Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
First Impressions – Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="flametitan" data-source="post: 7764495" data-attributes="member: 6822731"><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="flametitan, post: 7764495, member: 6822731"] 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? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
First Impressions – Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica
Top