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![]() Manual of the Planes, for 1st Edition AD&D | |
Author | Jeff Grubb |
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Genre | Role-playing game |
Publisher | TSR |
Publication date | 1987 |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
The Manual of the Planes (abbreviated MoP [1] ) is a manual for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. This text addresses the planar cosmology of the game universe.
The original book (for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition) was published in 1987 by TSR, Inc. [2] For 2nd Edition, concern over inclusion of angels and demons led TSR to forgo the release, though they compensated years later with the Planescape campaign setting. A third edition version of the Manual of the Planes was published in 2001 by Wizards of the Coast, while a new version for 4th Edition debuted in 2008.
The original Manual of the Planes was written by Jeff Grubb, with a cover by Jeff Easley and interior illustrations by Stephen Fabian with Easley, and was published by TSR in 1987 as a 128-page hardcover. [3] Easley's cover featured an illustration of a creature named in the book as an "ethereal dreadnought", although the book had no description or game statistics for the creature. [4] This creature was later identified in 2nd edition as an astral dreadnought.
The book describes various planes of existence, and what creatures characters might encounter there, covering the astral and ethereal planes, the elemental planes, and the outer planes. [3] The book also details how to survive in the planes, and how combat and magic differ under each plane's special conditions. The Ethereal Plane, The Inner Planes—including the Plane of Elemental Air, the Plane of Elemental Fire, the Plane of Elemental Earth, and the Plane of Elemental Water, the Para-Elemental Planes (Smoke, Magma, Ooze, and Ice), the Energy Planes (Positive Energy and Negative Energy), and the Quasi-Elemental Planes (Lightning, Radiance, Minerals, Steam, Vacuum, Ash, Dust, and Salt)—and the Astral Plane. After these planes, the Outer Planes are briefly described, including Nirvana, Arcadia, Seven Heavens, Twin Paradises, Elysium, Happy Hunting Grounds, Olympus, Gladsheim, Limbo, Pandemonium, The Abyss, Tarterus, Hades, Gehenna, The Nine Hells, Acheron, and Concordant Opposition. Manual of the Planes explains how each of the outer planes is related to each of the character alignments. For example, "The Seven Heavens" is the final resting place for characters of Lawful Good alignment.
In 1999, a paperback reprint of the first edition was released. [5]
Authors | Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, and David Noonan |
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Genre | Role-playing game |
Publisher | Wizards of the Coast |
Publication date | September 2001 |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Pages | 224 |
ISBN | 0-7869-1850-0 |
The third edition Manual of the Planes was designed by Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, and David Noonan. Cover art is by Arnie Swekel, with interior art by Matt Cavotta, Monte Moore, Wayne Reynolds, Darrell Riche, David Roach, and Arnie Swekel.
After the typical introduction found in almost all guides of D&D 3rd. Edition, Manual of the Planes presents, in its first chapter, an overview of planes in general: what they are, what their nature is, and what is their function on gameplay. Info about how to shift between planes is also available in this chapter.
The second chapter presents hints on how to design your own cosmology of planes, based on the D&D official cosmology known as "The Great Wheel". Generating a personalized cosmology involves several options—for example, consider how magic works if basic planes that feed magic (such as the Ethereal or Astral planes) are disposed of.
The next chapters in the Manual are dedicated to detail the Great Wheel and the 27 planes that constitute it, including the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes.
The book also gives game statistics for monsters of the planes, such as the ephemera of the Plane of Shadow. [6]
Authors | Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, and James Wyatt |
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Genre | Role-playing game |
Publisher | Wizards of the Coast |
Publication date | 2008 |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
This book was designed by Richard Baker (lead), John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, and James Wyatt. Cover art is by Howard Lyon, with interior art by Rob Alexander, Dave Allsop, Steve Belledin, Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai, Chippy, Daarken, Eric Deschamps, Steve Ellis, Jason Engle, Ralph Horsley, Howard Lyon, Warren Mahy, Torstein Nordstrand, William O'Connor, Lucio Parillo, Anne Stokes, Francis Tsai, and Franz Vohwinkel. The 4th Edition Manual of the Planes reinvented the cosmology into a streamlined arrangement called the World Axis cosmology. [7] It consists of five core types of planes:
The 3rd edition Manual of the Planes won the 2002 Ennie Award for "Best Rules Supplement". [8]
Scott Taylor of Black Gate listed the Manual of the Planes as #4 on the list of "Top 10 'Orange Spine' AD&D Hardcovers By Jeff Easley, saying "Ethereal Dreadnaught... enough said. Well perhaps not truly 'enough', but you get the idea." [9]
Viktor Coble listed Manual of the Planes as #7 on CBR 's 2021 "D&D: 10 Best Supplemental Handbooks" list, stating that "it expands the Dungeons and Dragons base-world, making an entire universe complete with in-game lore, methods of traversing these elements, and brand new mechanics to account for them." [10]
The monster on the cover art for the original Manual of the Planes, the astral dreadnought, was the inspiration for the Cacodemon in the Doom video game series.[ citation needed ]
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, designed by Zeb Cook, and published by TSR in 1994.
Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which features a fantastic outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included Spelljammer content; a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition setting update was released on August 16, 2022.
The Monster Manual is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR. The Monster Manual was the first hardcover D&D book and includes monsters derived from mythology and folklore, as well as creatures created specifically for D&D. Creature descriptions include game-specific statistics, a brief description of its habits and habitats, and typically an image of the creature. Along with the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, the Monster Manual is one of the three "core rulebooks" in most editions of the D&D game. As such, new editions of the Monster Manual have been released for each edition of D&D. Due to the level of detail and illustration included in the 1977 release, the book was cited as a pivotal example of a new style of wargame books. Future editions would draw on various sources and act as a compendium of published monsters.
The beholder is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is depicted as a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and many smaller eyestalks on top with powerful magical abilities.
Monster Manual II is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game.
Fiend Folio is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). All three are collections of monsters.
The Dungeon Master's Guide is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The Dungeon Master's Guide contains rules concerning the arbitration and administration of a game, and is intended for use by the game's Dungeon Master.
Deities & Demigods, alternatively known as Legends & Lore, is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods and legendary creatures from various sources in mythology and fiction, and allows dungeon masters to incorporate aspects of religions and mythos into their D&D campaigns.
The slaad is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. They are extraplanar creatures (outsiders) that resemble giant humanoid toads of various colors, and other types, such as mud, and death slaadi.
In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, an Outer Plane is one of a number of general types of planes of existence. They can also be referred to as godly planes, spiritual planes, or divine planes. The Outer Planes are home to beings such as deities and their servants such as demons, celestials and devils. Each Outer Plane is usually the physical manifestation of a particular moral and ethical alignment and the entities that dwell there often embody the traits related to that alignment.
A devil, also referred to as a baatezu, is a group of fictional creatures in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying game typically presented as formidable opponents for advanced players. Devils are characterized by their Lawful Evil alignment and are depicted as originating from the Nine Hells of Baator. They follow a strict and hierarchical structure, progressing through various forms as they rise in rank. At the top of this hierarchy are the Archdevils, also known as the Lords of the Nine, who govern different regions within Baator. Devils are often portrayed as seeing the various worlds in the D&D universe as tools to be exploited for their objectives, such as participating in the Blood War—a centuries-long conflict against demons.
The planes of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game constitute the multiverse in which the game takes place. Each plane is a universe with its own rules with regard to gravity, geography, magic and morality. There have been various official cosmologies over the course of the different editions of the game; these cosmologies describe the structure of the standard Dungeons & Dragons multiverse.
Tiamat is a supremely strong and powerful 5-headed draconic goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The name is taken from Tiamat, a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. She is the queen and mother of evil dragons and a member of the default pantheon of Dungeons & Dragons gods. Her symbol is a five-headed dragon.
Jeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art.
In the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game, Bahamut is a powerful draconic deity, who has the same name as Bahamut from Arabic mythology.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, giants are a collection of very large humanoid creatures based on giants of legend, or in third edition, a "creature type".
Dark Sun is an original Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. Dark Sun featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take on traditional fantasy role-playing. The product line began with the original Dark Sun Boxed Set released for D&D's 2nd edition in 1991, originally ran until 1996, and was one of TSR's most successful releases.
Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules, written by Frank Mentzer, is a boxed set for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game first published by TSR in 1986 as an expansion to the Basic Set.
Tales of the Outer Planes is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, set in that game's Outer Planes. TSR, Inc. published the module in 1988 for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The module is a collection of adventures designed by Deborah A. Christian, Vince Garcia, Thomas M. Kane, David and Martha Ladyman, Christopher Mortika, John Nephew, Bruce Nesmith, Bill Slavicsek, Rick Swan, John Terra, and Ray Winninger. Its cover art is by Jeff Easley. Its interior art is by Chris Miller and Jeff Easley, and cartography by Dave LaForce.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the term monster refers to a variety of creatures, some adapted from folklore and legends and others invented specifically for the game. Included are traditional monsters such as dragons, supernatural creatures such as ghosts, and mundane or fantastic animals. A defining feature of the game is that monsters are typically obstacles that players must overcome to progress through the game. Beginning with the first edition in 1974, a catalog of game monsters (bestiary) was included along with other game manuals, first called Monsters & Treasure and now called the Monster Manual. As an essential part of Dungeons & Dragons, many of its monsters have become iconic and recognizable even outside D&D, becoming influential in video games, fiction, and popular culture.