5e planeshift series#

Freeport is a far more desperate, dark place than bright, optimistic Kaladesh, but elements of the latter setting can be found in the City of Adventure. Kaladesh is essentially a magical steampunk setting, where the substance of aether is used to power all kinds of intricate devices. 'The Coming of Emrakul' might be used as an example of the effects of a Great Old One (like the Unspeakable One) manifesting within a plane. 'The Creatures of Innistrad' section provides many ideas for giving more variety to standard horror monsters, such as werewolves and vampires. In general, Plane Shift: Innistrad is most useful as a source of ideas for isolated Gothic tropes, for a campaign where an entire region has descended into horror or madness, or to flesh out a more sinister reflection of Freeport in another plane (such as the Shadow Plane, or Freetown in Hell in Freeport). The inquisitor background is perfectly suited to characters associated with the World of Freeport's Hexworth Inquisition. In the World of Freeport, these traits could be used as models for new human 'subraces' based on various nations of the Continent. Most PCs are humans, so provincial traits are used to provide the diversity usually gained from having multiple races. This makes it very similar in feel to Curse of Strahd, and in fact, this article provides suggestions for setting that adventure in Innistrad. Innistrad is a realm immersed in Gothic horror. The Bestiary's discussion of the Eldrazi and their minions can provide numerous ideas for eldritch horrors inspired by Lovecraft's mythos. Similarly, Zendikar's goblins work quite well for the smaller inhabitants of Bloodsalt, and this plane's elves are very similar to standard D&D elves. This world's two-legged merfolk are more comfortable on land than the fish-tailed D&D race, which makes them imminently suited as PCs in Freeport. Races of Zendikar include humans, kor (a humanoid race skilled at climbing and white magic), merfolk, vampires (who are diseased humanoids rather than undead), goblins, and elves.

The plane has few large settlements, which may require a bit of a stretch to use it as Freeport's native plane, but the existence of ruins from multiple ancient civilization does fit the City of Adventure's aesthetic.

Zendikar was strongly influenced by D&D, so this plane feels very much like a typical D&D campaign setting. For these reasons, I've decided to review the Plane Shift articles in much the same way that I treated the new material presented in 'Unearthed Arcana,' by discussing how they could be used in conjunction with Green Ronin's Freeport: The City of Adventure setting. I do not own any of the art books, and have not played Magic in several years. Four planes have have been detailed so far: Zendikar, Innistrad, Kaladesh, and Amonkhet. Each art book provides background and adventure hooks for one of the planes of the Magic multiverse, while the Plane Shift articles provide the mechanics needed to adapt it as a setting for the D&D Fifth Edition game.

5e planeshift series#

In order to promote their The Art of Magic: The Gathering books, Wizards of the Coast has released a series of Plane Shift articles as free PDFs.