DM Rewards

[Festivus]

I got a mailing this weekend of DM Rewards. It's a "rare, custom-made extra monster card for the new Castle Ravenloft game, the Grey Hag".

Grey Hag
Fey
AC14, HP4
Tactics:
* If the had is within 1 tile of the hero, it attacks each hero on the closest hero's tile with a blast of lightning, after the attack, pass this card to the second player on your left.

* Otherwise, the hag moves 1 tile toward the closest Hero.  After the move, pass this card to the second player on your left.

Attack +6, Damage 2 (Miss 1 damage)
4 Experience

So, um, I don't have the game yet (might get it but on the fence), but this seems an odd DM Reward.

Also, they announce the following:

Changes to the Program - Rewards in Kits

At this time, we would like to take the opportunity to notify you of changes to the DM Rewards program in the future. It is our intention to continue to reward DMs for their hard work and dedication to official Wizards of the Coast D&D games, and to that end, we are loading many of our reward items into our kits for our official Wizards Play Network programs, such as D&D Encounters and D&D Game Days. Additionally, we will continue to track your participation in public play (private play is no longer supported), but the current DM Rewards system will change effective immediately. We are still in the process of institution the specifics of some of those changes, and over the course of the next few months, you can look to our webside at Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page for information on the newly revised program.

To me, it looks like they are trying to encourage more people to DM at encounters and gamedays by giving them a prize (they used to give the DMs minis, which was nice). At the same time, I liked that my DMing at our monthly meetup meant I would get a reward eventually. Since I DM the encounters and gamedays anyhow, this isn't a big deal to me, but no more home game tracking kind of sucks. This also seems another strike against LFR dms, perhaps now that LFR has moved to a fan supported model?

 

[hvg3akaek]

Wow, that is real bad!

I am someone who has no FLGS, and cannot affort the hour-or-so it would take to travel to the closest game store to play. (and when I try to do that, I have bad experiences...)

What is WotC's obsession in trying to dictate where (at a games store) and when (encounters on wednesday nights) we play? In our two gaming groups, I have brought in eight new players to DnD, convinced ten players to join up with the RPGA / DCI, and caused five of them to sign up to DnDi. But because we live outside a major city, our games now no longer count?

It's enough that we cannot play the Encounters; the Games Days are too hard to get to; and now it seems that the Rewards games / bonuses are going to be out of our reach, too.

Thanks, WotC...

 

[Shazman]

It seems that WotC has become to cheap or hard up for cash to fully support the RPGA anymore. It's kind of sad but not that surprising given WotC's track record.

 

[MichaelSomething]

You can read my less then pleased response on my blog...

 

[Aegeri]

I didn't even know I could have a home game qualify for the RPGA so there you go.

But this does suck I must say, even if it doesn't affect me.

 

[hutchback]

You know I don't typically expect anything special from any company whose product I buy and I generally think that the DM rewards is a generous/cool program, but I have to admit I am disappointed by this reward.

A card? for a completely different game? Honestly I would have rather had a coupon for Castle Ravenloft than a "special card." I can totally understand pulling back on the giveaway and sending out something less expensive, but I really think it should have been some kind of DM tool. How about a laminated initiative tracking card or a small folded map? Heck, I would even think it would be cool if the reward just gave me a chance to buy something that only a DM could buy. Like a t-shirt or nice polo with the DnD Logo on it. Something that when you saw someone in it you would know they run a game.

I understand not supporting home games. Its too hard to track accurately. Anyone with a handful of DCI numbers can fudge home games all year long.

Imo Wizards would have been better off just saying the DM Rewards Program is canceled, but we will continue to give nice incentives to DMs running in store sanctioned events.

Am I wrong in thinking that it would draw less ire that way?

 

[Stumblewyk]

Yup. Heard about this from my DM last night. He got his reward and was venting about the letter announcing the end of home support.

Like a poster said above, I've recruited a number of new players, new RPGA members, and DDI members since 4e began and I have been tracking my home game. I've DM'd Game Day events in the past (missed the Dark Sun Game Day), and I don't have the time for Encounters. This really blows for me, but I can't say I didn't see this coming. The "compensation" for DM'ing Game Days has become cheaper and cheaper recently (minis to custom-printed tokens to generic "PC 1", "Monster 1" tokens).

I guess, I'm glad that they're still supporting DMs with rewards, but to tell me that I'm only doing them a favor if I run their sanctioned events on their schedule is kinda B.S. in my book. I do them far more service running two games, and playing in another one, recruiting new paying customers than I do catering to the already established players who show up for Game Days. =/

 

[Taed]

I'm not too big on the DM Rewards program. I like the idea of it, but except the ship tiles, there hasn't been anything that I've wanted or used.

The change I was really disappointed in was the dropping of the minis from the D&D Game Days. My then-7-year-old son and I got into D&D due to the Game Days. I didn't DM them back then. But we played and both got to keep minis of our characters. That was a great reward for playing and certainly got my son more interested. And then the DM getting to keep all the other minis -- that was a sweet reward and I would have DMed every Game Day just for them.

So, the rewards for Game Days, which I do now DM, are that you get to keep the module, which is decent, particularly with the nicer maps. The tokens are of no interest for anyone that uses minis, so I just gave them to a player. But the reward for players sucks -- you get to keep your character's card. Yawn.

Frankly, I was hoping that the DM reward this semi-year would be a special pack of Gamma World cards. I'm looking forward to playing that.

 

[Jhaelen]

Very disappointing.

The only positive thing about this is that I no longer need to bother reporting my home games...

 

[Stumblewyk]

So, the rewards for Game Days, which I do now DM, are that you get to keep the module, which is decent, particularly with the nicer maps. The tokens are of no interest for anyone that uses minis, so I just gave them to a player. But the reward for players sucks -- you get to keep your character's card. Yawn.

Was I wrong to keep those modules before? Because I always went home with my copy of the adventure.