Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Mechanics

The camaraderie. The storytelling. The action. Dungeons & Dragons has been the standard in fantasy roleplaying since a year that begins with a 1. That’s right, the ancient times. And now Magic is getting in on the fun with Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, the first D&D-themed Magic set. Let’s take a look at the new mechanics that await you in your adventures.

Dungeons are a major part of the D&D experience, and they’re a big part of the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms experience as well. Dungeon is a brand-new card type. There are three dungeons in this set, including Dungeon of the Mad Mage. The three may be familiar to long-time D&D adventurers.

Dungeons don’t go in your deck. Rather, they start outside the game and end up in the command zone for a while. More on that later. In games held under tournament conditions, “cards from outside the game” means cards from your sideboard, but dungeons work a little differently. Dungeons don’t take up sideboard slots. You always have access to all three dungeons, and you’ll never need more than one of the same one. If you’re playing with dungeons, just keep them with your sideboard until you need them.

The way to bring dungeons into the game is a new keyword action: venture into the dungeon. Several traditional Magic cards (the ones that do go in your deck) will instruct you to venture into the dungeon. This could be the effect of a spell, an activated ability, or a triggered ability, as seen here on Shortcut Seeker.

If you venture into the dungeon while you don’t have any dungeons in the command zone, meaning you’re not in a dungeon, it’s time to start your journey! Put the dungeon of your choice into the command zone and put a venture marker on the first room, at the top. Your venture marker is a way for you to track which room you’re in, just like a mini tells you where you are on a D&D map. Each player has their own dungeon all to themselves. There are no cards (as of this set; the future is long) that allow other players to interfere with your dungeon or your venture marker.

Every time you enter a room, including the first room, its room ability triggers. These abilities all read “When you enter this room, [the effect printed in the room].” For example, when you enter the Yawning Portal, you gain 1 life. Note that while all the rooms have individual names, those names are for flavor and don’t affect gameplay.

Now that you’re in a dungeon, the next time you venture into the dungeon, you’ll move to the next room. You can’t start a new dungeon until you complete the one you’re in. When moving to the next room, follow the arrows down the card.

For example, from the Dungeon Level, you can choose to move to the Goblin Bazaar or the Twisted Caverns, but not both. You can never move backwards (up the card) in a dungeon. Backwards is a direction for cowards. You are no coward, and you’ll block any warrior who says otherwise.

If you survive long enough, you’ll reach the final room. After that room ability resolves or otherwise leaves the stack, the dungeon is removed from the game. Removing it from the game results in you completing the dungeon. (In some uncommon cases, you might venture into the dungeon in response to the final room ability. If that happens, you complete the dungeon you’re in without waiting for the last room ability to leave the stack. You then start the next dungeon. That dungeon’s first room ability will resolve before the previous dungeon’s last room ability.)

Completing dungeons has two significant benefits. First, there are cards that care about this. Here’s Gloom Stalker.

Note that Gloom Stalker doesn’t have to be under your control as you complete the dungeon. It just shows up, takes one look at you, knows that you’ve completed a dungeon, and gives itself double strike. Game recognizes game.

Second, now that you’re not in a dungeon, you’re free to start a new one! The next time you venture into the dungeon, you can choose the very same dungeon you were just in or you can head into a new one. Want another dance with the Mad Mage? Think the Tomb of Annihilation is more to your liking? Want to concede and head to the tavern? You’re writing the story here.

There are plenty of Dragons in this set, but they’re not really a mechanic. They just demanded equal billing after that dungeon section. So here it is. Yay, Dragons!

No. Stop.

Each part of a Magic card can contribute to the story it tells. Names and creative text obviously pitch in, but rules text is often quite flavorful. But what if we did even more? Many abilities found in this set are preceded by flavor words—italicized terms that help tell the story of what’s going on. In many cases, they identify a particular skill or feat a creature from the Forgotten Realms could have. A few modal cards in the set use flavor words to better illustrate your choices.

Flavor words look just like ability words, which is cool because neither has any rules meaning. Speaking of ability words . . .

Check back June 29 through July 2 for more reveals and details about the mechanics of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms!