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Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica | HearLore
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
Imagine a world where the entire surface of a planet is covered by a single, sprawling metropolis, and that city is ruled not by a king or a council, but by ten competing guilds, each with its own ideology, army, and secret agenda. This is Ravnica, the setting that bridges the gap between the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering and the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica, published on the 20th of November 2018, serves as the definitive sourcebook for this unique universe, transforming a card game concept into a playable campaign setting for the fifth edition of the game. The book is a substantial 256-page volume that contains a ninety-page overview of the ten guilds and the Tenth District, the central hub where most of the guilds operate. It also includes nearly 40 pages dedicated to building adventures that provide hooks for including different guilds, and about 70 pages filled with stat blocks for the monsters and non-player characters that occupy this high-magic world. The world of Ravnica was originally created for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game and first appeared in the card set Ravnica: City of Guilds, which was released in 2005. It is a high-magic world with a loose Slavic flavor, featuring a single city which spans the entire planet that is controlled by ten competing guilds of different ideologies. The sheer scale of this setting is what makes it so compelling for players, as it offers a dense, urban fantasy environment that contrasts sharply with the traditional wilderness dungeons of earlier editions.
From Free PDFs To Hardcover
The journey to bring Ravnica to the Dungeons & Dragons table began in 2016, when James Wyatt, a longtime Wizards employee who worked on D&D for over a decade before moving over to Magic in 2014, started writing a series of free PDF releases called Plane Shift. These articles adapted various Magic: The Gathering planes for Dungeons & Dragons, and the positive response to the Plane Shift articles led to the publication of Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica, the first full hardcover Dungeons & Dragons guide to the Magic setting. Wyatt was the lead designer on the book and he stated that this book is, essentially, Plane Shift: Ravnica. The book's cover and full listing were leaked early on Amazon in July 2018, creating a buzz that preceded its official release. Nathan Stewart, director of Dungeons & Dragons, said in a press statement that with the huge surge in popularity of D&D and Magic's commitment to bring the lore and storytelling to life, the timing seemed perfect. He added that Ravnica is full of adventure possibilities and he could not wait for fans to jump in to embody a member of one of the iconic guilds. Elaine Chase, vice president, global brand strategy and marketing for Magic: The Gathering, said in a press release that it is super cool for fans of D&D and Magic to be playing together in the same multiverse. The Plane Shift series, which ran between 2016 and 2018, included articles for Amonkhet, Dominaria, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, and Zendikar, along with an Ixalan-set adventure. However, these articles are not considered official material for organized play. In 2017, Mike Mearls wrote that it is basically a thing James does for fun, and they do not want to burden it with needing all the work required to make it official. This grassroots approach allowed the community to test the waters before Wizards of the Coast committed to the full production of the hardcover guide.
When was Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica published?
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica was published on the 20th of November 2018. The book serves as the definitive sourcebook for the Ravnica universe and transforms a card game concept into a playable campaign setting for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
What is the setting of Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica?
The setting of Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is a high-magic world with a loose Slavic flavor where a single city spans the entire planet. This city is controlled by ten competing guilds of different ideologies, each with its own army and secret agenda.
Who wrote Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica?
James Wyatt served as the lead designer on Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica. He is a longtime Wizards employee who started writing free PDF releases called Plane Shift in 2016 to adapt Magic: The Gathering planes for Dungeons & Dragons.
What new content does Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica include?
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica introduces five new races including centaurs, minotaurs, loxodon, Vedalken, and Simic hybrids. The book also provides two subclass options, the Order Domain Cleric and the Circle of Spores Druid, along with about 70 pages of stat blocks for monsters and non-player characters.
How many pages does Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica contain?
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is a substantial 256-page volume. It contains a ninety-page overview of the ten guilds and the Tenth District, nearly 40 pages dedicated to building adventures, and about 70 pages filled with stat blocks.
Did Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica win any awards?
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica was nominated for Best Game Accessory in the 2019 Origins Award. The book was also named a Black Friday winner and appeared at number 17 in Hardcover Nonfiction in Publishers Weekly's Best-selling Books Week Ending the 3rd of December 2018.
The heart of Ravnica lies in its ten guilds, each representing a different ideology and controlling a specific sector of the city. The book expands on game elements for the fifth edition, introducing five new races: centaurs, minotaurs, loxodon, Vedalken, and Simic hybrids. It also provides two subclass options: the Order Domain Cleric and the Circle of Spores Druid. The guilds are not merely flavor text; they are the driving force of the setting, with their machinations on the world city guaranteeing that there is never a shortage of intrigue or varying ways to run a campaign. The book includes a ninety-page overview of the ten guilds and the Tenth District, the central hub where most of the guilds operate. This district is the focal point of the city, where the guilds' influence is most visible and their conflicts are most intense. The guilds are designed to offer players a wide range of playstyles, from traditional dungeon crawls to complex social and political intrigue. The setting is rich with story hooks, and the technological and social elements of the worldwide city make this setting truly magic. The book also contains Ravnica-themed magic items and treasure, which are unique to the setting and add to the flavor of the world. The guilds are not just factions; they are the backbone of the society, and their interactions create a dynamic environment for players to explore. The book provides the necessary tools for Dungeon Masters to run campaigns that are deeply rooted in the lore of the guilds, ensuring that players can immerse themselves in the world of Ravnica.
