D&D General Teased Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Supplement Crosses Magic: the Gathering and D&D

WotC has teased an upcoming Magic: The Gathering / Dungeons & Dragons crossover supplement. No info has been given other than a mention of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor and an art piece by Jesper Ejsing.

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Lorwyn-Shadowmoor is a Magic: the Gathering plane. The official MtG page for it describes it as:

Lorwyn is an idyllic world where races of fable thrive in perpetual midsummer. Its dark reflection, Shadowmoor, exists in perpetual gloom, its citizens bitterly transformed and locked in a desperate battle for survival.

Lorwyn is the land where the sun never set. Covered with dense forests, meandering rivers, and gently rolling meadows, it knows no nights or winters. One of the few planes without humans, it's populated by the short-statured kithkin, hot-tempered flamekin, petty-thief boggarts, territorial treefolk, diplomatic merfolk, iconoclastic giants, and mischievous faeries, all living together in harmony.

Also among them: the elves, Lorwyn's most favored and feared race. In a world of unspoiled nature, they consider themselves the paragons of this beauty. Signs of elvish supremacy are widespread, from their gilded forest palaces to their mercilessness toward "lesser" races. Despite the elves' dominion, Lorwyn's people thrive, respecting community and tradition.

The land itself, ancient and verdant, is locked in a perpetual cycle—and every three centuries, that cycle transforms the plane into Shadowmoor.

The mirror-image of Lorwyn, Shadowmoor is a realm of perpetual dusk and gloom. Here, the plane's races, without knowledge of their previous selves, are locked in a life-and-death struggle for survival. Like the plane itself, its denizens are transformed into darker versions of themselves.

The kithkin, once communal and cooperative, are isolated and xenophobic. The helpful, silver-tongued merfolk are now assassins and saboteurs. The boggarts, once mischievous and hedonistic, are vicious and warlike. The blighted treefolk are murderous. Wrathful giants drag around huge pieces of the land.

The transformations of the flamekin and elves are perhaps the most dramatic. Once bright and seeking transcendence, the flamekin are now smoking skeletons seeking revenge. Meanwhile, the vain elves are humbled and heroic in Shadowmoor, protecting every glimmer of beauty and light.

Only one race and one place remain unchanged: the faeries and their home of Glen Elendra. The fae are the fulcrum of this transforming plane—for it was their queen, Oona, who caused it.


This isn't the first such crossover--Ravnica, Strixhaven, and Theros were all Magic: the Gathering settings. Additionally, over the past few years, WotC has put out PDF D&D supplements for the MtG worlds of Amonkhet, Dominaria, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, and Zendikar.
 

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I’ll be curious to see how they handle species options, since one of the more noteworthy elements of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor’s worldbuilding was the total absence of humans on the plane (apart from 4 of the original 5 planeswalkers). I’m sure that will change in the new set with the addition of Omenpaths, but I hope they don’t use that to handwave D&D species into the setting too…

Aww, who am I kidding, that’s probably exactly what they’ll do… 😩
 

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I feel emasculated just looking at that picture. Relax, I jest. Mostly.

Seriously though, after skimming a description of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, it jives with the general trend of D&D with the fae/dark fae emphasis. Not exactly my cuppa, but it does seem interesting in its own right and I'd be curious in taking a look. I'm generally impressed with Magic worlds, which inject a much-needed freshness into the D&D canon. It seems like a good way to bring in more contemporary tropes without altering classic settings.
 


How would the magic game be ruined?
Not the game, but the setting. It’s a bit Darksunish, in that a big part of its identity was the absence of a lot of the common features you expect in a standard high fantasy setting. It was heavily inspired by Celtic myth, so a lot of the Norse influence by way of Tolkien was intentionally absent. There is a risk of a D&D crossover diluting the setting’s more specific identity.
 


Theros was the only one I was aware of. Bought it, but have never used it. Never could get anyone interested in it. But if the sales were good, then I was wrong about that. I was certainly wrong about how many times they've done it already.
I have no idea about the sales, but the have done two more cross overs after it so it can't have been that bad!

Also, it was the first, maybe only, book that added significant new mechanics: piety (aka deity champions) and mythic monsters. Mythic monsters alone make it one of the most influential 5e books IMO.
 

They will never get the crossover audience $pending they want.

Mtg and D&D are two very different games with two different player bases. Most mtg players could care less about any mtg lore. They care if they have a winning deck.

You do get some crossover, but it is largely the rpg people dipping in and out rather than the other way around.

And so long as these mtg settings are one and done hardbacks they are jut more memberberry books for the D&D players that have some interest in Mtg.
 

I have no idea about the sales, but the have done two more cross overs after it so it can't have been that bad!

Also, it was the first, maybe only, book that added significant new mechanics: piety (aka deity champions) and mythic monsters. Mythic monsters alone make it one of the most influential 5e books IMO.
Theros definitely had some points to recommend it. I liked the piety concept.
 

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