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Tabletop role playing game supplement

The Manual of the Planes (abbreviated MoP) is a manual for the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. This text addresses the planar cosmology of the game universe. The original book (for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition) was published in 1987 by TSR, Inc. For 2nd Edition, concern over inclusion of angels and demons led TSR to forgo the release, though they compensated years later with the Planescape campaign setting. A third edition version of the Manual of the Planes was published in 2001 by Wizards of the Coast, while a new version for 4th Edition debuted in 2008.

The original Manual of the Planes was written by Jeff Grubb, with a cover by Jeff Easley and interior illustrations by Stephen Fabian with Easley, and was published by TSR in 1987 as a 128 page hardcover. Easley's cover featured an illustration of a creature named in the book as an "ethereal dreadnought", although the book had no description or game statistics for the creature. This creature was later identified in 2nd edition as an astral dreadnought. The book describes various planes of existence, and what creatures characters might encounter there, covering the astral and ethereal planes, the elemental planes, and the outer planes.

The third edition Manual of the Planes was designed by Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, and David Noonan. Cover art is by Arnie Swekel, with interior art by Matt Cavotta, Monte Moore, Wayne Reynolds, Darrell Riche, David Roach, and Arnie Swekel. After the typical introduction found in almost all guides of D&D 3rd. Edition, Manual of the Planes presents, in its first chapter, an overview of planes in general: what they are, what their nature is, and what is their function on gameplay. Info about how to shift between planes is also available in this chapter. The second chapter presents hints on how to design your own cosmology of planes, based on the D&D official cosmology known as "The Great Wheel". Generating a personalized cosmology involves several options—for example, consider how magic works if basic planes that feed magic (such as the Ethereal or Astral planes) are disposed of. The next chapters in the Manual are dedicated to detail the Great Wheel and the 27 planes that constitute it, including the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes. The book also gives game statistics for monsters of the planes, such as the ephemera of the Plane of Shadow.

The 3rd edition Manual of the Planes won the 2002 Ennie Award for "Best Rules Supplement". Scott Taylor of Black Gate listed the Manual of the Planes as #4 on the list of "Top 10 'Orange Spine' AD&D Hardcovers By Jeff Easley, saying "Ethereal Dreadnaught enough said. Well perhaps not truly 'enough', but you get the idea." Viktor Coble listed Manual of the Planes as #7 on CBR's 2021 "D&D: 10 Best Supplemental Handbooks" list, stating that "it expands the Dungeons and Dragons base world, making an entire universe complete with in game lore, methods of traversing these elements, and brand new mechanics to account for them."

The monster on the cover art for the original Manual of the Planes, the astral dreadnought, was the inspiration for the Cacodemon in the DOOM video game series.