Recently Wizards of the Coast surprised fans with Plane Shift : Zendikar , a D&D addendum that let player design campaigns set in a woodworking plane of existence from conjuration : The assembly — a first - ever crossover between the two venerable fantasy worlds . Now they ’re at it again , but this time it ’s a journey to the creepy Innistrad , and we have the first flavor .
https://gizmodo.com/magic-the-gathering-comes-to-dungeons-dragons-for-th-1773422948
Like Zendikar before it , the Innistrad postscript was written by James Wyatt , and sport rules and background data for game schoolmaster to be after their own 5th variation Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in Magic ’s Innistrad , dwelling house to creepy cathedrals , bloodythirsty lamia , rampaging werewolf , and all sorts of spookiness ( as well as the setting of many a Magic expanding upon , include the recentShadows over Innistrad ) .
We spoke to Wyatt to discuss the new book , why Innistrad was stark option for Dungeons & Dragons , and what Wizards of the Coast hope for the future in crossing over its two fabled phantasy series with each other — check it out below , alongside pages of Plane Shift : Innistrad , making their debut here on io9 . Do n’t forget to click the blow up glass to flesh out them !
io9 : How did the estimation to tie the Magic and D&D universes together like this first get into fruition ?
James Wyatt : These leaflet were the result of several conversation among dissimilar multitude as The Art of deception : The Gathering — Zendikar went from earliest conception to printed book of account . ahead of time on , Magic originative guru Jeremy Jarvis told me he had a secret schedule for that Koran , which was that it would be a campaign setting with no rules .
At the sentence , we talk about the idea that we could publish a booklet that would give it that little supererogatory step , but neither of us give much credence to it . But then I had conversation with Jeremy Crawford on the D&D team and Adam Colby on the Magic Brand team , and it started to seem like a more real possibility . Adam really became a champion for the cause , and he ’s the one who made certain it finally happened .
For my part , I was writing the rules anyway — I ran a short - go Zendikar campaign for the creative team . So the extra effort of fine-tune the writing and laying out the pages is all that was really required from me in lodge to make it occur . And now I ’m draw an Innistrad plot — using Curse of Strahd . So really , this is all in Robert William Service to my own gambling needs !
io9 : What pretend Innistrad so suitable for this transiting from Magic to D&D ?
Wyatt : Innistrad suck up from the same roots of Gothic Horror as Ravenloft ( the original adventure as well as the various incarnation of the campaign setting ) in the D&D Multiverse . There are sight of differences between them , but Innistrad is just as ripe as Ravenloft for horror - themed D&D escapade .
io9 : Were there any challenges integrate elements specific to this setting compare to your work on Zendikar ?
io9 : What ’s the process like deciding what to bring over from the carte du jour secret plan ?
Wyatt : I am explicitly not interested in mess up with the fundamental mechanics of D&D. For the purpose of these booklets , I ’m not run to reinvent the D&D magic organization , for example , or create specific rules for Planeswalkers . impart a fictitious world like Zendikar or Innistrad , you’re able to utilize the Magic rules as an interface to interact with the world , or you’re able to use the D&D rules as an interface . When you ’re playing a roleplaying game , it ’s a lot easier to use the D&D rules . Of naturally you’re able to tinker with the rule as much as you need , but I do n’t wish to do more work than I have to !
Given that starting compass point , the two most significant things are making trusted that the players can make eccentric native to the mankind in interrogative , and making certain that the Dungeon Master has the resources require to produce and populate an adventure . backwash are the most patently authoritative histrion pick — how do you make for in Zendikar if you ca n’t play a kor or a merfolk ? I have so far opt not to monkey around with class too much , because stratum are presuppose to represent fancy archetypes that are common to most worlds in the Multiverse(s ) . For Innistrad , I spent a fair amount of fourth dimension talking about the Avacynian church building , because it ’s such an important part of the world and likely to be significant to many player fibre . That includes a new background signal , the Inquisitor , to reflect the particular preparation and role of certain theatrical role associated with the church .
From the DM ’s perspective , you demand monsters and dangerous undertaking ideas . For Zendikar , I want to check that you could interact with felidars and krakens , and I tried to give the pecker you ’d need to flip a huge variety of Eldrazi at the characters . For Innistrad , I focused on the most of import horror goliath .
io9 : What was the one thing — be it a location , fauna , or specific fibre — you were most mad to pull in from Innistrad and re - imagine in the mechanics of D&D ?
Wyatt : I ’m stupidly felicitous with the Creepy Doll monster in this booklet . But I was also really excited to present auto-mechanic to separate the vampire lineage , the werewolf howlpacks , the angel flights , and various skaabs ( flesh robot ) from each other . I ’m also really pleased to be running an venture party consisting of a ranger from Kessig , an archmage of Goldnight , a Thraben interrogator , and a “ reform ” laboratory assistant from Nephalia . It ’s when the rules come into physical contact with participant that the magic really happens .
io9 : First Zendikar , now Innistrad — can we bear to see even more Magic worlds add up to D&D ? What about the other way around , and getting to see D&D in Magic ?
Wyatt : I will admit that I am thinking about Plane Shift : Kaladesh now that The Art of Magic : The assembly — Kaladesh is at the printer ! But it ’s a challenge , and still churning in my brain . And I can barely think beyond that head , let alone blab out about it , so we ’ll have to see how it pan out .
There ’s a fully grown difference of opinion between one former D&D designer who now works on Magic writing these short booklets in his spare time , on the one hand , and all the exertion command to make an actual Magic carte du jour band , on the other . Putting D&D in Magic would be a whole dissimilar ball game .
Plane Shift : Innistrad will be available for free tomorrow , July 12th . For more information head on over toDragon Magazine .
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