Fortune cards.

[frankthedm]

I think it's a big F.U. to the 4E fanbase - or disrespectful at the very least. There's absolutely no reason to randomize these things - other than a profit motive.

If they weren't randomized, the cards may be pretty cool.

But using such a blatent money-grabbing tactic is just sad. How pathetic WotC has become....

Especially after recently ramping up the difficulty on monsters across the board!

 

[kitsune9]

Why not just get Paizo's Plot Twist Cards? They're actually made for Pathfinder (although they can apparently also be used with other games), and they have the added benefit of having actual RP effects instead of purely mechanical ones.

Pukuni, these look really cool! Thanks for the link!

 

[Dire Bare]

These cards are hardly the biggest money grab to hit D&D - and WotC is far from the biggest offender.

D&DWoodBurningSet.jpg.

I had forgotten about the Woodburning Set...

LINK

Money grab? I would have loved to have gotten that as a kid! Heck, I kinda want it now!

 

[Dykstrav]

The more I think about it, the more I think this is really strange. So they're planning a new kind of organized play event that requires a buy-in? And that buy-in is fortune cards?!?

Some game store people have shared with me their feelings on WotC events... Since I'm not personally involved, it's third-hand information, so take it with a grain of salt.

From what I've heard, people in the game store business hate running D&D events because they're always packed--but the vast majority of the people there buy nothing. They purchase their books on amazon.com or just use a Dungeons & Dragons Insider account and maybe buy a soda or candy bar while at the event. It eats up a ton of table space and results in very little return for them.

Allegedly, the big reasons for the fortune cards (and them being a game store exclusive) is to make some sort of mechanism for stores to monetize certain events.

It's also supposed to be the reason for making the Rules Compendium: so that Dungeons & Dragons Insider-enabled players can have access to the full rules at a reasonable price while relying on digital elements to actually make their characters.

 

[frankthedm]

Some game store people have shared with me their feelings on WotC events... Since I'm not personally involved, it's third-hand information, so take it with a grain of salt.

From what I've heard, people in the game store business hate running D&D events because they're always packed--but the vast majority of the people there buy nothing. They purchase their books on amazon.com or just use a Dungeons & Dragons Insider account and maybe buy a soda or candy bar while at the event. It eats up a ton of table space and results in very little return for them.

As I suspected when i replied to [MENTION=70778]justanobody[/MENTION] a while back...

Stores come up with all kinds of ideas for CCG customers, but why not RPG customer incentives?

Because CCG players and their money are soon parted. Between games, CCG players are far more likely to pick up more CCG cards. Whether trying to get trade-bait, hoping to make their deck better after a crippling loss or just impulse buying, the CCG players swiftly fritter away the $5 per hit for their drug of choice.

RPG players probably already have their books. Impulse buys can happen, but those won't be generated by Competitiveness or Collectability. And that is ‘if’ the store has any of the books for that edition of the game in at the time. Also you may have RPG players looking up rules in the books rather than buying them to bring to a home game. And I’d suspect sometimes impulse buys are even averted by since the DM can give the Yes or No answer right there in the store before the book is bought.

Also CCG players drift from game to game, often with time to do some shopping between games or pop out to go for a burger. RPG players might take ‘a’ break, but generally will be at the table for hours, wanting to bring in food, wanting to befoul your bathroom and wanting you to stay open past closing.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There's nothing odd or unusual or "hung-up" about any of that. That's how capitalism works. That's how people work. That's the system functioning as it should. The people with strong opinions should voice them and let them be known with their wallets.

Asking people to sit down and shut up and keep their opinions to themselves (or, worse, shaming them into it by telling them that they have a problem because of their feelings) ensures only that nothing changes.

The point is not that you shouldn't complain if you don't like it... it's that you should remember that it's your complaints and not everyone elses. So when you write your post as a declarative fact... those of us who think you're full of crap will come on to tell you that.

Every time someone posts that these cards are completely useless, the rest of us will tell that person that we think they're full of crap, because although it might be useless to them... it won't be to everybody. Plus, we haven't even seen the cards yet. so who knows how useless they are?

Likewise when someone posts that these cards are nothing but a money grab... again, the rest of us who don't feel that way will tell that person we think they're full of crap.

Or if someone says that CCG aspects don't belong in an RPG... guess what? Reply about being full of crap. Because many of us don't give a rat's ass if we use dice, charts, cards, or picking numbers out of a hat to help us make our roleplaying game more interesting.

So go ahead and continue to post about why these products aren't right or good for you... but just expect that if you make a statement of empirical fact instead, you will get a constant response of "if you don't like it, don't us it." And that's just the way it is.

Cool down. Everyone is entitled to express their opinion. Mentally put 'IMO' before everything that people write. However, this will be a lesson for another time, as I'm booting you from this thread. Too much use of crap. Plane Sailing

 

[Insight]

While I like the idea of adding different concepts to the game to make it appeal to a broader customer base, this is not something that interests me and I doubt anyone in my gaming group will buy a pack. If they did, however, and wanted to try it out in my game, I'd let them and see how it goes. There's a strong chance it would be received negatively, but I'm always open to new ways for the players to have fun.

Honestly, what I am looking for are new ways to make the game more simulationist rather than more gamist, since 4E does a pretty good job on the gamist side already.

 

[Insight]

I had forgotten about the Woodburning Set...

LINK

That's cool. I want one!

 

[MrGrenadine]

Every time someone posts that these cards are completely useless, the rest of us will tell that person that we think they're full of crap, because although it might be useless to them... it won't be to everybody.

Actually, the more reasonable response to someone saying the cards are useless--if you disagree with that opinion--would be to show ways that the cards are not useless, maybe by describing the useful things you're going to do with them.

On the other hand, replying to "these cards are useless" with "you're full of crap" is a great way to shut down conversation with a needless insult, if thats what you're going for.

 

[Shazman]

Judging from the discussion about these over on the WotC 4e forums, it seems like their Fortune Cards are basically their version of Paizo's Plot Twist cards but without the actual plot twists ... they're essentially just random cards with purely mechanical benefits. No RP benefits whatsoever.

I find it intriguing, though, that WotC recommends you break open a new pack for each session - the idea being that this way you won't know what's in the deck before you use it. However, this also implies that you'll only ever use the cards in each pack once ... so what are you supposed to do with them after you've used them? Throw them away?

At least they're optional. They're just something you can use to enhance the game. If you don't like them, you can quite easily ignore them.

So WotC makes the money grab motive behind these cards even more apparent. Have they no shame?

I notice your status says that you are glad that you are not a WotC customer. It's a good use of your status, because it doesn't mean you have to make continual drive by sniping attacks against WotC in threads such as this. To reinforce this suggestion I'm booting you from this thread. Plane Sailing