Magic: the Gathering Officially Comes to D&D

For years, gamers have wondered why two of the biggest fantasy brands in the world, Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, couldn’t come together, especially since they’re both made in the same building. Ex-WotC employees have even talked about abandoned attempts, dating back many years, to bring the two together.

Well, it’s finally happened, as the Magic: the Gathering side of things has released a free PDF that brings the world of Zendikar into D&D. The download includes write-ups for the major races of that plane, which range from fantasy staples like elves, to their take on vampires and goblins, to uniquely Magic peoples the Kor. There’s also stats for various monsters of the world, though a lot of ground is covered just by suggestions on how to reskin monsters. So if you’re looking on unique stats for the ancient horror Eldrazi, you’ll have to work those out on your own, with some suggestions on how to get started. You also won’t find rules for bringing planeswalkers to your D&D game: the book is all about having your own native plane-dweller adventurers running around Zendikar.

Also tellingly, the post includes a link to the survey that asks if you’d be willing to pay for this kind of thing as a printed book, and what Magic plane you’d next like to see in D&D (go Ravnica!) As with everything else, if enough people enjoy it and say they’ll pay money for it, you’ll probably see more of it. Despite using existing art assets, designing and developing these kind of supplements takes time and money, and I’m sure this is a way to test the waters. And it’s a great way to make use of all the backstory and descriptions that Wizards already generates for each of their new expansion blocks for Magic.

Now the question is if the agreement will go both directions, and we’ll see the next Magic block set in Sigil or Eberron.