First Impressions – Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica

A segment of the Dungeons & Dragons' fan base have been clamoring for setting releases and while Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica won't appease those who want a 5^th Edition update of an older setting like Greyhawk, Planescape or Spelljammer, it is a fresh setting that Wizards of the Coast clearly hopes will bring the Magic the Gathering crowd to D&D.

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So what's my first impression of Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica? Fresh and familiar at the same time. Now don't take that as an insult MtG players. This is a first impression article. A more nuanced review will follow after I have read the entire book. This is based on an overall skim of the book and reading of selected passages.

For any veteran D&D player, Ravnica is new but has enough overlap with classic D&D that it won't be a shock to the system. For example, races include humans, elves, goblins, minotaurs and centaurs along with new-to-D&D races Vedalken and Simic Hybrid. Charts break down which classes work best with the 10 guilds, though you can be guildless.

Ravnica is a fantasy world with the magical technology flavor of Eberron. That's not to say it's derivitive of Eberron. Both settings offer modern conveniences through magic but get there and express them in different ways.

The introduction and first three chapters focus, understandably, on Ravnica as a setting and how to create a character and it gives you a lot of meat with which to work. Chapter 4 is about creating adventures, with some broad adventure ideas at the start of the chapter and then each guild section has more adventure hooks, specific to that group. I like the “Cross Purposes” charts and “Complications” for ways to make a villain affect the players without doing a blanket “you have to stop X” approach. It feels more organic. Having done similar things in my own home games for D&D and other RPGs, it can work really well.

Guild intrigue is, of course, a part of the adventure seeds. With 10 guilds and Ravnica's backstory, including the broken Guildpact and how things function now that it's been restored, intrigue really should be a key story driver in Ravnica adventures.

One odd note for those who might buy Ravnica on D&D Beyond is that you really want to tap the “View Welcome” button on the upper right instead of diving directly into chapter 1 and the rest of the leftside sidebar links. “View Welcome” actually takes you to the book's Introduction, which has a LOT of useful, downright essential, material for anyone new to Ravnica and even MtG players wanted to learn how the popular setting has been adapted to D&D. It covers everything from the history of Ravnica, both in-game and as part of MtG, to its currency and calendar.

Obviously readers of the physical book will naturally go to this essential chapter and all of the D&D Beyond editions of the hardcover books have the “View Welcome” button that separates the introduction from the chapters, but it's an odd layout issue. I handed my tablet to a friend who has played both MtG and D&D for years but never used D&D Beyond, and he was confused by the lack of introduction until I pointed out the “View Welcome” button.

I like the precinct by precinct breakdown in Chapter 3. The people and rumors tables in each section are a nice way of adding flavor, misdirects and possible adventure hooks as your players wander the city of Ravnica.

The art is very good and provides the context for this new (to D&D) world. It as much as anything helps to set a different tone than Forgotten Realms' adventures.

Really, I'm going to pay Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica the highest compliment I can in a first impressions article – that I can't wait to dive in and read the entire book.

This article was contributed by Beth Rimmels (brimmels) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!!

 

[Greatwyrm]

I quit playing MtG well before Ravnica, so this is basically new to me. Overall, I like the book, but I was also expecting more info on the world at large. I'm assuming I'll be able to piece that together from internet sources, so it's not the end of the world.

 

[pming]

HIya!

The world colloquially known as "Nerath" was never fleshed out more the Nentir Vale in any great detail. The first of the Known World Gazetteers only covered Karameikos. The current Wayfarer's Guide to Eberron really only gives any detail about Sharn, while every other area gets between a paragraph to a page of info tops. While some setting books take a macro-cosmic view of everything, some, like these ad GGtR, prefer a micro-cosmic view; a single ward and the major players in it vs the whole world/plane.

Sometimes, its worth detailing one small part fuller than giving a shallow overview of a millions things.

I totally get that. In fact, we started a BECMI/DarkDungeons campaign a couple weeks ago. In fact, my Karameikos gaz is sitting right next to me as I type this...as are all the other Gaz's in a nice, impressive pile of BECMI goodness! I gave it another quick-read over the first week of play to refamiliarize myself with it (turns out, I didn't need much of a refresher). The info presented about 'the world' is from the perspective of a Karameikan, generally speaking, with info on dress, religions, names of the days/months, etc. This is a GREAT way to do a "campaign world" (which, I agree, doesn't HAVE to cover the whole planet...GH doesn't, FR doesn't, Mystara Gaz's don't).