A City Of Magic And Steel
Ravnica is a high-magic world with a loose Slavic flavor, and it features a single city which spans the entire planet. The city is a marvel of architecture and magic, with towering spires and underground tunnels that house the various guilds. The book includes about 70 pages filled with stat blocks for the monsters and non-player characters that occupy Ravnica, providing a wealth of creatures for players to encounter. The setting is designed to be a living, breathing world, with the guilds constantly vying for power and influence. The book expands on game elements for the fifth edition, such as the five new races and two subclass options, which allow players to create characters that fit into the unique culture of Ravnica. The city is a place where magic and technology coexist, creating a vibrant and dangerous environment for adventurers. The book also includes Ravnica-themed magic items and treasure, which are unique to the setting and add to the flavor of the world. The guilds are not just factions; they are the backbone of the society, and their interactions create a dynamic environment for players to explore. The book provides the necessary tools for Dungeon Masters to run campaigns that are deeply rooted in the lore of the guilds, ensuring that players can immerse themselves in the world of Ravnica. The city is a place where magic and technology coexist, creating a vibrant and dangerous environment for adventurers.
Reception And Critical Analysis
In Publishers Weekly's Best-selling Books Week Ending the 3rd of December 2018, Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica was number 17 in Hardcover Nonfiction and the book was called a Black Friday winner. Richard Jansen-Parkes, for the UK print magazine Tabletop Gaming, wrote that in terms of raw mechanical content Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is solid throughout, with long sections laying out creatures and monsters unique to the plane as well as a heaping of flavorful magic items. However, while the surface-level information about the great city is stellar, the art is beautiful throughout, it all feels a little shallow when you come to plot an actual adventure there. It is clear that Ravnica is a realm that was never intended to live and breathe in the way that you would expect from an RPG setting, and while Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica goes some way to ironing this out there is still a lot of work for the Dungeon Master to do. It is a fascinating world to dabble in and borrow from, but falls just short of being a viable plug-and-play setting. Gavin Sheehan, for Bleeding Cool, wrote that overall, Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is a fine addition to fifth edition, but he also recognizes that this is not going to be for everyone. He noted that Dungeon Masters and players alike should recognize that there are people who love Dungeons & Dragons to death but have zero interest in Magic: The Gathering. He recommended the book for people who have played Magic: The Gathering and understand a little bit of what is going on, or players who want to learn more about this world and want to incorporate more of it. Matthew Beilman, for CBR, highlighted the book's setting and wrote that Ravnica is a rich setting with countless story hooks available for adventurers. The 10 guilds and their machinations on the world city guarantee there is never a shortage of intrigue or varying ways to run a campaign. More traditional dungeon crawls and monster hunting is totally viable, but it is the technological and social elements of the worldwide city that make this setting truly magic.
The Broader Context Of IP
In January 2020, Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com, highlighted that over the past 18 months Wizards of the Coast has published product tie-ins with Stranger Things, Rick and Morty, Critical Role, and Magic: The Gathering, plus several new products meant to appeal to new players that have never played D&D before. Some fans feel that this push for new players has come at the cost of keeping the game's current players sated. These players wonder why D&D is dedicating resources towards Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering and Exandria from Critical Role instead of dusting off classic campaign settings like Greyhawk or Dragonlance or Dark Sun, worlds that are mentioned in D&D's core rulebooks but have not gotten any kind of strong focus. Hoffer reported that the fifth Edition development process is deliberately slow with the Dungeons & Dragons team publishing about three books a year from adventure campaigns and rulebooks to campaign setting books. Collaborative IP books, such as Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, Acquisitions Incorporated, and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, were added to the schedule in addition to D&D's three annual publications and thus did not impact plans to release older settings for the fifth Edition. The book was part of a larger strategy to expand the D&D brand through collaborations with other popular franchises, creating a new generation of players while also catering to existing fans. The Guilds of Ravnica was a Magic: The Gathering post-block set expansion released on the 5th of October 2018, and the three related card sets carried the classic collectible card game into its 26th year. The book was also supported by WizKids, which released a set of 55 Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica themed Dungeons & Dragons miniatures as part of their Icons of the Realm blind box line. It was nominated for Best Game Accessory in the 2019 Origins Award, further cementing its place in the gaming community.