I don't have anything constructive to say, but I'll just say this: FUCK YEAH, PHYREXIA! Goddamn, they're the best faction in MtG. Can I see some stats for Phyrexian creatures/characters?

I gave up on MtG around Homelands. What the hell is Phyrexia?

>>3152330

http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Phyrexia

One of the best parts of the setting which you missed. An artificial plane of black/artifact necrotech beings created by the will of a mad god to make war on all the worlds, and conquer them.

>>3152330

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1211

Dominaria, eh? I think I still have copies of Arena and the three Greensleeves books somewhere.

You should start it more subtle. The Phyrexians thoroughly planned their invasions. Starting with spies in the civilized regions and slowly corrupting little areas. For enemies you could throw some of those spies (with surprisingly in-human stats), corrupted mad men and un-identified constructs with standard golem stats at them. Learning about that unknown menace being Phyrexia when they're already deep in the woodworks will make this an "OH SHIT!" moment they will never forget.

>>3152294
I advise against the nursery rhyme. It's seldom bad-ass and creepy and often cliché.
I mean, you might-- might-- be able to pull it off, but I know I sure as fuck wouldn't be able to.

>>3152376

...I agree, that is a much better way to do it. and it lets me work a few political elements in, as they have to work out who is a spy, who is not...

>>3152387

While what you say is true, that rhyme is my favourite piece of flavour text of all time, so I'm hoping to find some way of utilising it...

I once had a shadow warlock villain in a campaign I ran who's catch phrase was "Don't be afraid, we are here to free you from the itchy wet skin of life."

>>3152387
however, someone quietly singing to themselves as they die, going quite mad (an adult too, dying children is too shock value-y), is good.
you don't need words in the song.
what you do need is the ability to sing slowly, in a wavering and off-key manner.
I've done it to pretty good effect.

>>3152393
You could have it start out with them dealing with sleeper agents, but not really know what they are sleeper agents for, just that its something big and bad. The first time they fight an actual phyrexian and truly realize what the evil really is could be your village scene.

>>3152398
No, don't have it spoken at all, but scrawled in blood or charcoal on some surface next to a mutilated and dead child.

>>3152400
he could do the village thing, and then cut back to a single normal stand-alone adventure or two.
then he should hit the sleeper agents, and let it slowly build to another village scene, but this time the characters will know (to a small extent) what's going on.

>>3152403
Better.

Much, much fucking better.

>>3152403
don't have it be a child.
dead children is blase, honestly.
everyone does it, because it's all death of innocence and highlights the inhumanity of the enemy, but it's overblown.
have it scrawled next to a fucking inkeep or farrier or barmaid or something.
that's all.
just also mention that no one was spared, and that there are all sorts of autopsies, people with marks and breaks (hidden Heal/relevant knowledge check) that seem like someone held them down as they were dissected.

...the potential for a campaign where your players travel through the nine levels of Phyrexia is a scary thought indeed.

Final boss: Yawgmoth's Demon

>>3152450

If nine planeswalkers in giant magical mecha couldn't do it, I don't see how any PC's could.

Then again, that was when Phyrexia was whole. Perhaps, after the end of the Invasion saga, it was so heavily damaged, but not destroyed? And, at the heart of ruined Phyrexia, the last diminished shard of Yawgmoth lives, a nothing compared to his old self, but still powerful enough to take over a world if given enough time. and the PC's must go through the ruined layers of Phyrexia, fighting the remnants of the grand armies and the ghosts of the past, to find and finally destroy him.

>>3152461
"Come, Planeswalkers. Friend or traitor, come. Come and look upon the Heart, and Yawgmoth. And bring [insert artifact here]... I have need of it."

>>3152461
>>3152469
10/10

Would play again.

>>3152461
If you run with that idea, I wonder how the PCs would get across the oil sea plane.

>>3152461
>If nine planeswalkers in giant magical mecha couldn't do it, I don't see how any PC's could.
Because none of those nine planeswalkers were PCs in a roleplaying game, with players sitting at the other side of the table expecting a little more than "LOL you die don't go to Phyrexia" when that's the only way to continue the campaign towards completion.

>>3152474
Come to me, through fire and war. I welcome you.