However... I don't get the feeling that WotC are going to put out another dozen "Guildmaster Guide's to..." books that detail another district (country?) of Nerath. I mean, if they are, great. That would be a good idea, imnsho, and would give DM's and Players a LOT more info about how each 'section' of the world-city fits into the others. But I don't see that. I don't hear that coming from the marketing folks at WotC. As far as I know, this is a "one and done" sort of affair. Oh sure, they may, if it sells well, put out a "Billyjoebob's Cornacopia" (like a Xanathars, or Volo's), but I *really* don't see them taking the BECMI Gazetteer approachc to it. And thus...I find it...lacking.

Glad it's great for people interested in the MtG setting and all that, but so far it's not really grabbing me. So far it looks like yet another swing and a miss for WotC to get any of my $$$. They're batting zero since the PHB/MM/DMG so far.

^_^

Paul L. MIng

 

[Parmandur]

First impressions:

Lots of monsters, much wow.

Playable bipedal Elephants and Medium Centaurs.

Satis est.

 

[Rossbert]

The book does not do a great job detailing the way ownership of a district will affect the geography and set-up. You can extrapolate what a particular mix of ownership and transactions will lead to from the guild section, but it is not clear that the basically the whole place outside the tenth is a constantly shifting mess based on purchases, fights, land grabs and disasters.

 

[flametitan]

I have a PDF of the initial Planescape boxed set (from DM's Guild) on me to compare the old boxed sets to the new hardcover. In total, it seems to have roughly the same page count as Ravnica; perhaps even slightly smaller because the boxed set format adds redundant pages like multiple tables of content and covers.

It's kind of interesting how similar they can be at times, though. If we consider Planescape's "Portals" to be functionally similar to Ravnica's "Guilds," the two begin to share a lot of similar relevance in the books.They aren't identical on a 1:1 basis in terms of page count or what they add to players, but they are similar in how they dominate the narrative of their respective settings. Just as Ravnica spends a lot of time talking about how the guilds effectively control the world and that almost every plot spawns from one of them, Planescape spends a lot of time talking about portals and which ones connect where.

Heck, when it really gets down to it, they're both mostly just there for show. Unless you're particularly high level and renown, the guilds mostly just serve to add a bit of flavour to the NPCs you're working with or against. Does it really matter if the Giant Monster rampaging through town is Selesya, Simic, Izzet, or even unaffiliated? Not really; at best, it might change the kind of monster on rampage, and perhaps the way the PCs's employer wants it stopped. At the end of the day, though, it's still a giant monster rampaging through the city that needs to be stopped. Likewise, the portals in Planescape are just a transit system. You can make a plot about trying to chart a course from one plane to another, but that can be done with any sort of means of travel, whether by foot, sea, or sail. Portals are just there to make it cool and exotic.

The Planescape boxed set has the same problem of place names without description. You're not going to get much on the City of Brass by reading the box set's information on the Plane of Fire. Instead, locations are fleshed out on a per plane basis. Arguably, this is similar to how Ravnica fleshes out the world on a per guild basis.

Even Sigil and the 10th District can be considered to be built on the same fundamental: iterating upon the Thing of the setting. For Sigil, it iterates upon portals to create a city where Heaven and Hell are just across the street from each other, and angels and demons can share a drink. In the 10th District, the guilds are iterated upon to create a location where all of the guilds are headquartered, and an example of each guilds' ideal location can be found somewhere.

So it leaves me to wonder why I enjoy Planescape's boxed set so much more than Ravnica's hardcover, even though the things I criticized Ravnica for is just as much a problem in Planescape. It's something I need to mull over more.

Oh, a couple things unrelated to the rest of this post. First, a correction on my part: The guildmasters do have a personality beyond a name in the book; I just somehow missed that they were in the bestiary in the back. Secondly, just for fun: How awful must light pollution be in Ravnica, when the entire world is a city with near modern tech, and likely has near modern lighting? How would it look from space with that much lighting?

 

[Parmandur]

I have a PDF of the initial Planescape boxed set (from DM's Guild) on me to compare the old boxed sets to the new hardcover. In total, it seems to have roughly the same page count as Ravnica; perhaps even slightly smaller because the boxed set format adds redundant pages like multiple tables of content and covers.

It's kind of interesting how similar they can be at times, though. If we consider Planescape's "Portals" to be functionally similar to Ravnica's "Guilds," the two begin to share a lot of similar relevance in the books.They aren't identical on a 1:1 basis in terms of page count or what they add to players, but they are similar in how they dominate the narrative of their respective settings. Just as Ravnica spends a lot of time talking about how the guilds effectively control the world and that almost every plot spawns from one of them, Planescape spends a lot of time talking about portals and which ones connect where.

Heck, when it really gets down to it, they're both mostly just there for show. Unless you're particularly high level and renown, the guilds mostly just serve to add a bit of flavour to the NPCs you're working with or against. Does it really matter if the Giant Monster rampaging through town is Selesya, Simic, Izzet, or even unaffiliated? Not really; at best, it might change the kind of monster on rampage, and perhaps the way the PCs's employer wants it stopped. At the end of the day, though, it's still a giant monster rampaging through the city that needs to be stopped. Likewise, the portals in Planescape are just a transit system. You can make a plot about trying to chart a course from one plane to another, but that can be done with any sort of means of travel, whether by foot, sea, or sail. Portals are just there to make it cool and exotic.

