DDXP 2010 News and Updates

[LightPhoenix]

yes, it does seem odd to me that they are taking at least a half-year or so out of the I, II, III schedule to make these materials for "newer" players. Frankly, I am interested in them, if they are fully 4E compatible, as I think they will be. I was not buying any II or III books this year except Martial Power, and that mostly for the feats for martial PHBII races.

It doesn't seem odd to me at all. We've got a lot of stuff to play with between PHB1/2/3 (and not even including DDI). Sure, they could churn out more splatbooks, but that well runs dry relatively quickly. On the other hand, getting new players into the hobby will allow a more stable income base, especially if those people jump on board DDI.

I'm hoping that part of their plan is to expand the DDI tools to allow for online play. I strongly suspect that was the motive behind the Atari breach-of-contract snafu. If they can tap into the gaming crowd directly like that, it would be a huge boon for them.

 

[Shemeska]

So did anyone at DDXP ask them how much progress they've made on the Virtual Tabletop?

 

[Jack99]

So did anyone at DDXP ask them how much progress they've made on the Virtual Tabletop?

Yes.

 

[Rechan]

Have they not engaged the events with the PHB3 stuff? I wanna know about the Battlemind! What's the Shardmind's racial stat mods? Talk about the Runepriest! EEEE.

Also, can someone ask what monsters are in the MM3? I'm hoping for Cloakers, or Derro, or something.

 

[Dannager]

I didn't say I'm writing it off; I'm just saying that my excitement level suddenly went from "Wow! Yay!" to "Oh god."

Cards are expensive, and you get very little crunch (or fluff) for your buck. That greatly raises the bar on how awesome GW4e will have to be in order to justify the additional cost.

See, here's the crazy thing. You don't need to buy any booster packs! You can just buy Gamma World 4e, and you'll probably get a ton of mileage out of just that product. If, for some reason, you feel your game is going stale because of lack of variety in mutations or what not, you have the ability to very easily go out and purchase an infusion of new ones. They're optional. This isn't M:tG. Your game won't suck if you don't buy booster packs. You're not competing against each other. Having the cards just right isn't going to matter.

 

[Sammael]

If the GW booster packs contain slightly stronger mutations (and I think it's a given they will), then if one player purchases a pack for his characters and the other players don't, he'll have an advantage. Then again, the GM may veto the use of new cards, but I suspect that WotC will try to push the "all cards are core" policy as much as possible.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

If the GW booster packs contain slightly stronger mutations (and I think it's a given they will), then if one player purchases a pack for his characters and the other players don't, he'll have an advantage. Then again, the GM may veto the use of new cards, but I suspect that WotC will try to push the "all cards are core" policy as much as possible.

It´s good that there are no concerns like this when nobody buys any boosters (cue 20-page-forked-thread about "the very existence of these boosters pressures the DM to allow them!11!").

 

[Dannager]

If the GW booster packs contain slightly stronger mutations (and I think it's a given they will), then if one player purchases a pack for his characters and the other players don't, he'll have an advantage. Then again, the GM may veto the use of new cards, but I suspect that WotC will try to push the "all cards are core" policy as much as possible.

Woah, woah, woah, there.

First, we have no idea if each player will have his own mutation deck, or if it will simply be a shared deck used by the players. I actually believe the latter would be more likely, but you could be right.

More importantly, one player having a slight advantage in terms of having a very small chance to draw an ability that is a bit more powerful than your average random ability really isn't going to mess with your cooperative game. In fact, since we know that mutations will be both good and bad, I have a feeling that the DM will be the one putting the deck together for the players to use. If that were not the case, the cunning player would simply make his deck of nothing but the beneficial (and the most beneficial) mutations.

Please resist the temptation to wildly speculate without taking the time to examine whether the things you are speculating about are at all likely.

 

[vagabundo]

So did anyone at DDXP ask them how much progress they've made on the Virtual Tabletop?

I thought that was cancelled - or at least on hold right now.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I thought that was cancelled - or at least on hold right now.

Hence the desire for news, I think.