Ravnica: Is This The New D&D Setting? [UPDATED & CONFIRMED!]

If so... meh?

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Ha!

 

[SMHWorlds]

I am definitely okay with it. An entirely new setting could be a breath of fresh air for a pretty stale fandom.

 

[neogod22]

I'm here for the pictures, and to see what changes were made. Lol

 

[kenmarable]

So as someone who has zero background in M:tG, but is really excited about this - are there any good sources to get some background on Ravnica (other than just digging through pages of Google results)?

I see there is a novel trilogy and novella trilogy - those any good? I have no idea how much lore and setting information there is for part of a card game, but I'm excited to find out.
(Oh, and I don't mean that in a disparaging way. Like I said, I have no experience with M:tG, so I really have no idea how much setting information they put into things. Thanks!)

 

[Bupp]

I'm excited about this! I've been tinkering around on my blog with mixing D&D with M:TG.
https://jonbupp.wordpress.com/?s=plane+shifted

 

[Parmandur]

I think you're both wrong.

There was some implication of crossover, but aside from a few forum posters here, I never saw any reference to MTG in regards to the setting(s) being revealed.

The only reason we know about Ravnica is because an Amazon store jumped the gun and put a presale up on a physical product that will go on sale in 4 months. We don't know about any classic D&D settings yet because a.) there is no physical product or b.) its release will be in 2019 and thus way too early to put on Amazon. My wager is both.

We could end up with a playtest for Eberron until the book comes out in April of 2019. Or get some sort of web-series detailing different settings. Or a new Manual of the Planes, or a the oft-mentioned "Guide to the D&D Multiverse" style book next year. All of those things could be announced tomorrow and they wouldn't affect the Ravnica stuff this year.

All we know is a.) the Mythical 4th D&D book in 2018 is real and b.) its an MTG crossover setting. We also know Nathan Stewart has heavily implied one or more D&D settings that will satisfy the "hardcore D&D fanbase". This leads me to believe the other shoe will drop.

We WILL get an MTG setting as something new/fresh for D&D.

We WILL get at least one classic setting back in some form or another.

We will know the extent of both tomorrow.

Until then, I remain optimistic for Eberron and Ravnica (perhaps the artificer class can appear in both).

This seems about right. I'm wagering an Eberron and/or themed UA is likely, looking at a future book that would have the Artificer, Psion et al.

 

[Sunseeker]

Right. And they managed to do that without a dedicated product.

So what? Like, this comment means literally nothing. We managed to do a lot of things without a dedicated product. The fact that you don't like it isn't an argument that it shouldn't exist. I don't like a lot of well, pretty much every D&D setting ever.

Guess what? Don't like it: DON'T PLAY IT.

Yes, but you want to release products that appeal to both groups. Old players and new players. You can't just try and appeal solely to new players and trust your old audience will keep buying the books.

And this product appeals to new players, while the entire design of 5E is to appeal to older players.

(That was one of the weaknesses with 4e. They focused entirely on getting new people and just assumed the existing fans would keep buying.)

As an avid fan of 4E and someone who is well aware of the problems with earlier editions, you are about 2 sentences away from having me go full edition-war on your butt. So quit while you're ahead. Because if you're going to attack this new product via pass-aggressive edition warring, I am so​ going to report every post you make.

Jesus, with some of the comments in this thread you'd think WOTC had just killed someone's mother and pissed on the corpse.

 

[Turbo_Knuckles]

I think someone started noticing that there was duplicated effort going on: Ravenloft - Innistrad, Chult - Ixalan, Dominaria - Forgotten Realms. It’s time to put the wood behind one arrow. New Magic plane, new D&D campaign setting. It makes a lot of sense and lets D&D remain evergreen rather than mired in the past.

I know it will make many folks unhappy, but sometimes you have to let the past go in order to thrive in the future.

But it's not the future. It's cross-brand marketing. Ravnica is established MtG IP. It's 15 years old. The "future" would be a completely new campaign setting. I'm sure that would also upset a segment of D&D hobbyists, but it at least wouldn't be a ham-handed marketing push coming from Hasbro. Get ready for a Player's Guide to Cybertron, or, Rita's Dumpster Delve.

 

[Sunseeker]

So as someone who has zero background in M:tG, but is really excited about this - are there any good sources to get some background on Ravnica (other than just digging through pages of Google results)?

I see there is a novel trilogy and novella trilogy - those any good? I have no idea how much lore and setting information there is for part of a card game, but I'm excited to find out.
(Oh, and I don't mean that in a disparaging way. Like I said, I have no experience with M:tG, so I really have no idea how much setting information they put into things. Thanks!)

The books are okay. Kinda fun but campy fantasy novels. They give a good impression of the state of things in the initial setting.

I'd also suggest looking up the cards from the sets of: Ravnica, Guildpact & Dissension and Return to Ravnica & Gatecrash.
From the former, the cards add useful flavor to the setting, which will give you a fair impression of the guilds, how they operate and so forth.
For Return & Gatecrash, there are no books. So the story is entirely contained on the flavor text of the cards, as well as some supplemental things WotC put out online at the time. I'm not sure how easy those will be to find.

 

[MechaPilot]

Plus, what other people seem to already be forgetting about Dragon Heist is that it is four separate level 1-5 adventures, one for each season and with four different bosses at the end to deal with.

Where has that been said? It's not in the product info.

A fantastic treasure trove is yours for the taking in this adventure for the world's greatest roleplaying game.

Famed explorer Volothamp Geddarm needs you to complete a simple quest. Thus begins a mad romp through the wards of Waterdeep as you uncover a villainous plot involving some of the city’s most influential figures.

A grand urban caper awaits you. Pit your skill and bravado against villains the likes of which you’ve never faced before, and let the dragon hunt begin!