D&D General MtG Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Spoiler Thread

[Parmandur]

Really tilts me off the face of the earth that they did stuff like this.

It made a lot of money, so it makes sense.

 

[Charlaquin]

Really tilts me off the face of the earth that they did stuff like this.

The fact that it’s Walking Dead doesn’t even bother me. The problem is that they’re mechanically unique cards only available through a secret lair. If they were in a set, or a commander deck or something, I wouldn’t have cared, but exploiting FOMO for a quick buck really grinds my gears.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm pretty sure Ed Greenwood is not offended. It's a pretty big complement to be the first D&D setting to get a core MTG card set... Ed did make all of FR, not just Elminster.

I almost find this insulting to Greenwood that he would be so easily ruffled by the exclusion of one character.

I've calmed down, perhaps he's in the Commander Decks.

But its really Greyhawk fans who should be upset, because if "Greyhawk Refugees" like as they are being called on the internet, such as Mordenkaiken, Vecna, are now concidered Forgotten Realms characters, instead of Greyhawk characters merely visiting FR (because Strahd has visited FR himself, but is not concidered an FR character by the makers of the set, he's Ravenloft), then that means Greyhawk is well and truely dead, not be revived, and FR is absorbing the "Greyhawk Refugees" into its own canon, which they would only be doing if they don't intend to return.

I feel bad for GH fans.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I've calmed down, perhaps he's in the Commander Decks.

But its really Greyhawk fans who should be upset, because if "Greyhawk Refugees" like as they are being called on the internet, such as Mordenkaiken, Vecna, are now concidered Forgotten Realms characters, instead of Greyhawk characters merely visiting FR (because Strahd has visited FR himself, but is not concidered an FR character by the makers of the set, he's Ravenloft), then that means Greyhawk is well and truely dead, not be revived, and FR is absorbing the "Greyhawk Refugees" into its own canon, which they would only be doing if they don't intend to return.

I feel bad for GH fans.

I mean, I'm a Greyhawk fan and I'm annoyed and not-annoyed. I'm actually not annoyed by Greyhawk characters being in this set, as I don't really view it as an FR set at all despite its name; the cards are largely just pulling popular characters and items from 5E. That heavily tilts towards FR (Drizzt and his whole crew) but it also includes some non-FR stuff too like the Dragonorbs and items of Vecna. In my view, this does not really make Mordenkainen a "Forgotten Realms character." Also, I'm happy they're popular enough to get cards.

What does annoy me is FR pilfering material from other settings because 5E (and now MTG too) seem to believe they can't promote a generic D&D fantasy setting that isn't FR, but they still want to use that material. So Mordenkainen will get a MTG card, but I'm extremely doubtful Greyhawk will ever get a MTG card set. Same goes for Acererak being pulled into FR for Tomb of Annihilation, instead of setting the module in Greyhawk.

TLDR: I don't think this card set makes GH characters into FR characters, but their inclusion in other settings does mean GH material is less likely to get a setting book in the future.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

What does annoy me is FR pilfering material from other settings because 5E (and now MTG too) seem to believe they can't promote a generic D&D fantasy setting that isn't FR, but they still want to use that material.

Mark Rosewater said that the Forgotten Realms branding was dictated by the D&D team.

Bill decreed that the core set for the summer of 2021 would have a D&D theme. The D&D team had given the project the okay, with the one stipulation that they wanted it set in the Forgotten Realms.

D&D-esign, Part 1

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I mean, I'm a Greyhawk fan and I'm annoyed and not-annoyed. I'm actually not annoyed by Greyhawk characters being in this set, as I don't really view it as an FR set at all despite its name; the cards are largely just pulling popular characters and items from 5E. That heavily tilts towards FR (Drizzt and his whole crew) but it also includes some non-FR stuff too like the Dragonorbs and items of Vecna. In my view, this does not really make Mordenkainen a "Forgotten Realms character." Also, I'm happy they're popular enough to get cards.

What does annoy me is FR pilfering material from other settings because 5E (and now MTG too) seem to believe they can't promote a generic D&D fantasy setting that isn't FR, but they still want to use that material. So Mordenkainen will get a MTG card, but I'm extremely doubtful Greyhawk will ever get a MTG card set. Same goes for Acererak being pulled into FR for Tomb of Annihilation, instead of setting the module in Greyhawk.

TLDR: I don't think this card set makes GH characters into FR characters, but their inclusion in other settings does mean GH material is less likely to get a setting book in the future.

