The ultimate nerdy union is happening so we can all dust off our wizard capes for the evening because Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering are crossing over. For the past couple of years, the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering have been getting closer and closer. Here and there, D&D has crept into the cards of Magic, while the worlds of the card game have slowly wormed their way into Dungeons & Dragons rulesets. But now they’re closer than ever, thanks to a new rulebook.
Wizards of the Coast announced this week that the upcoming Magic expansion Guilds of Ravnica will be joined by a new sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons called Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica. Inspired by the lore of Ravnica from Magic, the Guildmasters’ Guide will contain all the rules and inspiration Dungeon Masters would need to run a D&D campaign in the Eastern European-inspired techno-magical metropolis of Ravnica, as well as details on the rival guilds that vie for control of the vast city.
D&D Guildmaster’s Guide To Ravnica is set within the city of Ravnica, a metropolitan area for cosmopolitan citizens of all sorts. The description notes that the city is wildly diverse and that there are bustling marketplaces, bazaars, and back alleys stoked with the peddling of grifters and merchants, vagabonds and thieves. The city isn’t all about the hustle and bustle of the lower-level street life, but also about the wealthy and powerful who inhabit the city’s upper echelons. There are guilds that maintain a foundation of influence over Ravnica, and power plays and political intrigue run rampant through the civic municipalities and those who govern them. The location is a strong part of the Magic: The Gathering community and a variety of card sets help flesh out the city and its wildly diverse inhabitants.
Players will be able to take part in the sourcebook based on the upcoming card set featuring the Ravnica Allegiance. The original card set for the Magic: The Gathering CCG was actually announced back in May, along with the “Guilds of Ravnica”, which is another card set that will go live ahead of the release of the guild book in October. The guild set will contain 259 new cards, while the “Ravnica Allegiance” set will contain 264 new cards. The latter deck won’t be available until January 2019.
There’s also going to be a “Dissension” card pack featuring the location of the demon Rakdos, as well as other primordial inhabitants. The other set, known as the “Return to Ravnica”, focuses on the Guildpact living within the metropolis, while the “Gatecrash” set is a 249 black-bordered card pack that contains the occasional premium card. The last of the sets is the “Dragon’s Maze”, which is pretty much what it sounds like, focusing on the maze-like areas of the Ravnica city.
This isn’t the first time D&D and Magic have come together like this recently—rules for D&D players to adventure in the Planes of Innistrad and Zendikar have appeared in the past. But it’s the first time a crossover book of this scope will be released for Dungeons & Dragons, especially as an accompaniment to the upcoming Ravnica-themed Magic expansion. Could it mean there will be more Magic/D&D mashups like this in the future? We’ll have to wait and see. Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica is set to release on 20 November, after the Guilds of Ravnica expansion for Magic launches 5 October.
