Fortune Cards, we just received a preview

[Brys]

(This is just my opinion based on the way an old DM used to run games)

Another idea for such cards would be to have different types of cards, one with random effects (50% good, 50% bad) and each player gets one card (from a deck shuffled and dealt by the DM) at the start of each combat.

If a player does something particularly well, they can be dealt a random bonus card (maybe from another deck or the DM can keep dealing cards until a beneficial one comes up) at the end of combat that can only be used in the next combat. Kinda like how some DMs give out XP rewards but this keeps everyone in the group at the same XP level.

This would add a level of uncertainty and randomness to the game if people are looking for it. Kinda like terrain features but not necessarily able to be planned for by the DM.

I admit to knowing nothing about these Fortune Cards other than what I've read in the past three minutes in this thread.

 

[Tortoise]

Which positives are those? I've only heard the downside that you mentioned of PCs getting even more advantages over NPCs.

If it is the DM controlling when they get handed out or drawn from:

Random bonus effect caused by something the DM planned for in the game.
A bonus for good RP.
A boon granted as a story element.
etc.

I pre-ordered a box originally thinking these would include some negatives and zones which would make them a wonderful tool for adding to the random events and return visit oddness of an area in a dungeon or other location. As it is they are still useful to me as DM, just not as useful a tool as they could have been.

Imagine deciding that a magic fountain will be in a room of your dungeon and wanting to have something interesting happen that isn't a game breaker. Simply select a dozen or so of the cards appropriate to what you feel the fountain should provide, shuffle them up and let the first PC to drink from the fountain (or the first creature to fall in - perhaps an opponent should the PCs push one in) draw a card and have the option to use the effect at a time of their choosing.

Or maybe they encounter some creature and interact with it in a way that it offers them a boon, maybe then each PC present can gain a random draw for later use.

Consider the possibility that the party finds a magic item granting some minor luck periodically: when they think to try it they draw a card.

There are tons of ways these can be used positively.

I'm hoping WotC will wake up to the missed opportunity and release a seond set of curses and calamities to mix in so that my original vision for them can be easily done. Having matching backs keeps players from knowing they're getting a bad draw. Hello WotC, anyone there listening? Beuller?

 

[Scribble]

I'm hoping WotC will wake up to the missed opportunity and release a seond set of curses and calamities to mix in so that my original vision for them can be easily done. Having matching backs keeps players from knowing they're getting a bad draw. Hello WotC, anyone there listening? Beuller?

One of the neat things about making these cards is if they wanted to, WoTC could release a set of cards with nothing but penalties which could be slipped right in without any issues.

Same thing for new releases of the cards. They function like random tables that are quickly/easily updated.


that said- I don't know if they will. 4e's style really is to give bonuses for things as opposed to penalties. Like the races- none of them give penalties- only bonuses.

A small bonus here and there isn't going to make the PCs all powerful, and the added unknown tactical element will add a little flare to the battles (in my opinion...)

If you're really fretting over such small bonuses, you're either very overly controlling as a DM or needlessly paranoid (again in my opinion.)

 

[Mengu]

Like the races- none of them give penalties- only bonuses.

must... refrain... can... worms...

 

[SquareKnot]

I think it will be very interesting to see what WotC announces at DDXP with regard to new organized play options and Fortune Cards. My fear is that they will announce a competitive game play option that will include the use of Fortune Cards. For that, the cards would have to be universally positive, which at present they are.

 

[Nikosandros]

When they first talked about these they kind of explained it.

The cards are designed to be able to open the pack, and use the cards therein-
No need to collect multiple packs in order to build a deck that is useful. Using whatever cards you get should be roughly balanced against all other cards.

At the same time though, they don't want you to feel like you're buying a bunch of one shot packs of cards, so if you've been buying a bunch, there are rules to use that bunch in a deck.

I'm fairly sure that WotC originally stated explicitly that the cards were not meant to be collected.

 

[gourdcaptain]

I'm fairly sure that WotC originally stated explicitly that the cards were not meant to be collected.

Which is why there are rare cards. That kinda confuses me.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I'm fairly sure that WotC originally stated explicitly that the cards were not meant to be collected.

Saying one thing (to deflect valid criticism, in this case), and then turning around and doing exactly what they said they wouldn't - hypocrisy, lying, whatever you want to call it - that's what may be happening here.

Clearly, they're meant to be collected. It has been indicated further up thread and by the fact that they include "deck building" guidelines, that they are collectible. M:tG makes WotC buckets of money. D&D does not. Hasborg is likely asking them difficult questions as to why this is. This may be an attempt to answer those difficult questions.

Many people feared (and rightly so, it seems) that when WotC acquired TSR, and hence, D&D, that they would turn D&D into a CCG. There was much bad press about this, and much poo-pooing of the idea publicly by WotC.

If this sells well, count on it being "core" in 5e. Count on it. If it flops, it will be yet another forgotten add-on, which, at worst, they break even on (hence the price).

 

[Scribble]

I'm fairly sure that WotC originally stated explicitly that the cards were not meant to be collected.

Yeah- they aren't, but it's important to note they mean in the collectible card game sense, and not in the I like to collect stuff sense.

The game isn't designed with the intention of you going out and buying a lot of packs searching for the best cards, like MtG...

Instead if you have one pack, or you have 7 packs, you should be at the same power level... Kind of like if you only use feats from PHB 1, you should be at the same power level as a person who also has MP1... (Power creep notwithstanding...)

Essentially they're not designed with the idea that the more you buy the more of an edge you'll get. Instead the more you buy, the more cards you have, like anything else.

Which is why there are rare cards. That kinda confuses me.

Same thing as labeling a magic item rare in the books- they aren't harder to go out and buy them in the real world (you get one in every pack) just they come up less in the game.

 

[Nikosandros]

Same thing as labeling a magic item rare in the books- they aren't harder to go out and buy them in the real world (you get one in every pack) just they come up less in the game.

You also get a rare card in each Magic booster. But a specific rare card is indeed harder to get. Different levels of rarity only make sense in a context of collectability.