A review of the recently released official Dungeon's and Dragons 5th Edition supplement: Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. Does it hold up as a Dungeons and Dragons supplement, or is it just a gimmick to bridge DnD and Magic the Gathering?
A bunch of months back, Wizards of the Coast announced that the next supplement for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition was going to be a new setting, and then soon after it was announced that new setting was going to be Ravnica, aka the City of Guilds, a plane featured in the famous and original TCG Magic the Gathering (which for the uninitiated is a WoTC property). The community's reactions was mixed with some people excited to see what WoTC had to offer or just for more 5E DnD books. Others were annoyed that the new setting wasn't one we saw in older editions in DnD and settings fans have been asking for a 5E book for such as Eberron or Dark Sun. Many fans were neutral, not leaning one way or another. Just kind of a content grunt of 'yay we are getting another book."
Since its release on November 20 of this year (coincidentally, the date of Kobold Stew's last post), the internet has been pretty quiet with reviews and posts about the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica except for a few tweets on Twitter and some short reviews. Most of what I've seen has been written/posted by people who play Dungeons and Dragons, but they have not played Magic the Gathering. I play and love both Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering. (If I am going to be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with MtG like most of its fans) I hope it can give me a special way of looking at the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica that other reviewers may not have had.
Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica is a supplement that is hard to pin down. It is referred to as a 'campaign sourcebook,' but it seems to be many things. One thing it most certainly is is an attempt by WoTC to create a bridge between its two flagship properties, but this is not the first time an attempt to bridge DnD and MtG together. Players have tried numerous times. Go to any RPG forum, and you are bound to find a thread about it there. It also isn't Wizard's first attempt at bridging the DnD and MtG gap.
Wizards of the Coast was utilizing the Unearthed Arcana format to release free, small supplements for DnD in conjunction with the release of new "blocks" of sets of cards. These supplements were called "Plane Shift." Plane Shift offered a way for DnD players to adventure and run games in the setting of whatever set the current cards were being printed in. They featured bare-bones flavor, mechanics for races home to the plane, and instructions for re-skinning monsters. Written by former Dungeons and Dragons novelist turned Magic the Gathering creative writer James Wyatt, Plane Shift featured artwork from MtG cards, but they had a very decent production quality, especially for something free. They can be found here. They offered Plane Shift for the planes of Zendikar, Innistrad, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, and Ixalan. They weren't extensive, but shit, they were free.
I believe these Plane Shift freebies paved the way for what would become the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, but what does the GGtR offer that Plane Shift couldn't? Add in original art, more lore, adventure hooks, new subclasses, and actual new monsters all packaged in a hardcover book and an "Official DnD Supplement" stamp. Slap on a $45-50 price tag and boom, GGtR. But it isn't that simple, and I want to break down the supplement, and answer the questions; is it good? Is it worth the price tag?
The Good
Before launching into negative stuff, let's talk about some of the parts of the GGtR I enjoyed. These include player options, the introduction to Ravnica's lore, and the new monsters.
Player Options
I am always a fan of new options for us as players. New races and classes are always a welcome addition to my 5E catalog, even if all of them will not be utilized in my games. The Guildmaster's Guide offers up the Centaur, the elephant-like Loxodon, Minotaur, Simic Hybrid,
and Vedalken. Although I am not exactly a fan of centaurs as player characters, I love the Loxodons to where I even homebrewed them before this release to include them in my games. I also greatly enjoyed the implementation and flavor that comes with the Simic Hybrids.
We also get two subclass options available with visiting Ravnica. The Cleric gets the Order Domain, and the Druid is given the Circle of Spores. This brings the Cleric up to 12 domains total and the druid up to 5 circles. The Order Domain brings something to the table that I feel the Cleric needed, and the beauty is that both of these fit in any Dungeon and Dragons game as they are nicely balanced and fit well into other worlds.
Player options are always good, and the ones Ravnica offers up for us are for the most part good and par for the course. As I said, player options are always good, and when they are balanced and done well, they are most welcomed.
