Planescape setting and Torment

[Jules]

I'm just curious, are there any big divergences between the Planescape setting from TSR and PS: T? I know that there are some things about PS: T that diverge from the D&D 3.5 online d20 thingamajiggy. For example, undead, if they have minds at all, are always supposed to be evil which I don't think is the case with the Dead Nations (Hargrimm isn't very nice to you when he jails you, and Acaste is certainly evil, but Stale Mary seems nice enough). There are supposed to be a kind of "pseudo-undead" in the Eberron setting, called the Deathless, which can be good, who are raised by the elves of Aerenal, but the Deathless are supposed to be rather different in terms of the magic which keeps them alive than ordinary undead. Also, Tanar'ri are always supposed to be chaotic evil. No reformed Succubi in the 3.5 monster manual.

I don't have a copy of the Planescape Campaign Setting, or even the Manual of the Planes. I have looked around Planeswalker, the independent group TSR spun Planescape off to when they discontinued the setting.

This is not to attack Torment, by the way. I liked both the Dead Nations and Fall-from-Grace. I'm just curious about where the Planescape setting and Torment diverge from each other, if at all.

[Jules]

Apparently, in the Planescape campaign setting, there's a good Arcanaloth in Sigil named Akin, so Fall-from-Grace being good evidently isn't out of bounds.

[CFM]

I think Torment was inspired and based on the "AD&D 2nd Edition" version of the Planescape setting. I think the "3.5" version came after Torment was released.

Not that I'd know the differences between 3.5 and 2nd Edition... I've never read anything Planescape-related (outside of Torment and a few Ravenloft references), so I'm far from sure.

[Jules]

With 3 and 3.5 edition D&D, I think all campaign settings except Forgotten Realms and Eberron were, de facto, obsoleted. Planescape was spun off to an unofficial third party ([url]http://www.planewalker.com)[/url]. I think Akin and his like were all developed under the auspices of 2nd edition AD&D.

[cynsanity]

the Planescape setting from AD&D 2ndEd is exactly the same setting in which PS:T takes place; the setting is rather freaky, but a wonderful gaming experience - philosophical gaming for those who want more out of a rpg than just monster-bashing. unfortunately, with the advent of D&D 3/3.5/3.5.3.1.b/whatever, Planescape got ditched because not enough people were buying it.

if you google a little, you will surely come up with the AD&D 2nd product list - an immense heap of wonderful information. most of it is out of print, though... nonetheless, the guys over at planewalker.com make a good job of updating it, bringing new ideas in and adjusting the rules.

actually, when PS:T came out I was surprised that it captured the flavour of the original setting so good.