>>3152507

I don't agree with this, really. If the PC's do something utterly retarded and impossible, they shouldn't be able to do it, just because that moves the story on. They should die, because they did something retarded and impossible. The world the PC's exist in should have laws and absolutes that even they are subject too. Its not like they can deny the law of gravity to move the story on, so why ignore the fundamental nature of certain places?

Plus, toning down full-fledged Phyrexia to something weak is almost sacrilege. Ruined Phyrexia works much better.

>>3152515
>Its not like they can deny the law of gravity to move the story on
they have spells and items to do that for them.

Don't have the Apocalypse shit as canon in your game. I barely accept it as canon-- it was badly written, made nos sense, and they had the fucking CS Goto of Magic working on the book. Death Cloud Yawgmoth wtf.

I dream that, one day, they'll have a Time Spiral-esque re-run of those sets (and Homelands), perhaps with several different possible endings all being canon simultaneously: the multiverse split in two, one where Yawgmoth ate Dominaria, and another where he was beaten.

>>3152507

Well, >>3152461 provides a nice backup clause to explain that happening. With that setup, it would still be extremely difficult, but not impossible.

Also sets up a nice quest for artifacts or writings of the legendary planeswalkers, to find weapons and information to defeat the remains of Yawgmoth.

>>3152530

I loved apocalypse, personally. It resolved a lot of hanging plots, brought it all together and ended with the most epic death scene in MTG history- Urza and Gerrards sacrifice to defeat Yawgmoth. Also, Death Cloud Yawgmoth seemed terrifying to me. An enemy you can't really fight, let alone defeat, and one who can literally envelop the whole world if he wills it.

Don't involve the actual plane of Phyrexia. Just make your PC's stop the first wave of invasion in attempt to hinder it, so that Phyrexia decides to go for other planes instead which are easier for the picking. Maybe add that they will try again in a few centuries or so, when they have grown.

>>3152537
Oh, it had its good points, I'll agree. But if Yawgmoth could do that, why didn't he fucking do it before...?
The usual "Why don't they just form the Megazord" problem, nu.

>>3152515

I think the real problem is fluffwise its too pumped up.The Planeswalkers are doing stuff that that wee-wees on the Epic handbook but apparently they arent crap compared to Super Saiyan 2 Yawgmoth

>>3152537
Don't forget he almost ascended to be the Patron God of black mana!

...I think...

Tangentially related, but I just realised I've never actually seen a direct "D&D vs MTG" thread before. We all know slivers are utterly hax, and phyrexia is terrifying, and planeswalkers are basically living plot devices... does D&D have anything to match that?

>>3152548
Fun fact: Color wheel-wise Yawgmoth would actually be White-Black

That's pretty fucking elaborate for a little, "partially vivisected" child to say.

>>3152553
Wait, what?

How is Yawgmoth white in any way?

>>3152551
>living plot devices

>>3152556

You obviously aren't familiar with Phyrexian Vivisection. They're very careful, wanting their victims to stay alive for a long time after the process, so they can take notes and do some experiments, like "What happens if take hold of this organ and squeeze?". They go to the point of using some dark healing magic in order to prevent death, just to keep it going.

>>3152557
Yawgmoth was originally a (admittedly power-hungry) healer, who discovered the ultimate medicine against any illness: making everyone into an undead machine. Phyrexia is his attempt at creating an utopia without sickness and death.

>>3152562
Phyrexians are Unit 731?

>>3152551
Epic levels can get insane. Remember the book which mentioned the Neutronium Golem and all that?

Mind you, I like mtg's recent depowering. Actually makes an rpg viable.

Slivers would be, in D&D... scary. Can you imagine the CR? A single Muscle Sliver is as deadly as a grizzly bear, and four are as deadly as a dragon, and Sinew Slivers allow them to be able to each kill leviathans. From only eight slivers. Mind you, some of the individual abilities are beyond belief-- Crystalline Sliver gives them all spell resistance up the wazoo.

>>3152562

and you think that kid is still able to recite motherfucking rhymes after that? Obviously you know even less about children than me. The shock of the whole thing, itself, would be enough. We're talking about a goddamn developing, emotionally unprepared human, not some hardened warrior.

