Hello, and welcome to the 1st of a 
series of articles on bits and pieces and 
other neat things involving the care and 
feeding of the known planes of existence.  
The purpose of this series is to supplement 
the material that will be presented in the 
upcoming Manual of the Planes, the newest 
hardback for the AD&D game system.

Note what I said -- the material here is a 
supplement to the hardback.  It's not rough 
information in summarized form, a preview, 
nor any of that.  This is news you 
can use. 

The reason is simple.  In Manual of the 
Planes, we (editor Mike Breault and my 
self, aided and abetted by a number of 
friends and fellow gamers) are faced with 
about 40 infinite planes of existence, many 
with their own multiple layers or demi-planes.  
Certain things are not fully explained, being 
left to another forum to cover in detail. 

This series hopes to be that forum.  We'll 
talk about some <of> the nicer details and 
tricks of adventuring in the various planes 
where the physical laws do not conform to 
the standard campaign.  Monsters, such as 
the astral dreadnaught, the archons, and 
the quasi-elementals, more magic items 
that are usable in the planes, and the very 
business of being a world-shattering 
power like Odin or Zeus. 

We'll start with something simple and 
indicative of the problems faced when 
dealing with the planes in general: Players Handbook, 
page 50, the 5th-level clerical 
spell plane shift.  "The material component 
of this spell is a small, forked metal rod -- 
the exact size and metal type dictating to 
which plane of existence the spell will 
send the affected cretures(s) to. (Your 
referee will determine specifics regarding 
<the> bow and what planes are reached.)"  (The 
italics are mine.) OK, how many of you 
DMs have determined such a thing?  Let's 
see some hands.  Uh-huh.  Right.  A couple 
of devoted folk, but the majority have let it 
go by the wayside, either ignoring that 
the PCs don't head out for the planes. 

Let's take care of that right Now.  Using 
the proper fork is preferred at formal 
dinner parties, but it is an absolute requirement 
when traveling between the planes. 

Planar forks
Planar forks are devices used in plane-spanning 
spells to determine the final 
destination of people using those spells.  
Two factors determine the final destination 
using one of these forks: material and 
pitch.  Material is the substance of which 
the fork is made -- usually, but not always, 
metal.  Pitch is the note struck that guides 
the spell to a particular plane. 

The Ethereal Plane may be reached by a 
plane shift using a B-fork made of glass.  
The body is transformed into the ethereal 
state in making the transfer into the planed.  
The glass fork is broken in the use of the 
spell.  Those cast into the Ethereal Plane 
are placed deep into that plane, away from 
any curtains that lead to other planes.  

The Inner Planes may be reached by 
forks of different materials, all set to the
Pitch A and the notes adjacent to it. The
pitches and materials required are shown
in Tables 1-4.

A tuning fork set to the note B and made
of quartz crystal is used to reach the Astral
Plane. There is a 50% chance per use
that the quartz will crack and be unusable.
Planar travelers entering the Astral
Plane in this fashion are physically moved
deep into the plane, far from any color
pools.

A single fork of the correct material and
pitch will take the caster of the plane shift
(and other items) to the top-most layer of
any Outer Plane. The major chord will
take the traveler to the second layer (if)
any). the minor chord of that note will
take the traveler to the third layer (if any).
Other chords may take the traveler to
deeper layers, fail entirely, or take the
traveler to another area (see Experimenting,
below).

Reaching the Prime Material Plane requires
a steel C-fork. The spell will take
the travelers to the Prime Material Plane
to which the metal is native. If the metal
came from an alternative Prime Material
Plane, then the fork will take the traveler
to that plane. Such forks are normally
used by those interplanar travelers who
wish to return to their native plane.

The plane shift spell also notes that 
travelers using these forks may be returned 
to their starting plane.  They may 
only be so returned under the following 
circumstances: 

1. The individuals are still alive on the 
other plane. 

2. The individuals are still on that plane 
or planar layer (if they travel to another 
plane or planar layer they may not be 
returned); and, 

3. The same fork is used to return them.  
This means in all cases of the glass fork 
for the ethereal and 50% of the time with 
the crystal fork for the astral, the trip to 
the other plane is one-way.

