OSR Commentary On The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of The Planes By Jeff Grubb and Back Again

 "...from Arcadia to Pandemonium, from the plane of elemental Fire to the Astral plane, vast new worlds of adventure are now open to players."

A vital source book for players and DMs of all levels of experience, the Manual of the Planes details the manifold worlds of the known planes of existence. This book describes the inhabitants, rulers, and environments of these worlds, as well as rules for movement, survival, combat, and spell use in these alien surroundings. A different style of AD&D adventures awaits!

The Manul of the Planes By Jeff Grubb remains one of my all time favorite of the orange spine Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books. The Manual of the Planes  follows in the footsteps of Roger E. Moore's Plane Dragon magazine articles. 
And the Manual exclusively follows; "The Great Wheel of Planes first appeared in The Dragon #8 (July 1977). It was refined in the Player's Handbook (1978) and Deities & Demigods (1980)." And then allows the adventurers to adventure onto the very planes where only high level adventurers once tread. 
The Manual of the Planes have everything from the effects of magic and planes, the effects on equipment, gravity, reality, and more all within the atmosphere of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition 
According to the Wiki entry on 'The Manual of the Planes' here we get a bit of everything; "The book also details how to survive in the planes, and how combat and magic differ under each plane's special conditions. The Ethereal Plane, The Inner Planes—including the Plane of Elemental Air, the Plane of Elemental Fire, the Plane of Elemental Earth, and the Plane of Elemental Water, the Para-Elemental Planes (Smoke, Magma, Ooze, and Ice), the Energy Planes (Positive

Energy and Negative Energy), and the Quasi-Elemental Planes (Lightning, Radiance, Minerals, Steam, Vacuum, Ash, Dust, and Salt)—and the Astral Plane. After these planes, the Outer Planes are briefly described, including Nirvana, Arcadia, Seven Heavens, Twin Paradises, Elysium, Happy Hunting Grounds, Olympus, Gladsheim, Limbo, Pandemonium, The Abyss, Tarterus, Hades, Gehenna, The Nine Hells, Acheron, and Concordant Opposition. Manual of the Planes explains how each of the outer planes is related to each of the character alignments. For example, "The Seven Heavens" is the final resting place for characters of Lawful Good alignment." 

Now it goes without saying that The Manual of the Planes could easily be moved into the field of the OSR especially for a retroclone such as OSRIC. That it wouldn't be hard to use 'The Manual of The Planes' with most of the major OSR retroclones. 
At the vary least 'The Manual of the Planes' is easily usable with "OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988). This is one of the pivotal old school Eighties planar adventure anthologies that brought the things talked about within The Manual of the Planes onto the table top! 

"OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988) brings everything that was used in the 'Manual of the Planes' home into the adventures putting the PC's into the middle of the action at every level of play. According to the Forgotten Realms wiki entry here's what we got: 

• How to Use Tales of the Outer Planes
• Prime: A Simple Deed, Well Rewarded
• Ethereal: Castle at the Edge of Time
• Air: The Brewing Storm
• Water: The Voyage of the Nereid
• Fire: Through the Fire
• Earth: The Missing Kristal
• Astral Into the Astral Plane
• Seven Heavens: An Element of Chaos
• Olympus: A Friendly Wager
• The Abyss: The Sea of Screams
• Nine Hells: To Hell and Back
• Lairs

We got a little bit of everything from the simple to the Abyss and back again in one very handy adventure anthology. Enough to keep a party of adventurers going for years! 
The Manual of the Planes & OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988) is perfect for use with another set of OSR rules and that's Castles & Crusades rpg. This is exactly the sort of gaming adventuring solution that Castles & Crusades were designed for. The DM wants to bring his or her adventurers onto the planes but wants a modern OSR style of play.