Eric Noah's Info

[GQuail]

Genshou,

Check out Dragon 346. They use CARDS instead of just "dice" to do random rolls. That's what I'm talking about.

To be exact, they use Three Dragon Ante cards and tokens to do a faux tarot reading for your prospective character: which is still character gen by cards, but a bit more complex (and clearly assembled for flavour reasons than a 4E grooming trick, IMHO) than what some people are dreading here: that is, it's not just "a pack of cards with some numbers between 3 and 18 on them".

 

[Scribble]

Nevertheless, I'm sure we'll always have the triumvirate of D&D (PHB, DMG, MM), we just might not get all the sourcebooks we're used to seeing.

Shrug, who knows. Maybe we will maybe we won't.

I wonder what the D&D sales/costs are compaired to say a traditional game such as monopoly?

 

[GQuail]

Nevertheless, I'm sure we'll always have the triumvirate of D&D (PHB, DMG, MM), we just might not get all the sourcebooks we're used to seeing.

Plenty of other RPGs sell on a single core rule book model: hell, so did D&D once, with the Rules Cyclopedia. And the BECMI boxes similarly were packaged by level, not by player/DM status: though inside, of course, were seperate books.

Moving to a single D&D rule book might be one way to defray costs, depending on the price: rather than buy three seperate core ruile book sat £18, I'd look at a mega D&D book at £45. (the disadvantage on players, who need to get the whole shebang into order to play, can possibly be ignored if there's still an SRD: I dunno how gamers would take that.)

Or perhaps a split to a "Rule Book" (which contains the PHB and, say, magic items and environmental hazards out the DMG) and then making monsters, PrCs and the like purely campaign based. So there might a "Generic Fantasy" sourcebook with Orcs, Goblins, Archmages and Thaumaturgists, and then a Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft or whatever book: but the previous sourcebook glut doesn't happen. I know that with the "new hardback a month" model it's a rare person who grabs every book, perhaps doing fewer but bigger books might be one way to make a difference?

 

[D.Shaffer]

To be exact, they use Three Dragon Ante cards and tokens to do a faux tarot reading for your prospective character: which is still character gen by cards, but a bit more complex (and clearly assembled for flavour reasons than a 4E grooming trick, IMHO) than what some people are dreading here: that is, it's not just "a pack of cards with some numbers between 3 and 18 on them".

Of course, if you have a bunch of cards labeled 1-6 and you draw them instead of rollind dice, it's not THAT much different. Well, unless you're completely wedded to point buy.

 

[Gargoyle]

The prospect of a 4th edition neither worries or excites me. I will likely buy it even if it is horrible just to see for myself. I will run it if it's better than 3E.

"Better" for me would mean a more inspirational magic system, better multiclassing, and miniatures that aren't random.

Someone mentioned scratch off stats for characters...I would like that on minis. They should make scratch off stats on the mini's base so that I can buy what I need for RPGing and mini game players can still have a reason to buy yet another minotaur in hopes of getting that elite rare stat.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Well it's not ALL bad Genshou, but the fact is they are working very slowly to replacing dice rolls and point buy based on card draws.

yeah it's coming folks.

You are straight up on CRACK.

The dice are NOT going away.

 

[GQuail]

Someone mentioned scratch off stats for characters...I would like that on minis. They should make scratch off stats on the mini's base so that I can buy what I need for RPGing and mini game players can still have a reason to buy yet another minotaur in hopes of getting that elite rare stat.

When going through my bedroom in my parents house last week, I came across a stack of an old CCG called "Champions". Dunno if it was a UK thing only or not, but basically it was a simple combat game with a mishmash of vikings, saracens, knights and monsters and weapons/spells for them to use. The trick was that each card had scratch-off portions: you scratched off the stas of each warrior when they lost to weaken them, and if they won a battle you scratched off a mark at the bottom to add another skull to their collection. ;-)

A game with self-destructing pieces is somewhat awkward to sell, but something of the same ilk might be something to spruce up D&D miniatures. Perhaps the stat cards have scratch-off panels for treasure when you kill the monster, so the non-combat stuff he's carrying is hidden until needs be? Perhaps a heat-sensiitve sticker (Transformers-style) under each miniature to reveal his name or level? It kinds plays them up more as "toys" than "roleplaying aides", but isn't that part of the goal here?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well it's not ALL bad Genshou, but the fact is they are working very slowly to replacing dice rolls and point buy based on card draws.

yeah it's coming folks.

I'm just watching The X-Files. Mulder's almost as paranoid as you are. But for him, the stuff he fears is true.

Yes, that's right: Before we see dice going away from D&D, aliens will come, interbreed with us, and rule us openly.

Eww. How about I don't check out Dragon 346 and we never speak of this horror again, lest we summon the minions of an unfathomable horror buried deep beneath our oceans.

I love the 3DA generation. Whenever someone wants random character generation, he can use that (I don't use dice for any part of character generation any more.)

*is more concerned they'll just do minis and nothing else* This is another reason I don't buy minis from WotC. Just not sure I want to say "Yes Hasbro, shaft us RPGers!"

It is one of the reasons I do buy minis: It tells them: "Hey, I give you a lot of money for those minis. I use them for D&D. Mess up D&D and you not only lose me as a D&D customer, but also as a minis customer. Your choice."

Most minis are sold to roleplayers and they know it. They won't do them instead. They know they can't. They do them to get more money from roleplayers. They don't get enough money from players who play the skirmish exclusively. They know that and make Dreamblade to get the money from the card gamer and professional tournament players' crowd.

 

[JoeGKushner]

You are straight up on CRACK.

The dice are NOT going away.

Can we minimize them in rolling hit points, game abilities, and advancing hit points officially? Pretty please?

(Yup, long term Hero player here...)

 

[Gargoyle]

Can we minimize them in rolling hit points, game abilities, and advancing hit points officially? Pretty please?

(Yup, long term Hero player here...)

I'm all for that. Having randomized stats for characters makes no sense to me as the official rule. Random damage against fixed hit points makes sense...random damage against random hit points seems overdone to me, and just encourages players to reroll or cheat.