Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Innistrad, Ravnica, and D&D

Ravnica is Magic's most popular plane, and so it makes perfect sense that if they wanted to do a D&D/MtG crossover, they'd set it there.

I have heard grumblings about the fact that it got a full print book while Eberron, an established and original-to-D&D setting got a mere PDF. Magic is a more popular and lucrative game than D&D for Wizards of the Coast, and there was a sense that this felt like a sell-out move to try to drag Magic players into D&D.

But as someone who played Magic first, I've got to say that Ravnica is so rich with potential, and Magic as a game is not nearly as effective a means of storytelling than D&D is, so I've been overjoyed at the prospect of playing a campaign in that world (most likely would DM, but if I play a game set there I'm thinking a Dimir Half Elf Shadow Sorcerer embedded in the Izzet League so I get their cool toys - my backstory shoehorns in Lim-Dûl from Ice Age because I am supes Old School.)

Anyway, I sadly missed both Innistrad and Shadows Over Innistrad blocks (at some point I need to seriously think about putting Boot Camp together or some PC emulator so I can either get my MTGO account back online or try out Arena,) but I followed them (at least the former) when they were coming out and I've got to say I really love the world.

I doubt we're going to see any other major MTG/D&D crossovers - I'd be happy to get a Ravnica-set adventure, but I think people are going to revolt if we don't get some D&D-original stuff soon - but I've been thinking that if I were going to do another Magic-set campaign, Innistrad would be a good option.

Granted, Ravenloft tends to handle the Gothic Horror aspects of D&D, but Ravenloft isn't really a functional world as much as it is a kind of nightmare realm within the (or maybe connected to?) the Shadowfell. Innistrad, terror-plane that it is, is still kind of a functional world with a full history and potential for change.

If you're not familiar, Innistrad is a world in which humanity is at the bottom of the food chain. There aren't really any other standard fantasy races - no elves, dwarves, or goblins. The only non-human aid that the humans have are angels.

The irony is that the primary angel, Avacyn, who is the object of worship amongst humanity, was actually created by a vampire planeswalker named Sorin Markov. Markov worried that the world would collapse if humanity were killed off by the many monstrous threats that plagued Innistrad, and created Avacyn to be their champion.

But prior to the first Innistrad block, Avacyn was forced to seal herself away in order to banish Innistrad's demons to the Helvault, made from a shard of the world's moon.

In Magic terms, there were basically five two-color tribes using allied colors. White and Green were humans, Green and Red were Werewolves, Red and Black were Vampires, Black and Blue were "Skabs," in other words Frankenstein-style zombies, and Blue and White were Spirits.

The idea was basically that each of the non-human tribes preyed on the humans (though some spirits were benevolent.)

Now, there is a Plane Shift supplement for Innistrad. And it's a very good place to start if you want to run a game there. The supplement actually gives you instructions for how to transform the Curse of Strahd adventure book into one set in Innistrad, which is quite awesome. There are also notes on using the plot of the second Innistrad block, Shadows over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon, which pulled a Bloodborne (and came out around the same time) by starting with Gothic Horror and then going 100% Lovecraft.

But if we're talking vanilla Innistrad here, I do think there's an interesting option to explore:

The supplement makes the assumption that the players are all humans. But what if they're the monsters?

Certainly some tribes would be easier to convert to playable races than others. I think Werewolves and Vampires could be made essentially playable races without too much trouble - indeed both Zendikar and Ixalan Plane Shift articles have stats for Vampires (though I think the Ixalan is more broadly applicable - and one I'd include in my Ravnica game.) Spirits and Skabs might be a little tougher, but not unthinkable (human necromancers controlling Skabs could also work for that tribe.)

You'd also have to figure out what exactly you're trying to do in the campaign. Is it just an attempt to kill humans? You could run it as an evil campaign. It might also be interesting if you're trying to follow Sorin Markov's example and keep the balance. Indeed, if you did want to bring Emrakul's Lovecraftian corruption to the world, it'd be a nice time for the monsters of Innistrad to stand up and defend their world.

Ravenloft is a setting that is built very well for shorter campaigns, so I'd use the persistence and breadth of Innistrad as an excuse to delve deeper and have a longer-developing plot.

That being said, you could just as easily have a very quick adventure in which you're just in the middle of Thraben when a zombie horde attacks, and you need to get out of town or find shelter until the dawn.

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