On Hallowed Ground was one of the Planescape books I picked up when it was released (I bought about a third of the stuff as it was coming out). I get the feeling it isn’t well-regarded and is sort of seen as a not very necessary Legends & Lore expansion. I get that! But I actually really love this book.

The weirdest thing about Planescape is that you are often adventuring in other people’s afterlives. That’s really weird! And hard to get your head around. Gods are just hanging out here, doing their thing, providing paradise or punishment for their deceased worshipers (it comes down to what they, not the god, think they deserve most of the time). Like arcane magic, divine power refracts strangely through the planes, too, making life for cleric characters a bit dicier. On Hallowed Ground…doesn’t exactly sort out these topics. In fact, I am pretty sure some stuff in here directly contradicts other stuff in here and elsewhere. But that’s the way of divinity, right? At any rate, no firm answers, but lots of possibilities — Hallowed Ground gives you a good handle on how to deal with divine power (and divine realms) in Planescape without getting bogged down in worrying about it all making sense. They’re gods! Go nuts!

Weird art in this one. Not bad, but not super aligned with the overall Planescape aesthetic. I really like Adam Rex’s stuff here, tho.