I want some Magic in my D&D, please

I remember very distinctly when Wizards of the Coast announced the purchase of TSR on April 10, 1997. A whole lot of people went into a panic about what was going to happen.

Magic: The Gathering players were worried that somehow their game would be put on a back burner in favor of D&D. D&D players were worried that all of a sudden D&D would be deluged with Magic: The Gathering characters like Serra Angel.

It never panned out that way.

But really, let’s just say that today Wizards decided to combine the two into a campaign setting. Would it really be that bad? I don’t think so.

As a player of both, I have always thought it would be grounds for a great setting. Each supplement either adds a new era, or expands one what is already there. There are so many creatures, new spells, organizations, factions, magic items, and possible locations that it makes one dizzy to consider it.

I can just see the trip through the swamp to discover the secret of the Cyclopean Tomb, fighting off a horde of Scathe Zombies, watching Scavenging Ghouls devour their dead – or the trip through the Craw Wurm infested forest to strike up a treaty with the haughty Llanowar Elves.

But will it ever happen? In my opinion? Probably not.

Let’s face it: If it hasn’t happened yet, it probably never will. Magic is the first example of the modern collectible card game genre and still thrives today, with an estimated six million players in over seventy countries. D&D may have 15-20 million players, even with the neutered 4th edition. Since the IPs are owned by the same company, it seems like an easy match.

And according to Chris Pramas, head honcho of Green Ronin Publishing – Nope. As a man “in the know”, he had this to say about the situation:

I was originally hired at WotC four years ago to work on the D&D/Magic crossover project. At the time the plan was to make a stand-alone variant of 2nd edition. Tweet [Jonathan Tweet, ed.] was going to write the rulebook and I was going to write the world book. The whole project came grinding to a halt within four months of my being hired. Maybe a year later it was briefly revived, but this time only as a monster book for D&D. Then that too got the kaibosh [sic].

I doubt such a project will ever see the light of day. The different brand groups at WotC are very territorial and they have never worked well together. After I moved over to minis, we tried to do a Magic minis game. Predictably enough, the effort was a huge waste of time.

Wizards has also stated (in a sense) that they would like to keep the brands separate. In an article called “The Look of Zendikar”, they had this to say:

Wayne Reynolds (who was especially key in allowing his deep knowledge and experience with D&D provide us with a party/teamwork feel that was not D&D visually. We wanted that adventuring party resonance, but not by stepping on the heels of another of our properties.)

And there it is.

I’m no businessman to be sure, so this brand-separation doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. When I think of some of the… odd settings that Wizards has allowed to be created, I don’t see how a few sourcebooks along the line of Eberron (circa 3.5) would do anything but be a blessing for players of both.