Races

Humans

• Free Edge – Humans begin play with a free novice edge, which they must meet the requirements for as normal.

Elf

• Disliked – Elves are disliked by most other races and get a -2 penalty to charisma when dealing with non-elves.
• Keen Hearing – Their well-developed ears give elves a +2 bonus on notice checks to detect sounds.
  Low-Light Vision – Elves can see well in all but the darkest conditions, and ignore penalties for dim and dark lighting.
• Survivalist – Elves are particularly in tune with the world of Zendikar and begin play with a free d6 in survival.

Goblin

• Agile – Goblins begin play with a free d8 in agility, and may raise it up to a d12+2. Through the expert and master edges, this may be raised up to a d12+4.
• Ambush – Goblins favor ambush tactics, and begin play with a free d6 in climbing and stealth.
• Small – Goblins begin play with the small hindrance, giving them a -1 penalty to toughness.
• Outsider – Goblins begin play with the outsider hindrance, giving them a -2 penalty to charisma when dealing with non-goblins and they are treated particularly poorly.

Kor

• Acrobatic Climbers – Kor base their climbing skill on either strength or agility, whichever is better.
• Hearty – The Kor are a hearty race and gain an extra point to spend on attributes.

Merfolk

• Aquatic – Merfolk have webbed fingers and toes, and can move at their full Swimming skill while in water (-2” per load limit penalty). Merfolk begin play with a free d6 in Swimming.
• Dehydration – Merfolk must immerse themselves in water one hour out of every twenty-four. Those who don’t are automatically fatigued each day until they are Incapacitated. The day after that, they perish.
• Lore of the Sea – Merfolk have a strong oral tradition, granting a +2 bonus on common knowledge checks and they begin play with a free d6 in Knowledge (History).
• Magical Affinity – Merfolk start with 5 free power points. Those without an Arcane Background edge gain no bonus from this trait, though they do get the bonus power points immediately if they later gain an Arcane Background.

Magic

Edges

Arcane Background (Mana)

Associated Skill: Channeling
Starting mana points: 10

Starting spells: 3, at least two of which must be from your chosen color.

When you choose this arcane background, pick a color– white, blue, black, red or green. The color you choose determines what spells you have access to and what attribute your channeling skill is derived from.

You may learn powers from your color’s list, as well as your two allied colors’ lists. Spells from your allied colors’ lists cost 1 additional mana point to cast (your own color’s spells cost the usual amount).

For reference, here are each color’s allied colors:

White: Blue, green
Blue: White, black
Black: Blue, red
Red: Black, green
Green: Red, white

A normal character can only channel a single type of mana; even though you have access to other colors’ spell lists, when you cast a spell from one of them you are using your own color of mana to do it, and the spell is aligned with that color. For example, if a blue mage casts heal (which is on the white list), it is considered a blue spell and uses blue mana.

Versatile Caster

Requirements: Novice, Channeling d8

You may cast spells from your allied colors’ spell lists for their normal cost instead of paying an extra mana point.

Skills

Channeling (Special)
This skill is used for Arcane Background (Mana). If you take the arcane background edge, make sure to toss some points in here! Otherwise, ignore this. The skill is linked to a different attribute, depending on your chosen color, as follows:

• White: Spirit
• Blue: Smarts
• Black: Smarts
• Red: Strength
• Green: Vigor

Spell Lists

White

• Armor
• Deflection
• Healing
• Light
• Smite

Blue

• Conceal/Distract (See New Spells, below)
• Detect/Conceal Mana (See Detect/Conceal Arcana)
• Elemental Manipulation (Air)
• Elemental Manipulation (Water)
• Speak Language

Black

• Entangle
• Fear
• Lower Trait (See Boost/Lower Trait)
• Obscure
• Stun

Red

• Bolt
• Burst
• Elemental Manipulation (Fire)
• Speed

Green

• Beast Friend
• Boost Trait (See Boost/Lower Trait)
• Elemental Manipulation (Earth)
• Environmental Protection
• Shape Change

New Spells

Conceal/Distract

Rank: Novice
Mana Points: 3
Range: Smarts
Duration: 3 (1/round)
Trappings: Illusory camouflauge, ghost sounds, etc.

This spell has two similar modes.

As Conceal, all creatures in a small burst are magically camouflaged, and all others take a -1 penalty on notice checks to spot them for the duration of the spell.

As Distract, all creatures in a large burst take a -2 penalty on all notice checks for the duration of the spell.

Flavor wise, I’ll leave you with the description given by the Magic creative team.

Vampires live openly in Guul Draz and are famed for the decadence and perversion of their lifestyle. Bloodchiefs, the progenitors of their race, control the opulent city of Malakir. Vampire society is divided by “family” allegiances, each family beholden to its Bloodchief. Each family controls a small amount of territory and routes through the swamp, although the main currency of any family is in its connections and relationships. The tastes and passions of the Bloodchief tend to be imprinted on the vampires he or she creates.

There are five greater families in Guul Draz: Nirkana, Kalastria, Emevera, Urnaav, and Ghet. Dozens of other lesser families are scattered across Guul Draz, each with a contingent of undead nulls appropriate to their place in vampire society. Whenever a vampire fully drains the blood of a living creature without destroying the husk, a vampire null is created from the body. If nulls are left without orders, they will hunt and kill living things that they can find.

