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Grytorm
2011-10-09, 09:53 PM
Magic the Gathering, I started playing recently and began to wonder about this. so, has anyone done it? Played a character from a card (or at least based on one heavily?) Written up stats for an Arcbound Ravager? Run a campaign in one of their worlds? (For me from what I have seen probably the most interesting one would be Mirrodin before New Phyrexia) Or perhaps made a casting class for each of the colors? Well have you?

Kaun
2011-10-09, 10:24 PM
Do you mean set in the world?

I'm not sure this is what your looking for but...

I was nutting out the idea for a game based around MtG where the players would all play very powerful magic users. Their characters would all be members of the worlds magic guild, a sort of world spanning fraternity of very powerful casters who sat above political leaders and warlords and the like.

The basic plot behind the game is that this guild would only ever have one leader at a time who would run the whole show, often for centuries due to a magically extended life's. When the current leader would die the new leader would be chosen by a test set out to all members of the guild.

Basically the guilds original forming members built a half dozen of these uber magic constructs who would appear when the leader died and whisk away with the staff of power (McGuffin/magical artifact). The staff of power is the icon of the guild, who ever held it was the leader blah blah. Anyway, these constructs would take the staff and vanish off to some were in the world and hide the staff then from that point on the "test" would begin. The first member of the guild to find the staff and return it to the seat of power would become the new guild leader. It was sort of a safety net to insure the guild would always be run by someone skilled, smart and resourceful.

There would be rules to the test like, don't kill other guild members yadda yadda but like all rules they only count as being broken if you get caught :smallamused:.

Anyway its the basics of an idea i have been sitting on for a while but I am yet to figure out a way to run it that i would be happy with.

Scoot
2011-10-09, 11:50 PM
I know there has been a planeswalker class (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189767) made,

and I think there's even a campaign recruiting for PbP right now.

As for stat-ing out cards, and playing in the multiverse... No, I've never seen it, but it sure sounds interesting!

Dsurion
2011-10-10, 01:30 AM
I once ran a one-shot set in Otaria just before Kamahl would have showed up in Cabal City. We made a homebrew Dementia Summoner class that one of the players played amazingly well. We didn't get to do very much, but there were some great moral ambiguity moments. I was pretty sad we never got to my planned Cephalid encounter.

LansXero
2011-10-10, 07:16 AM
I once ran a one-shot set in Otaria just before Kamahl would have showed up in Cabal City. We made a homebrew Dementia Summoner class that one of the players played amazingly well. We didn't get to do very much, but there were some great moral ambiguity moments. I was pretty sad we never got to my planned Cephalid encounter.

Hey! Ive done that too.. currently running it. Moral ambiguity huh? My players just went full-on evil. I think Dementia Summoner would make an amazing homebrew class, as well as some sort of fire-barbarian gish and maybe a justicar to round things up. Im unsure of how much to borrow as far as characters go though...

Another setting that would be interesting to play in would be Ravnica. and Zendikar. And perhaps even Innistrad. Mirrodin too...

Eldan
2011-10-10, 08:11 AM
I think I once saw a campaign roughly based on the Weatherlight stories.

Kurald Galain
2011-10-10, 08:30 AM
I once saw a RPG system where instead of a character sheet, you had a bunch of magic cards.

BlackestOfMages
2011-10-10, 08:53 AM
as someone said above, I'm running a MtG-based campaign (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217519) in the PbP section right now, though it won;t be direclty using al that many of the existing planes (due to copyright/me being to lazy to know many of them), I am using some of the critters, which I've been statting up here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217555) (though I did forget about it)

Ted_Stryker
2011-10-10, 12:45 PM
I haven't done anything with Magic cards, but I have used a few of the Crypt cards from Richard Garfield's Vampire-based CCG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Eternal_Struggle) as the basis for NPCs in various V:tM chronicles that I've run.

Mr.Moron
2011-10-10, 02:23 PM
I haven't, but the most recent set has really been tempting. Innistrad seems like it'd be a really satisfying setting to run a game in. There is a lot going on there that seems like great fodder for a campaign.

Ursus the Grim
2011-10-10, 02:25 PM
I haven't, but I am constantly considering converting certain monsters to D&D. I kinda figured, like most of my half-baked homebrews, that somebody's already done it damn well. Of course, if somebody wants to start up a Homebrew Magic Monster compendium, I would be all over that like white on rice.

I could finally get Autocthon Wurm the respect it deserves.:smallbiggrin:

Grytorm
2011-10-10, 10:08 PM
Those look rather interesting. Although the homebrewed color wheel might have been off about colorless creatures. Most animals have colors in the game. Just saying. What I don't like about the Planeswalker class is that White is kept from being evil and Black from being good, at least with the spells.

