Sets (AFR) Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Previews- Dripping with Flavor, and Excess Words!
- Thread starter TrainmasterGT
- Start date
What would your top ten be?
Innistrad, Innistrad, Innistrad
Innistrad, Innistrad, Dark Ascension
Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored
Ravnica, Guildpact, Dissension
Strixhaven, Strixhaven, Strixhaven
Conspiracy, Conspiracy, Conspiracy
Unstable, Unstable, Unstable
Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight
Modern Masters 2, Modern Masters 2, Modern Masters 2
Dominaria, Dominaria, Dominaria
It took me some time but I figured out what bugs me so much about this set so far.
It feels like a Secret Lair scaled to an entire set. Writing it makes me feel stupid because I feel like I should have been able to express this earlier.
It isn’t canon. To me it feels like a set that is suppose to sell to D&D players and hopefully also bring a few Magic players into the D&D world. Marketing. Names of the cards are weird and a little too on the nose when it comes to legendary characters.
Granted I still don’t know 90 % of the set so there are plenty of room to change my mind
It feels like a Secret Lair scaled to an entire set. Writing it makes me feel stupid because I feel like I should have been able to express this earlier.
It isn’t canon. To me it feels like a set that is suppose to sell to D&D players and hopefully also bring a few Magic players into the D&D world. Marketing. Names of the cards are weird and a little too on the nose when it comes to legendary characters.
Granted I still don’t know 90 % of the set so there are plenty of room to change my mind
Sorry, this is becoming a Velrun thread..
They have spoiled the rest of the Basic lands and the Evolving Wilds
So much flavor text, I love it!
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/adventures-in-the-forgotten-realms
They have spoiled the rest of the Basic lands and the Evolving Wilds
So much flavor text, I love it!
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/adventures-in-the-forgotten-realms
Velrun Tribal
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Oh fuck me you're right
Hmmm. Now that some of the flavor text lands have art that I like, I feel conflicted.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Laz
Developer
I am with Velrun and LadyMapi on this one - as a big DnD fan, this set just rubs me the wrong way. The spoiled cards don't really feel like DnD, they feels like an ode to R.A Salvatore. I have played campaigns set in the Forgotten Realms, but the nature of DnD means that the lore is mutable. I am pretty sure a universal hatred of Drizzle pervades our playgroup, and as such he and the associated characters have never existed in any Forgotten Realms setting we have ever touched. If other playgroups are like ours, then I suspect that the only constants in the setting are likely:
- Races
- Pantheon
- Vague geography
This is a pretty narrow set of things which people will agree on, which is why responses are as they are, people keep seeing things which don't represent 'their' Forgotten Realms. As a collaborative story-telling game, everyone's view of the setting is going to be different, and I know I feel pretty personally attached to my version, the one I spent months of my life experiencing with my friends.
If I pretend that I don't know any of the DnD background, then some of the cards read pretty well. Prosperous Innkeeper should be a Kithkin or a Human obviously (as a Magic play piece), but it is nice design. Flumph is just weird, but cool. The legendary creatures feel like legendary creatures, and do cool mechanically unique feeling things. Dungeon as a mechanic is bizarre - I don't think I grok how it feels to play yet.
- Races
- Pantheon
- Vague geography
This is a pretty narrow set of things which people will agree on, which is why responses are as they are, people keep seeing things which don't represent 'their' Forgotten Realms. As a collaborative story-telling game, everyone's view of the setting is going to be different, and I know I feel pretty personally attached to my version, the one I spent months of my life experiencing with my friends.
If I pretend that I don't know any of the DnD background, then some of the cards read pretty well. Prosperous Innkeeper should be a Kithkin or a Human obviously (as a Magic play piece), but it is nice design. Flumph is just weird, but cool. The legendary creatures feel like legendary creatures, and do cool mechanically unique feeling things. Dungeon as a mechanic is bizarre - I don't think I grok how it feels to play yet.
Dungeon is really strange and looks horrifying from an accessibility perspective, but will probably play well. I don't think analysis paralysis will be a problem after a couple of times we play venture cards. I don't like the mechanic right now, but I could see that changing.
I ran a D&D campaign for ~50 sessions recently, and I'm excited for this set actually! I don't feel anything bad about seeing the crossover, and thought Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Flumph are really cool designs. Curious to see how they can find new design space with such a generic fantasy setting.
I ran a D&D campaign for ~50 sessions recently, and I'm excited for this set actually! I don't feel anything bad about seeing the crossover, and thought Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Flumph are really cool designs. Curious to see how they can find new design space with such a generic fantasy setting.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I have ran multiple D&D campaigns, all of them in original worlds. On the one hand, that means the background and history is a lot less detailed than what's available for the Forgotten Realms, on the other hand I can tailor the world exactly to my own needs and I like dreaming up worlds
Today we'll get enough spoilers that it should make everyone's mind up one way or another who's feeling ambivalent.
