Magic: Planeswalkers

[Craig]

Just got a game idea, how would anyone feel about a game set in the Magic the gathering universe (planes), you would either be a group of plane travellers on a ship that can travese the planes or actual planeswalkers that can teleport with a thought.

Comments and System suggestions welcome

[Ben]

I have actually thought about this a few times in the past.

System-wise I was thinking D&D 3.5 (Both are wizards products ) but with the Gestalt Characters variant. Essentially everyone gets Sorcerer stuff along with their other class. I did this because if you've read the Magic: The Gathering novels then you'll know that pretty much everyone has some spellcasting ability, even if they're fierce warriors. I was never sure how to break the spells into "colours" though.

This might be worth looking at... www.box.net/shared/d8xsciptbp

I would be interested in playing a game set in the Magic universe multiverse. Maybe an Aven warrior from Dominaria. Or a Leonin priest from Mirrodin. So many options!

[Matthew James Deakin]

this sounds kinda cool and as Ben said the limitless possibility for characters and adventures would keep everything fresh

[GingerFlash]

The idea does sound awesome, tho would the entire being planeswalkers not cause some sort of power war between players over and over?

Tho I like the idea of playing as a Ravnican assassin from House Dimir or an Orzhov Dealer or an Izzet Goblin Wizard!

Love for the plane of ravnica!

[Craig]

Well i think 3.5 would lend it well, as for the Mana its pretty easy just have to go through spells, delete some and restrict them to mana colours, now how would you know what colours u had, mee thinks, people with 1 colour know more cast more, 2 colours cast normal know 2 less, and 3 colours cast 1 less know 2 less. Which i think leaves u with 1 at first level which probalby wont work.

As for 4 and 5 colour wielders need to ad hoc it.

Also Artifacts would probs be if you are an Articfer as ure other class.
Would need some work but with group effort, say like guys comin up with race stats, so ill put it up, post ure ideas for the following races ill start with emmm...

Zenikar cos it lists the races on the website

Vampires (probs not as powerful as a +8 level adjustment, thinkin half-vampire template.

Kor (coun tMartial for there hook weapon, nomadic so +2survial and Maybe even Endrance as bonus feat, dont know about stat bonuses)

Merfolk( like the race in MM 1, but can go on land probs give them 20ft land, 20ft swim,?)

Goblins (like MM 1 entry but lose the handle wolfs/worgs for sumthin else)

Elves (lose secret door stuff and say gain some green mana abilty like +1 spell know?

Just starting the ball rolling someone do another plane?

[Ben]

Some more races...

Aven
Native to Dominaria and Alara. Could easily use Raptoran (RotW) to simulate. I'd maybe relax the "no flying in heavy armour" rule because a lot of the time these guys seem pretty ready for war.

Cat People
Native to Dominaria, Alara and Mirrodin. There are essentially two types, "normal" cat people and Leonin. For normals the Catfolk (RotW) race should suffice, but for Leonin who are more warlike maybe reduce the +4 dex to +2 and give +2 str as well.

Centaur
Native to Dominaria and Ravnica. The option of using the sandard MM Centaur exists but there is a lot of level adjustment and racial hit dice to power through. Maybe use a toned down version or the monster class levels in RotW?

Cephalid
Native to Dominaria. Cannot exist out of water. Unplayable?

Kithkin
Native to Dominaria and Lorwyn. Largely Gnome/Halfling like, though the Lorwyn Kithkin have a mild telepathic field called the thoughtweft that allows them to share emotions psychically. Maybe translate to a bonus on will saves based on how many friendly Kithkin are nearby? Perhaps use gnome but remove innate spellcasting and illusion focus for it?

Nantuko
Native to Dominaria. Mantis like people who are mostly druids and largely peaceful despite their looks. Was originally thinking Thri-Kreen but they have too many arms.

Viashino
Nattive to Dominaria, Ravnica and Alara. Lizard people, so Lizardfolk would be a good fit. I think all Viashino are red so maybe a +1 DC on red spells to make them flavourful?

Anyway, there's a whole bunch of Dominaria done (nowhere near all of it though). What do you think?

[Craig]

lookin good, we shud just keep posting till we have a good enought concept, then me or whoever can run it. Races are awsome would tweek them further so they are more unquie, but that comes after, good job:D

What about artifact creatures like Bosch, Karn and the like, use Warforged,

I think we shud power up most basic races so they are equivlent to +1 level adjustment, and if they are already give tem a +1 level adjustment reduction, as i think it would be pretty high powered

Also if a i do the planeswalker idea u are meant to be able to do it at willl once u are amaster so think

1/year at level (already used)
1/month at 5th
1/day 12th
at will 17th

[Ben]

I've been thinking of the schools of magic in d&d and how they correspond to MTG colours...

