Dungeons & Dragonshas touched on a wide variety of settings over the years, and while the 5th edition of the game hasn’t tapped into all of them yet, Wizards of the Coast is branching out quite a bit this year. Not only willDungeons & Dragonsreturn to the spacefaring Spelljammer setting in a few months, but Dragonlance will get a new adventure in late 2022 as well. These establishedD&Dsettings aren’t all that have joined the game in recent years, however. Wizards of the Coast’s other highly influential game,Magic: The Gatheringhas crossed over withD&Dmultiple times in 5e.
Magic: The Gatheringcrossovers started in 2018 withGuildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica,a guide toD&Dcampaigns in the planet-sized city of Ravnica with its ten opposing guilds. The Greco-Roman plane of Theros andthe magical school of Strixhavenhave joined the game since then. All of these books have been well-received and introduced lots of interesting ideas to the game, so Wizards of the Coast should continue with a newMtGsetting: New Capenna. The latestMagicset,Streets of New Capenna,wonderfully blends 1920s organized crime narratives with magic to create a world that’s more than worth visiting inD&D.
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Streets of New Capenna’s Potential in D&D
Streets of New Capennaand its titular setting provide more than enough source material for an interestingD&Dsourcebook. The city of New Capenna is run by five magical gangster families who distribute magic-enhancing Halo and impact the city in different ways, from hosting decadent entertainment to performing the city’s hard labor. Much likeGuildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica,a New Capenna sourcebook could allow players to join one of these five crime families. Through official tools describing New Capenna’s crime families, Dungeon Masters could tell exciting stories about magical gangsters vying for power while players could grapple with their characters' relationship with crime in a complicated, corrupt society.
Of course, more basic aspects ofStreets of New Capennamake it a greatD&Dsetting too. It includes a lot ofinteresting potential playableD&Draces, from the octopus-like Cephalids to the rambunctious Raccoonfolk to the powerful Rhox. New Capenna’s origins lie in demons and angels banding together to defeat their Phyrexian overworlds in a war that scoured the rest of the plane, leaving only New Capenna itself standing. The city’s dark backstory and the wastelands that lie beyond New Capenna’s borders provide a wealth of story threads that DMs can weave into an exciting campaign.
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Dungeons & Dragons in 2022
Sadly, it doesn’t look like a New Capenna source book is inD&D’s future right now.The first-everDungeons & DragonsDirectjust came and went, bringing with it a plethora of announcements, including new sourcebooks. A newMagic: The Gatheringcrossover wasn’t among the announcements, unfortunately. Wizards of the Coast seems focused on oldD&Dsettings at the moment, rather thanMtGconversions. While it’s possible that Wizards will surprise fans with a newMtGcrossover later in 2022, odds are against that happening, now thatDungeons & Dragonshas such an explicit roadmap for 2022.
Wizards of the Coast definitely shouldn’t abandon its line ofMagic: The Gatheringsourcebooks. These books have been some of the most rich and creative books to joinDungeons and Dragons5e in recent years, providing DMs with a wealth of mechanics that can make their settings more special, even if they don’t run a campaign set in Ravnica, Strixhaven, or Theros. These books are also a great way of acknowledging the impact thatMagic: The GatheringandD&Dhave both had on tabletop gaming.The upcomingD&Dprojects involving Dragonlance, Spelljammer, and more look great, but hopefully New Capenna gets its day in the sun too.
Dungeons and Dragons 5eis available now.
