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But there's always one cutter - that being the Dungeon Master (DM)  -
who's meant to be in the know, and what's in here is for him or her. So,
for those who need to know all the secrets of the multiverse, read on.
Undoubtedly, some readers are wondering at this point, "Just what is this PLANESCAPE(TM) thing and what does a DM do with it?" Fair question. As a first step to getting that answer, those wanting to know should read A Player's Guide to the Planes, which includes a thumbnail sketch of the worlds and characters in the PLANESCAPE setting. Before starting a game, that book should be read by the players, too, so they become familiar with the strange and wonderful possibilities of the planes.
This book contains the rules and background information the DM needs to start a working PLANESCAPE campaign. The planes themselves are described herein, one by one, but only in enough detail to give the DM a gist of each place. (The planes are so vast and intricate that they cannot be properly explored in a single product. Instead, upcoming campaign expansions will detail sets of related planes. For instance, TSR, Inc. will publish Planes of Chaos in late 1994. Other expansions will focus on the Lawful Planes, the Neutral Planes, the Elemental Planes, and the Demiplanes.) Details about magic alterations, priests and their gods, and traveling from plane to plane are also covered in this book.
Sigil and Beyond describes the dimensionally impossible city of Sigil and the Outlands, along with a couple quick-start adventures that use both locales. Sigil and the surrounding lands provide the DM with a base for a full-fledged campaign  - a place where bold adventurers can mingle with beings not like themselves and rest between forays into the bizarre reaches of the Outer Planes.
In addition to the books, the PLANESCAPE campaign setting box contains
four map sheets, a Monstrous Supplement, and a DM's screen. To fully use
the PLANESCAPE setting the DM needs a copy of the Outer Planes appendix
of the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM(R), which contains many of the creatures, both
fiendish and helpful, found throughout the planes. Note that a lot of
monsters will be mentioned just in passing in this book; complete
descriptions appear in the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM, in the Monstrous
Supplement included in this box, or in products to come, as needed. Those
DMs who are interested in the powers - the deities of the planes  - will
want to read Monster Mythology (2128) and Legends & Lore (2108). 'Course,
the DUNGEON MASTER Guide and the Player's Handbook are prerequisites to
any AD&D® game, berk.
The multiverse is a big place, and logically it has to be because hypothetically it encompasses every AD&D campaign world ever created, whether these are made by TSR or by any of the thousands of DMs who play AD&D games. This is all theoretical, of course, since no one has recorded all the campaigns created for the AD&D game, yet theoretically they're all out there somewhere.
With all that space, it would be easy for a DM to be overwhelmed by the infinite spaces and possibilities for a PLANESCAPE campaign. To keep this from happening, the DM should plan to restrict the scope of "known territory", gradually introducing new areas to the player characters as the campaign grows. In fact, this is similar to the process of creating a standard campaign on a prime-material world. There, most DMs start with a single castle, village, or town and a suitable adventure site nearby: a ruined keep, an abandoned temple, or a dark forest. As the campaign grows and the DM's ambitions increase, more and more territories are added to the setting until a world emerges. Now apply that basic approach to a PLANESCAPE campaign: Starting from a small base, the DM expands the campaign. However, instead of adding new kingdoms or wildernesses, the DM gives the player characters more planar gates and portals to choose from. Each opening leads to a particular place within a plane, already selected and defined by the DM. In this way, controlling the growth of a planar campaign is no different than keeping a group of player characters from wandering in undesired directions in a normal prime-material wilderness setting.
In a PLANESCAPE campaign, the city of Sigil and the surrounding terrain of the Outlands provide that needed campaign base. Of all the planar worlds and possibilities, these areas are given the most detail in this boxed set. As mentioned, other planes in which players will adventure later are described in less detail, but much more will be said about them in future products. In the meantime, there's enough adventure hooks and kips to explore in this box to walk a party of bashers from the 1st to the 3rd level of experience - and then some! Midand high-level cutters won't have time to give it the yawn, either, if the DM is a blood.
This campaign set assumes that DMs will be running a planar campaign, one where Sigil is the origin of the player characters  - their "home town", so to speak. This approach can be true even if the player characters are a mixture of prime and planar types, as primes are simply those characters who have found their way to Sigil and permanently set up shop there.
If desired, though, the DM can use the PLANESCAPE setting as a temporary adjunct to a prime-material campaign. Established characters can pass between Sigil and their prime-material campaign world by means of spells, magical items, and special portals. While this allows Sigil and the planes to be simply visited by characters from a regular campaign, in the end the PLANESCAPE setting will lose some of its unique character and mystery with this campaign style. Player characters will no doubt become distracted by other concerns in their tiny prime-material worlds, and they'll never fully explore the wonders of this strange new setting. On the other hand, some players are true "primes" at heart, and they may prefer only an occasional sojourn into the planes.
