New Planescape adventure and sourcebook will be D&D’s own Marvel-esque multiverse
“A fantastic time to bring Planescape back for a new audience.”
The new adventure book, sourcebook and monster manual themed around Planescape will spark Dungeons & Dragons’ own Marvel-esque multiverse.
Originally introduced via the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide for the first edition of the tabletop roleplaying game, Planescape is a D&D setting that serves to provide players with an overview of how the different planes function and fit together within the fantasy world.
Later on, a full campaign setting for Planescape was released for Dungeons & Dragons: Second Edition, outlining details on the different planes and where they sit against each other. The planes of D&D are separated into categories and fit within an enormous wheel. Planescape covers everything from the inner planes of air, earth, water and fire to the outer planes governed by different deities and moral codes.
Connecting the outer planes are the outlands, which are subsequently interconnected through the city of Sigil – pronounced ‘siggle’ - which is ruled over by The Lady of Pain, a mysterious being who has no allegiances to any of the other deities or planes. Sigil serves as the setting for Planescape: Torment, a classic D&D video game released in 1999 in which players take the role of The Nameless One as they explore the city and its Outer Planes to unravel a rich story.
The upcoming tabletop RPG adventure book, Planescape: Turn of Fortune’s Wheel, will reportedly begin in the same way as Planescape: Torment began: with the players being awoken by the Mimir Morte, a floating sentient skull who is supposedly looking for someone – possibly The Nameless One. Turn of Fortune’s Wheel will be released as part of a trio of books that make up the reintroduction of the Planescape setting into Dungeons & Dragons.
Initially revealed last year, the new Planescape D&D books will provide players with an overview of how the concept functions, as well as locations for players to explore, what and who they’ll find there and an entire adventure to experience. When discussing the new books, Wes Schneider, a senior designer for Dungeons & Dragons, explained that now was the best time to bring back Planescape thanks to the increased interest in multiverses.
“Thirty years later [after the Planescape campaign setting book was originally released] movies like Everything, Everywhere, All at Once are winning Oscars. There’s a whole multiverse saga for Marvel. As a culture, our imagination has expanded into these spaces, making it a fantastic time to bring Planescape back for a new audience,” said Scheider.
Planescape: Sigil and the Outlands is a sourcebook that will give players and DM’s an overview of the different planes, but will mainly focus on the strange city and how it connects to outer planes like The Abyss, The Nine Hells and Mechanica. Players will be able to visit the various 16 gate towns built around each of the planar gates leading in and out of Sigil, with each town featuring its own strange environmental elements and denizens.
The new adventure book, Turn of Fortune’s Wheel, will revolve around the various factions operating within Sigil – each of which have a different way of looking at Planescape and how it should function. Players will reportedly encounter the Mercy Killers – a faction who hunts down and imprisons lawbreakers – as well as an entirely new faction called the Hands of Havoc, who believe in pulling down the old and building something new. During the D&D adventure, players will be able to join Sigil’s factions, thereby having to navigate between the different factions and their objectives.
The adventure will take players up to level 17 across three different parts, with the whole thing being driven by a multi-planar glitch that – in a similar way as The Nameless One in Planescape: Torment – means that players can’t die, only return as a different incarnation of themselves. The glitch will enable players to come back as different versions of themselves, including entirely different classes, until there are eventually three key versions that players can shift between. As the adventure progresses, players will be able to unify the three separate versions of themselves into one.
However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be stakes to dying, as the adventure will provide DM’s and players with guidance as to how to up the ante as they explore through the different gate towns. Additional danger can be provided via Morte’s Planar Parade, a new monster manual that offers an overview of the various monsters and creatures players can encounter during their travels through Planescape. Each plane can offer a unique flavour of an existing monster, depending on the plane itself, with other unusual creatures – such as a Time Dragon whose breath can age you – out there, ready to be encountered.
Planescape: Sigil and the Outlands, Turn of Fortune’s Wheel and Morte’s Planar Parade will all be released on October 17th, with alternative cover art versions of the books and a DM screen available.