Gamma World Box Set Sneak Peak on I09.com

Budalic said:

Bah, you all act like the fact that cards won't serve as powergaming toy is a good thing.

If that's the case, you would stop at some point.

But, adding whackyness and randomness to GW game is a clever ploy indeed - who can resist it?

I tell you, WOTC is after our money.

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Haha Of course they are; it's just that the ploy isn't nearly as devious or unethical as some folks would have us believe.

Budalic said:

Bah, you all act like the fact that cards won't serve as powergaming toy is a good thing.

If that's the case, you would stop at some point.

But, adding whackyness and randomness to GW game is a clever ploy indeed - who can resist it?

I tell you, WOTC is after our money.

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Besides the fact that you will stop, because it's not collectible? And it's not a "powergaming toy" since it all gets thrown into a random deck?

Darn that company selling products for a profit!

davethegame said:

Besides the fact that you will stop, because it's not collectible? And it's not a "powergaming toy" since it all gets thrown into a random deck?

Darn that company selling products for a profit!

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I was just joking. Calm down.

Besides, i said that it isn't a "powergaming toy". You got it totally wrong.

EDIT: Having reread your post, I see your point. Disregard last sentence. As for "stopping" and "powergaming toy", it was a hyperbole.

In my opinion cards are infinitely superior to random tables. New cards can be added to a deck a lot easier than a printed table can be expanded. If the GW and D&D cards are truly intended for random results then I think this was the right approach to take.

Johnny3D3D said:

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.

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I've read a few online blogs & articles and this is what I've gathered:

1) The new GW is going to be compatible with 4e. So you can use all your 4e stuff with your GW game and vice versa...supposedly.

However, the GW heroes will deliver more damage and have less healing.

2) There will be two sets of cards - Mutations and Tech. Tech will be very disposable, aka you can use it until it breaks. The Mutations will be random and when you roll a 1 when using a mutation, you exchange out that mutation for a new random one. Thus, the cards are part of the play experience.

So PC death will be common, thus more chargen. Tech will come and go faster than magic items and Powers can change during the same game session.

3) The theme appears to be Wacky & Deadly which is fine because most people played GW that way in the past. Of course, its a fine line between Gonzo and Silly on the Wacky-meter.

Of course, the DM can always focus the game by limiting chargen options to those less silly.

4) The drive for cards, maps and game bits is being driven by Hasbro's fear of pirates and downloaders. Like WFRP 3e, the hope is the physical components will drive purchases. This may work fine since most boardgame companies are giving the rules away for free and you don't see people online talking about creating their own boards. The amount of time it would take to scan, print and laminate the GW cards and the effort involved is more than most pirates will spend.

5) The booster aspect is going to be huge. My CCG buddies call it "cardboard crack" and RPGers just need to look at their shelves for the number of splatbooks they buy.

Spinachcat said:

3) The theme appears to be Wacky & Deadly which is fine because most people played GW that way in the past.

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I feel kind of guilty for really looking forward to this game.

4) The drive for cards, maps and game bits is being driven by Hasbro's fear of pirates and downloaders. Like WFRP 3e, the hope is the physical components will drive purchases. This may work fine since most boardgame companies are giving the rules away for free and you don't see people online talking about creating their own boards. The amount of time it would take to scan, print and laminate the GW cards and the effort involved is more than most pirates will spend.

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Fighting crime by utilizing laziness is just about the most perfectly American thing ever!

Reynard said:

Fighting crime by utilizing laziness is just about the most perfectly American thing ever!

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Hear, hear! Nobody counterfeits $1 bills.

scourger said:

Hear, hear! Nobody counterfeits $1 bills.

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Well......

Just watched the video in the unboxing thread and have to say I'm not too thrilled with the rarity aspect for the cards. Selling them in boosters was bad enough, but to actually assign rarity to each card is definitely a turn off. They could easily do at will, encounter, and daily division in the packs and not even touch rarity. Rarity only serves to increase the collectability of the cards and doesn't serve any purpose to actual gamers other than turning it into a card game. I understand the boosters are optional, but only as optional as your group wants them to be and to be honest it's unfair to deny players something because I or other members of the group don't want to spend the extra money on. Also as a GM I want to have the rules at my finger tips which means if a player gets something that's rare and I don't have a copy the card gets passed around until it's learned, photocopied, or acquired via purchase. Decks would be a lot more preferable in my opinion.

I had a thought after watching the unboxing too about the cards. If there is 120 card set, and you get 60 of the cards in the box, are the blister pack cards all unique (as in not duplicating the 60 you already have?) Is it that there is really two 60 card sets?

Pretty sure we will know fairly soon after release but I can assure you that if I wasn't thinking about the blister packs before, that would make it a for sure no-deal for me.

Edit: After some searching, I still don't know for sure but, seems there is an 80 card starter (40 mutations, 40 items) and 120 booster cards. What I don't know is are we looking at a total of 200 cards or 120 cards with 80 cards of overlap into the starter. My guess is there are 200 cards total and no overlap... because that would be sucktastic to include the same cards in the boosters as what you have in the starter.... not that they don't do that with M:tG