WotC Announces New Chapter for D&D

[Imperialus]

So don't strip them out then. That's what makes the joke.

Exactly. It's like a few years ago when Catalyst did an April fools joke for Shadowrun D20. Would it work? Yeah. Heck there still are people who think it would be a fantastic idea. It was funny though because there are so many people who play Shadowrun who are militantly anti D20.

 

[NoWayJose]

Is it just me or does anyone else think that WoTC's April Fool pages are funny but a bit too snarky in some spots?

The way I read it (rightly or wrongly), it seems to be poking just a little too much fun at disenchanted players. Like the Weems' Angry card, and especially the new damage types (Edition, Emotional, Pwnage, and Paranoid), which seems to make fun of peoples' behavior, rather than their arguments. I didn't think that Umbran and friends would be amused with that, even when it's disguised as parody.

Contrast that with Pathfinder's April Fool's prank. They seem to make fun of the game's conceits, and avoid direct parody of people who design or play evil-biased races/classes in a non-evil way.

Maybe I'm being way oversensitive, but PF's prank feels angst-free, and WoTC's prank feels like taking out some frustration through parody.

 

[weem]

My problem is that it's not funny. Like it or not, if you strip out the IP and the cliches from this joke you are stuck with a product that can actually sell on it's own merit.

Seriously, step back and look at what you proposed:

A game that:

1 - Uses a random card to deal with action outcomes. - Aces and eights, Dead Lands, and many card games this using mechanic.
2 - A game that proposes how your character will act at certain times. - Isn't this part of every improve game?
3 - A game that uses randomized bonuses based on that the cards you draw. - Gamma World 4e, some products wotc proposed, and basically every collectable card game does this.
4 - Random map generation via cards. - This exists in many tile based board games. Hell, you could potentially base a campaign world based on the tiles you set in Carcassonne. Sure, what you did was reduced it to "Move forwards" but it is still a viable mechanic.

On paper those all look like pretty good concepts, yet you are dissmissing it as a joke because you are only considering the trite "4e is a videogame/4e is becoming a card game/oh noe 5e is coming" cliches.

/shrug

I think you are reading more into it than is there. I can make decent look cards, so that was one draw of going that route. The idea was that D&D would become a card only game, no dice nothing else... not even thinking for yourself, or even acting for yourself. I don't see this is a product that would sell on it's own merit at all (and if it did, it would not replace D&D as the prank was suggesting).

With that said, I can understand you didn't think it was funny, which is cool and I will say you were not alone (there were a couple more with you there).

Is it just me or does anyone else think that WoTC's April Fool pages are funny but a bit too snarky in some spots?

...Like the Weems' Angry card...

I never meant to come across as snarky, I have no issue at all with people who dislike/complain about 4e. The "Angry" card you mention was picked more for the picture than the "angry" emotion I might want to poke fun at. I was dropping a lot of WoW art into the card template I made... that piece looked really cool... I needed an emotion... "Angry" came to mind, simple as that

***

Thanks everyone for the comments and everything (even those who didn't like it). It was a lot of fun to work on and put out there

 

[NoWayJose]

I never meant to come across as snarky, I have no issue at all with people who dislike/complain about 4e. The "Angry" card you mention was picked more for the picture than the "angry" emotion I might want to poke fun at. I was dropping a lot of WoW art into the card template I made... that piece looked really cool... I needed an emotion... "Angry" came to mind, simple as that

Thanks for that. It was mainly the New Damage Types article later that day that pushed my button. I guess I made an error of "guilt by association" when there was none.

 

[TarionzCousin]

In regards to April Fools' jokes, it is important to remember that everyone's sense of humor is different and mine is better than everybody's.

 

[The Secret DM]

In regards to April Fools' jokes, it is important to remember that everyone's sense of humor is different and mine is better than everybody's.

I might have a bias, but I wholeheartedly agree with you.

I am surprised by the negativity people are expressing over sites like The Weem's -- but yeah, to each their own.

 

[Mark CMG]

I haven't read absolutely every word penned by the various April Fools tricksters but it seems like it is all meant in the spirit of good fun.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I haven't read absolutely every word penned by the various April Fools tricksters but it seems like it is all meant in the spirit of good fun.

For sure. Some people seem to have taken it on the nose, though.

 

[TarionzCousin]

For sure. Some people seem to have taken it on the nose, though.

As I have a nose, I find this horribly offensive. I feel I must report myself for being so nasally-sensitive.

 

[Dice4Hire]

In regards to April Fools' jokes, it is important to remember that everyone's sense of humor is different and mine is better than everybody's.

April Fool's is the first, not today. You posted this too late.