Introduction to Planescape & Baator

The multiverse of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fundamentally changed from Gary Gygax’s perspective in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. Let’s learn about Baator where Takhisis the Queen of Darkness resides. Buy Planescape Campaign Setting (2e): https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17267/planescape-campaign-setting-2e?affiliate_id=50797  

https://youtu.be/L5mHU-dnYCk

Transcript

Cold Open

If you thought Takhisis was in the Abyss, you are among the clueless of Krynn.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Planescape and the plane of Baator, the Nine Hells. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set, and the Planes of Law supplement for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

Published in 1994, Planescape campaign setting by David ‘Zeb’ Cook was an extension of TSR’s attempt at expanding AD&D; 2e via annual boxed sets. This particular setting was inspired by Slade Henson wanting to revamp the Manual of the Planes from AD&D; for 2e. But it never really grew legs until the demise of Spelljammer. The game designers at TSR Inc. wanted to have players travel the planes. They wanted an actual setting, not just a way to pop into other worlds like Spelljammer offered. It needed a home base as it were. Hence Cook created Sigil, the city of Doors at the center of the multiverse. While I am not going into the whole of Planescape as a setting but rather the Dragonlance connections to it, I will be skipping past Sigil entirely and the vast majority of the planes of existence, focusing today on the plane of Baator, the Nine Hells.

According to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which Dragonlance came out of, the planes were also a central aligned place, based on Gary Gygax’s depiction in the Players Handbook, and Manual of the Planes. In the Age of Starbirth, the gods came from ‘Beyond’ out of chaos and Reorx created the world. Once the gods created Krynn and Dragons, they warred against Takhisis’ corruption of them in the All-Dragons War. In the fallout, after witnessing the chaos, the gods created The Dome of the Heavens, the Hidden Vale, and the Abyss, which they all retreated to. These names were presented when WotC took over the IP and created the 3rd edition of D&D.; So the abstract idea of Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness dwelling in the Abyss was only referenced in the novels, and DLA Dragonlance Adventures. This actually lines up perfectly with the original intent of Dragonlance, to be separate from the other Prime Material worlds, with Paladine or Bahamut and Takhisis or Tiamat being separate entities, rather than aspects or avatars of them. 

In Planescape, and lesser so with Spelljammer, the TSR Inc. team tried their best to unify the Great Cosmic Wheel and thus when they had to place Takhisis into the new multiverse, which was largely changed as aforementioned from the AD&D; version, they couldn’t place her in the Abyss. Why? I suspect because much of the great cosmic wheel is intentionally connected to alignments, which were an important facet of AD&D.; The Queen of Darkness was Lawful Evil, The Abyss was Chaotic Evil. And while Cook did his best to maintain elements of Jeff Grub’s Manual of the Planes,