Baby's Introduction to Ravnica
The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica provides a rather basic introduction to the lore of the City of Guilds. This lore really focuses on the guilds. It makes sense because the guilds are what really drive the mechanics and lore in Magic the Gathering's Ravnica. We're given information on the guild's philosophies, ways of handling things, ranks, structure, what classes fit into them, good spells that fit with them, and their role in the city. There is a lot to work with.
We also get some information about various sections of the city and places of interest. Other than that, we get some information on how the guilds see each other in little blurbs, but mainly the focus is on the guilds. To be fair, the guilds are very interesting. The way they all have a different viewpoint on how to live life, structure things, and go about handling issues, and the guilds themselves are fascinating. You have guilds like Izzet that are this steam-punky, mad scientist, arcanist guild, while there is Orzhov, a crime syndicate run by ghosts. Throw in the cycle of life and death Golgari or the absolutely bonkers bureaucrats at Azorious, and it makes for some interesting characters. There is also a brief guide for creating adventures for all of these guilds.
Monsters
The last good part of the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica is the addition of some interesting monsters for DMs to use in their game. A lot of the monsters are based off of creature cards from MtG, many of them using artwork from the cards they are based on, which adds an element of fun for people who have played Magic, such as myself.
Some of the monsters that the Guide adds are really interesting with some fancy mechanics that add some complexity to the monsters, but yet nothing too complicated that it would be too difficult to run. A good portion of the monsters feel fresh and new, and I feel a lot of them could easily be ported into any campaign setting.
Some of my personal favorite monsters due to their fun mechanics include the Blistercoil Weird (pictured above), Master of Cruelties, anything with the flyby ability, and the Nightveil Specter (pictured below).
The Bad
Now we have talked good parts of the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, let's get into talking about where it went wrong... There is a lot I feel the Guide fell short on, and it really was disappointing to me. The major issues I took with the Ravnica book were the lack of focus, missed potential, and the setting itself and the choice to use it.
Lack of Focus
When I was writing up this review and trying to describe what *is* the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, I found myself stumped. I really wasn't sure what to call it. It's a supplement with... stuff. A campaign sourcebook? I suppose. That's what the book says right? One book is trying to cram in introducing a brand new campaign setting, player options, lore, adventure hooks, and monsters.
When looking at DnD supplements, many praise most of the 5E ones. I'm talking about Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanithar's Guide to Everything, and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. What helped make them so good? In my opinion, part of what makes these supplements so good is their focus on one or two elements of the game. Volo's provides a bunch of new monster options for DMs while also giving players a bone with plenty of new and interesting races to make characters from, and it provided stats for playing monster races. Xanithar's added a whole bunch of new class options with new subclasses and flavor charts for classes. It is truly a player's companion, and I would argue a must have for players. Mordenkainen's adds even more monsters, but with a focus on some much needed high level monsters along with stuff I would consider outside the prime material. Also provides some flavor stuff and a player race option with the Gith.
With their focus, these supplements were able to be easy to digest and to determine if someone needs to own it. GGtR lacks this focus. It has player options, but beyond the races, there really isn't a whole lot there (and don't get me started on PC centaurs, and how I didn't care for their implementation). Two subclasses... TWO... is kind of meager for player options. They are good subclasses, but I wish there was more of them. There are some classes like Clerics and Rogues with plenty of subclasses while others like Druid and Barbarian could use a little love.
The lore for Ravnica the book gives is pretty good, but as someone who has played MtG for years and witnessed the three Ravnica blocks, the book isn't telling me anything new, besides the city and interesting locations, but even then it doesn't provide a whole of information beyond the areas of interest. Although the lore is helpful for people who have never visited Ravnica, the focus on the guilds really leaves a lot of questions about the setting that aren't answered. And I don't think I saw any mention of the Nephilim...
It's like the players have to come up with a lot of the lore and work with the guilds. They are interesting, but I already know about them thanks to Magic, and the book makes sure noobies know about them too, but what else about Ravnica?