-Magic Creative Team, A Planeswalker’s Guide to Zendikar

Guul Draz Vampire XML

Guul Draz Lacerator XML

Guul Draz Bloodletter XML

Guul Draz Null XML

Tactics

Nulls swarm enemies, attacking mindlessly and attempting to maneuver to give flanking bonuses to the true vampires. The bloodletter dances through the melee, attempting to keep as many foes bloodied as possible at all times. Lacerators use their claws only as a last resort, prefering to grab and bite their enemies even when the enemy isn’t bloodied. The vampires stay hidden until someone’s bloodied, and then concentrate on the bloodied foe(s).

I feel pretty confident when I say that Zendikar may just be the greatest D&D setting never published.

There’s a great post on the Magic website detailing the setting’s theme, regions and inhabitants in great detail.

Stormwind, on its face, appears to be a fairly generic fantasy castle/city. Indeed, as the “human city” in World of Warcraft it seems specifically designed to be quite normal and expected. However, beneath its surface are some interesting bits of lore and plot which could go well in any setting.

Rebuilt on a Shameful Foundation

Stormwind was one of the oldest human kingdoms in Azeroth, and among the first destroyed when the orcs came to Azeroth. It was only retaken in recent years, and the crown set out a call to all the kingdom’s greatest engineers and artisans to help rebuild it.

A dispute arose as the workers, after toiling long and hard to rebuild, demanded recompense. The crown had assumed they’d worked for civic pride alone and refused them, in fact exiling them from Stormwind entirely.

The wronged craftsmen banded together, forming a band of criminals known as The Defias. The same ingenuity which allowed Stormwind to regain its former glory was now turned against it, the artisans and engineers using their skills to take their payment in the form of blood and banditry.

Since then, The Defias have grown exponentially, conscripting all those whose greed outstrips their scruples. Entire portions of the kingdom of Stormwind have for all intents and purposes been taken over by them, and the crown has had little success in stopping them.

The Stockade

Within Stormwind, there is a dungeon-esque prison known as The Stockade. Frequently plagued by riots, recently they’ve gotten so bad that the Stormwind guard has pulled out entirely. They now sit outside the only entrance, standing behind barricades and simply trying to keep the prisoners from escaping.

A prison like this is ripe for adventuring and adaptation. Not only can the PCs help to protect the city or stop the riots, but an adventure could also be setup where the PCs have to find a contact inside the prison, but don’t have the time or resources to actually stop the rioting.

Ravnica: City of Guilds. A planet covered entirely by city, ruled by ten guilds vying for control and kept in check only by an ancient enchantment called the Guildpact.

Ravnica is the setting for the Ravnica block, the twelfth block of Magic: The Gathering, and setting for the Ravnica, Guildpact and Dissension sets. It is also an absolutely fantastic setting for your favorite fantasy RPG.

Pros

• The Guilds: The ten guilds which are central to the plot of Ravnica are also amazing resources for gamers. There’s so much intrigue and so many interactions and plot hooks that I don’t even know where to begin. Characters might belong to the guilds, trying to join them, trying to escape them, etc.
• Room for Expansion: Aside from the guilds, Ravnica’s actually not been explored that much. There’s room for pretty much anything in the city which spans an entire world.
• Dungeons: The city of Ravnica is like an urban parfait, with layers upon layers of streets and buildings. More importantly, while much of the city is constantly being demolished and rebuilt, there’s also room for ancient tenements thousands of years old, inhabited by Urza-only-knows what, and filled with ancient secrets and treasures.

Cons

• Lack of Diversity: Actually, not as big a problem as you might think. Despite the fact that Ravnica’s just one giant city, the city is actually quite diverse. Upscale high rises kept in pristine condition, dilapidated slums, dark and noxious sewers, etc. That said, at the end of the day, it is still a giant city, so you’ll never find, say, a mountain or a forest.
• Narrow power band: Ravnica seems like a setting with a relatively narrow band of power, where it’s difficult for me to envision truly epic stories. Using 4e D&D as a reference, I can certainly come up with a couple of challenges for 30th level characters (Niv Mizzet and Rakdos immediately spring to mind), but I can’t really see a whole lot there to challenge a group of really high-level characters. Ultimately what it comes down to is that, without making some radical alterations to the assumptons of your system, the “big fish” aren’t as a rule much more powerful than the “small fries.” Still in the D&D 4e paradigm, I probably would have difficulty coming up with much else to do beyond, say, 15th level. Then again, maybe not. Who knows?

The Guilds

Wikipedia, as usual, has a really great article on Ravnica, including awesome descriptions of the guilds. I’ll be going over each of the ten guilds in a bit of detail, and today we’ll be talking about two of them, the Azorius Senate and the Boros Legion. Not the most exciting pair, to be completely honest, but they have an interesting dichotomy. In essence, you might think of the Azorius as the lawmakers and the Boros as their enforcers. It’s a bit of a simplification, but not much.

The Azorius Senate: A bunch of pencil pushers and lawmakers who seek to create absolute order by stifling everything under layers and layers of bureaucracy.

To be completely honest, the senate is probably one of the more boring guilds, for roleplaying purposes. Sure, there’s some potential for entertainment as you stymie the players and have them arrested for not filing the proper paperwork before sticking their gum to the bottom of that table, but that would get old pretty fast.

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The Boros Legion: Think of the Boros as the natural result when you’ve got a town guard in a city that takes up an entire planet. They’re a regimented military which concerns itself with upholding the laws and morality, preferring swift action and retribution.

Again, not one that jumps out with any really interesting possibilities, but they’re sure to show up a lot. Whenever the characters are involved in some hijinx, a Boros guard’s probably not far off.

Tune in next week for House Dimir, the Golgari Swarms, the Gruul Clans, and the Izzet League!