No Snarkiness intended...
Dungeons & Dragons Fortune Cards.
"Dungeons & Dragons Fortune Cards, sold in booster packs of 8 cards, give players fun new ways to survive the challenges of the D&D Encounters in-store play program, as well as their home campaigns."
Personally I don't mind them, I think they're an interesting idea - Pinnacle has been doing the same thing for years for Savage Worlds, but giving them away for free as PDF downloads ;)
ReplyDeletewhat a waste. wizards shoulda spent their time writing setting material rather than try to make D&D a ccg.
ReplyDeleteIt's a cash cow. Cash makes The Overlords at Hasbro happy.
ReplyDeleteIf it saves a few jobs at WotC and they escape a purge I'm happy for them. I'm not buying, so it doesnt effect me personally.
Yup, knew it was gonna happen.
ReplyDelete@ Tenkar - Very true. But, if it is successful, then I expect we'll see the CCG model welded more tightly to their game in the future. Taking D&D(TM) further and further away from anything I recognize as Dungeons & Dragons or would ever care to play. I feel a little saddened by that thought, even though Wotc has nothing to do with my gaming anymore.
ReplyDeleteI've done this with index cards before. Arneson did it in his early games. Doesn't bother me a bit.
ReplyDeleteThe difference with these, Josh, as I understand it is that your character gains *additional* powers and abilities based on what cards you have. The more you're willing to spend to collect the "rare" cards, the more astounding things your character will be able to do in-game.
ReplyDeleteThat's way different than having cards that help you sort out what spells, equipment, and abilities you have.
The one is a game aid. This is a game add.
I'm conflicted by everything WotC does. I want them to sell a billion of those cards. If they do that, then it means there are tons of gamers out there. If there are tons of gamers out there, then maybe those people will find their way to the Storyteller system, or GURPS, or S&W.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I am skeptical that the brand is being managed well. I mean, what the fuck is D&D? Is it the 4e books, Essentials, the in store system using cards, is it the online whatever they have going on?
Never have I felt so disconnected from a game I have played since 1982.
I am actually looking forward to these. I was going to do something similar myself but now I do not have to. It will be a way to reward the players for doing something cool; bringing snacks consistently, making me snarf, doing the "good" thing instead of taking the magic item, etc.
ReplyDeleteFrom samples I've seen they do not look unbalancing. It would be foolish to assume we know what power creep level they will be until we see them. Though of course people can make uninformed speculation.
As for what the heck 4E is...it is the game I am playing. Not that hard to figure out. Did I mention its fun?
@Callin - The point I believe christian above you was making (and that you so conveniently missed) is that one cannot point to a series of books, a box, or anything singularly and say "This is 4e, start here". There have been revisions and updates and addons and redactions aplenty without any clarification such that an effort to explain to a new player is almost impossible without enormously exaggerated and needlessly complicated effort.
ReplyDeleteAnd your point on 4e being fun? Subjective opinion. Besides, Descent is fun too, it's also a board game!
The very idea that players should have to be rewarded for bringing snacks, playing well, role-playing their character well by being granted additional powers is utterly anathema to the core of the game that I fell in love with. It's also a sad reflection both on players demands for everything to be boiled down to more skills or greater powers, and on the inflexibility of the DM's 'official' role if he's not able to grant his own boons or rewards without the need for M:TG booster-pack-style sanctioned abilities.
As a set of cards it's a cute idea. As randomized collectible cards, it's crass commercial crap.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I am skeptical that the brand is being managed well. I mean, what the fuck is D&D?
ReplyDeleteA "Hot Mess" is the phrase, I believe, that the cool kids are using these days.
I would suggest FUBAR :), but I might get accused of being snarky, when in fact, that smile is rueful, not wry.
Notice the MtG style title of the First Series, "Shadow Over Nentil Vale."
ReplyDeleteThis is 4E- Grab the PHB and go, its not that hard. Yes my statement that 4E is fun is a subjective opinion, just like everything else written here. One opinion is not better than any other, including those who poo poo these cards.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can still and do reward my players as I deem fit. These cards will just make it easier. For me they are the same as choosing between using red or green dice, a preference only.
I do not see them as being collectible (though I suppose on some level they are) but rather random. Part of the fun will be letting my players draw a card and seeing what he gets. This is not a case of get the best cards and use them at your lesuire as a player. No, these are game tools and shortcuts for the DM to use. A DM wouldnt "collect" these cards.
Absolute utter dreck. This is just riding the "brand" into the ground. It's hard to think nice thoughts about WotC.
ReplyDeleteMy knee-jerk reaction is to see this as further mismanagement of D&D, taking it even more astray from what the game is (was?) all about, as has been said. Nothing against 4th as a game, but it really is different in many fundamental ways from what "D&D" has always been about. Yes, I know it's still an RPG and you go and have adventures, but most of the details have been changed on purpose: the emphasis is in different places, and the rules have different goals now (ultimate balance, etc.)
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I can almost imagine that if Gygax had somehow created these back for AD&D they'd be remembered fondly now... Many would be lamenting how they'd been missing from the game all these years, and that it was nice to see WotC giving a nod to the old game by bringing them back again. ;)
I've been saying it for years. "Publicly traded companies have no place in the RPG hobby". This is because great RPG games are made by people who love the hobby and are willing to risk a second mortgage on their house to publish it. Not by a company that is worried about keeping their share holders happy.
ReplyDeleteI heard about these last year, unfortunately they will not sell in my town. I know this because I ran Delve Night and Encounters at the only hobby shop in town and people stopped showing up. With many of them selling their 4e books to Noble Knight Games and on ebay.
That's not to say they won't sell elsewhere, allowing them to release another set. Because knowing WoTC when there is a set name, "Shadow over Nentir Vale" you can be sure that there are more sets to follow.
Honestly, with how awesome the cards are in Gamma World, it's no surprise that someone wanted to try something similar out for D&D. Plus, the end up being very much the same as the cards in the Masterbook game.
ReplyDeleteThe good news? Totally 100% optional.
Bonus: In D&D Gamma World they encourage the DM to make up his own so you don't have to buy booster packs, just create your own cards.
"There have been revisions and updates and addons and redactions aplenty without any clarification such that an effort to explain to a new player is almost impossible without enormously exaggerated and needlessly complicated effort."
ReplyDeleteThat's... wrong. Brand new to gaming? Start with the "Red Box". Not new to gaming, but new to 4e/d20? Start with the DM Kit + Heroes of the Fallen Lands. New to 4e only? Get a Rules Compendium and PHB (or the DM Kit + Fallen Lands). It's not that complicated.
They all represent specific start points that seem pretty well defined to me. But (at the risk of sounding overly snarky) I don't hate WOTC and view everything they do in the worst possible light.
"The very idea that players should have to be rewarded for bringing snacks (etc.)"
Odd, because I've seen this plenty of times in the 25+ years I've been gaming. RP well? Oh here's some bonus XP. Hey, you bought me pizza... here's a little bonus XP. I guess that wasn't "official" rules, but plenty of GMs reward players for doing that sort of stuff... at least in my experience. Now, I don't plan to buy the cards, admittedly, because I don't have the money to blow on something so extraneous but if a player brought a stack of cards to the game I wouldn't be against the group using them.
"On the other hand, I can almost imagine that if Gygax had somehow created these back for AD&D they'd be remembered fondly now... "
ReplyDeleteSomebody doesn't recall Unearthed Arcana very well.