D&D 5E Survey: What should the next Magic the Gathering Campaign Setting be?

[gyor]

Option 1: The Shard of the Twelve Worlds wherein Dominaria formed a nexus with 12 other Planes that were locked off from the rest of the Multiverse. Perhaps Faerun is in a similar Shard to its Planes but locked off from the others.
That works particularly well as Feyworld and Shadowfells are echoes of the Material Plane (nexus) and in the same Shard.
Planeshift would only work to planes in the same Shard.

Option 2: The MTG planes are Demiplanes part of but locked out of the other Planes. So a Satyr does get shifted to the Feywild of Theros but thats a distinct demiplane in the vast Feywild. (Equally Innistrad and Ravenloft might both be Demiplanes in the Shadowfell and Innistrad also has its own Hell ‘echo’ thats distinct from the Abyss)

Option 3:Ravinica etc are Planes in the great Wheel, they are just more remote than the better known ones and as yet unexplored.

Option 4: Anything really

Option 5. All the MtG Planes are in a special crystal sphere which is filled with the blind eternities, and demiplanes are embedded in such as Ravnica, Theros, Zendikar, Amonket, Innistrad, Ikoria, Eldraine. They float around in the Blind Eterinites like the planes of Eberron do in it's sphere, but their is no central material world like Eberron, just an infinity of planes and the job of the Eldrazi is to make sure the crystal sphere doesn't get too full of planes as new ones are born, by eating the older and weaker planes.

Option 6. The Blind Eternities are a region of the Astral Plane that is more volitile then most and it produces crystal spheres. Even the Githyanki stay away from the Blind Eternities, only Eldrazi and Astral Dreadnaughts and similar creatures are crazy enough to explore the Blind Eternities and survive, well and those with a spark of the blind eternities inside them making them planeswalkers.

Material worlds linked to the Blind Eternities Astral Plane region, classified planes by the inhabitants of these worlds as they have every limited access to actual other planes like Aborea or the Abyss, although they have some access to Hell. They all have access to the Ethereal Plane, but they don't realize its a plane, they just wrongly think of it as being out of phase with the other stuff. There is also a Feywild, Shadowfell, and Elemental Border planes for them these worlds, usually although a few worlds might be created wrong by the Blind Eternities, so they are missing their natural mirror planes, or they are mutated, and they end up with extra ones compared to Crystal Spheres connected to regular spots in the Astral Plane.

Option 7 The Blind Eternities are actually apart of the Far Realms, hence why things like Eldrazi roam through it, but just as parts of the Far Realms taints the Material Plane and other planes, parts of the Material Plane and other planes taint the Far Realms, including the Far Realm known as the Blind Eternities, which causes it to create planes that resemble the material plane and other planes within itself. This is why the Eldrazi are destroying planes, they are actually as toxic to the Far Realms as stuff like Eldritch Horrors and Aboleths are to the regular planes, so ironically the Eldrazi are the good guys by the standards of the Far Realms blue orange morality.

Option 8 - D&D Ravnica and Theros are seperate from their MtG equivilants. Some Overgod like AO or another looked at a completely different multiverse, liked some of what they saw and decided to create an alternate, yet similar version in the D&D multiverse. Of course that would mean both the D&D multiverse and the MtG multiverse exist and while seperate, do have some kind of connection, being part of the same multimultiverse or Metaverse.

Option 9 - the Blind Eternities are a secret demiplane hidden within Realmspace, with Demiplanes within it, some of which like Theros have more demiplanes within themselves like those Russian Dolls that are inside of each other. This would make all the MtG planes apart of the Forgotten Realms. I expect this to be the least popular option.

Option 10 That WotC is going to have an IP shaking event that effects both D&D settings and MtG settings, that solves this and links them altogether. This really solves everything and could leave one of the other options as a result or something else. This is my prefered choice.

 

[gyor]

Vaguery allows for individual solutions at tables: beyond the suggestions in that old Ravnica video by Crawford, I wouldn't expect anything final and "canonical." Canon isn't the name of the game anymore.

That is a matter of option, it still matters to a lot of folks and setting fans. Creators that don't take it seriously split fan bases and alienate large parts of their market/fan bases and come of uncaring. I have seen this happen many times. I'm not a Star Wars fan at all, second least favourite Sci Fi setting for me, but even I have heard of the wrath of the self described "Fandom Menace".

 

[Remathilis]

How much is Innistrad like Ravenloft? Is it good Gothic?

Ravenloft is a bunch of Gothic Horror stereotypes living side-by-side in little isolated realms with limited interaction between them. Basically, not-Dracula rules in one kingdom, the next ones over are not-Frankenstein, not-Jeckyl -and-Hyde, and not-Vlad-the-Impaler. Each realm supports it's own tropes, and the main focus tends to be the ruler and his tragic backstory.

Innistrad is like Van Helsing; a genetic mash of Gothic monsters live out there to torment the living and humans have only the angels as allies. The card game version focuses on a the freeing of a powerful angel (and the demon she was guarding) and later an Eldritch creature coming and driving the inhabitants mad. It's a little more dark fantasy than Gothic Horror, with a side taste of Mythos.

