. It was less philosophy and more just describing weird sensations your character is supposed to feel over and over again and it meant exactly nothing to my character because I didnt feel like part of a bigger world at all.
"You know, this person sounds kinda depressed and he's talking about Torment. Wonder if they've heard of Grimbeard."
"What can change the nature of a man."
"Dang he really is just saying what Grim said."
"Grimbeard!"
"Hah, called it."
I think one of the main reasons I started a YT channel is so I could shout out Grimbeard on it lol
@@exitsexamined That's rad to hear. I've gone through your Dark Sun, Planes, and now Earth Sea which I have no clue why I didn't know of that last one. You've got a good thing going on!
Brother, please work on your mic setup. The peaking/distortion is brutal.
Yes yes, it's so annoying that happened with this video I'll have to do a rerelease on it because of that issue. If you take a look at every other video past that one on the channel I fixed it,
@@exitsexamined Good stuff, all the best with it. Voice recording can be a pain. Also, consider looking at an AI upscaler - it may be able to fix what you already have.
Please cover Ravenloft
Why didn't you mention Monte Cook?
There was a ton of information about the history of planescape and the setting itself I would have loved to include but I really try to keep the videos as lean as possible. There's so much in these videos I touch on, history of the setting, explaining the setting, the future of the setting, so sadly I have to pick and choose.
In the future though I might do a longer form of this video where I can go into more details and I'd love to mention him then
He does mention Cook, but I'm guessing Cook might get a video of his own sometime
@@Grogeous_Maximus zeb, not monte.
@@Grogeous_Maximus It is confusing! There are two cooks (unrelated) Zeb was working on - Monte worked on some of the additions to the setting and I believe Tides of Numenaria. But honestly there are a TON of amazing people who worked on these series over the years that in a deeper dive I'd need to go into specifically the artist behind the original drawings Dana Knutson who's work is incredible
Zeb Cooke really Cooked.
Honestly that should have been my thumbnail title
Planescape Torment The Unofficial Audio Series
When I considered, which settings for the 5E to purchase, Planescape was one of the best on the market. The ones I dont get are the MTG based ones...
Theros inspired by Greek mythology? Well, why not just play ancient/mythological Greece setting? Many DnD monsters are from there!
Ravnica, big city full of guilds? Sigil sounds similar and is more interesting.
Strixhaven? Sorry, sounds just like they could not get Harry Potter licence... And school setting is not interesting to me.
All the new playable races there are just "lets take an animal and make it intelligent", which I am not fan of.
Planescape? Yes please, more...
I never knew the pronunciation of Sigil was an accident. That makes it seem way less pretentious.
Planescape is challenging, so it's not infinitely marketable. It's treated as niche.
17:53 Disappointing recent releases like Ravenloft?
Actually that was originally in my script but I took it out because I haven't played the updated ravenloft release personally - was it that bad?
@@exitsexamined It was an odd comment, Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd is widely regarded as the most popular 5e releases. It's one of, if not the most sold, adventure for 5e.
its extremely problematic and almost everyone who plays it does so specifically with the intent of highly editing it
@@exitsexamined they've turned most of the darklords into females, including a lesbian Dr Mordenheim 😮
If the Lady of Pain was a God like the other DnD Gods... wouldn't she get weaker and weaker as time goes by without anyone worshipping her?? 🤔
Wish Torment would get remade. Not Numenara.
I would 100% be down for a torment remake
Subb!
Hey thanks so much! I'll hopefully be getting to more DnD content in the future if that's your thing!
The problem with Planescape is at least modern planescape is Wotc uses it as the crux for their multiverse when Planescape only really works in a vaccum
Interesting! What do you mean by a vacuum? Was it in a vacuum when it was first released?
I would agree. But, what sense would skilled DMing or roleplaying make, when all that matters is snatching the money before anyone else does?
I find that fascinating. I was reading a book on the history of d&d, and it said that the reason cook wanted to make this was to make Spelljmmers more meaningful, since players would just use them as glorified transportation and not make this a setting in and of itself.
TSR Planescape still exists in used and PDF format. TSR Planescape hasn't gone anywhere.
Planescape is setting that is really fun to read, but has very little content that GMs could actually use to make adventures with. There's just nothing to do in Planescape.
