Riding on the coattails of the equivalent question on Spelljammer...
Is there anything happening on the Planescape front?
Both Wizards-related as well as independent updates are interesting.
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\$\begingroup\$ @Pureferret It does serve to direct visitors interested in using the Planescape setting in their games to a variety of resources that would help do exactly that (especially Bryant's "Planewalker forums" answer), so I'd say it's likely to remain useful. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeMay 29, 2012 at 4:16
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4 Answers
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There was no mention of Planescape in any of the Gencon WotC seminars. As you're probably aware, Sigil appeared in the Dungeon Masters Guide 2, and you could cobble together some useful material from the various planar books that WotC's put out over the last two years -- but not a lot of Planescape-specific support.
Since they did mention a Shadowfell-specific box set coming next year, I suspect they'd have said something if there was a Planescape book in the works. I'm going to keep hoping for 2012, cause it's an awesome setting.
The Planewalker forums are pretty active, though!
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For D&D 4e, there are three planescape-y sourcebooks:
This month, Heroes of the Elemental Chaos will be released, a supplement for elemental characters with an elemental chaos theme.
You could also group the Shadowfell, Heroes of Shadow and Heroes of the Feywild books in there, as the Shadowfell and Feywild planes are the 4E analogues to the Plane of Shadow and the Beastlands.
Then there's always Planewalker.
A very interesting new project is Dark Roads and Golden Hells over at Open Design (Note: I'm a patron).
I myself prefer the great wheel cosmology to the 4e one, and therefore use the material mainly as an extension and addition to the existing planescape stuff. Recreating planescape with only 4e material is probably a futile endeavour, but it's easy to get the best of both worlds.
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\$\begingroup\$ This was touched on in migo's post and the comments it generated, but while Fourth Edition includes planes, planar travel, and (apparently) Sigil, those are just exotic adventure locations. The Planescape campaign setting had all of that (in fact, it had a fair bit more of it, seeing how simplified the 4th edition cosmology and alignemnt systems are), but it treated it as a setting, with its own themes, rules, conventions, cultures and metanarratives. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeFeb 10, 2012 at 5:29
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\$\begingroup\$ That Dark Roads and Golden Hells does sound like it might be useful for running Planescape in 4th edition, however - and Planewalker is, of course, still alive. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeFeb 10, 2012 at 5:30
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1\$\begingroup\$ That is correct, but this does in no way mean that the 4E material is not useful for planar campaigns. I run a 4E planescape campaign myself, and while I use the cosmology from the original AD&D planescape, I often use the 4E sourcebooks during preparation. Many things are still the same, or are easily converted, and IMO the wealth of planar material for 4E should not be discarded just because standard 4E has varying assumptions. \$\endgroup\$– MalaFeb 10, 2012 at 15:11
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\$\begingroup\$ Ah! How did it not occur to me that 4th edition planar material could be viewed as an addition to the Planescape, rather than a more limited version of it? I must have been suffering from heatstroke when I wrote that. Thank you for pointing that out. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeFeb 14, 2012 at 6:47
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\$\begingroup\$ Oh, and perhaps you should add that to your answer, just in case there are other people wearing the same blinkers as me. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeFeb 14, 2012 at 6:48
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The only thing I could find on Planescape and fifth edition was the post 'The Many Worlds of D&D' by Mike Mearls:
"When it comes to the outer planes, we're treating Planescape as our default assumption. It's a much-beloved setting and one that's fairly easy (by design) to integrate into existing campaigns. That means the return of the Great Wheel, the Blood War, and other classic elements of the D&D cosmos. The same process for the inner planes applies to the outer planes, with our intent to add elements to the cosmos to increase storytelling opportunities and make the Wheel as flexible as possible for different settings and different DMs."
Indeed, the Player's Handbook contains a description of the Outer Planes, the Outlands, and Sigil that matches the Planescape setting (see 'Appendix C: The Planes of Existence'). However, the information presented there is very sparse and it would take a lot of imagination for a DM to base a campaign on that information. It is also presented as an option for higher level characters to travel to, not as a campaign setting in itself. The information presented there also shows some differences from the Planescape setting. For example, portals seem to be possible from any location and not just from Sigil, Feywild and Shadowfell are planes that don't exist in Planescape, and the Inner Planes are less inhospitable.
Furthermore, the Monster Manual seems to contain some specific Planescape monsters such as Modrons, Yugoloths and Slaadi. However, since I don't have any of the Planescape Monstrous Compendiums or previous Monster Manuals at hand, I am not sure how different these are from the Planescape ones and which of them have been added in 5e and which were already present in 3.5/4 edition.
I don't know if there is any material planned that actually takes place on the Outer Planes.
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\$\begingroup\$ You may want to revise the language: while the "Creating a Multiverse" chapter of the DMG does talk about the "default D&D cosmology", it simultaneously says that a no campaign starts with that default. So when you write things like "the Inner Planes differ", it's a bit more complicated than that. It's more like, all the ingredients for creating both the Planescape cosmology and the D&D 4e cosmology are in the buffet but you're given an empty plate. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 20, 2015 at 18:22
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\$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie I changed the formulation somewhat. I hope this is waht you meant. I skipped 4e so I can't judge which parts were already present in 4e and which are newly introduced in 5e. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 20, 2015 at 19:38
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1\$\begingroup\$ The edit isn't exactly what I meant, but the added stuff about it not being enough to base a campaign in without a lot of work, and that sparse material being obviously intended as only enough to make it a place for Prime PCs to visit, is even better suited to the question than the minor quibble I was thinking of, so never mind! :) \$\endgroup\$ Feb 20, 2015 at 19:41
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\$\begingroup\$ Well, this seems like the best and most current answer for now. Bounty'd. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeFeb 24, 2015 at 3:29
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\$\begingroup\$ @GMJoe Don't think I completely deserved that, but thanks. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 24, 2015 at 9:58
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Planescape won't exist as it was known. As a setting it was tightly tied to 2-axis alignment wheel of AD&D, with inner, outer, elemental and the like planes. The 4th Edition cosmology just isn't compatible with that.
There is support for planes but with the changes they might as well be the Internection of Legends of Anglerre.
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\$\begingroup\$ Wasn't Sigil written about in one of the 4e sourcebooks? \$\endgroup\$– JuddMar 17, 2011 at 2:45
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2\$\begingroup\$ It was, but Sigil wasn't the whole of Planescape. Planescape really was the great wheel cosmology fully fleshed out, and was intrinsically linked to the 9 alignments. 4e has done away with the alignments and the great wheel. As a general cosmology it's certainly more up to date with modern ideas, but it's not Planescape. \$\endgroup\$– migoMar 17, 2011 at 4:39