When I first heard the rumor that Wizards were going to add a collectable card game element to Dungeons and Dragons in the form of “Fortune Cards”, I took it as just that, a rumor, not unlike Elvis and Sasquatch sightings. As evidence began to mount that pointed towards this becoming a reality I of course reacted as any well adjusted man-child would, with massive denial. The walls, as they say, came crashing down when I saw this advertisement. All I can say is why Wizards? Why? Why do you want to hurt me like this? Haven’t I always been loyal?
I was able to make peace with how you sold your miniatures (may they rest in peace), but this I cannot even begin to stomach, I actually threw up a little bit in my mouth when I read “constructing your deck” and “Dungeons and Dragons” in the same context. If this isn’t bad enough, it appears that Wizards is actually going to force these things upon people by possibly requiring them in live play events such as Encounters and LFR (although this is only rumor, so there is still some hope)
The Drow is actually shooting his arrow right into my groin
I won’t even go into the mechanical ridiculousness of these things. Do we really think that characters are so underpowered or in need of some help in 4th edition? Anyone who has DM’d in these char-op/min-max days could probably attest to the opposite being the case. So much so, that even Wizards updated the damage progressions on their monsters and totally revamped solos. Given this, it makes perfect sense to give characters extra benefits each round. Honestly, someone needs to take Wizards out back and smack some sense into them.
I want this cash grab to fail sooo badly. I want it to be an epic fail of such proportion that it requires a scapegoat. I want it to be such a fail that it makes “New Coke”, “Betamax”, and “HD dvd” look like massive successes. I have no idea what course Wizards has plotted in, but I am growing increasingly concerned and have officially strapped on my parachute. I desperately hope that I am being overly histrionic.
Damn, it seems these guys really are retarded.
New Coke… rofl. That kind of epic fail would definitely by hilarious.
I used to have a Beta player before it failed…
Anyway, I haven’t decided on how I feel about these yet. First, they appear to be nothing more than an expanded selection of renown reward cards, which haven’t been a problem at my table. If that is all they are, I can deal with it. I am not sure if they will be required, and since I do not see how that could mechanically be enforced to begin with, I am not worried about it.
It is a cash grab, yeah, but I doubt they are going to interfere in any tangible way, especially if the DM has any say in the matter.
The manager of the store I run the Encounters program in is going to run a weekly Wednesday sale, a pack of cards and two slices of pizza for $5. Essentially, we are getting the cards at or just slightly above cost. He is making his money on the pizza. lol.
Wizards isn’t retarded, D&D is in serious competition for dollars and they are just trying a new way of getting some of it back. Doesn’t mean you have to cash in.
You know I am okay with renown cards as you maybe use one a module (lfr) or once during an encounter (encounter), but every turn I htink is kind of garbage. plus what really burns me is the collectable card aspect, at least with renown cards you earn them through playing and achievements. I won’t use thses in my home games, and when I play a live event I won’t purchase/use them even if everyone else is using them, and if they are mandatory like some things I have heard like you have to buy a boster pack to sign up, then I don’t think I will play.
I think also for me this is like another business decison by WoTC that when taken cummulatively has me a little concerned and bummed out by the possible direction things are going i.e onlinve cb, no more dragon/dungeon mag, no minis, book cancellations etc…
I have had some more time to think about it and I really only have one concern. My only concern is the speed of the game, which with battles in 4th, is slow enough anyway. If someone dropped a card that allowed them to target will instead of the normal defense, I really don’t care, just don’t slow my game down.
I do see where you are coming from, and I will not let the game come down to who spent the most money, that is one reason I no longer play M:TG.
I do not know enough about the cards to make full judgment, but at the moment I think I may tie them to action points. If you spend an AP to take an additional action, you can use one of your fortune cards. That makes the action point a bit more powerful, but prevents fortune card abuse.
Just a thought.
that is a good thought. I won’t use these in my home game but if I DM for a live play event I also worry about slowing down combat, as it is even experienced gammers spent a lot of time sifting through thier sheet, one more thing is not going to help especially adding not just playing the card but deciding whether to return it your deck and draw another. I also don’t like the idea of these being forced into use (obviously not in home games
) but say in LFR or encounters, i can see them being optional but not like mandatory.
Today I received a nice DM gift pack from Wizards with a cool calendar, some DM status tokens (if you buy their DM token kit in the wooden box, they are similar to those tokens), 1 special DM promo Fortune card and two packs of fortune cards.
With that, I now have a greater understanding of what is involved and I can safely say I am not too thrilled with them.
There are three types of cards, attack, defense and tactic cards, which according to the rules when you9 build a deck, have to contain a proportional amount of each type. In other words, you can’t have all attack or 6 attack and two of the other types. Has to be 4, 4, 3 or something similar, though there is no maximum to the number of cards you can have.
Each round, you can play one card, and at the start of your turn you can discard what you have and draw another, draw a card if you do not have one, or save what is currently in your hand.
