D&D 5E The Multiverse

[doctorbadwolf]

So, the topic of how the MtG multiverse and the DnD multiverse interact keeps coming up in threads, and I just wanted to have a discussion on the topic without derailing other threads.

Some have said that the two aren't compatible. I personally feel they are completely compatible.

What do y'all think?

(my preferred take will be in a reply)

 

[dave2008]

I discussed my take on combining MtG & D&D over at my The Cosmology of the Wheel and the Aether post, with a diagram even! Basically, I made the Far Realm (D&D) synonymous with the Blind Eternities (MtG) and conceptual proximity allowing or preventing travel between the various Primes.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My take is that the DnD "multiverse" is one part of the entire multiverse. Outside of the Great Wheel are infinite planes and worlds, many of which are MtG settings. Travel between them, and between those planes and the Great Wheel, requires Planeswalking or a magical technology similar to that.

Avernus doesn't directly connect to Ravnica, but one can be reached from the other with the Spark. That presents no contradiction or change to the lore of either setting.

 

[Kurotowa]

They're as comparable as the DM wants to make them. I mean, no setting goes without getting a unique spin from the DM running the campaign. Maybe it's something like the Eberron game I'm in, where the DM is leaning into a more magitech feel and throws in stuff like chain link fences and outside fire escapes. Maybe it's how every DM has their own take on how gods work and what their relationship with a Cleric PC is. But it happens in every campaign.

So maybe D&D Ravnica and Theros are entirely D&D worlds that just so happen to be very similar to MtG worlds, but that's player meta-knowledge and has no bearing on the characters. Maybe the two continuums are conjoined and one of them (take your pick) exists in a small corner of the other where the rules are different. Or maybe the DM wants to embark on some grand project of explaining how everything links up and this is how MtG planeswalkers work under a D&D rule set and it's all a grand revelation to the players even if it goes over the PC's heads.

I suspect the choice will depend heavily on how invested the group in general and the DM in particular are invested in both games.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah I think the only real issue is on a meta level of thinking about D&D as a multiverse as a whole. In a given campaign, it only matters if we want it to.

 

[Minigiant]

I go by the cloud Idea

The D&D universes are bunched up in one cloud.
The MTG universes are bunched up in another cloud.

Ravnica and Theros are universes on the edge of the MTG cloud closest to the D&D cloud. So D&D rules and ideas leaked into them.

 

[Li Shenron]

So maybe D&D Ravnica and Theros are entirely D&D worlds that just so happen to be very similar to MtG worlds

I don't even think it makes sense to differentiate. If you are playing D&D then every place is a D&D world. It doesn't matter if you stole the idea from another game or whatever.

 

[Parmandur]

My take is that the DnD "multiverse" is one part of the entire multiverse. Outside of the Great Wheel are infinite planes and worlds, many of which are MtG settings. Travel between them, and between those planes and the Great Wheel, requires Planeswalking or a magical technology similar to that.

Avernus doesn't directly connect to Ravnica, but one can be reached from the other with the Spark. That presents no contradiction or change to the lore of either setting.

I'd agree with this. I'm sure that the D&D and Magic teams have worked out a model internally, that underlies what's in the Ravnica and Theros books and I forms Crawford's Shenanigans with Vi. I don't think we'll get the full, official explanation until we get the reverse stream crossing a D&D card set for Magic).

 

[hawkeyefan]

I’m not at all familiar with Magic the Gathering lore, but I can’t imagine that with a but of effort that the two settings couldn’t mesh with maybe some bit of tweaking.

I mean....it’s all make believe.

 

[Hatmatter]

So, the topic of how the MtG multiverse and the DnD multiverse interact keeps coming up in threads, and I just wanted to have a discussion on the topic without derailing other threads.

Some have said that the two aren't compatible. I personally feel they are completely compatible.

What do y'all think?

(my preferred take will be in a reply)

I am not familiar with the multiverse of Magic the Gathering, so I don't want to misrepresent myself. I only played it for the first time last year after visiting Wizards of the Coast in Renton with my ten-year old daughter and being gifted with a starter set. In fact, I was at the GenCon where it debuted in 1992 or 1993 and remember everyone playing it in the hallways and I was simply not interested, I was too busy geeking out on meeting Gary Gygax, Ed Greenwood, Dave Cook, and seeing all the new TSR stuff, etc.

So, I am probably not that useful. But, I like your posting so I will offer my thoughts.

Part of the appeal of D&D to me, ever since I was a kid, was the generic component of its fantasy where it seemed to embrace all fantasy. I would stare at the diagram of the planes in the back of the PHB and Deities & Demigods and relish the idea of a world of worlds where Tolkien's Middle Earth, the gods & heroes of ancient mythic Greece, Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, and Conan (does anyone remember the one or two Advanced D&D modules that TSR put out set in the Hyborian Age with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover as Conan?) could all exist side-by-side. As an adult, I realize that the distinctive character and mood of a specific fantasy world can be better captured by specific games and game mechanics (here's looking at you Call of Cthulhu!), but the appeal of Cthulhu in the same multiverse as Terry Brooks's Shannara series or whatever is wonderful. And, to be honest, I still love the all-inclusive quality of D&D. A talented and creative D&D can use D&D to capture the spirit of HP Lovecraft or Michael Moorcock or Jack Vance or Tolkien. It is all possible.

I love that. Anything that would make my fantasy environment something where it is "all possible" is fun for me. For that reason, I thought the introduction of the Feywild and the Shadowfell were brilliant because they made existing fantasy literature tropes, ideas, and elements even more possible within the multiverse. Also, back in the 1990s, I purchased most of the Historical Reference series books because I loved a multiverse that incorporated the historical world of Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Celts, or the early Renaissance (I loved my campaign I created using A Mighty Fortress) with Oerth, Krynn, Toril, Athas, etc.

So, even though I don't really play MtG, I will definitely be purchasing Mythic Odysseys of Theros.