They actually made it clear that setting the set in FR was demanded by the MtG team when it was preposed that they do a D&D Core Set by VP Bill (it evovled away from being a core set later), and in fact they made it clear that characters like Strahd and others are not in the set because they aren't Forgotten Realms characters. It seems clearly that WotC itself conciders these FR characters. To be far the FR lore for Vecna, Tasha, and Mordenkaiken does predate 5e at least, mostly I think to justify the spells and items named after them being in FR.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I’m not saying I don’t understand how someone could get emotionally attached to the Forgotten Realms - I absolutely do! I’m saying that I don’t understand why someone would be so emotionally invested in Elminster being represented on a card in this set. I get being a bit disappointed if he’s one of your favorite characters and you were looking forward to potentially getting to see him as a magic card. But being upset to the point of calling it a slap in the face of Ed Greenwood and refusing to buy anything from the set? I dunno, seems like a huge over-reaction to me.

Elminister is the symbol of Ed Greenwood's presence in FR, the signature character of the setting, its a painful reminder that Ed Greenwood has been discarded shamefully by WotC while WotC milked his hard work potentially for billions of dollars once the movies and TV shows start coming out. They don't even let him write FR novels anymore despite the fact that was part of the original contract deal where he sold FR to TSR.

I guess it felt like another attempt to push Ed Greenwood out, I don't like or appdove of how WotC has been treating him since around Death Masks. I mean they didn't even invite him or Erin Evans or any other writers whose hard work they milked to particapate in this, instead having internet randos and minor media outlets do all of the card previews.

 

[Parmandur]

I mean, I'm a Greyhawk fan and I'm annoyed and not-annoyed. I'm actually not annoyed by Greyhawk characters being in this set, as I don't really view it as an FR set at all despite its name; the cards are largely just pulling popular characters and items from 5E. That heavily tilts towards FR (Drizzt and his whole crew) but it also includes some non-FR stuff too like the Dragonorbs and items of Vecna. In my view, this does not really make Mordenkainen a "Forgotten Realms character." Also, I'm happy they're popular enough to get cards.

What does annoy me is FR pilfering material from other settings because 5E (and now MTG too) seem to believe they can't promote a generic D&D fantasy setting that isn't FR, but they still want to use that material. So Mordenkainen will get a MTG card, but I'm extremely doubtful Greyhawk will ever get a MTG card set. Same goes for Acererak being pulled into FR for Tomb of Annihilation, instead of setting the module in Greyhawk.

TLDR: I don't think this card set makes GH characters into FR characters, but their inclusion in other settings does mean GH material is less likely to get a setting book in the future.

As a Greyhawk fan, not actually worried since they always make a point to mention these are elements from Oerth. Greyhawk has continued value in cresting a perception of cosmic depth to the D&D Multiverse: it's not just "the world" potentially at stake, there are worlds upon worlds, see, here's a reference to another world.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

They actually made it clear that setting the set in FR was demanded by the MtG team when it was preposed that they do a D&D Core Set by VP Bill (it evovled away from being a core set later), and in fact they made it clear that characters like Strahd and others are not in the set because they aren't Forgotten Realms characters. It seems clearly that WotC itself conciders these FR characters. To be far the FR lore for Vecna, Tasha, and Mordenkaiken does predate 5e at least, mostly I think to justify the spells and items named after them being in FR.

Yeah, I just don't agree.

I looked through all of the cards that don't really make sense for FR (or really, only FR).

• Mordenkainen
• Orb of Dragonkind
• Acererak the Archlich
• Eye of Vecna
• Hand of Vecna
• Book of Vile Darkness

Mordenkainen and Acererak have both visited Forgotten Realms, but neither use it as their main home even in 5e (Mord has a tower in Avernus, and Acererak leaves FR after being foiled in Tomb of Annihilation). The Orbs of Dragonkind have also been on FR at times, but the Forgotten Realms wiki acknowledges they were probably formed on Krynn. The Book of Vile Darkness has some copies in FR, but the original was penned on Greyhawk. The Eye and Hand of Vecna have never been in FR that I have seen, and Vecna has no worshippers there.

It seems that by your definition, any character or item that has been on FR once suddenly becomes primarily FR property, which I don't hold to. Even if that was somehow true, it still doesn't apply to the Eye or Hand of Vecna which are present despite not having any relation to Toril at all.

So no, I don't think WotC actually considers these 6 characters/items "FR IP," but I do think they are all just too iconic to D&D for the team to skip on when making a D&D card set. So they added a few cards that aren't really FR at all because if we really stuck to strict setting lines, Mord and Acererak would probably never get cards because Greyhawk is not going to get its own cardset ever.

 

[bedir than]

the Forgotten Realms wiki acknowledges

This isn't maintained by WotC