Gamma World Box Set Sneak Peak on I09.com

Echohawk · Aug 14, 2010

Waylander the Slayer said:
Care to explain how a game which has expansion packs that add on to a characters abilities does not have any relatability to a CCG? Or is the extent of your argument summed up in "good try."

As I understand it:

CCG stands for Collectible Card Game
The Gamma world boosters are cards and they are for a game.
They are not Collectible

Therefore the boosters cannot be compared to a CCG any more than, say, a pack of ordinary playing cards can be compared to a CCG.

AngryMojo · Aug 14, 2010

Echohawk said:
Therefore the boosters cannot be compared to a CCG any more than, say, a pack of ordinary playing cards can be compared to a CCG.

In addition, boosters are used in CCGs to give tools and play options to the character that owns the cards. By this model, the cards grant everyone equal chances due to them being drawn from the same deck. If it's like a CCG, it would be like everyone drawing from the same deck in Magic. Because nobody has an edge in deck construction, there's no reason to go and "collect them all" beyond being a completionist.

Could a parallel be drawn to a CCG? Yes.
Could the same parallel be drawn by Munchkin or Killer Bunnies? Absolutely.
Could the exact same parallel be drawn by Paizo's Gamemastery Item Cards in there original distribution? Bingo. I don't think there was any similarity between CCGs and the Paizo item cards.

Wayside · Aug 14, 2010

Waylander the Slayer said:
Care to explain how a game which has expansion packs that add on to a characters abilities does not have any relatability to a CCG? Or is the extent of your argument summed up in "good try."

Pretty much every RPG ever has had "expansion packs that add on to a characters abilities."

dm4hire · Aug 14, 2010

AngryMojo said:
In addition, boosters are used in CCGs to give tools and play options to the character that owns the cards. By this model, the cards grant everyone equal chances due to them being drawn from the same deck. If it's like a CCG, it would be like everyone drawing from the same deck in Magic. Because nobody has an edge in deck construction, there's no reason to go and "collect them all" beyond being a completionist.

Could a parallel be drawn to a CCG? Yes.
Could the same parallel be drawn by Munchkin or Killer Bunnies? Absolutely.
Could the exact same parallel be drawn by Paizo's Gamemastery Item Cards in there original distribution? Bingo. I don't think there was any similarity between CCGs and the Paizo item cards.

Wayside said:
Pretty much every RPG ever has had "expansion packs that add on to a characters abilities."

But the difference is that Paizo and other RPGs have done specific sets or decks, never a random booster expansion. I'd have no problem if the extra cards were being offered as a complete optional deck with rules on how to break them down and add them into Gamma World. If done that way I don't think it would be such an issue, but the whole randomness with no other way to gain all the cards than to buy several (if not a whole box or more) is definitely an issue.

I'm sure that someone will eventually make all the cards available in a chart or something via the web as pointed out, but the whole booster aspect in my opinion is being done solely to drive sales knowing that there are completists who will want every card in order to have the full set.

Echohawk · Aug 14, 2010

dm4hire said:
But the difference is that Paizo and other RPGs have done specific sets or decks, never a random booster expansion.

This statement is untrue. Two of the earliest Paizo Item Card packs were packaged in random boosters:

I'm also not convinced that it follows that simply because something can be collected by completists, that the intention of selling something in random packs must be to force people to collect all of the possible cards. Gamma World has a history of random mutations, and selling randomized cards seems like a fairly fun way of bringing this tradition forward into the new edition.

Will some people try to collect all of the cards? Sure. (I'll be one of them; I enjoy collecting stuff like that.) Does that mean that collecting them all is necessary to enjoy Gamma World. I don't think so.

Argyle King · Aug 14, 2010

I have no experience at all with Gamma World. How does/did it differ from being the D&D rules in a different setting?

I'm pretty confused on how the cards are intended to be used because I am not familiar with how the game is meant to be played.

scruffygrognard · Aug 14, 2010

dm4hire said:
I'm sure that someone will eventually make all the cards available in a chart or something via the web as pointed out, but the whole booster aspect in my opinion is being done solely to drive sales knowing that there are completists who will want every card in order to have the full set.

Thank you for making that point far more eloquently than I ever could!

Amphimir Míriel · Aug 14, 2010

dm4hire said:
....the whole booster aspect in my opinion is being done solely to drive sales knowing that there are completists who will want every card in order to have the full set.

There is nothing wrong with a company wanting to sell new products. The question is, are these products going to be attractive enough for people to want to buy them?

On one hand, they need to make these additional cards "fun" enough so that people will want to buy a booster or three but not "indispensable" so as not to alienate the players and GMs who dislike the "cardboard crack" aspect of CCGs.

If they manage this, the game will be a hit... If not, well too bad, we won't be buying it.

dm4hire · Aug 14, 2010

Echohawk said:
This statement is untrue. Two of the earliest Paizo Item Card packs were packaged in random boosters:

GameMastery Item Cards: Hero's Hoard Booster | RPG Item | RPGGeek

GameMastery Item Cards: Relics of War Booster | RPG Item | RPGGeek

You are correct, I forgot about that. However from the trend that Paizo is going with now I don't think they worked out or Paizo would be continuing that product line. In fact just a couple of months ago they had them on clearance trying to dump their back stock.

Amphimir Míriel said:
There is nothing wrong with a company wanting to sell new products. The question is, are these products going to be attractive enough for people to want to buy them?

On one hand, they need to make these additional cards "fun" enough so that people will want to buy a booster or three but not "indispensable" so as not to alienate the players and GMs who dislike the "cardboard crack" aspect of CCGs.

If they manage this, the game will be a hit... If not, well too bad, we won't be buying it.

I'm not sure that being fun will be a good enough attractor, especially in this economy. With the cards not being a necessity and as I mentioned it's just a matter of time before they get compiled and placed online I think WotC is taking a big risk with it. Hopefully since this seems to be a limited product line they won't cancel any of it due to lack of sales.

Greg K · Aug 14, 2010

Well, I read about this at rpg.net

I think random booster packs are a stupid idea for an rpg. I didn't like it when the topic came up pre-4e D&D. I did not even like it for the minis And, that, WOTC is implementing random booster card packs with Gamma World and the designers are supposedly thinking of recommending it forD&D 5e, that's it.

I had been seriously giving 4e another look with the talk of the rules cyclopedia, the monster vault, and knowledge that 4e core books will be in print.

Forget it.

I am done with WOTC.