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I'm trying to write a campaign in D&D 5e, using the Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica in order to appeal to my players. (They really love MTG, and the VTM-y feel of the book.)

Sadly, they don't want to play at all in the same guilds. They want to have a feel of what's Ravnica is all about, they want to discover quite everything.

I've thought of an extraplanar threat that is trying to overpower the guilds and make a new system.

All of that seems manageable till now, but reading the guilds' motives and background, it seems really unlikely that a Rakdos and an Orzhov character would be able to climb the renown ladder of their respective guilds, while playing together.

Has anyone dealt with this kind of trouble? Is there some way to tweak the renown system in order to make a multi-guild party work?

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The short answer: yes, it's as manageable as any other party with different motives/alignments.

Though advancement through the guilds is vastly different you can simply adapt the situations to make it count for everyone. Here's an example of some elements that can be pulled from the same situation to apply for some of the guilds.

The party stops a murderous bandit group.

  • Selesnya: Preserving the lives of the innocent.
  • Boros: Dishing out justice.
  • Orzhov: Eliminating competition and increasing revenue for the Syndicate, or perhaps they were direct competition with the character's own plan for wealth.
  • Rakdos: Did the player get to burn something and cause chaos in the process? Perfect.

etc, etc...

The themes pulled from the above situation can then be applied to the specific advancement criteria in some way. Flexibility will go a long way in letting each player climb the renown ladder regardless of their guild. Each guild views every action differently so it makes sense (and for better gameplay) if each player can advance by playing the same game.

There will be times when guild alignments call for each player to want a different outcome or use different methods. That's perfectly fine. The Rakdos Bard may want to burn the building where the bad guy is hiding to the ground without regard for innocents. The Selesnya Paladin might charge in with the Boros Fighter to save people after the Bard starts the fire. It will create drama between characters and give that feeling of "my choices matter".

That being said it is very hard in general to make a Lawful Good Paladin fit in with a Chaotic Evil party. The Paladin will want to save the village while the rest of the party are the ones destroying it. If you can't find a way to make a guild fit into what you have planned consider asking your players not to choose that one. If a player wants to be Evil I generally allow only Lawful Evil characters, as Neutral/Chaotic Evil characters go against (almost) all of the campaigns I write. Players are usually okay with that when I explain why.

Either way - rather than just restricting a guild or changing advancement criteria, I'd recommend trying to find ways each event "fits" with each of your players' guilds.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Very helpfull actually, I guess i was seeing it in a bad way. Thanks ! \$\endgroup\$
    – LamaDelRay
    Commented Feb 7, 2019 at 17:11

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