Fortune Cards in gameplay

thanson02 · Mar 2, 2017

Hey everyone.

The recent discussion about reward systems in 4E reminded me of many of the mechanics introduced in the Unearthed Arcana articles and the D&D Encounters Events, especially towards the end of the run in 4E. One that really stood out was the Fortune cards. Below is a link to a description of them and how they work:

http://dungeonsmaster.com/2011/01/dd-encounters-dd-fortune-cards/

This was something I was thinking of integrating into my game, or at lest using it as a spring board to homebrew a similar mechanic. I was wondering if anyone had used them and what was their take on them and how they worked. My thoughts were to either take them as is or modify them as a form of social boon that players can use.

Thoughts?

Scrivener of Doom · Mar 2, 2017

I never used them.

Frankly, my PCs have enough to manage already so I didn't want to add something else for the players to have to think about. Maybe they're interesting in organised play but, for a home group, I would prefer to leave this sort of thing for my DM notes.

Sorry I am not making a positive comment.

Garthanos · Mar 2, 2017

I havent used them but I thought they looked interesting, if they were a part of the original design instead of tagged on...

RedSiegfried · Mar 2, 2017

My wife got some and used them in our group, and she was the only person. If you use them as the rules specify, they don't seem to break anything or give you any huge advantage over the monsters or anyone else who doesn't use them. They're usually very minor, situational bonuses or freebies that may or may not ever come into play, especially because IIRC you randomly draw one and only one to use each encounter.

The biggest problem she had with using them was forgetting to use them! She would draw the card and set it aside and tend to forget about it when it would have come in handy. I thought they were kind of fun.

The Human Target · Mar 2, 2017

Yeah, fine in theory but a 4e character has plenty of stuff to worry about already without some more minor fiddly bonuses.

If you're going to make your own, make them too powerful/interesting to forget.

Tony Vargas · Mar 2, 2017

thanson02 said:
One that really stood out was the Fortune cards. ...
This was something I was thinking of integrating into my game, or at lest using it as a spring board to homebrew a similar mechanic. I was wondering if anyone had used them and what was their take on them and how they worked.

I used Fortune cards as both player & DM when they were part of Encounters. The campaign I'm currently finishing out started as a continuation of an Encounters season, and I did allow Fortune cards, but used them differently. Instead of the usual rules, a player could draw a Fortune Card whenever he rolled a natural 1 (on a roll that mattered, like an attack or skill challenge check or save), and could use it anytime after that. I had one player who was exceptionally prone to rolling 1s, and had quite a few of them.

It's fallen by the wayside at this point.

thanson02 · Mar 3, 2017

Tony Vargas said:
I used Fortune cards as both player & DM when they were part of Encounters. The campaign I'm currently finishing out started as a continuation of an Encounters season, and I did allow Fortune cards, but used them differently. Instead of the usual rules, a player could draw a Fortune Card whenever he rolled a natural 1 (on a roll that mattered, like an attack or skill challenge check or save), and could use it anytime after that. I had one player who was exceptionally prone to rolling 1s, and had quite a few of them.

It's fallen by the wayside at this point.

That was the impression I got from a bunch of stuff from the later Encounters and 4E line.

The main reason looking into it is that my party has been doing a bunch of stuff the build favor with groups in the city they are in and build a favorable reputation within the city. I came up with a funky hybrid from a couple different systems but to be honest I wasn't fond of it and it was really clunky. Then I was able to get my hands on the Mezzobrazzon: City of Intrigue Adventure that was used in the later Encounters lines and found that what they had was a lot more streamlined and more what I wanted to do, despite the flavor being drastically focused on Drow society.

I've also been looking at integrating something similar to a Social Boone (like legendary or divine boons in DMG2, but for social encounters and Skill Challenges) and the fortune cards for something that caught my eye as an option. I also thought maybe just having it as a side bonus feature that they can use by spending action points.

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AbdulAlhazred · Mar 3, 2017

What I was thinking might be a MORE interesting card-based mechanism was along the lines of the Despair Deck that WotC published along with Gloomwrought and Beyond. Now, imagine there could be both positive and negative cards, in a sort of continuum, so you could have a beneficial effect, nothing, or a baneful effect at any given time. Maybe you could move down one notch, from beneficial to neutral as a plot coupon. Some situations could also impose a negative shift (like being in the Shadowfell for some period of time). There would obviously be a way to move up as well. Perhaps achieving a milestone, accepting a complication, etc would work that way. When you get a good or bad card, simply draw one from either the despair or inspiration decks, depending. Different decks could be devised for different environments.

Garthanos · Mar 3, 2017

The concept of random luck cards that generate unpredictable flavorful effects not just dicey stuff is not bad.

Jhaelen · Mar 3, 2017

I guess, the fact that I didn't even remember these is telling you enough about how I felt/feel about them...

Fortune Cards in gameplay

thanson02

Explorer

Scrivener of Doom

Adventurer

Garthanos

Arcadian Knight

RedSiegfried

First Post

The Human Target

Adventurer

Tony Vargas

Legend

thanson02

Explorer

AbdulAlhazred

Legend

Garthanos

Arcadian Knight

Jhaelen

First Post

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