Another option is to fully integrate the PLANESCAPE setting into an ongoing campaign. A temporary or permanent portal between the old campaign world and Sigil could exist at the DM's whim. Established characters could pass through Sigil en route to the planes and new, planar characters could be created as players desire. Instead of viewing Sigil and the planes as separate worlds, they would become another part of the DM's expanded campaign world.
The best way to view the PLANESCAPE campaign is as one would view any prime-material AD&D campaign. It has a central base for player characters (Sigil), a relatively settled area around it (the Outlands), a frontier (the gate towns at the borders of the other planes), and a wilderness (the planes themselves). Scattered throughout are traditional adventuring opportunities dungeons, ruins, castles, fortresses - but the planes are filled with their own, special wonders of all sorts.
One thing the PLANESCAPE setting is not: It's not just a set of rules for getting from here to there. Indeed, traveling from plane to plane is ridiculously easy, once a body knows how. It's merely a matter of casting the right spell, having the right magical item, or (most frequently) stepping through the right door. Traveling to another plane doesn't require a journey taking days or weeks; it happens almost instantaneously. Time isn't lost in getting there, and special preparations aren't necessary to make the journey - only to survive the destination.
Pure fact is, the PLANESCAPE game is far from traditional. That dungeon
to be explored might be the skull of a dead god on the Astral Plane, and
the fortress of an efreeti prince could be a fiery volcano, to name just
two of the excellent and virtually limitless possibilities. The multiverse
of the planes can be ordinary, horrifying, enchanting, surreal, or
impossible. With the DM's imagination, there's literally no limit to what
can be done!
Good campaigns have a flavor and feel all their own, something that sets them apart from all the other campaigns out there. Krynn of the DRAGONLANCE(R) Saga has its epic struggle, the dark gloom of the RAVENLOFT(R) setting is rich with brooding horror, Elminster's FORGOTTEN REALMS(R) homeland has the vast sprawl of ancient empires, and Athas of the DARK SUN(R) world reeks of gritty survival. The PLANESCAPE setting has its own style and tone, too - something to capture the imaginations of players as they explore this strange world. It speaks to them with a certain voice and sets the tone for the worlds.
The PLANESCAPE setting is about ideas and philosophies, about "the meaning of the multiverse". It's not the dry, academic lectures of musty old professors, quoting things that don't much matter to the real world. A planar lives in a world where the meaning of the multiverse isn't just a question, it's a way of life. A planar doesn't just ask the question, he lives the answer. Take another look at some of the factions detailed in A Player's Guide to the Planes to get an idea of how it all plays out. This is a campaign where ideas are backed by actions and vice versa  - swords, fists, magic, and ideology as needed. Count on it: Planars are tough because living philosophy ain't for weaklings!
This campaign setting is a world where the living mingle with the dead. A body can see the final reward or punishment because he can tour the place where he'll be sent when he dies, and that knowledge affects his point of view. Planars know just what the rewards of mercy, goodness, terror, and treachery are. They're tough because they know what happens if they're weak.
The PLANESCAPE setting is a world where the abstract is real and potent. Priests don't just pray for spells from abstract gods, but from "real" powers that can possibly be seen or visited. Wizards inhale a multiverse of magic in a single breath, for they explore places that shouldn't  - couldn't - exist by normal laws. Warriors can seek absolute perfection of their skills on planes where all things achieve perfection. Rogues have the chance to acquire treasures beyond imagining, for all things that can't be imagined exist here. Planars are tough because they live in a world where raw power lies within their grasps.
The PLANESCAPE setting is cosmopolitan, too. Here is the place that fiends, devas, githyanki, and slaad all claim as home. The "normal" lot - humans and their ilk - aren't very often the rulers around here. They're just more participants in the great game. Planars scoff at the provincial attitudes of primes, who are often surprised to find tanar'ri generals or githzerai sages at the next table, minding their own business. A planar grows up with the idea that anyone and anything can become powerful and important. The consequences? Planars are tough because their enemies are tougher.
All of this breeds a cynical worldliness. Planars have seen it all and survived most of it. Planars don't expect much sympathy from others because everybody's got a hard row to hoe. Good folks'll band together and help each other, but crying over bad luck isn't likely to get a body anywhere.
When running a PLANESCAPE campaign, the DM should definitely keep tone
in mind. It's as important to a PLANESCAPE adventure as maps, monsters,
and treasure. Planars think, act, even sound different from primes, and
DMs should make those differences come to life in play. Remember that
planars believe in the philosophies of their factions. Let their actions
be motivated by those philosophies and carried out with a jaded laissez
faire to the actions of others. When roleplaying, give the planars a
distinctive voice. Get a feel for the jargon that permeates the books in
this box. Use the list of planar slang provided and create more (it's
called the Cant - see Sigil and Beyond). At first it might seem
unnatural, but the patois of the planes will quickly become quite natural
for enthusiastic DMs and their players.
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A DM Guide to the Planes