Honestly, they both have their flaws and strengths. Both have the classic Universal/Hammer monsters, both have a "humanity is doomed" tone, and both have issues with metaplot/important NPCs hogging the spotlight. But Ravenloft works best for the Weekend Escaping From Hell scenario while Innistrad feels like a single setting rather than a patchwork quilt.

 

[robus]

Except without Planeswalkers and Eldrazi the history of these planes have huge gapping holes and don't make sense. Plus it would functional mean there are two seperate Ravnicas, two Theros', two Zendikars, two Amonkets, ect... an MtG one and a D&D one with seperate but wierdly similar histories. One with planeswalkers and Eldrazi and one without, with something taking it's place.

I hear you, but trying to reconcile these two would probably mean making both sides even more unhappy. WotC is realizing that they don’t need two independent worldbuilding teams. They can build a world and then have it available to play into two different game settings. The worlds serve the needs of the games rather than the other way round. They’re parallel universes. One where the Eldrazi threaten annihilation and the planeswalkers stand in their way, and one where they don’t. Seems pretty clean to me?

For example, I took the Theros setting for the finale of my campaign (before they announced the book) because I liked the idea of a plane that was more like ancient Greece. The Eldrazi and planeswalkers are nowhere to be found.

 

[Parmandur]

I heat you, but trying to reconcile these two would probably mean making both sides even more unhappy. WotC is realizing that they don’t need to independent worldbuilding teams. They can build a world and then have it available to play into two different game settings. The worlds serve the needs of the games rather than the other way round. They’re parallel universes. One where the Eldrazi threaten annihilation and the planeswalkers stand in their way, and one where they don’t. Seems pretty clean to me?

For example, I took the Theros setting for the finale of my campaign (before they announced the book) because I liked the idea of a plane that was more like ancient Greece. The Eldrazi and planeswalkers are nowhere to be found.

They'll probably put the Eldrazi and Planeswalkers in D&D: the Eberron book seems to point that way, with certain hints about the Planes.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

You can't forget the option of the time spheres from AD&D Chronomancer sourcebook, the concept or parallalel worlds and anterlate timelines. But this idea needs a lot of time to create a right lore/background.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

No because it's going to increasing create lore and mechanics problems. Ignored problems just fester.

It only really creates "lore problems" for those who think they even exist. Lore can be pretty subjective, especially for when it is kept as purposefully vague as the relationship between MtG and D&D is.

There are also no mechanical problems (at least in rules) that I see.

Do they "fester"? I'd say no. This isn't exactly a disease after all, we are talking about fiction.''

As far as I've seen, there is no mention of how MtG worlds fit into D&D cosmology in any book (unlike Eberron, which does devote some writing to it). The closest thing to an official statement is Jeremy Crawford's interview on Dragon Talk, where he mentions that yes, MtG worlds do fit into D&D's cosmology.

However, he doesn't go any deeper than "Yes, it's part of the cosmology." How it fits is never said, and that is 100% purposeful. After all, a bunch of Magic Lore purists will likely be frustrated to learn their worlds have existed under a different system's cosmology all this time with no mention, and D&D purists will likely be frustrated that worlds that don't follow the same rules of D&D (chiefly, planeswalkers) and yet there has been no crossovers to prove it.

The answer to how MtG fits into D&D's cosmology is one purposefully left to the DM to decide.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I'll add that I do see eventually Magic releasing a new set of cards that use a D&D IP as the theme. It seems like an easy way to make money to me, and I think a couple of people have mentioned that they've been talking about crossovers like that.

Now, which D&D IP they'd actually use I'm not sure, but they'd probably make cards for iconic D&D creatures/spells like Wish, Beholders, Mind Flayers, etc.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Jakandor, Planescape, Mystara and Birthright are good options to be visited by the planewalkers. The forgotten lines allow higher riskes to add some changes.

Maybe crossovers between Magic: the Gathering with other franchises, not only D&D, for example Transformers in Kaladesh, or my little pony (and Shreck) in Eldraine. But these would be like "mash-up" version, more "shonen", like those fanart pictures of medieval fantasy version of famous superheroes or manga characters.

 

[gyor]

They'll probably put the Eldrazi and Planeswalkers in D&D: the Eberron book seems to point that way, with certain hints about the Planes.

They managed to avoid talking about Planeswalkers in Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, but I think that will be harder in Mythic Odysseys of Theros.

I mean how do you explain where Thassa's Bident went, or how Heliod got stuck in the Underworld, or the now dead God of Revels, Ashiok like at all.

Actually speaking of Thassa's Bident, how are you supposed to get it back when it's on Zendikar?

Anyways if Zendikar gets a book in 2021 as I and others strongly suspect, it's almost impossible to avoid talking about the Eldrazi, they've shaped too much of it's history. Its what caused the roil, one of them lead to the Vampires, they were worshipped as Gods for a time, sort of, and sooooo much more. Oh and they nearly destroyed all other creatures on the world.

I mean Zendilar rising is going to have to explain how they put stuff back together again including healing the land.

And it will even be hard to avoid talking about Planeswalkers, who played such a huge role in the story of Zendikar.