Some of the cards are straight up beneficial:
Defense – Only a Flesh Wound – Gain a +5 bonus to a death saving throw.
Attack – Full Speed Ahead! – Charge and gain combat advantage against the target.
Tactic – Distracting Banter – During your turn, take a move action to allow one ally within 5 squares of you shift 3 squares as a free action.
Others include risk:
Tactic – Risky Move – Shift your speed. At the end of the shift, roll a d20. On a result of 9 or lower, you fall prone.
Attack – Reckless Onslaught – Reroll missed attack roll. You must use second roll, even if it is lower. You then fall prone and take damage equal to your level.
I like Distracting Banter and a few others, but what it boils down to is an extra action for each person, each round (if they choose). This is exactly what I do not want, as it adds to a battle that takes too long anyway.
I am in a rough spot. As a DM, I do not have to allow the cards, but as the coordinator for my store, who pays nothing but is given tons of resources, I feel compelled to at least not block the possibility of sales, so I will still allow them. With a better understanding, I feel better about going ahead with my action point plan. I feel much better allowing someone to use an AP to play Distracting Banter before fireballing an area than to just letting someone take an extra action every round.
I may even make a community deck, so everyone can use cards and is not forced to buy any, though that would still favor people customizing their deck to some small degree. Since AP usually only occur once every two weeks, I do not see the advantage being too big.
i think your right to implement things that way, good for your flgs and minimize impact on the game. i don’t really think that the game needs this extra mechanic, seems a little unnecessary and unbalancing. seems if you want to spend a lot of money you could stack your deck with a lot of powerful extra/free actions per round. if you were a rogue or barbarian why wouldn’t you stack your deck with 3 “reckless onslaught” cards or if you were a controller/leader why not stack your deck with “distracting banter”. I also kind of don’t like how it could give class/specific powers or features to everyone, makes your bard a little less special if the striker can shift people into flank or grant a plus to death saves. so if i am going to DM LFR what am I going to have to do to the monsters to make up or provide a challenge, kind of only makes me want to dm in my home games and not bother with live play events, which makes me kind of sad
.
although I am jealous about the cool gift pack
Wizards are probably doing this in reaction to the Pathfinder version of the fortune cards (“Plot Twist Cards”), which came out several months ago, and/or they’re stealing their idea.
In Pathfinder, D&D 3.6, these cards are optional of course, and they don’t boost PCs abilities necessarily, they twist the plot a little (minor or major).
Anyway, maybe you should try them out once before disliking them. The cards don’t seem very imaginative, but it can’t hurt having your players being more heroic when they really need it.
I like the idea of the plot twist cards or fate cards, but my understanding is that they don’t have the collectible aspect to them,, so you know what your buying it is the same for each deck. i loathe the CCG nature. in 4th edition I haven’t found the characters don’t need help in being more heroic, the system is kind built to emphasis that. besides I don’t want some gimmik to dictate that, rather I want them to tell me what they want to do and I will find the skills/rolls/potential consequences to make it happen.
also, since they are CCG, you could buy as many pacts as you can and “build your deck” with as may “rares” as you can. you could possibly have a a bonuses to attack, damage, or defenses each round….which rewards those who spend more money and IMHO is full of suck. of course this is only in live play events. I could see them more as a DM aid and not collectible being given out as situational rewards, although that wouldn’t generate as much cash
I don’t reasonably expect that they are really going to catch on so you needn’t worry about them “ruining” D&D. I hate the Encounters cards, and I hate the LFR cards even more so I am sure you can guess how poorly I view these fortune cards. To me there is already way too much clutter in the game to begin with and these cards are just one more thing to get between you and actually playing your character.
I don’t really know the motivation behind this product line, whether it is a branding exercise or an attempt to lure some D&D fans into games like Magic and vice versa I don’t know, but you can only reasonably expect to sell things that people want to buy.
As a DM all there is to do is establish a bench mark, which for my home campaign is the last build of the downloadable character builder and the rules hand book that came out at the top of the essentials line. Where do you choose to draw the line?
That’s an interesting benchmark, but I can understand as I wouldn’t want to give Monty access to some of the new feats from the essentials line
what made you draw th eline in the sand there?
I don’t know where I would draw my benchmark, I can be terrible at setting limits. Part of the problem I run into is that I actually enjoy buying and reading rpg books, so I end up getting most things anyway. I also would hate not letting someone play a class that they wanted to either. if i run another home 4e campaign I might just go with essentials stuff and possibly 1 or 2 other classes if someone really wants to play something, although I may go Dark Sun so that will entail limiting anyway. My home group are the opposite of min/maxers, as they don’t really read any materials so limiting options and choices maybe easier cause leveling up is a major chore right now.
IDK when my current campaign is over I am looking at either a brief interlude with a star wars saga or champions 3rd or 4th edition, before I go back to DnD.
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