We didn't do a lot of plane hopping in my old AD&D campaigns. I do recall a few visits to the Nine Hells and the Abyss and I suspect the characters did so by means of the Astral Plane on at least one occasion, but, if so, these trips weren't particularly memorable. Ultimately, that's the main problem with "The Astral Plane" – even with all the clever rules modifications that Moore came up with, the place is still deadly dull. That's not Moore's fault, because he was trying to work within the parameters laid down by AD&D up till that point and those parameters paint a rather uninspiring picture. Sure, the Githyanki hang out on the Astral Plane, but, other than that, what else makes this place cool? Why would anyone want to go there for any length of time? "The Astral Plane" doesn't answer that question and nothing in the AD&D books at the time provided a better answer.
That said, I did like the fact that Moore postulates that other planes will operate according to different laws than those of the Prime Material. That's something I strong advocate and think is essential to the feeling of "We're not in Kansas anymore" other planes should evoke. I also think, as was true in Queen of the Demonweb Pits, that "The Astral Plane" goes overboard in the level of specificity about how character abilities, spells, and magic items operate differently, but that's a criticism of implementation not of concept. So, in retrospect, I still like this article a great deal, even if I wouldn't use it as written in any game I am running now. It's still a great idea mine and a useful foundation for an approach to handling weird otherworlds in your D&D campaign.
Why the hesitation in Gygax just calling this “official” and being done with it? Is anyone aware of the rules in this article changing much - if at all - come the release of Manual of the Planes? Is he just wary of calling someone else’s work official? Theoretically that’s why he was given the intro at all - to rubber stamp that what you were about to read had his approval. And yet he seemingly can’t fully let go of the reins.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression that Gygax had a lot of half-formed, 'in-progress' ideas about how he was going to expand and/or revise AD&D. Possibly, he wanted to keep his options open while also praising Moore's effort. IIRC, TSR didn't begin publishing significant rules expansions for AD&D until 1985, i.e. very shortly before Gary's ouster. So, in '82, Gary was still "the" authority on what constituted proper AD&D. Contrast that with plain D&D, which felt more like a group project. I think also there was the notion that Dragon articles were unofficial by default, so the Gygax endorsement was necessary in this case.
DeleteIn '82 I was still focused on the local dungeon. Many many years later, I learned all I needed to know about the Astral Plane from Dyson Logos Tower-Faced Demon https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/03/30/release-the-kraken-on-the-tower-faced-demon/
ReplyDeleteWhy go to the Astral Plane? The answer is that it's a transitive plane, so you're generally going there on the way to somewhere else. There can be exceptions (githyanki, matter islands, other oddities) but generally one just passes through it, and that's fine IMO.
ReplyDeleteRead through most of the article and it's pretty cool IMO. The Astral Plane based adventure seems kinda cool too. Might have to pinch that one for my Land of a Thousand Towers campaign.
ReplyDeleteHuh. This is an issue I didn't have "back in the day."
ReplyDeleteI think the planes remain a largely unexplored source for adventures (apologies to the PlaneScape fans). The only designer currently doing quality work on the subject seems to be Anthony Huso...I wonder how much of Moore's article factors into his adventures (he uses plenty of other stuff from old Dragon mags).
When creating Outer Planes adventures you have to compromise between the alien "other" and general gamer-ability and having fun. A lot of my completed #dungeon23 work for Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2E centered around creating a useable series of places and encounters for a Demonic Pit campaign, that reflected similarities to the base-level fantasy world, where drone armies of demons and other creatures work, fight and live in settings that are unearthly reskins of generic fantasy content: e.g. a tavern for Demons, a Demon gladiator pit, an entire Demon city, etc.
ReplyDeleteI found other planes fascinating.
ReplyDeletePlanar travel and related concepts (gates and the tools to make them more-accessible in play) are one of the main areas of focus for my current Greyhawk campaigns, so I was very pleased when Roger Moore’s long-awaited sequel article, “Gates in the World of Greyhawk, Part Two” appeared on GreyhawkOnline at https://greyhawkonline.com/gates-in-the-world-of-greyhawk-pt-2/ and in Visions of Greyhawk #3 at https://canonfire.greyparticle.com/visionsofgreyhawk/
ReplyDeleteMore planar options annd information is all to the good! :)
Allan.