Playing Planescape

FYI, here are details about how I'm using the official Planescape setting.

Planescape was a 2nd Edition (2E) product line, and many of the rules don't neatly translate to 5th Edition (5E). We'll adapt as we go. However, the lore is largely playable as written.

Products

I'm using the following products:

• Planescape Core Set
• In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil
• The Planewalker's Handbook
• Tome of Magic
• Novels
  • Fire and Dust
  • Pages of Pain
  • Blood Wars Trilogy: Blood Hostages, Abyssal Warriors, Planar Powers

I have the following in my toolbox, to read and integrate over time:

• On Hallowed Ground
• Planes of Chaos
• Planes of Conflict
• Planes of Law
• Planescape: Torment (video game)

The Planewalker's Handbook

You don't need to buy any Planescape products to play in my campaign. However, if you're interested, I highly recommend The Planewalker's Handbook. The DM's Guild sells the PDF for $20 (as of Jul-9-2017, it was on sale for $9.99): http://www.dmsguild.com/product/17280/The-Planewalkers-Handbook-2e?it=1

Fiddly Bits

Planescape has lots of esoteric rules to lend flavor and challenge to different planes. Most conspiculously, there fiddly bits about how different planes affect spellcasters. For example, on each plane certain arcane spells are categorized as Null, Diminished, Enhanced, Alterations. On the divine side, a cleric or similar caster gets weaker as they move farther from their deity's home plane.

We'll deal with these fiddly bits when we get to them. It's not necessary to study them in advance.

About the Fiction

If you're interested in reading some Planescape fiction, I recommend Fire and Dust. It's a breezy crash-course in the basic lore. It's free online in several places (including http://www.planewalker.com/wings/archive/fireview.pdf). (I saved it as a PDF and read it on my tablet.)

There's one hiccup with Fire and Dust: in 2E, psionics were distinct from magic, and that's a major plot point. I don't like that distinction. In 5E, the playtest document for the Mystic class states: "Psionics is a special form of magic use, distinct from spellcasting."

Pages of Pain is an uneven curiosity with minimal usefulness to a player.

As of Jul-23-2017, I'm almost through the Blood Wars Trilogy. I'm finding some inspiration as a DM, but I expect to conclude that the trilogy has limited usefulness to a player.