So why didn't WotC release a setting based on Magic the Gathering?

[Relique du Madde]

Of the nine movies mentioned as inspiration on page 7 of ECS, Humphrey Bogart stars in two - Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, both classic film noir.

Eberron is described (also on page 7) as combining 'traditional medieval fantasy with pulp action and dark adventure'. I see the dark adventure part as being noirish. The term is used explicitly on page 251 - 'Intrigue, disguise and deception are staples of the noir world.'

Personally I prefer to emphasise the pulp aspects, but the authors seem to intend both as being equally important.

The funnything about Casablanca is that its one of those movies that many critics/historians like to dispute about whether its film noir or if it just influenced film noir. In truth, I personally view "pulp" and "film noir" as being styles rather then genres so its possible to have a pulp-ish film noir. Also, it takes alot more than "intrigue, disguise and deception" to make a noir setting since those same qualities can apply to many non-noir settings.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One game that might handle Dominaria well is Everway - it never really took off, unfortunately, but it's something that sounds like it would work well. Plus, the 'use a selection of art cards to help get ideas for your character' would be interesting with dealing off a selection of MtG cards.

OK, that's 2 votes for Everway: Dominaria in this thread...

WotC- are you listening?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I don't think it'll happen because the two worlds are pretty fundamentally different. Like the WotC insider said, there'd be a lot of compromise on either side, where no one would be made very happy with it.

I don't know. As I said, it would be better as a d20 RPG than as a D&D Campaign setting. It's not as if they didn't do stuff like that. After all, there was a Wheel of Time RPG.

That way, d20 would provide the rpg rules, the flavour would be magic.

Businesses have to forget about their loyal core to grow up and grow out and make more of that sweet sweet green. Their loyal core doesn't have the same amount of disposable income they did in ye olde days. Now the ones with the dough are animepunkers.

D&D for grognards is a dead or dying D&D.

I don't think that they have to forget them. Not completely. They can cater to both.

You don't think I've played over a dozen other games out there? I've always to returned to D&D because that was the game I enjoyed the most.

I see now why you seem to have a narrow definition of what you want D&D to be. It seems it's all you want...

WotC can make all the worlds they want, so long as they never forget about their loyal core. And recently, I've wondered about that.

... but never fear: Eberron is still only an optional campaign setting. Greyhawk's still the core world.

Eberron might get pimped with its own strategy game and online roleplaying farce game, but those aren't for old-school fans, anyway.

Quit D&D, no.
Not buy anything D&D from WotC until they proved they'd returned to their roots, yes.

They can retain their roots and sprout new leaves at the same time!

 

[Hussar]

They can retain their roots and sprout new leaves at the same time!

Heresy! You must adhere to the letter of the book and never stray from the book! You must never allow any new ideas but must violently oppose them at every turn! Hail be to the Holy Trilogy of the LOTR.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Heresy! You must adhere to the letter of the book and never stray from the book! You must never allow any new ideas but must violently oppose them at every turn! Hail be to the Holy Trilogy of the LOTR.

From that Tolkien boy? He's a punk. I won't put up with that new-fangled stuff with rings. One ring to rule them all and drive them into darkness? We had that in our time, we called them "wedding rings".! :rockerjokey:

 

[Lanefan]

I've wondered about this too...someone mentioning up-thread they'd playtested a MtG-based RPG reminds me that I'd also dimly heard of such an idea, maybe 10-ish years ago. But, I guess it never flew.

There's certainly some elements of MtG that I'd *love* to see in D+D - some specific spells e.g. Disenchant ("target magic item loses all enchantments"), Giant Growth ("target creature triples in height for one round"), and so on, and some elements e.g. 6 magic types roughly corresponding to the 5 colours plus artifacts, landwalkers (in D+D, these would translate to creatures that got *huge* bonuses to sneaking, hiding, and hitting but only when on a certain type of terrain), etc., etc.

Card manipulation spells e.g. Ancestral Recall (draw three cards) can easily be changed to spell manipulation "caster immediately gains 3 extra spell slots for this day; this spell may not be cast more than once per day".

Some elements I'd rather not see - e.g. the mechanized monsters (Juggernaut being the iconic here).

Someone mentioned Stone Rain as something not transferrable, but of course it is: "causes huge boulders to rain down on target 30'-radius area, slaying any living creature within (save Refl DC 25 for 4d20 damage instead) and pulverizing the land into gravel, dirt, or mud as appropriate. Cannot be cast underground or on any place where water is more than 1' deep."

The Weatherlight always reminded me of a Spelljammer ship...

Lanefan

 

[Asmor]

It seems to me that you're all getting a little too caught up in trying to make Magic into an RPG. That's just silly. This thread is supposed to be about a setting based on Magic! That's like saying you want to paint a car red, so you start working out how to design an entirely new car based around the color red.

Who cares how powerful planeswalkers are? You know what? The planeswalkers are, quite literally, the gods of Magic. The only two beings I can think of that are, or at least were, considered gods in Magic, Serra and Yawgmoth, are in fact both planeswalkers. Give the planeswalkers a portfolio and a few domains and call it a day!

The main problem with asking for a setting based on Magic is that Magic doesn't have one setting, unless you're talking about Dominia (the multiverse). The vast majority of sets have taken place on Dominaria, which is likely what most people mean when they talk about a setting based on magic, but in recent years they've made a concerted effort to not use Dominaria at all. Time Spiral, the newest set, is the first one to return to Dominaria in 3 blocks (years), and there's no reason to think they're going to stay there. We've visited Kamigawa, Ravnica and Mirrodin, and even back in the old days there were sets that took place in different planes. Hell, the first expansion ever, Arabian Nights, takes place in Rabiah. Homelands takes place in some forgettable plane I can never remember, and I'm probably wrong but I think that Fallen Empires might take place in a different plane too.

So I think both of these problems, getting caught up in trying to turn Magic into an RPG and not being specific, can both be easily solved by concentrating on bringing a single setting.

So, how about it then. Where's the Dominaria Campaign Setting?

 

[Knight Otu]

Some elements I'd rather not see - e.g. the mechanized monsters (Juggernaut being the iconic here).

There is a juggernaut in the MM2, and I have it on good word that it is not converted over from MtG.

he only two beings I can think of that are, or at least were, considered gods in Magic, Serra and Yawgmoth, are in fact both planeswalkers.

There's also Freyalise (planeswalker) and Gaea (unknown, but apparently not planeswalker). Also, it is my understanding that Yawgmoth was not a planeswalker, but a powerful wizard that eventually turned into pure black mana. While that may seem close enough, there is a difference (for instance, Yawgmoth couldn't planeswalk like a planeswalker).

 

[Ranger REG]

I am so grateful that they used Rokugan. Without that, I'd probably never have found out about Rokugan, which is one of my favourite campaign settings and roleplaying games, too.

Oh, puh-lease! :\

That's like you found the wonders of Vampire through GURPS instead of the original White Wolf published RPG.

I think he meant me. I hate older editions. In the case of 1e, there's no special reason, I hate it just because.

Just because? And when 4e comes out, you'll then hate 3e "just because"?!?!!! :\

Yep, humaniti has gone to the crapper.

 

[Hussar]

Some elements I'd rather not see - e.g. the mechanized monsters (Juggernaut being the iconic here).

Out of curiousity, why not? Golems and other "mechanized" monsters have been a staple of D&D since the beginning. Every edition has had lots of "robots" (and I'm using the term to mean any sort of quasi-magical construct). To me, these are a staple of the game.