to RAVNICA
to RAVNICA
Contents
Credits
Campaign Dungeon Master
This campaign is run by Rob CJ.
Layout and Editing
The contents of this Guidebook has been put together by Jonathan.
Art & Images
Font and Back Cover: Richard Wright, ArtStation.com
Ravnica District Map: Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, Wizards of the Coast
Simic Guildgate: Adam Paquette, ArtStation.com
Page Stains: from adventure, "A Zib For Your Thoughts".
This document is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Disclaimer: The Living Guildpact is not responsible for the fore of those who ore orresred by the Azorius, beaten by rhe Boros. dodged by the Dimir, grossed our by rhe Colgori, gored by rhe Cruul, imploded by the lzzet, ourwiued by the Orzhov, rousted by the Rakdos. sub· sumed by the Selesnyo. or s1'cktned by the Simic, jo;n or leave '1 g"ild ot your own risk, and ger caught up in guild politics at your peril.
Introduction
Welcome to the campaign notes for Ravnica on LRC. The aim of this document is;
- To explain where in the timeline / lore of Ravnica the game is set, so that you can explore the available source material out there
- To share the basic details about the city and the guilds (so that you don’t need to look elsewhere to jump in.
- To update you on where the main campaign beats has got to
- To guide character creation
What this document won’t cover;
- The history of Ravnica; sorry there’s just too much
- The details of each game session; write ups from the PCs in the chat are so much more welcome than the DM typing out what “should” have happened…
- The ranks of the guilds - may be if I have time I will add this
- Lot’s of things I haven’t thought of, but I am open to feedback
Before I say anything more though I should say two BIG things.
1. Ravnica is a city scape. The plane is a city from horizon to horizon. There are still fields and there are dungeons, but they are integral to a wider city scape environment. Most of the action of the campaign will take place in the city, and specifically in the 10th district which serves as the capital / city centre and beating heart of the plane.
2. Guilds. The other big difference about Ravnica is that there are 10 guilds in Ravnica and they offer players a chance to participate in an organisation that is much bigger than them. Each guild is very different but they confer advantages, allies and a history to your characters right from the start. They might seem like a hurdle to joining but it’s really easy to build your character and then set them into a guild that suits. Also, not all citizens in Ravnica belong to the guilds - so if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.
A Note on the Setting
One small thing; Ravnica is a high tech game and closer to modern living than many of the other 5e worlds. That means that you can buy a coffee, and read a newspaper but it also means that there are robots, social structures, politics and even the notion of a welfare state.
Part 1: Guilds of Ravnica
The guild intro below is an extract from the Wikipedia information on the guilds. I have removed some of the parts that may be altered in the game and some of the notes which serve as additional detail for those interested.
Each guild has ranks within it, and players who gain renown in the guilds will rise in ranks. The ranks will permit you the use of additional benefits from the guild - lower ranking members to help you, the guilds magical items or perhaps more information / access to the city. You DO NOT need to know every guilds rankings but a passing knowledge of your character’s guild may help in understanding the authority of some of the NPCs you will meet in the game.
Azorius Senate
Guildhall: Prahv / New Prahv
Parun: Azor I
Guildmasters: Augustin IV, Isperia, Dovin Baan
Civic Function: Ravnica's government and legal sector.
House Dimir
Guildhall: Duskmantle
Parun: Szadek
Guildmasters: Lazav
Civic Function: Ravnica's couriers, information brokers, and librarians.
Cult of Rakdos
Guildhall: Rix Maadi
Parun: Rakdos
Guildmasters: Izolda/Lyzolda
Civic Function: Ravnica's entertainment, food industry, mining, and other blue-collar manual labor and pink-collar service sectors.
Gruul Clans
Guildhall: Skarrg
Parun: Cisarzim
Guildmasters: Borborygmos, Domri Rade
Civic Function: Ravnica's foresters, gamekeepers, park rangers, wildlife officers, and wildskeepers.
Selesnya Conclave
Guildhall: Vitu-Ghazi
Parun: Mat'Selesnya
Guildmasters: Trostani
Civic Function: Conservationists and charities, as well as a nature cult that competes with the Orzhova faith.
Orzhov Syndicate
Guildhall: Orzhova
Parun: Obzedat
Guildmasters: Kaya
Civic Function: Ravnica's dominant religious order, as well as its largest bank.
Izzet League
Guildhall: Nivix
Parun: Niv-Mizzet
Guildmasters: Ral Zarek
Civic Function: Ravnica's formative and physical scientists and engineers.
Golgari Swarm
Guildhall: Svogthos/ Korozda
Parun: Svogthir
Guildmasters: Sisters of Stone Death, Savra, Jarad, Vraska
Civic Function: Ravnica's agricultural and waste management sectors.
Boros Legion
Guildhall: Sunhome
Parun: Razia
Guildmasters: Feather, Aurelia
Civic Function: Ravnica's security force, constabulary, and standing army.
Simic Combine
Guildhall: Novijen / Zameck
Parun: Simic
Guildmasters: Momir Vig, Zegana, Vannifar
Civic Function: Ravnica's life scientists and conservationists.
Timeline
So Ravnica was a setting built by Magic The Gathering for the card game and revisited on many occasions. Therefore there’s a lot of history! Firstly, you DO NOT need to know this history to enjoy the campaign. Secondly, I will not stick 100% to the history - after all, it’s no good you knowing everything that ever happened and will happen - where’s the agency in that.