I'm all fine and dandy with a few quick, unknowingly muttered words, the usual "they live" -shit or something, it's not about the physical capability, but simply the fact that it's pretty fucking elaborate and sounds ridiculous from the mouth of a child who has been cut open and lies on the ground bloodied.

>>3152577

The kid has actually undergone transformation. They've put a voice box in his throat, that's what's producing the sounds. The song becomes more and more shrill until the kid's face splits open, revealing buzzsaw blades and poison-tipped injector fangs, and it lunges on the party.

>>3152582
that's fucking stupid.

>>3152582

THAT I'm more than fine and dandy with. Fucking do it. Make the poor bastard cry first. Hit the players where it hurts. Something like that will really demonstrate what sort of sick fucking things they're dealing with.

Unless they're untouched. Then you have the abomination explode.

And I'm stealing this shit.

I thought I heard someone say Neutronium Golem, so I came as fast as I could.

>>3152585

Blows all the sublety out of the window, true. But I don't see it being in any way out of place when it comes to Phyrexians.

>>3152582

>>3152591
It's more "WHY WAS HE SINGING". I mean, the razors, etc. work fine as a shocker, but after a child just sitting there singing a little song, it's jarring in more ways than one: why sing the rhyme? There's more effective ways to surpise, and better ways to warn people.

>>3152564
Yes, but no matter how much of a "healer" he was pretty mono-black. I'm serious, even as a physician he exterminated an entire cat-folk species (or something along those lines) pretty much for the lulz.

Just because a cleric is a cleric, that doesn't make him necessarily good.

>>3152602

That works, too.

>>3152602
>>3152591
both.
it's unsubtle and a bit uncreative.
I try to be a bit more...
I try to think like a director, and that'd be just too stock of a 'creepy scene' for my tastes.
I prefer the slow buildup, minor things leading to a reveal that is in no way shocking by itself, but due to the events surrounding it and the lead-up to it, is both unexpected and memorable.

and now I sleep, for it is 7:43 AM.

>>3152604

>he exterminated an entire cat-folk species

Yawgmoth hates furries? That settles it, I'm serving His will. Beats the Omnissiah any day.

>>3152604
Phyrexia is also horribly Lawfully aligned, in in Magic terms that means White

>>3152604

White=/= Good

White is a certain selflessness and interest in others over the self, but that doesn't always mean good. White can be tyrannical, authoritarian and controlling, denying free will and individuality in favour of the common good.

Likewise, Black is not evil. It is simply self interest, competition, individual identity and individual supremacy.

Heck, a simple way of showing this up is that Capitalism is Black, while Communism is White. Whose the bad guy now?

I'd say have the rhyme written on a wall in blood, repeating over and over again

>>3152602

Maybe you never find the source of the song.

That's what made fucking Twinkle Twinkle Little Star so effective in Dead Space.

>>3152611

Sure is. But if we wanted creative, we wouldn't be using kids in the first place.

>>3152616
It could also be blue. You know, the color of progress, and Spinal Embrace, and artifact synergy.
Yawgy is more Bu, but I'd venture he could be wBu. He is, without a doubt, 90% black, though.

>>3152622
BLACK, TOVARISCH.

>>3152630
which I suggested from the start.
regular people are just as, if not more, effective than children in these types of situations.
NOW I REALLY AM GOING TO BED GOODNIGHT FUCK YOU ALL FOR BEING INTERESTING AND ENGAGING.

>>3152629

This. Just a voice singing it, and it always sounds like it comes from a bit away, and you never find where it comes from.

>>3152637
Sleep well, man.

>>3152639

Or, maybe, after half the campaign with it playing, you find out it's coming from INSIDE THE CHARACTER'S HEADS. As in, put your ear to their ear and you can hea it too.

Not as durably creepy, but well worth it if it gets the due panic.

>>3152637

Night. To add to the point: Using children will also IMMIDIATELY tell everyone they're going to die, because everyone knows this joke already. In reality, no bond will be formed, no emotions will be evoked, no nothing. They know that the kid will either turn into a zombie or blow up or melt or some shit like that.

