I recommend the stuff over at www.planewalker.com They're doing a conversion of the old stuff to 3.5
If you want the 2ed stuff in .pdf form (which was mostly fluff anyway, and converts well for the most part) go to www.RPGNow.com and search planescape. The Planescape boxed set is the core book for that.
The guys here are doing some great monster conversions a couple threads down (you can't miss it).
Most of us probably still use the 2e Planescape books created by TSR in the 90's. I use them for the content. For 3e stats I use the 3e Manual of the Planes, 3.5 Planar Handbook, 3.5 monster conversions from this forum (and whatever monsters appear in official WotC monster manuals), and various NPC stats from planewalker.com. I use the 2e PS monster manuals just to show pictures to the players.
For campaign setting fluff, refer to the 2e box set Planescape Campaign setting. If you want more detail about planar sites, then pick up the other box sets & books: Planes of Law boxset, Planes of Conflict boxset, Planes of Chaos boxset, Guide to the Astral book, Guide to the Ethereal book, Inner Planes book. That would be more than enough to have knowledge to run a game on the planes.
The 3.x planar material done by WotC is questionable. Some stuff is useful, most of it isn't. Lots of it contradicts official 2e Planescape fluff. I had to tell my new players that they should forget whatever 3.x planar knowledge they have because it's Prime knowledge...it might be wrong. For example, one of my players once read in the 3e Manual of the Planes book that it doesn't rain in Sigil. I don't know why they wrote that because Sigil is known for it's dewy/rainy/drizzly climate. It might not rain hard, but there is lots of drizzle. I told him, "That's just what Primes think, Manual of the Planes was written by a Prime who doesn't know any better". I usually use 2e fluff first, 3e fluff second (if I find something good).
Another question, is the planar handbook a 3.5 reedition of the 3.0 manual of the plane? And what of those would worth the money for helping me building a campaign?
Another question, is the planar handbook a 3.5 reedition of the 3.0 manual of the plane? And what of those would worth the money for helping me building a campaign?
Naw, they are 2 different things. The Manual of the Planes is mostly for the DM to use to learn about each plane and planar related information. The Planar Handbook is mostly for players to use to help build their characters and give them a little more info on planar related information. Although players and DM's can use a bit of info from both books. They aren't really impressive books, but they are worth having if you run a planar game. I've used bits from each book in my game.
Another question, is the planar handbook a 3.5 reedition of the 3.0 manual of the plane? And what of those would worth the money for helping me building a campaign?
Get the manual of the planes. The Planar Handbook wasn't very good by my standards... it was mostly feats and PrC that didn't work well. A lot of problems with it, and very much not in the spirit of planescape. Get the Manual of the Planes for 3.0/3.5 planar stuff- it's pretty well done, and probably my favorite 3.x purchase I've made since I started playing a few years ago.
Also, svgames has 2e Planescape PDF's for about $5 each, if you don't mind printing a lot of pages or can stand to stare at a computer screen for long periods of time. I'd try to get the main boxed set, Uncaged: Faces of Sigil, and The Factol's Manifesto in physical form, if you're planning on doing much with Sigil. They do a really good job of getting the flavor of the city across.
As for the Planar Handbook, you can take it or leave it. I wouldn't recommend spending more than $15 on it.
Thx all for your answer, I will see what i can do with the 2e planescape boxset and the three 3.5 core rule book.
Those should keep you going for quite a while. And as said above, the $5 PDFs aren't too shabby, especially for the hard to find stuff like Hellbound (an aside: I searched high and low for that thing, finally caved in and bought the PDF, only to move a few miles to a new town in December and find it sitting used & abused on the used bookstore's shelf! What a find! The only thing missing is the comic.)
Have fun!
Zeb
Those should keep you going for quite a while. And as said above, the $5 PDFs aren't too shabby, especially for the hard to find stuff like Hellbound (an aside: I searched high and low for that thing, finally caved in and bought the PDF, only to move a few miles to a new town in December and find it sitting used & abused on the used bookstore's shelf! What a find! The only thing missing is the comic.)
Have fun!
Zeb
I'm happy to say I soooo loved Planescape when it first came out I bought every gaming accessory for it. Course now its in storage until I move in two months...
Manual of the Planes
Book of Vile Darkness
Book of Exalted Deeds
3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide
Planar Handbook
Dragon Magazines: #297 Planetouched Races; #287 The Planes.
I don't have either of those Dragon magazines, so I don't know any specifics.
Is that everything?
I doubt it.There's also the old Settings issue of Dragon as well. Not sure of number as I'm at work at the moment.
For what it's worth, someone at some point scanned in all of the Planescape relevant Dragon articles and posted them online as a single file. I've seen it on at least two or three filesharing programs. While technically illegal, and I urge people to buy the actual backissues if available from the publisher, it is out there somewhere apparently.
Though the mind boggles at the work that went into that. I wish I had that level of motivation, but to use it for the powers of good. ;)
I don't have the Planar Handbook yet, but from my limited interactions with it, I'd say it's not very good for Planescape. I'm planning on picking it up to strip-mine it.
Planewalker.com does some good work.
Just in case you're interested, I've made a list of Planescape stuff I've found in 3.0 and 3.5.
Dragon Magazines: #287 The Planes.
Don't forget "Fractious Factions" in the same issue...six of the factions converted to prestige classes. I wrote it... You can find the 3E versions of the other factions at http://planehopping.tripod.com .
the www.planewalker.com link does'nt work..what happened?
Thanks,
Adam
Just cut and paste planewalker.com into the address bar of your browser. It works fine.
What happened is that links from the wizards boards often work very badly.
Just cut and paste planewalker.com into the address bar of your browser. It works fine.
ROCK! The links works. I have the 2nd Ed Planescape set (box and all) and some accessories..my players loved it back then til we went to Ravenloft (long story).
-Adam