However, I do recognize that knowing what part of the lore the game is set in will allow you to find out more about the world around you, so if you want to look online then I suggest reading this first. The important plot beats of MTG’s Ravnica include the decamillenial war of the guilds, the period where the guilds were outlawed, the signing of a new guild pact and the war of the spark. This particular campaign is going to run pre-the war of the spark. Personally, after the war I think a lot changes in Ravnica and a lot of the really interesting characters are lost - right at the moments before this war is supposed to take place the city is on edge and everyone can feel it. This makes for an exciting time to weave small side quests with the grand politics of a campaign. I guarantee you though that I won’t be following the rest of history in the way it is written!
The Story So Far
The campaign started with the existence of the Living Guildpact - Jace Beleren, a planeswalker tasked with keeping Ravnica balanced. Jace is one of the key characters in the campaign as he has taken this responsibility extremely lightly and decided that in order to fulfil his purpose he will bring together a group of individuals from various guilds to act on his behalf - THAT’S YOU!
You act for your own guild, but as a group you represent everyone.
Some things in Ravnica affect the balance between the guilds or that impact multiple guilds or that seem like an existential threat for one guild. You are tasked with these cases - they can’t be trusted to the Azorius arrests or the militia of the Boros.
The tasks might come to you from Jace, from the guilds directly or you might just decide that the information you find is in scope - that’s up to you and can vary between games.
The game is also a sandbox - I will be sharing rumours and clues to things that are happening throughout. When you choose to follow them is up to you, but each session will have a particular new plot hook offered for you to follow. Discussions in the general thread can lead to particular plot hooks being followed!
Lastly, there is a large scale campaign plot occurring around you. Some of the smaller plots will be related and players can learn things from other players and sessions. This particular plot is all to do with the balance between the guilds and the potential for a much bigger war to break out.
Leveling Characters
Leveling will be done across the campaign by milestones. I am only one person and so I can’t track everyone’s levels or split smaller groups by level. Therefore during the main campaign plot hooks players will hit certain milestones and a message will be posted on the general thread - all PCs should level up at that point. It could be from the quests or just from training at the gym (or Library for wizards), but your character has leveled up! – Rob CJ, Ravnica DM
Part 2: Character Creation
If you are new to Dungeons & Dragons 5e, there are too many websites and tools out there to help with character creation to mention, so we'll stick the the official ones on paper: You can get a hold of the Basic Rules for free from the D&D official website before investing in a copy of the Player's Handbook, or and of the other books below. Alternatively, for the tech-savvy roleplayer, you can sign up for dndbeyond.com.
We have a specific Ravnica campaign set up in London RPG Community's D&D Beyond account that you can join and create a character in.
Unlike the recommendations in the setting book, Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, You may use any officially published Wizards of the Coast content to create your character.
Player Characters
Building a Player Character for Ravnica is a very open process - you can start with a guild or you can start with a character concept. Build your character up to the current level of the Campaign World (Currently Level 4), and join a game when you are ready.
There are no class restrictions and no race restrictions (I know some races are not normally permitted, but I have tried to keep this more open and can draw in new races as they become available in the books).
If you are unsure as to which guild to join or how to weave in the backstory - message me, I will help provide additional context. – Rob CJ, Ravnica DM
Stats
To keep the game simple and player's on an even playing field, we use the standard array option from the Player's Handbook: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
Background
Any background from Player's Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, or Xanathar's Guide to Everything. There are additional background options available in some adventure modules such as "Haunted One" from Curse of Strahd, or "Fisher" and "Marine" from Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
You may want to choose this carefully to suit the setting as your character will have access to Downtime Activities between sessions.
Starting Equipment
Use the Equipment options of your chosen race, class, and background; alternatively, if you have a specific vision you can trade equivalent starting equipment for Items or GP of equivalent value.
Multi-classing and Feats
Both options are available in the Kantas Expanse campaign; Feats in place of Ability Score Increase, and multi-classing at any level as long as the Ability Score requirements are met.
Alignment
Do start with whatever alignment feels right for your character, but know that this is not license to be rude to others at the table, in or out of character. See our Code of Conduct for more information.
Guild Standing
All Players Characters start with a Guild Renown of 3 with their own guild, and renown with this guild or others will be given out by the DM for in-session or downtime activities that particularly serve your guild over your character. As you gain renown in a guild you may gain rank or boons from the guilds.
Downtime
Once you are in the game, there’s the additional time between games or between sessions you are joining. This is an opportunity for you to explore the characters backstory, earn some gold, spend some gold or even find out a few more details about some of the rumours you heard whilst in the last session.
If you want to run a side quest just send me a direct message and we can run one over chat. I might be busy during working hours but am always happy to run these asynchronously between sessions. Hopefully it will add to the characters, the detail in the world and to allow you to bring more back to the next game session.
If you are happy just participating in the sessions then that’s great too - there will be lots happening in those!
Protect
The
Guildpact
LINKS
Discord Join our online community right now to learn all about us! Including Ravnica campaign-spcific channels for session logs and downtime.
Meetup.com Join the meetup to RSVP to Ravnica (or other) games that are open.
Cover Art: Richard Wright, ArtStation.com