In the Abyss (1994) was Planescape’s second stand alone module (well, that is a bit of a lie, considering you need Planes of Chaos and the Monstrous Compendium, but you know how it goes). Considering how out there Planescape was attempting to be, this one is pretty by the numbers. It is a planar fetch quest, with players learning in Sigil that the Doomguard lost their flying ship of chaos in the Abyss and several parties are offering rewards for its retrieval. After the investigation phase, they head out to the Abyss for what amounts to a wilderness exploration followed by a dungeon crawl through the ship. That said, the ship is made out of spinal columns and powered by the brain of a vrock, so, like, not your typical dungeon.

No new DiTerlizzi art here, alas – it is all recycled from other books. There are some nice color plates, though. Ned Dameron’s planar lockpickers is a fave (and might also be a reprint from elsewhere) but Alan Pollack’s molydeus is the show-stealer. In the scenario, it attempts to conscript the players into the Blood War, which is a nice little potentially campaign derailing moment.

As with most of the line of scenarios, this one comes with a custom screen. I love a custom screen, but by the end of the line, it is kind of weird to have a pile of them that you’re never going to use again.