X Marks the Spot: What's This Magic: The Gathering D&D Adventure?

PAX Unplugged (a US convention) took place this weekend. These photos were taken by Robert Adducci. "A prison escape for an unlikely group of heroes turns into a race for an ancient relic sought by the Legion of Dusk. Can you brave the unknown and capture the treasure before the enemy does? This Dungeons & Dragons adventure is set on the plane of Ixalan from Magic: The Gathering. It uses 4th-level characters provided with the adventure."

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[Dannyalcatraz]

Off the top of my head, if I were working in the D&D framework, I’d:

1) Use a spell point system instead of slots.
1.1) Optionally, mimic the deck building rule by limiting casters to 4x day dating, unless other magic lets you break that rule.
2) Ditch current spell lists, re-sorting spells by color. “Gold” spell would show up on multiple lists.
3) Colors would have allies & opposites as defined by MtG.
4) Character classes would have spell lists sorted by color. Spells on their class list would cost half price, rounded down- 1/2 a point would cost zero, and be considered a cantrip. Spells of allied colors would cost full price. Opposed spell costs would double.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The lore from M:tG is too rich to be only in the card game, but the planewalkers weren't created to be played with d20 system stats.

A M:tG mana game mechanic in the d20 system should be something like the 3.5 incarnum.

 

[Hussar]

Actually, looking at what people were talking about with the different color mages, perhaps the Shadowcaster mechanics from the 3e Tome of Magic would work well. You could generalize, and only climb a short way up each color "tree" of effects, or you can specialize, at the cost of versatility.

Shouldn't be too hard to port those mechanics into 5e.

 

[darjr]

Robert posted that this might be available for free in some form later.

 

[Ratskinner]

Maybe we're all looking at it wrong. Mana colors don't replace spellcasting slots...they replace alignment, and extend into Spells, etc. So "Resistance to Red" or "Protection from Green" halves damage from such sources and possibly grants advantage on saves. You get colored Mana to describe a thing based on it's proficiency bonus. (So a starting PC gets to pick two colored mana.) Maybe change the +X/level modifiers on spells with something that keys off the caster's Mana symbols. Like " +10 feet radius per green in the caster's alignment".

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[robus]

I think trying to fit planeswalkers into the D&D class system is not going to work. These are creatures that are already 20th level+. Now it might be fun to do some origin stories for them whereby their characters go from 1-20 but only if the others in the group are Ok with one of the PCs being the “chosen one” and effectively having invincible plot armor...

To me though I think just having adventures within the planes would be fun enough without needing to bring planeswalkers into it. They’re effectively gods using the planes as their play spaces.

I think Zendikar, Innistrad and Ixalan look like fun settings (though the map for Ixalan is too toy-like for my tastes, the new planes seem to be shrinking in scale? Or perhaps they’re more like Demi-planes but then what’s at the edges of them? Endless water falls? Mists? A dome like in that movie whose name escapes me? )

 

[Sunseeker]

I think trying to fit planeswalkers into the D&D class system is not going to work. These are creatures that are already 20th level+. Now it might be fun to do some origin stories for them whereby their characters go from 1-20 but only if the others in the group are Ok with one of the PCs being the “chosen one” and effectively having invincible plot armor...

To me though I think just having adventures within the planes would be fun enough without needing to bring planeswalkers into it. They’re effectively gods using the planes as their play spaces.

I think Zendikar, Innistrad and Ixalan look like fun settings (though the map for Ixalan is too toy-like for my tastes, the new planes seem to be shrinking in scale? Or perhaps they’re more like Demi-planes but then what’s at the edges of them? Endless water falls? Mists? A dome like in that movie whose name escapes me? )

I would disagree that the neo-walkers are 20th level characters. They're certainly not first level characters, but 20th? I think most of them would fall into 5th through 10th, if we were to take their original cards as examples of their power levels. They're not at all equal in level either.

But this is the ever-present problem with trying to convert literary characters to dice-based games.

I don't think players should be playing as Ionics, but as newly-ignited planeswalkers? I think D&D rules can handle that just fine within the 20th level framework.

 

[cbwjm]

The current planeswalkers are definitely with the 1-20 range somewhere. The old planeswalkers really were treated like the gods, or immortals of the setting although even they lost much of their power which is what the various arcs seem to revolve around, the planeswalker Nicol Bolas is trying to restore that former power which effectively made him a god.

The signature of champions.

 

[cbwjm]

Oh, I also do t think it would be required for any of the players to be planeswalkers, there are enough artifacts lying around that can get people to another plane if you want the plane hopping experience. Perhaps the players could get their own planeshifting ship like the Weatherlight.

The signature of champions.

 

[robus]

I would disagree that the neo-walkers are 20th level characters. They're certainly not first level characters, but 20th? I think most of them would fall into 5th through 10th, if we were to take their original cards as examples of their power levels. They're not at all equal in level either.

But this is the ever-present problem with trying to convert literary characters to dice-based games.

I don't think players should be playing as Ionics, but as newly-ignited planeswalkers? I think D&D rules can handle that just fine within the 20th level framework.

Huh - well I'm certainly no M:tG expert so I'll defer to your superior knowledge. The impression I got was that they are super powerful!