Abjuration Counterspells and banishments, etc. Blue magic obviously.

Conjuration Summoning creatures. All colours. Heal spells would be white.

Divination Reading the future and people's minds and such. Blue again.

Enchantment Mind affecting spells. Controlling people's actions. Um... blue.

Evocation Blowing crap up! Red probably.

Illusion False images and more mind affecting. I sense more blue.

Necromancy ZOMBIES!!! Also kill spells. Black. Black as the heart of Nicol Bolas.

Transmutation Changing forms and making guys bigger. Green.

What does this tell us? Blue is too powerful. I have a feeling that a whole new spell list will need to be written. I could take a stab at it (after all I've got nothing better to do) but it would be very simplified with less spell options. I would probably just replicate some of the cards in 3.5 spell form. What do you think?

[GingerFlash]

I see Ravnica being easier to deal with in one respect, rather than break the spells into colour, it would be easier breaking the spell down into the Ravnican Guilds i.e.

Boros: White/Red - Law and Order
Orzhov: White/Black - Necrotic deals and contracts
Dimir: Black/Blue - Information handling, assassinations and secrecy

All the guilds have a basic train of thought so each member would abide by the house rules as such giving them access to specific abilities.

The idea is awesome, applying it will be hard as you have many different planes to work with. Easiest thing would prob be to pick a specific plane and work with it rather than combining al the planes as one and then seperating powers, spells and abilities out.

[Ben]

But being trapped on one plane is boring. You might as well be playing standard d&d. Also if you limit everyone to Ravnica then you limit the character options significantly.

I'm of the opinion that the more choice available to the player the better. Plus rewriting spell lists lets you include those game-breaking ones everyone dreams of.

Edit:
I've also realised that there are actually more Ravnican guilds than there are colours so it's actually harder to break up spell into them. Silly Flash.

[Marc]

I agree with Ben, sticking to just Ravnica is infinately limiting (yes that makes no sense), if the party or whatever is crossing planes (either because they are planeswalkers or through some sort of multiverse tardis) it would make more sense for the characters to come from a variety of Planes, Domaraia is by far the largest, Otaria (I think) is just one continent in dominaria but large enough to be a plane on its own, Mirrodin is extremely intresting, HEAVY METAL GOBLINS, sorry, after all Ravnica is just one big shopping centre! Boom!

[Raymond]

I agree with Flash that creating the whole thing at once is a bit much, creating one plane at a time and testing it for balance and the likes sounds prefrable. Then once we have enough planes use the whole thing for a game.

[Ben]

I don't see any reason why the game has to be set in pre-written planes. The MTG multiverse is well known for being almost limitless in size, most of the planes in existence are still undocumented.

Using the existing material as a guide would be a good idea, but as far as the game goes... well, anything goes. That's the beauty of a setting like this. Crafting enough varied planes in thorough detail will take far too long however, and be far too much effort for what this is intended to be, a fan-made game designed so that players can play as their favourite MTG characters.

What each plane contains is something that could be simply made up as you go along. Example: The players planeswalk, they don't know their destination, and arrive on a new plane they've never been to before. Immediately they discover that the land is a blasted waste and seas of lava run through the cracks in the ground. Huge bones are piled up like skyscrapers into the red sky. This is a dragon graveyard, where the ferocious dragons of this plane travel to die. Suddenly the party are attacked by a band of necromancers who have travelled here to create dragon skeletons.

Based on literally 5 minutes of concentration I have begun describing a plane where dragons rule and necromancers skulk in the shadows. It's not that hard. The difficult part is the Magic and Races which should be true to the card game and novels.

Anyway, that's my my opinion. Feel free to agree/disagree at your lesiure.

[Craig]

Yea i agree, i think if we are going to takle a good construction of the game we shud have differnet people doing differnet parts

i.e Ben has volunteered to do spells
Id be happy to design races

some could be a planesscaper

monster dude

etc

[Ben]

I have been thinking about spells, as I said I would, and have come to the conclusion that summon monster spells would undoubtedly be the most iconic spell anyone would cast.

Summoned creatures are a huge part of the card game and we'd be silly to not make it a huge part of the RPG. I'm wondering if there's some sort of incentive we could apply to encourage players to summon monsters (i.e. cheaper/easier to cast, cast more often per day, etc.). Additionally we need a brave soul to design the creatures which can be summoned. The first step, clearly, is to create a shortlist of some of the coolest monsters in MTG. We need at least one per colour per spell level. With any luck you guys out there will have a huge amount of suggestions. Remember not to limit yourself to one plane. Grab creatures from anywhere.

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with.