Doing nasty shit with adults, on the other hand, is much less usual in a way. Or at least it makes it less unpredictable if nothing else.

>>3152650

And then it turns out THE PC'S WERE THE PHYREXIANS ALL ALONG AND EVERYTHING THEY DID WAS PREPARATION FOR THE GREAT INVASION!

What a tweest!

>>3152651

Same with dead pregnant women. It's always assumed the fetus will emerge and be a zombie or robot or something.

I love this thread because it's shown once again that the denizens of /tg/ love Phyrexia as much as I do.

I'm all for the whole "Sleeper Agent Build-up" scenario myself. If you can get the PC's to start doubting each other as well that'd be awesome, remember there are certain types of Phyrexian Sleeper Agents who don't even know they're Sleeper Agents.

>>3152659

Or the only survivor. Anything you'd rather not see horribly maimed and is found in the most gruesome scene imaginable.
Animals are usually exempt, though, use them.

>>3152671
>If you can get the PC's to start doubting each other as well that'd be awesome, remember there are certain types of Phyrexian Sleeper Agents who don't even know they're Sleeper Agents.

rolled 87 = 87

>>3152656
FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR SHITTY PLOTLINES. I WAS EXPECTING BEES DAMNIT. YOU WERE TO DELIVER BEES.

>>3152673

>only survivor

Ok, so let's invent that trope... Imagine if they come upon an entire village that was destroyed by the Phyrexian advance troops, but all the inhabitants are all still alive. Turns out they've been operated on by the Phyrexians, but not all of them are aware of it, not all of them are sleeper agents (some are just failed experiments), and not all are insane. Now the PC's have to deal with that clusterfuck. Kill them or not?

>>3152681

That works. It's not some poorly hidden thing, it's an obvious one. Takes the scary out of it, but presents the players with different kind of problems altogether.

>>3152602
Onean children's rhyme I believe.

>>3152632
Yawgmoth:
90% Black
9% Blue
1% White
100% Awesome.

That's 200% motherfucker.

I really hope your players don't browse /tg/, OP. Or they will see the twist coming from miles away.

I hope you give one of the PCs the spark

Some of the Cryx stuff in the Iron Kingdoms setting may prove useful for stating out Phryexian troops.

>>3152706
How would THAT work?

>>3152711

they'd be like "OMG I HAVE TO IGNITE" and do all sorts of dumb or possibly epic stuff

>>3152711

Perhaps its a nascent spark, one which wouldn't usually awaken, and Yawgmoth is thinking of using a method like Memnarch attempted, to steal another's spark and take it into yourself. Then again, a PC who is told "You have the potential to gain godlike power, and an evil god wants to steal it" is probably gonna shit brix

>>3152708

I'm planning on using a set of Cryx Mini's to represent various forms of Phyrexians on the tabletop, and i'll certainly look into the IK rules. i'm sure they'll be useful.

>>3152720
>>3152719
And here I was just worried they'd be overpowered little bastards...

>>3152737

You'd never let the gain access to the spark powers in game. if they did, they're character becomes an NPC god, and they roll a new character. a Planeswalker in an otherwise mundane party would never work. (Note- Planescrawlers are not freaking planeswalkers)

>>3152798
So time spiral is no longer canon? sweet

Why have people missed the obvious? Start with a plague.

>>3152711
People are simply born with a spark.

>>3152719
And they don't know if they have one until it ignites.

Unless fluff has changed.

This idea seems awesome. I never played MtG, but I would definitely consider a Phryexia campaign. Where could I read up on my fluff?

>>3153458
Aside from wikipedia, you could read the novels. I'm sure there on a torrent somewhere.
>>3152294
I recognize three of those four cards. I can't tell what the lower-left one is. Yes, yes, I fail, I know. What is it?

>>3153458

http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Phyrexia

is a good place to start. I'd recommend the books, although there's rather a lot of them. The invasion trilogy are the ones I'm most familiar with, and are very good, although they represent the end of the involvement of Phyrexians with the MTG storyline.

>>3153487
And it's such an awesome card, too. Shame on you.

Bump for rule of cool

>>3152675

What is this image? I don't recognize it, but it looks very cool.