For me, I've only played D&D for three sessions total. It just doesn't mean anything to me, and I've always been of the POV that Magic lucked out with the better artwork but D&D got the better flavor (if nothing else, just due to the massive extended universe of books, games, etc.). But just as with the upcoming LotR and Warhammer 5k sets/EDH decks we're getting, it's not as though I'm so attached to MtG flavor that I'm going to be any less compelled by this set.
I think the typical core set is pretty boring flavor-wise, and even if I'm not going to "get" the in-jokes, I'm already finding this at worst equally compelling to the backdrop of m21, for example. And it's not as though I've got this incredible fascination with each Magic world. For every Tarkir or Innistrad, we have a Ikoria or a Theros (which still have plenty of cool stuff going on, don't get me wrong). This seems fine?
And I do love the tacky land alternate arts that look like poorly-designed books from the 70s.
For me, I've only played D&D for three sessions total. It just doesn't mean anything to me, and I've always been of the POV that Magic lucked out with the better artwork but D&D got the better flavor (if nothing else, just due to the massive extended universe of books, games, etc.). But just as with the upcoming LotR and Warhammer 5k sets/EDH decks we're getting, it's not as though I'm so attached to MtG flavor that I'm going to be any less compelled by this set.
I think the typical core set is pretty boring flavor-wise, and even if I'm not going to "get" the in-jokes, I'm already finding this at worst equally compelling to the backdrop of m21, for example. And it's not as though I've got this incredible fascination with each Magic world. For every Tarkir or Innistrad, we have a Ikoria or a Theros (which still have plenty of cool stuff going on, don't get me wrong). This seems fine?
And I do love the tacky land alternate arts that look like poorly-designed books from the 70s.
Laz
Developer
As I dwell on the set (Ok, I just read all of the Basic lands with cheesy adventure hooks), I think I was too harsh.
I actually don't mind Tiamat at all. If you were going to represent the Evil Goddess of Dragons, you could certainly do worse than a big dragon who gave you more dragons. Similarly, capturing Spell effects in Magic seems pretty natural, and the generic fantasy setting is fine. I guess I just hate the Drizzt gang...
Perhaps my issue is the opportunity cost - in DnD, the world is a sandbox, you can do whatever you want with it. The Forgotten Realms have lots of nice ideas and story hooks and things simply because is has been built up for a long time, but I am not sure it is so interesting that it is worth trying to cram it into Magic, as opposed to doing a regular set which tells Magic's own story. The only reason I can think to feature it as a world for Magic is because it means that the Magic Creative team have to do less work, so yey? Cost savings?
I actually don't mind Tiamat at all. If you were going to represent the Evil Goddess of Dragons, you could certainly do worse than a big dragon who gave you more dragons. Similarly, capturing Spell effects in Magic seems pretty natural, and the generic fantasy setting is fine. I guess I just hate the Drizzt gang...
Perhaps my issue is the opportunity cost - in DnD, the world is a sandbox, you can do whatever you want with it. The Forgotten Realms have lots of nice ideas and story hooks and things simply because is has been built up for a long time, but I am not sure it is so interesting that it is worth trying to cram it into Magic, as opposed to doing a regular set which tells Magic's own story. The only reason I can think to feature it as a world for Magic is because it means that the Magic Creative team have to do less work, so yey? Cost savings?
They are so cute!
I am also toying with the idea of using the adventure hook basics and forcing my players to read the hooks out loud when they play the lands muwahahaha
So far, it really does feel like one of the laziest sets they've ever done. I couldn't quite figure out what was bothering me about but I think you just articulated it perfectly for me.
Dungeons were left at three becuase (let's face it) designing brand card type is CHALLENGING and you either Smuggler's Copter or you get..something else, where players are all like "Was that really worth creating a brand new card type?" I feel like Dungeons will be the latter case--they feel like precon Planeswalkers insofar as they will do *something* most games but it's nothing that will ever actually take over a game. I would argue these three dungeons are SO vanilla they won't even create many "memorable moments". A that point...yeah, kinda "What was the point of this?" Do they create any fun? Just feels like one more thing to fiddle with/keep track of.
I saw elsewhere (and so far agree) this set might have been better positioned as a new Planechase type of standalone set where the dungeons are like the oversized Planechase cards. You could do *a lot* with that. Make the cards still legal in legacy formats. Oh well..
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
A beholder that doesn't fly? Flavor fail
Laz
Developer
Your Beholders fly?! Like, through the sky? Not just hovering lazily from place to place within ancient ruins or underground lairs (except that one Beholder we met in Sigil who wore a monocle and top hat while running the port)? Your worlds sound terrifying!A beholder that doesn't fly? Flavor fail
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Now THERE's a pridemate.
This is perfect for my UB kill you with your own stuff theme.