Hm that's interesting - when people generally talk about their favorite settings Planescape is always up there. I wonder if it's because it's a great setting or people actually enjoying DnDing there
@@exitsexamined Oh, I love reading it. It's a wonderful world.
It's just not a good game setting.
what? get the new campaign, turn of fortunes wheel. there are over 1000 encounters with full faction and district adventure starts
Similar is pronounced with the same g as gif.😂
It's stolen from Elric of Melnibone, all of it
I did a quick wiki research session and although it seems like a really cool book, I didn't see anything about multiverses and the settings looks like a classic sword and sorcery fare without too much philosophy, but I'm not familiar with it! Which aspects are similar you think?
I see some Dark Crystal influence too , many of those characters look like Skeksis
@@exitsexaminedyeah the elric series is the earliest mention and use of multiverse/multiple realms for the setting. It doesn’t come up right away but in the later books it becomes very important.
17:05 LMAO this kid says the 5e Planescape book is "captivating charm" and "pretty positive" 😂😂😂😂💀
It's not my opinion, it seems to be the general consensus I saw across Reddit, reviews, and UA-cam reviews. It's cool if you disagree though and don't like it, in fact it's probably understandable depending on why - speaking of, if you don't like it, why not?
@@exitsexamined REDDIT OMG 🤡🤡🤡🤡
you never played it then. its one of the only 5e campaigns that is any good. there are over 1000 encounters and theyre all well done. the main quest is solid.
@@daveshif2514 A solid turd lmao 1000 encounters
@@Jader7777ok i get it... Your just an ass. Ty
Liberals found CA to be problematic and “cancelled” him and his most well regarded DND work, Planescape:Torment 😂
Young people have shown to be incapable of doing great things like they did in the 90's.
Whoa that's a huge statement! So I'm not knocking your comment but I'm genuinely curious, do you think no good media or "great things" have happened since the 90's?
At risk of deep cynicism, PS is way past its prime. 3rd Edition onward began to loot the scope and strangeness of Planescape, but without much of the distinct flavor behind it. Lots of odd races became more commonplace and even planar weirdness would crossover into the Prime more. 5th Edition wasn't going to make Planescape special. If anything, they made it even less so with mostly pastel mush aesthetics seen in the other books as well as bland new ideas like glorified food trucks and other modern gentrification. Plus, the weird melding of 4th Edition planes like Feywild and Shadowfell to the prior Great Wheel feels so confused to me. Also, bloody hell, the Demons and Devils chilling at a bar, Wizards overused that so much... whether through hype or in production. Anyway, this comment is too negative. I happily point people back to the 2nd Edition version as well as rules to convert it over, all without spending too much more money. I feel they'll get the most out of things that way.
Also, those who say Sigil wrong don't get mazed, they just get berated as the Clueless and Primers that they are. Anyway, as your Tout, I expect some jink for the trouble, basher!
If anything, I wish Planescape had the same level of fandom love as Mystara. The latter has had a crazy amount of love from its fans! Magazines that continue today, lots of fan gazetteers, etc... I trust fans over companies any day.
All fair and interesting takes! You know I sadly have not gotten into Mystara yet! I'm thinking about covering it for a future video but I'm not sure if it has a interesting history compared to Planescape - how would you say they compare?
@@exitsexamined Mystara is a mix of pulp novels, historic fantasy and lots of weirdness tucked in corners. There's plenty to examine. Likewise, it's mostly split from the baggage of AD&D and 3E+.
uh no, the art in the new campaign book is FANTASTIC and not at all muddy or washed out. there are over 1000 encounters and all of them are themed to make use of the aligned factions towns and districts. u never played it i guess
I love Brian Froud 's artwork! So much woke crap around , but now female pronouns aren't used , look at "hero" , "Warlock " , "God " ,etc to define women !
lot of commenters here never actually played the 5e campaign i see. fake fans. its an amazing campaign.
numenera
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Funding. Black Isles gave the entire Planescape -Torment to one team only, which signaled that nobody else can legally make money by joining-in or collaborations based on the books and roleplaying rulebooks. Also: Stupor. You don't need the world's best narrators for a mid-level-at-best RPG. Especially not, when on a tight budget. BG3 shows it still COULD be done, but the ways of the industry impair a lot of efforts AND manifold the industry is so obsessed with dominating that foul plays the fandoms!