Isolde-Delta and the Planes

18 August, 1979:

Gencon XII - I'd made the trip out to the holy land of Dungeon & Dragons, and had returned with a plethora of goodies. One of my first impressions of the new (at that time) Dungeon Master's Guide was the treatment that the various Known Planes of Existence were given on page 121.

I'm sure I'm in the minority that of all the things the DMG had to offer, that I'd choose a widely debated graphic as one of my favorites. In truth, Gods, Demigods & Heroes (of OD&D fame - 1976) was my first taste of what powers existed, and only when I bought Dieties and Demigods in 1980 did I fully comprehend the majesty that a full campaign could offer to both me and my players alike. Of course, the wonderful images of the various pantheons (some by fan favorite Jeff Dee) inspired me even more.

I wasn't completely happy with the Planes layout at the bottom of the image above, but I recently found an updated version that more closely captured my view of the wheel that both my calendar and planes follow. I decided to recreate it in Google Sketchup, add names of the various planes, add in alignments,a lovely astral background and drop in my own Isolde-Delta logo as a finishing touch.

Thus, the finished image:

Cheers,