Finally, the monsters are cool. Lots of new mechanics and keywords to add more depth to the game, but I felt like there wasn't enough of the monsters, or at least, enough of the good monsters. A lot of them felt like your standard, par for the course monsters with stats, attacks, and maybe an ability or spellcasting. Some felt like a slight reskin of others. I wish there were more monsters like the Blistercoil Weird or Master of Cruelties.
GGtR doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a campaign sourcebook for players or for DMs? I really can't tell because it seems to be all over the place. It is unfortunate because the taste of each thing it gives I enjoy, but there just isn't enough of it.
Missed Potential
There were opportunities that WoTC had here with the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. We're just going to start going into them. Remember that part about the lack of focus and how it feels there isn't enough class options? Well if there was a perfect way to make the Artificer all fixed up and an official class, this was the supplement. With the mad science vibe of both the Simic and Izzet guilds and Magic the Gatherings tendency to mix steampunk and sci fi elements into its fantasy, this was the place for the Artificer to shine. Along with this, it would have provided a very good reason for players to pick up the book. Many people were looking forward to a fixed and official Artificer, but yet we wait.
It is a common discussion that the alignment system in Dungeons and Dragons is a bit dated and is only still around because Gygax created it. Alignment has its place in Dungeons and Dragons, but this is a Magic the Gathering plane. One of the major mechanics of the card game are the five colors of mana; the five colors have their own philosophy and way of viewing the world. They are not necessarily tied to good and evil though some may see certain ideals as more morally 'good' than others. The Guilds that build the backbone of Ravnica are comprised of two of the colors from MtG, and it is how their philosophy is made up. Along with this, each color focuses on a mechanic in the game that matches with the themes of the color, and they even have creature types that are sort of their "premier" creatures.
I considered launching into an explanations of the color system and the color wheel from MtG, but if you are curious, you can research it further. It would derail the current discussion. If the developers wanted this to feel like an experience true to both DnD and MtG, they should have included the color alignments from MtG over DnD's lawful/chaotic good/evil axis because as the GGtR stands, it feels like they just wanted to use the lore of the plane of Ravnica, and leave out the parts that make it truly Magic the Gathering. The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica has shown me that it is a book for people who play Dungeons and Dragons first, and is hardly an MtG book. As I stated, the lore in the book doesn't even offer anything new for people who are already familiar with Ravnica. There was so much potential to 1. Be free of the burden of the alignment system and 2. Make a true bridge between DnD and MtG, but GGtR just falls short. It feels like... [continued in the next section]
The Setting Itself
Tell me if this sounds familiar to you? A planar city where various races and people congregate with a variety of factions with differing philosophies vying for control of that city? Sounds an awful lot like the Planescape setting from 2nd ADnD. That is what Ravnica in DnD feels like. It feels like a watered down Planescape. Planescape was a setting that fans were asking for when Wizards said they would be doing a new setting for 5E. Instead what we got was what feels like Planescape-lite. If the developers of the Ravnica set for MtG said they were inspired by Planescape when they created it, it really would not surprise me all that much. The problem with Ravnica is that it is missing out on the nuances and Dungeons and Dragonsness of Planescape due to the fact that it is from Magic the Gathering; a trading card game. It is disconnected from the larger DnD multiverse, and it actually hurts it more than helps it.
Magic the Gathering has so many interesting and unique settings they could have worked with. The HR Geiger meets fantasy New Phyrexia. The dino-packed Mesoamerican Ixalan. The classic Dominaria with years worth of lore to build on. Shit, Ravnica has all sorts of lore hidden away on wikis, but we got the very basics.
Make no mistake... The Guild Master's Guide to Ravnica is a way for Wizards of the Coast to bank money. Build a bridge from Dnd to MtG to double dip from their own consumers seems to be the strategy. Dungeons and Dragons players buy a book maybe once or twice when it comes out, and that is it. Magic players buy packs, product, and what not all the time, and MtG has a competitive scene. Even when I play eternal formats and don't buy packs, most local game stores pay out prizes in packs, meaning Wizards of the Coast earns their money. MtG is one of those things that you can always spend a little bit of cash on while you're out at the LGS because it is only a 4 dollar pack compared to the 50 dollar books of dnd. Hell, you can buy it when you get milk from Walmart or Target. GMtR is geared toward DnD players in the hopes to get them into Magic. If some MtG peeps get into DnD because of the book, great! On principle alone, I give the Guide a down tick on my inner review system.
