I’m a homebrew enthralled DM that likes making my own worlds rather than just running premade campaigns. I feel it gives a little more freedom to both me and my players. But recently I’ve been mulling over an idea about a campaign based on another world: The plane of Ixalan.
For those of you not familiar with Magic: The Gathering, Ixalan is a continent on a larger plane that is heavily reflective of Mesoamerican mythology, and is said to harbor the legendary golden city of Orazca, the Immortal Sun (El Dorado, wink-wink). The native humans and Merfolk on Ixalan have shared the continent since time immemorial, but recently visitors from across the sea, including pirates of the Brazen Coalition seeking Orazca, and the Imperial vampiric forces of the Legion of Dusk, have appeared on the shores of Ixalan to take what they can. Oh, and another thing, there’s dinosaurs!
The story surrounding the mtg expansion focuses on Jace Beleren after planeswalking from Amonkhet to this castaway plane and finding himself unable to planeswalk away. For obvious reasons I would neglect the more specific parts of this story to allow the players to forge their own path.
My goal for this homebrew based on Ixalan is for the players to either be natives, pirates, or the Legion of Dusk, all searching for the golden city and the artifacts it holds. That goal is clear in my head. But the atmosphere is what seems a bit restricting. For example the only races that were really included in Ixalan, that the players could be were: Humans, Merfolk, Orcs, Goblins, Sirens, and Vampires. As you can see, rather restricting with the character options. But since this is more of a homebrew based off of mtg content, I was thinking I could bend the rules slightly with the races to include a few more options. My question here is what other races, flavor wise, would fit into Ixalan?
Also, if anyone has tips on how to adapt the lore of Ixalan into a campaign, it would be greatly appreciated. If you want to learn more about it, the general summary is at this link: https://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planes/ixalan
and to learn more about the story simply look under the story link on the Magic: The Gathering homepage and look for Ixalan.
Best I can think of is to include variants of each race. Already you have at least 2 humans, 2 merfolk (3 if you include tritans), orcs and half-orcs, 2 versions of goblins (d&d and PS:I), sirens, and vampires. For 11 race options.
You can add half-elves as another human option. Water Genasi as a merfolk option. A gnome, kobold, or halfling could be reflavored as a goblin. Probably best to avoid extra flying races, but the Aaracokra could be a siren. And Tieflings could be reflavored as vampires.
Some of those are a stretch, but if 11 races wasn't enough...
My advice: They're each Planswalkers who, like Jace, have lost their ability to planeswalker for a while (or this was they're first time and they have no idea how to do it again).
Now, they have no restrictions on what race they play, as they can each just come from a different plane (i.e. Forgotten Realms, Ebberon, etc.) and seem to have been brought together for some strange purpose.
Of course, the downside is at some point, your campaign will evolve into a planar campaign if it doesn't end with them "regaining their spark".
I’m a homebrew enthralled DM that likes making my own worlds rather than just running premade campaigns. I feel it gives a little more freedom to both me and my players. But recently I’ve been mulling over an idea about a campaign based on another world: The plane of Ixalan.
For those of you not familiar with Magic: The Gathering, Ixalan is a continent on a larger plane that is heavily reflective of Mesoamerican mythology, and is said to harbor the legendary golden city of Orazca, the Immortal Sun (El Dorado, wink-wink). The native humans and Merfolk on Ixalan have shared the continent since time immemorial, but recently visitors from across the sea, including pirates of the Brazen Coalition seeking Orazca, and the Imperial vampiric forces of the Legion of Dusk, have appeared on the shores of Ixalan to take what they can. Oh, and another thing, there’s dinosaurs!
The story surrounding the mtg expansion focuses on Jace Beleren after planeswalking from Amonkhet to this castaway plane and finding himself unable to planeswalk away. For obvious reasons I would neglect the more specific parts of this story to allow the players to forge their own path.
My goal for this homebrew based on Ixalan is for the players to either be natives, pirates, or the Legion of Dusk, all searching for the golden city and the artifacts it holds. That goal is clear in my head. But the atmosphere is what seems a bit restricting. For example the only races that were really included in Ixalan, that the players could be were: Humans, Merfolk, Orcs, Goblins, Sirens, and Vampires. As you can see, rather restricting with the character options. But since this is more of a homebrew based off of mtg content, I was thinking I could bend the rules slightly with the races to include a few more options. My question here is what other races, flavor wise, would fit into Ixalan?
Also, if anyone has tips on how to adapt the lore of Ixalan into a campaign, it would be greatly appreciated. If you want to learn more about it, the general summary is at this link: https://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planes/ixalan
and to learn more about the story simply look under the story link on the Magic: The Gathering homepage and look for Ixalan.
Thank you everyone!
Best I can think of is to include variants of each race. Already you have at least 2 humans, 2 merfolk (3 if you include tritans), orcs and half-orcs, 2 versions of goblins (d&d and PS:I), sirens, and vampires. For 11 race options.
You can add half-elves as another human option. Water Genasi as a merfolk option. A gnome, kobold, or halfling could be reflavored as a goblin. Probably best to avoid extra flying races, but the Aaracokra could be a siren. And Tieflings could be reflavored as vampires.
Some of those are a stretch, but if 11 races wasn't enough...
You might be interested in checking out Plane Shift: Ixalan, which I understand is created by a writer of Magic: The Gathering.
My advice: They're each Planswalkers who, like Jace, have lost their ability to planeswalker for a while (or this was they're first time and they have no idea how to do it again).
Now, they have no restrictions on what race they play, as they can each just come from a different plane (i.e. Forgotten Realms, Ebberon, etc.) and seem to have been brought together for some strange purpose.
Of course, the downside is at some point, your campaign will evolve into a planar campaign if it doesn't end with them "regaining their spark".
What about the Malamet? They could be tabaxi, leonin, or something like that.