Experimenting with forks
Many of the forks required to reach 
other planar layers are listed as "unknown." 
Chords do exist for  these layers, 
but they differ from Prime Material Plane 
to Prime Material Plane (that is, from 
game campaign to game campaign).  Further, 
they do not follow the standard rules for 
reaching the other layers.  Just because the 
1st three Hells use F-sharp and its major 
and minor chords in iron doesn't mean 
that the 4th layer of the Hells will need 
an iron fork or that it will be related to F-sharp 
in the least.  In part, this is because 
the natives of these lower planes take a 
dim view of interplanar trespassers, and 
they deliberately alter the required 
chords. 

If the travelers use the plane shift spell 
with different forks or other types of 
chords, the DM may either choose a result 
or may roll on Table 6 to send them 
whither he will.

The DM is not committed to these combinations
and is free to modify them to fit
his own campaign, For example, a DM not
wanting easy access to the Inner Planes
may change the notes to combinations of a
G as opposed to combinations of an A, and
not tell the players (until a few of them 
have stumbled into Lolth's lair by mistake).  
These rules are the general heading for 
helping the DM get players into the planes, 
and into further adventures -- and that's a 
plane fact. 

Table 1
Major Inner Planes

Fire	Copper A
Earth	Zinc A
Water	Lead A
Air	Tin A

Table 2
Para-Elemental Planes

Smoke	Bronze A
Magma	Brass A
Ooze	Zinc/lead mix A
Ice	Pewter A

Table 3
Quasi-Elemental Planes

Lightning	Tin A-sharp
Radiance	Copper A-sharp
Minerals	Zinc A-sharp
Steam	Lead A-sharp
Dust	Zinc A-flat
Vacuum	Tin A-flat
Ash	Copper A-flat
Salt	Lead A-flat

Table 4
Energy Planes

Positive Material Plane	None known
Negative Material Plane	None known

Table 5 
The Outer Planes

Nirvana	Silver C
Arcadia	Gold C-sharp
Layer 2	Gold C-sharp major
Layer 3	Gold C-sharp minor
Heaven	Gold D
Layer 2	Gold D major
Layer 3	Gold D minor
Other layers	Unknown
Paradise	Gold E-flat
Layer 2	Gold E-flat major
Elysium	Gold E
Layer 2	Gold E major
Layer 3	Gold E minor
Layer 4	Unknown
Happy Hunting Ground  (also known as the Beastlands)	Gold F
Layer 2	Gold F major
Layer 3	Gold F minor
Olympus/Arvandor	Gold F-sharp
Layer 2	Gold F-sharp major
Layer 3	Gold F-sharp minor
Limbo (1)	-
Layers 1-5	Nickel C
Pandemonium	Iron C-sharp
Layer 2	Iron C-sharp major
Layer 3	Iron C-sharp minor
Layer 4	Unknown
Abyss (2)	-
Layer 1	Iron D
Other layers	Unknown
Tarterus	Iron E-flat
Layer 2	Iron E-flat major
Layer 3	Iron E-flat minor
Other layers	Unknown
Hades	Iron E
Layer 2	Iron E major
Layer 3	Iron E minor
Gehenna	Iron F
Layer 2	Iron F major
Layer 3	Iron F minor
Layer 4	Unknown
Hell	Iron F-sharp
Layer 2	Iron F-sharp major
Layer 3	Iron F-sharp minor
Other layers	Unknown
Acheron	Iron G
Layer 2	Iron G major
Layer 3	Iron G minor
Layer 4	Unknown
Concordant Opposition	Platinum C

¹ Limbo's layers tend to overlap and ooze
between each other, so that precise determination
of the destination layer is random.

² The lower layers of the Abyss may be
reached by random chords (see Experimenting,
below).

Table 6
Random Planar Destinations

1d100	Destination
01	Transported to intended destination..
02-50	Nothing happens.
51-80	Transported to random layer of  the Abyss.
81-90	Transported to demi-plane of DM's choice.
91-00	Transported to Alternate Material Plane.