Close
Close
Advanced Search

Doors to the Unknown (2e)Click to magnify
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/17290-sample.pdf

Doors to the Unknown (2e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

Four doors of mystery appear in the Cage. They lead to four adventures, if a basher has the dark of them.

"These aren't doors in the traditional sense, cutter, but they're portals just the same. They appear for a short time every 500 years, popping up in different parts of Sigil. Each hides a mystery that's waiting to be solved, and together they just might hold the key to a secret of the multiverse. All a body's got to do is tumble to the right keys, open the doors, and face down the Unknown."

- Estavan, merchant lord

Doors to the Unknown is a collection of four Planescape adventures that can be played separately or as a mini-campaign. When four doors appear in the Cage, the barmies crawl out of the shadows, and the heroes get drawn into events that could have consequences for the entire multiverse. Each door leads to a different plane and a different deadly challenge for the player characters. Together they offer a way to stop an ancient menace before it strikes again.

The Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set is required to run these adventures. The Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (I and II) and Uncaged: Faces of Sigil are recommended to enhance play.

For 4 to 6 Players of 2nd to 10th levels

Product History

"Doors to the Unknown" (1996), by Bill Slavicsek, is a Planescape anthology adventure. It was published in November 1996.

Origins: Continuing the Planescape Line. Adventures were quite common in the Planescape line; this was the ninth. It followed most closely after "Well of Worlds" (1994), an anthology adventure book, but this new anthology had a twist: the adventures in "Doors to the Unknown" were (sort of) connected.

"Doors to the Unknown" is also a nice complement to the trilogy of Sigil sourcebooks, which had ended with "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" (1996) earlier in the year. Most Planescape adventures began in Sigil, but this one goes a step further, taking advantage of a unique feature of Sigil: its doors.

About the Book. Like "Something Wild" (1996), "Doors to the Unknown" features handouts and an adventure book in a folder, with small flaps on the folder containing cute clues for the players.

Adventure Tropes. All adventures begin in Sigil. That's true four times over in "Doors to the Unknown", as the eponymous doors open from Sigil to other realms. In addition, the adventures all start as episodic encounters, where players march through events in order, but end as keyed encounter locations, where players can freely wander through small locales.

More notably, Slavicsek suggests that "Well of Worlds" be laid out an episodic campaign, with other adventures occurring between at least the first three scenarios.

Exploring the Great Wheel. The encounters in "Doors to the Unknown" occur "off the beaten path" in places that are "impossible to reach through any other means". As such, they're pretty isolated and don't necessarily do a lot to define those places.

The first adventure occurs in Thuldanin (the second layer of Acheron), in a sealed cube, while the second adventure is set in Agathion (the fourth layer of Pandemonium, in an isolated cavern. The settings of the last two adventures are even more esoteric: one occurs in Logicus, a technical prime world, while the other occurs in hyper-reality, the fourth level of reality.

NPCs of Note. Doors to the Unknown is full of well-defined NPCs, but most make their own appearance here. There's even some suggestion that merchant lord Estavan will be important in later Planescape modules, but he never returns.

However, "Doors to the Unknown" has a few returneees of its own. Dead-god-returning Aoskar had been mentioned as far back as the Planescape Campaign Setting (1994) while fallen dabus Fell dates back to "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" (1996).

About the Creators. Slavicsek joined TSR full-time in 1993. Some of his early work was for the Planescape line, including "The Deva Spark" (1994) and "Harbinger House" (1995).

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (4)
Discussions (5)
Customer avatar
Gary M July 19, 2021 5:06 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I agree with Mike C below, there are 2 maps missing from the POD: the Thuldanin Junkyard in the First Door adventure and the Forgotten Vault map from the Second Door adventure. I managed to find the maps elsewhere, but it's a shame this product was incomplete!
Customer avatar
Nick S April 01, 2021 6:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
WARNING: DO NOT BUY
I have contacted both DMs Guild and WotC about quality problems with this product and they simply don't care.

Doors to the Unknown (2e): Cover has horizontal streaks like from a bad scanner, text is somehow both blurry and pixelated making it unreadable
Customer avatar
Mike C February 26, 2021 10:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I sent in a request to Drive Thru RPG, they sent me the missing images, and now Wizards of the Coast have updated the entire file. It is very much darker and so much easier to read, plus it has the missing items, and the full maps.

Excellent customer service response.
Customer avatar
Mike C February 17, 2021 10:21 am UTC
PURCHASER
Does anybody have a link to the Dabus pictogram messages? It's kind of a fairly significant element, although there are workarounds.
Customer avatar
Marios F April 13, 2018 3:56 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Does this file include the cover, maps, handouts, and Fell's dabuses? Judging by the pages alone, it seems as if it's only the adventure.
Reply
Customer avatar
Marios F April 13, 2018 10:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Nevermind, I just bought it to check it myself. Total waste of time, there's text missing, and the handouts with Fell's cryptic messages are not there.
Reply
Customer avatar
Ian H November 20, 2020 12:33 am UTC
PURCHASER
Check again. I just got it and it has everything that is needed.
Reply
Customer avatar
Ian H December 07, 2020 6:26 am UTC
PURCHASER
Whoops! Nope, nevermind. There are missing handouts.
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!
 Recent History















Product Information
Gold seller
Author(s)
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
71
Edition
1.0
Publisher Stock #
TSR 2626
File Size:
23.86 MB
Format
Scanned image Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
February 26, 2021
This title was added to our catalog on February 28, 2017.