I don't blame WotC solely on this. I feel like this was an order from the overlords from Hasbro. What if I told you the current sets in rotation for MtG were taking place in Ravnica. You wouldn't be surprised? Neither am I.
The Final Verdict
Before giving the final final verdict on the GGtR, I am going to put in some final, minor gripes. Some of the cropping/placing of art, especially in the monsters section was a little off to me. Also, I personally am not a fan of centaurs as player characters. The logistics are off, and I am not a fan of how WotC statted them. They need to let go of "Powerful Build" and natural weapons as being flavorful because they are starting to feel not that way at all. Honestly, my review of the playtest centaurs touches on all of my issues with them.
Now for the final verdict...
Don't get me wrong, The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica is not a bad book. It just isn't great either. It is very... mediocre, and maybe that is lending to the relative quiet around it. For everything good it offers, it just doesn't offer enough of each thing. It surprises me because it's not like they had to hyper focus on the art, considering a lot of the art was ripped straight from MtG cards.
You can get the PDF for the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron for 20 bucks and that is just as fulfilling as this book. I am glad I was able to get my GGtR on sale because I felt what I paid for it was a much more fair price than the full 45-50 dollars. So that is my final verdict... As a full priced, Dungeons and Dragons supplement, the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica is not worth what you pay for it. If you can manage to get it on sale for like 30 smackers, I'd say then it is worth it. With a book that feels like it can't decide what it wants to be and falls flat in other areas AND doesn't even have all new artwork, but artwork ripped from sources WotC already has access to, it doesn't feel right spending the full price on it.
It is a book that you only need 1 copy of for every playgroup, so if five people all pitch in 10 bucks, then I'd say it is worth it. For the price you pay though, I cannot recommend the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.
Could it have been different? Yes. I think if WotC took the old approach of the boxset, we could have gotten what we needed in all the categories. Player stuff, DM stuff, and Lore things.
That or they could have done two different books. The Guildmaster's Guide could have been the DM compendium and the Player's Guide to Ravnica could have been another book. That way they could have focused on both aspects of the game. Other than that, really just the stuff I mentioned throughout the review.
Anyway, that is my comprehensive review of the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. If you like the book, that's okay! Let me know and tell me why. I try to make Kobold Stew a dialogue, not just me yelling into the internet void. Thanks for stopping by and reading. I am hoping that I can help some people make their decision on whether or not to get this book or to just vent their the frustration on the book. Next time, I hope to make a post in my Inspirations miniseries of blogs! Stay tuned!
Until next time,
Happy Gaming Puddins
PLUG!
"The annual celebration of the Muldridge's matriarch has come once again. The adventurers have been hired to complete a string of quests during the party; but is something sinister going on around them?"
A good friend of mine, @TouchOfTiefling, has published his own adventure. MYSTERY AT MULDRIDGE MANOR! He's one of the best people I've played this game with and have sat on the other side of the screen of.
For 3 bucks, this well written adventure is a steal. "This module is intended to be used as a One-Shot but can easily be dropped into any already existing campaign."
A quick update!
After discussing with some of my avid followers and friends who read, I have decided to stay with the less frequent but longer and more comprehensive posts than shorter posts on a more regular basis.
Due to this, writer's block, and real life, it can make things difficult to post as often as I would like, but I just want to say I appreciate you for reading my content. If this is your first time around, thanks for checking it out!
Thanks to shitty internet algorithms, my release and posting model makes it hard for me to grow my audience or for loyal readers to see when I make a post. I recommend subscribing to receive email updates or following me on Twitter, and if you could share my stuff, that would be wonderful and greatly appreciated! I tend to respond to everyone who interacts with me, so go for it!
You're all rock stars! Stay frosty.
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