BlackestOfMages
2011-10-10, 11:01 PM
which makes sense really, due to the focus of the schools (never seen a black card provide basic defence/healing (stealing it from the other guy dosen't count), and never seen a white spell which is direclty messing with the other guy. also, never seen a white undead or a black anged, and I've played this game for a long time)

And it's not really kept from being evil, since there's not all that many spells with good/evil descriptors. you can still be good and have black spells, and since your not a cleric casting an evil spell does diddly squat to youe alignmnet

Ferreon
2011-10-12, 09:45 AM
Gatherer shows 7 angels with black involved, 3 of which are pure black.
White has a number of spirits, some of which flavoured as the undead, Dearly Departed, for example. There's also a black/white vamp.

Dr.Epic
2011-10-12, 10:52 AM
No, but I guess it would be interesting to play a game where were all mages and summon creatures/spells with mana based on MtG.

Dusk Eclipse
2011-10-12, 10:52 AM
which makes sense really, due to the focus of the schools (never seen a black card provide basic defence/healing (stealing it from the other guy dosen't count), and never seen a white spell which is direclty messing with the other guy. also, never seen a white undead or a black anged, and I've played this game for a long time)

And it's not really kept from being evil, since there's not all that many spells with good/evil descriptors. you can still be good and have black spells, and since your not a cleric casting an evil spell does diddly squat to youe alignmnet

umm I don't remember the name but there is a white card that essentially renders one creature completely useless, it can't attack, can't defend and can't activate it's abilities...

BlackestOfMages
2011-10-12, 08:55 PM
yeah, OK, but mostly those are major exceptions. 3 angels out of lots isn't much, the undead whites are more like posotive energy spirirts than undead, and making it so an enemy creature can't hurt you is defence :smalltongue:

and multi-coloured isn't what yu where moaning at, so part-black x dosen't count.

Ursus the Grim
2011-10-12, 09:42 PM
You're being a bit silly. Point out where it explicitly says in official lore that Black is necessarily Evil and White is necessarily good.

In fact, I suggest you take a peek at Lord Gareth's amazing homebrew for yourself and see how he eloquently explains the color wheel and alignment.

For your perusal. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157001)

Jerthanis
2011-10-13, 03:52 AM
One major homebrew undertaking I seek to tackle someday after I finish crafting a homebrew system for Harry Potter and Mass Effect settings is to actually take Magic: The Gathering and find a way to use the card game itself as a resolution system for an RPG in its setting.

Character creation would be essentially assembling your deck, but each card in the deck speaks to the character you're playing and his education and focus in his wizardly studies. A deck with many "psychotic episode" or similarly titled discard effect cards might be a person fascinated with the quality of insanity, or was taught primarily by his time lost in the space between planes, where madness was the substance of the world. A red burn deck could indicate a pyromaniac or just a forceful and direct personality. A green elf deck could either be an elf himself or a person who champions their purpose and culture. A person who puts a Diabolic Tutor in his deck literally has a demon who offers him dark knowledge and whispers evil encouragement in his ear.

Decks would be built on point totals and advancement points increase the total point value of the deck, can add sideboard, or gain advantages that are associated with other game types. Two PCs who trust each other to an extreme enough degree could bind their life forces together and function in the game as if they were under the two-headed-giant ruleset. Another could forge a certain monster into his familiar or dominated thrall and gain the benefit of the "general" card from that one game type with the name I forget.

The biggest problem is that the power of each card is extremely hard to track to simply the casting cost, or even the rarity. Part of what makes Magic so much fun is the fact that it IS so hard to judge the power of individual cards against each other. Also, unless every conflict is a magic duel with other wizards, there would have to be additional rules for such mundane challenges as "There is a cliff in front of you" or "You need to find a small, hidden object in a messy room" and so on.

Anyway, it's a lot of work, but someday, I keep telling myself, I'll start working on hammering out the details.

Gnorman
2011-10-13, 06:29 AM
Or perhaps made a casting class for each of the colors?

[Shameless Plug]

I (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215165) made (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215876) some (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215432) of (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215306) those (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215538).

[/Shameless Plug]

BlackestOfMages
2011-10-13, 12:33 PM
You're being a bit silly. Point out where it explicitly says in official lore that Black is necessarily Evil and White is necessarily good. :smallconfused: ummm, I'm not saying that in the slightest, might be a good response to that comment

I'm saying the spells placed into the white spell list make sense and the ones in the black spell list make sense, which is what I replied to in the first place. yes, you can have evil white, and good black, but for them to fit into those colors the cards behave in a certain way, much like the listed spells behave in a certain way save a few very rare exceptions

you're