Tales from the Infinite Staircase (1998) is a fantastic anthology of connected Planescape adventures that, novelty, can be played in any order. Cook delivers his usual selection of unexpected locales and personages. Most of all, he proves himself to be the designer with the best understanding of what a Planescape adventure can and should be – brute force is often folly here, problems have multiple (often unusual) solutions and there is plenty of space for the DM to improvise. He was on track with Dead Gods, but Infinite Staircase just nails all my check boxes.

Well, except one. The villain (if you can call it that) is pretty underwhelming. Its the Iron Shadow, a force that falls on places and drains them of their creativity. Its an interesting concept, but when your last book has Orcus as the big bad, its…well…a bit dull. Thankfully the locales make up for it, particularly the bonkers Githyanki city, the formorian hive and the titular staircase itself.

Randy Post is back for one of my favorite Planescape covers. You have to appreciate all that ornate detail. Interior art is by Hannibal King, who has a lovely, expressive comic book style that completely doesn’t work for me as Planescape art. Your mileage may vary.

(Also, Happy Thanksgiving, if that is your thing!)