The Planescape boxed set has the same problem of place names without description. You're not going to get much on the City of Brass by reading the box set's information on the Plane of Fire. Instead, locations are fleshed out on a per plane basis. Arguably, this is similar to how Ravnica fleshes out the world on a per guild basis.

Even Sigil and the 10th District can be considered to be built on the same fundamental: iterating upon the Thing of the setting. For Sigil, it iterates upon portals to create a city where Heaven and Hell are just across the street from each other, and angels and demons can share a drink. In the 10th District, the guilds are iterated upon to create a location where all of the guilds are headquartered, and an example of each guilds' ideal location can be found somewhere.

So it leaves me to wonder why I enjoy Planescape's boxed set so much more than Ravnica's hardcover, even though the things I criticized Ravnica for is just as much a problem in Planescape. It's something I need to mull over more.

Oh, a couple things unrelated to the rest of this post. First, a correction on my part: The guildmasters do have a personality beyond a name in the book; I just somehow missed that they were in the bestiary in the back. Secondly, just for fun: How awful must light pollution be in Ravnica, when the entire world is a city with near modern tech, and likely has near modern lighting? How would it look from space with that much lighting?

The Guilds as Backgrounds make a significant difference to low level PCs, particularly those with restricted spell lists like Rangers or Sorcerers.

My feeling was the space between the modern hardcover and the older box set was similar, or greater now than then.

 

[flametitan]

The Guilds as Backgrounds make a significant difference to low level PCs, particularly those with restricted spell lists like Rangers or Sorcerers.

I'm not talking in terms of Guilds as player options; I'm talking in terms of guilds as setting element. As a player option, sure, they expand the spellcasters a bit (to my reading, it doesn't help Sorcs and Rangers much. It adds to their class spells list, not their spells known. It's worded like how Warlock patrons grant expanded spell lists, rather than how XGE ranger subclasses add to the spells known list.)

As a setting element, they exist mostly to colour the affiliation of the PCs' employer(s) and enemies.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Some thoughts from what I saw in the video (95% or more of the book, serious he goes over almost everything).

I give the Races an A+, I even found the ideas on elves expression in Ravnica interesting.

Class get a C+, most subclass placements in guilds are obvious, but some big ones are missed. Orzhov should have had Way of Shadows Monk, and Hexblade & Celestial Warlocks and favoured Souls, as odd as this might sound Dimir should have Fey Warlocks, Conjurer wizards should have been common to all guilds, and more. What they did with Great Old Ones Pact was cool is responsible for the +.

The subclasses get a B, it would have been an A, but every guild should have gotten it's own.

The Beastiary is shocking disappointing, the most disappointing since I saw Tiamats stats.

The Good is Niv-Mizzet, Deathpact Angel, Firemane Angel, Battle Force Angel (should be CR 4 at most), Archon of the Triumivate, Conclave Dryad, Horncaller, Sire of Insanity, Master of Cruelity, Lavav, Zagana, Biomancer, Obzedat, Blood Drinker and Mind Drinker Vampires, Indenturered Spirits, Thrulls, Nightveil Spectre.

Disappointing: Aurelia and Rakdos, one thing I don't like about 5e is that epic, cosmic beings don't feel like epic cosmic beings stat wise, because they have little to know spellcaster or mechanics for shaping the universe. Aurelia has no spells at all, very little magic, and its only her helix and warlord like legendary action that keep her from being boring, and never use her along as a solo boss, she needs troops to lead to keep interesting, preferable other Angels. Aurelia is a glorified Battleforce Angel. Rakdos is only a little bit better. One interesting thing is they hint Rakdos might not be originally from Ravnica. Also Felidar shouldn't be over CR 2, they make a neat mount, but were more interesting in the Zendikar Planeshift article. Not that much better then a Celestial Sabretooth Cat mount from Find Steed and the winged version of Fedilar is that much better then a Pegasus.

Super disappointing: all the really cool creatures that should have been in this book, but aren't. Angels of Despair, Nephilim, Primordials, Blazing Archon, Indrik, Alms Beast, Avatar of the Sanguine Praector, Haazda, Pit Dragon, Hypersonic Dragon, Lord of the Void, Agrus Kos, Feather, Pivlic, Crackling Drake, Pontiff of Blight, Omniphibian, and more, alot more.

I give the Beastiary a C.

Btw guild membership is so powerful no one in their right mind would pick a none guild background, but the upside is guild membership is awesome. I wish all backgrounds got this kind of attention and benifits.

