Planes: Anything but Plain

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Having finished hacking away at the random encounter tables for the GameMastery Guide some time ago, I was recently set to work doing the same kind of thing for the Bestiary II. This time, however, instead of providing GMs with random encounters based on a plane's alignment, I got to make a separate table for each individual plane in the Great Beyond, Golarion's cosmos.

This is pretty exciting, because not only do these new tables utilize all the new monsters in the Bestiary II, but they also provide GMs with a plethora of inspiration, whether your PCs be traveling through the ever-shifting realm of the Maelstrom or ascending the soaring Great Spire in the Boneyard.

As if having stores of creatures to fill entire planes with isn't sweet enough, the GameMastery Guide includes an entire section dedicated to the planes, detailing the specific traits and characteristics of each plane, as well as the dangers that may await adventurers. As an example for what kind of cool details you can find in the GMG, below is art for Ymeri, the Queen of the Inferno.

Illustration by Christopher Burdett

At any rate, I've been staring at these books and their tables and creatures and stuff for weeks now, and I'm still excited about them; that means all y'all on the outside have no idea what kind of awesomeness you're in for.

Patrick Renie
Editorial Intern