WotC New M:tG set announced: "Adventures in the Forgotten Realms"

[cbwjm]

I want two things out of this set: The Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna.

There's lots of other stuff that would be fun to have, but if those two artifacts are not present, this set will be a failure no matter how well it sells.

(Now I think about it, this would be a perfect opportunity to use the "god" technology of recent sets, where you get a powerful creature for cheap but have to fulfill a special condition before it will fight for you. Vecna could be a Zombie God with "Vecna can't attack or block unless you control permanents named Eye of Vecna and Hand of Vecna.")

I thought the set is specifically forgotten realms, if they do add gods, pretty sure they'll be from the realms rather than DnD in general.

 

[cbwjm]

Cue the M:tG grognards: this Forgotten Realms set is just a cheap marketing gimmick delaying the updating of the “Arabian Nights” set from 1993.

No no no. Cue the FR grognards unironically posting the map with the “Remembered Realms”.

This is part of what I'm most looking forward to, that and arguments around which colour X NPC should really be.

 

[Dausuul]

I thought the set is specifically forgotten realms, if they do add gods, pretty sure they'll be from the realms rather than DnD in general.

The set is Forgotten Realms in the sense that every Magic expansion requires a setting, and obviously they were going to pick the most popular D&D setting for the first D&D crossover set.

But that doesn't mean the set needs to be laser-focused on FR alone. Magic sets take 2+ years to create and playtest, and I'm sure they will want to see the reception of this one before greenlighting another D&D crossover. So we're not going to have another one for a while. I can't imagine they would leave out the two iconic D&D artifacts just because they aren't unique to the Realms.

Whether they go so far as to bring in Vecna himself is another question. I could see them going either way. But I don't think "Vecna isn't FR-specific enough" would be a reason to keep him out. Vecna goes where he likes.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Innistrad on its own is a little thin (to be fair, all the M:TG settings so far have been). It has one race (human), four provinces, and most of its monsters are variants of MM monsters (vampires, golems/skaab, zombies, ghosts/giest, werewolves). There isn't a lot of "new" elements like Ravnica or Theros had; at best a few subclasses and monster variants, but nothing like the expansion of piety or guilds.

Ravenloft, otoh, is a mediocre stew of ideas each sectioned off as a little "adventure" zone. For every truly interesting domain or Dark Lord, you have either a very stock/one note one OR a domain that's "its X campaign world, but EVIL" (glares at Sithicus). The truly great domains with interesting hooks probably count less than a dozen, and they're not all part of the core.

If it were me, I'd add a small note on Barovia (for more info: see Curse of Strahd), Mordent (ghost/seaside), Lamordia (golem/Frankenstein), Verbrek (werewolves), Hal-akir (mummy/ancient Egypt), Darkon (lich/dark fantasy) and Richtumount (wererats/urban). Six domains shouldn't take up much space, considering they once fit 30 of them in a hardback and had room to reprint part of the PHB in it...

Innistrad plus six domains of dread, tailored to do a full campaign (Innistrad) or a "night" of terror (pick a domain). Everything else (monsters, subclasses, etc) can be shared between them.

Call it Realms of Horror and get it to me tomorrow.

I'll add, it would be fun if they added more options for players to play as vampires, werewolves, dhampires (half-vampire) or even liches. I don't really think these work as classes or races exactly, and I know you can technically already do these with the rules as-is, but these could make for fun "epic boons," or something. Would be a great tie-in to the duo Innistrad: Vampires Innistrad: Werewolves set.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Would be a great tie-in to the duo Innistrad: Vampires Innistrad: Werewolves set.

I think that when those new sets with be published, we'll also see an Innistrad setting book. There's just too much money in werewolves and vampires nowadays for WotC to miss that boat. Rules for vampire and lycan heritages would allow new players to do their own take with what made White Wolf popular some years ago, but with a known and loved d20 system.

On a side note, I'm currently working on a homebrew 5e-inspired V:tM game using the UA Mystic's Disciplines/Psi point as a base for the Blood point powers.

 

[Cadence]

Innistrad on its own is a little thin (to be fair, all the M:TG settings so far have been). It has one race (human), four provinces, and most of its monsters are variants of MM monsters (vampires, golems/skaab, zombies, ghosts/giest, werewolves). There isn't a lot of "new" elements like Ravnica or Theros had; at best a few subclasses and monster variants, but nothing like the expansion of piety or guilds.

For those who haven't seen it before...

All the cards from Innistrad can be seen at: unique:prints (set:emn or set:soi or set:avr or set:dka or set:isd or set:temn or set:tsoi or set:tavr or set:tdka or set:tisd)

Information on the plane, and the last batch of stories are at: INNISTRAD
Note that the stories have the most recent posted at the top, so you want to scroll down to start reading.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I think the most logical way to do it would be to make Innistrad into an "island of terror," that is, a Ravenloft domain isolated from the rest of Ravenloft and completely surrounded by the Mists.

This does leave the question of who is lord of the domain. In Ravenloft, each domain functions as a prison and a source of torment for a being of irredeemable evil. Fortunately, Innistrad has a history of serving as a prison for just such beings; first the demon Griselbrand, and later the world-consuming abomination Emrakul. Either one would make a fair darklord for Innistrad.

I was literally about to ask this. Thanks for the info - it would make sense for them to combine the two, as long as Innistrad lore would only need minimal alteration...

 

[Dire Bare]

I hope some of the classic FR characters show up as legendary creatures rather than Planeswalkers. How dope would it be to have one of them as your commander?

I'd like to see new characters as the sets planeswalkers, heroes we've never seen before rather than the bigger-than-life Realmsian DM-NPCs.

Although, making an Elminster planeswalker does make a kind of sense . . . . dude's been around the 'verse.

 

[Dausuul]

I'd like to see new characters as the sets planeswalkers, heroes we've never seen before rather than the bigger-than-life Realmsian DM-NPCs.

That would rather defeat the point of a crossover.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'd like to see new characters as the sets planeswalkers, heroes we've never seen before rather than the bigger-than-life Realmsian DM-NPCs.

Although, making an Elminster planeswalker does make a kind of sense . . . . dude's been around the 'verse.

Agreed, new planeswalker characters would be cool. But like... Dimir Jarlaxle deck? Creatureless Acererak? Modenkainen pillowfort? New walkers, famous legendary creatures would be pretty cool.