Exampe if your Character reaches the level of Pontiff in the Orzhov guild you will have a staff of mages, knights, priests, nobles (Syndics), Servitor & Winged thrulls, and Indentured Spirits, could have guild charm that can cast bestow curse, fear, and kind of an emergency death ward like ability, you can also have a Keyrune that can turn into a winged thrull, have an angel as your contact (or Giants, Vampires, and so on), guild signet that cam cast command up to 4 times a day, a wealthy life style, automatic friendiness from most people in your guild, guild spells, they will get you a lawyer if you need one, and pay for your funeral, get access to the Obzedat and possibly more.

I give the Guild section an A+, Guild membership functionally blurs the line between background and subclass.

Thanks for the review--very helpful. I want to get a little farther in Creature Collection before I pick up this or Mad Mage.

I am actually kind of surprised they haven't given us more leader-style legendary monsters where some of the monster's legendary actions boost the monster's minions. It seems like it would be a good gimmick for high level devils and angels (harkening back to 4e pit fiends and angels of command) or other monsters you would expect to have an entourage.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I have a PDF of the initial Planescape boxed set (from DM's Guild) on me to compare the old boxed sets to the new hardcover. In total, it seems to have roughly the same page count as Ravnica; perhaps even slightly smaller because the boxed set format adds redundant pages like multiple tables of content and covers.

It's kind of interesting how similar they can be at times, though. If we consider Planescape's "Portals" to be functionally similar to Ravnica's "Guilds," the two begin to share a lot of similar relevance in the books.They aren't identical on a 1:1 basis in terms of page count or what they add to players, but they are similar in how they dominate the narrative of their respective settings. Just as Ravnica spends a lot of time talking about how the guilds effectively control the world and that almost every plot spawns from one of them, Planescape spends a lot of time talking about portals and which ones connect where.

Heck, when it really gets down to it, they're both mostly just there for show. Unless you're particularly high level and renown, the guilds mostly just serve to add a bit of flavour to the NPCs you're working with or against. Does it really matter if the Giant Monster rampaging through town is Selesya, Simic, Izzet, or even unaffiliated? Not really; at best, it might change the kind of monster on rampage, and perhaps the way the PCs's employer wants it stopped. At the end of the day, though, it's still a giant monster rampaging through the city that needs to be stopped. Likewise, the portals in Planescape are just a transit system. You can make a plot about trying to chart a course from one plane to another, but that can be done with any sort of means of travel, whether by foot, sea, or sail. Portals are just there to make it cool and exotic.

The Planescape boxed set has the same problem of place names without description. You're not going to get much on the City of Brass by reading the box set's information on the Plane of Fire. Instead, locations are fleshed out on a per plane basis. Arguably, this is similar to how Ravnica fleshes out the world on a per guild basis.

Even Sigil and the 10th District can be considered to be built on the same fundamental: iterating upon the Thing of the setting. For Sigil, it iterates upon portals to create a city where Heaven and Hell are just across the street from each other, and angels and demons can share a drink. In the 10th District, the guilds are iterated upon to create a location where all of the guilds are headquartered, and an example of each guilds' ideal location can be found somewhere.

So it leaves me to wonder why I enjoy Planescape's boxed set so much more than Ravnica's hardcover, even though the things I criticized Ravnica for is just as much a problem in Planescape. It's something I need to mull over more.

Oh, a couple things unrelated to the rest of this post. First, a correction on my part: The guildmasters do have a personality beyond a name in the book; I just somehow missed that they were in the bestiary in the back. Secondly, just for fun: How awful must light pollution be in Ravnica, when the entire world is a city with near modern tech, and likely has near modern lighting? How would it look from space with that much lighting?

It's interesting that I too very much saw the parallels to Sigil in this book, and while reading it thought that using the same format would be just about perfect for a 5e Sigil/Planescape book. The way they did the Guilds here could be easily adapted for the Planescape Factions, for example. Maybe if this book does well (and when I picked mine up Saturday at my FLGS, there were far fewer copies of it left than Dungeon of the Mad Mage, so from personal experience (for all that matters) it looks like it's doing well), we'll see a similar Sigil-centric book in the future.

 

[Parmandur]

It's interesting that I too very much saw the parallels to Sigil in this book, and while reading it thought that using the same format would be just about perfect for a 5e Sigil/Planescape book. The way they did the Guilds here could be easily adapted for the Planescape Factions, for example. Maybe if this book does well (and when I picked mine up Saturday at my FLGS, there were far fewer copies of it left than Dungeon of the Mad Mage, so from personal experience (for all that matters) it looks like it's doing well), we'll see a similar Sigil-centric book in the future.

Success begets success, so if this book does well I think it's likely we'll see similar setting books in this style.