The Inner Planes

Rating:
Summary: At last!
Review: Five years after the original boxed set was released, at last the Inner Planes are now given the Planescape treatment. Of course, with 18 planes to cover, and only 128 pages (you do the maths!) some planes (usually the deadliest ones you'd be barmy to visit anyway :-) get short shrift, but the standard of locations is, as usual, excellent, and the chant first rate. If you're considering a jaunt to the Inner Planes, this book should be your first stop.

Rating:
Summary: The Inner Planes Manual falls short of its predecessors
Review: I was greatly disappointed in this installment of PLANESCAPE's setting expansions. While having more "personality" than the original Manual of the Planes, The Inner Planes fell back on the formulaic style of presentation found in MoT. The book struggled to express the uniqueness of each inner plane, but presented each in the same format. The "guest presenters" were a good idea, but lacked any depth. In some chapters, these "speakers" began in character, but ended sounding like the editor.The consistency of language was disturbing. PLANESCAPE is (in)famous for its Cant. I accept the fact, as explained in the book, that the Cant is not spoken everywhere. The problem was too many characters, characters from different planes and backgrounds, sounded exactly alike. That's not likely. The illustrations were weak compared to other products. They, as a whole, did not lend to the overall "feel" of the Inner Planes.I love PLANESCAPE because it has been able to convey the uniqueness of each location. I felt cheated with the Inner Planes. I have no greater concept nor appreciation of these planes having read the book. It is merely another Manual of the Planes without as much of the "technical feel".

Rating:
Summary: Material lacks planar mood, but intriguing phys conditions
Review: Monte Cook's "The Inner Planes" is all that it claims to be, that is, it contains detailed survival tips and descriptions of the planar environments, rules for getting about, and info. on interesting beings and sites. However, it seems that at least half the material is recycled from "Manual of the Planes," with the faction sites (i.e. Doomguard citadels) being a notable exception. All in all, I didn't care for many of the artists' (King and Rex) works within, found the book lacking the planar edge found in earlier books, but very complete in describing the environs of the Inner Planes. If you are imaginative enough to come up with some quick rules on your own, I do not reccommend this book. If you want a complete planar library or are a strict by-the-booker, then I highly reccommend "The Inner Planes."

Rating:
Summary: Handy, but not in-depth enough
Review: The Inner Planes is a good general guide for DMs looking for information on the Inner Planes, but it isn't very thorough. They should have made it more of a rule-book for DMs (such as the books in the box sets for the outer planes), but instead tried to write a 'creative' guide similar to the book 'The Fiends: Faces of Evil.' This technique doesn't work as well here. The so-called guest writers are not able to keep in character well because they have to keep mentioning game rules, and the game rules suffer because you have to read too much text to fish them out. On the other hand, if you don't have the old (and out-of-print) Manual of the Planes, this book is a valuable reference because it is the only to find specifics on the inner planes. It mentions a couple of sites for each plane, but doesn't go into much detail. Overall, the book could be better but is still a good Planescape reference.

Rating:
Summary: Handy, but not in-depth enough
Review: The Inner Planes is a good general guide for DMs looking for information on the Inner Planes, but it isn't very thorough. They should have made it more of a rule-book for DMs (such as the books in the box sets for the outer planes), but instead tried to write a 'creative' guide similar to the book 'The Fiends: Faces of Evil.' This technique doesn't work as well here. The so-called guest writers are not able to keep in character well because they have to keep mentioning game rules, and the game rules suffer because you have to read too much text to fish them out. On the other hand, if you don't have the old (and out-of-print) Manual of the Planes, this book is a valuable reference because it is the only to find specifics on the inner planes. It mentions a couple of sites for each plane, but doesn't go into much detail. Overall, the book could be better but is still a good Planescape reference.