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

[Kae'Yoss]

Oh, puh-lease! :\

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

No, I found Vampire through Vampire. Still, it's true: I bought the OA d20, and then got "that extra book going into detail for this funny world they use in OA that doesn't even use half of the stuff they have in the OA book". And I loved it, and I got every single L5R book from the dual rule era even though I doubted that I'd use it too often (or at all), just because they read so well. I got the 3e book as well.

It might not have been the perfect fit for OA (because of the fact that it doesn't use most of the stuff presented therein), but I'm still happy they did it.

The next OA, for 4e, should be Kara-Turan again (though it might make people shy away - it would be FR material after all).

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

Yep, humaniti has gone to the crapper.

Never let facts get in the way of a good hate

I wasn't serious, though: Just making fun of people who are prejudiced about something like a Ruleset - those idiot D&D players who rant against WoD players, the WoD idiots who rant against D&D players, the countless others who don't understand what they are ranting about.

I have an aversion to 2e, though, which stems from the people I had to play with. Sullied the game for me forever. Plus, I knew 3e rules before I started playing 2e, so I knew that all those restrictions aren't necessary at all. But no matter, as I never intend to play 2e, anyway.

 

[Barak]

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?

Exactly. The game I played in was M:TG inspired. There's no need to translate all M:TG spells to D&D. Take the existing D&D spells, and separate them by Color. You can always add a few that might be missing, if need be. Create M:TG monsters either by using regular D&D monsters, sometimes slightly modified, or by making them up.

Legends is a great set to use for this, IMHO, btw. You have a bunch of NPCs ready-made..

 

[Goblyn]

This thread makes me want to go convert my old Magic cards into 3.5e.

...

I think I'll go do that right now.

 

[Barak]

Make sure you make the minotaurs into a playable race, and make them inhabit the Maze of Ith. That's what I played, and it was fun!

 

[Storm Raven]

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

You mean their roots like giant steam powered machines, mechanical men, flying away to have adventures on the moon and Mars (complete with tharks, airships, and radium pistols), subdued dragons carried in wagons to surprise bandits, energy weapon, and everything else that Gygax and his buddies threw into their D&D campaigns?

To tell the turth, Eberron is more like "true" D&D than anything that has been published before. The "inspirational reading" list contained in the back of the 1e DMG reads like an Eberron primer. Complaining about Eberron not being like D&D demonstrates that your D&D games have strayed from the actual roots of the game. With Eberron, D&D returned tyo what it was originally.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

To tell the turth, Eberron is more like "true" D&D than anything that has been published before. The "inspirational reading" list contained in the back of the 1e DMG reads like an Eberron primer. Complaining about Eberron not being like D&D demonstrates that your D&D games have strayed from the actual roots of the game. With Eberron, D&D returned tyo what it was originally.

Then I, for one, am happy that I stray from the original D&D - as it turns out, that straying is not only in regards to rules but also in regards to weird things.

 

[Storm Raven]

Then I, for one, am happy that I stray from the original D&D - as it turns out, that straying is not only in regards to rules but also in regards to weird things.

I figure you can play a version of D&D in a manner that you want. If Tolkienesque elves and dwarves with pseudo-Arthurian heroes float your boat, then that's what you should play.

However, the complaints that "Eberron shows that WotC is abandoning the roots of D&D" are entirely off base. D&D was built by people who loved old pulp fiction, and was supposed to evoke the feel of books written by Burroughs, de Camp, Howard, Leiber, Vance, and Bellairs (among others). Eberron, in many ways, is a return to these roots, not a betrayal of them.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I figure you can play a version of D&D in a manner that you want. If Tolkienesque elves and dwarves with pseudo-Arthurian heroes float your boat, then that's what you should play.

No denying that.

However, the complaints that "Eberron shows that WotC is abandoning the roots of D&D" are entirely off base.

Well, it sure is BS. Eberron is abandoning the way I like my D&D to be - mostly like you see in FR, GH, Midnight - but since Eberron isn't the new D&D, merely another Campaign Setting (and we had our share of weird settings even back when all the settings were from the D&D makers themselves, no third-party sources), I don't see how the argument would make sense even if Eberron would be totally different from all D&D.

 

[Pramas]

There were multiple attempts to do a Magic RPG. Two of them pre-dated WotC's acquisition of TSR and two came after. When I was hired at WotC it was to work on attempt #3. The plan was to do a stand-alone AD&D variant set in Dominaria. Jonathan Tweet was designing the rulebook, I was designing the world book, John Rateliff was handling editing duties, and Jesper Myrfors was doing the art direction. The problem with that project was that it was only happening because Peter Adkison wanted it to. Neither the Magic team nor the TSR team really wanted it to move forward. Within a couple of months of my being hired, the project was cancelled.

About a year later there was another, more limited attempt. This time the goal was to simply do a monster book filled with critters from Magic. Magic has a ton of great color art so this seemed like a fine idea. The Magic team, however, didn't like it and they kept pitching objections until they finally came up with one that stuck. With 3E in the works, they argued, surely we should wait to do this product under the new rules. Peter accepted that and the project was put on hold. After 3E released, I don't recall anyone trying to revive the idea.

Later I was involved in an attempt to do a Magic miniatures game and that died a quiet death for similar reasons.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I do know that aspects of M:tG can translate quite well into D&D- I had a 2Ed PC based upon the Hurloon Minotaur art- he was awesome!

I have often thought about playing a "Jaya Ballard" esque PC.

Black decks inspire me to design unusual Necromancers, Green cards influence my elves and other naturey types.