Some interesting news about 4th edition

[wingsandsword]

They will never integrate any collectibility into the core rules of D&D. It just doesn't work (at least, it can't work while still remaining a role-playing game).

Exactly.

I Play the trap feat EXPERTISE!!!11!!1! which allows me to increace my AC makeing your puny attack USELESS!!! Now i play POWER WORD KILL OMGWTFBBQ!!!1!!1one!!!1!

And this is why. . .

Not only am I uninterested in the idea of a Collectable Roleplaying Game, I am actively, vehemently opposed to this. I refuse to buy booster packs of spells or feats to play D&D, I refuse to have to put a "deck" together for each NPC I assemble as a DM. I won't play a game that inherently ignores homebrew DM's so much (like having to make your own cards for new spells/items/feats).

Those who think that the D&D player base will buy anything WotC prints that labelled 4e, you are wrong. Remember, when 2e came out, a lot of players didn't upgrade, and over time it chased away players from the game overall (go over to the "How long have you been a DM" thread, it sounds like a lot of people took a hiatus known as Second Edition). 3e was overall seen as major improvements to the system (and to a lesser degree, also 3.5), hence their popularity. If WotC makes a poor game, people won't buy it. "We're the market leader, so what we make sells" has gotten a lot of companies in trouble over the years, and WotC probably knows to be careful there.

I can tell you, bluntly, what would happen if they tried this. People would go online and get spoiler lists of the game text of these cards and make their own, or photocopy other peoples cards. With dedicated CCG players, they are used to playing in tournaments where everything has to be legal and the basic mode of play is that every player is the adversary of each other, however RPG's are typically played in small, close-knit groups where the basic mode of play is that the PC's are cooperative and the DM exists to provide a challenge and run the game, not compete against the PC's. Thus, a gaming group is much more likely to accept copied/proxy RPG cards than a CCG player group.

If WotC thinks piracy has ever been a problem with D&D books, making the rules into sets of little flat cards would amplify the problem vastly. The RPG gamer mentality and culture is pretty different from the CCG gamer mentality and culture, and I can see so many "proxy" cards, homebrew cards, and fake cards floating around that it's practically not worth it.

WotC already has collectable D&D, the minis game. If they wanted to make a CCG about the D&D settings (besides Spellfire), they could very well. They might even come up with a way to integrate the CCG and minis game (like including alternate stat cards for some minis in CCG packs, or having CCG cards that can be played during the minis game for special effects), but unless WotC wants a flop on the scale of the Gaming version of New Coke, they better not make Core D&D Collectable.

 

[JVisgaitis]

It would make sense that they are laying a blueprint for 4e now and I can also understand wanting to draw off of the success of MTG. However, adding collectible elements into the game with cards is insane. But., releasing something like a set of MTG "D&D minis" with full stats for NPCs and Monsters in D&D seems more like a cunning WotC plan to me.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I think we should strike first, before Wizards has a chance to ruin the game.

Gather the ninjas.

Gather the pirates!

We'll set fire to their offices in the night.

--fje

 

[WizarDru]

Gather the ninjas.

Gather the pirates!

Pfft! As if Ninjas and Pirates would ever work together. Everyone KNOWS their natural enemies. Next you'll be suggesting they work with Dinosuars. And that's just plain silly.

...you know, due to alignment restrictions.

 

[Vanion]

This is either one of the best examples of trolling I've seen, or simply one of the most retarded marketing strategies from Wizards of the Coast.

Conclusion:

WotC has decided to troll gamers with brains.

 

[glass]

Please note: this is NOT just another "4e rumor".

As mentioned in the Undead thread: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!


glass.

 

[glass]

Ah, yes Everway - while a good game in its own right, it turned into a giant blackhole for WotC finances because cards were not, in fact, the future mechanic of RPGs.

Everway wasn't collectible though (and neither was Saga). Not that you were saying they were, I just felt it was worth noting.


glass.

 

[glass]

D&D4E - the first collectible role-playing game.

Actually, that was 'Throwing Stones'. And the fact that you have apparently never heard of it suggests that it didn't do all that well.


glass.

 

[Maggan]

Everway wasn't collectible though (and neither was Saga). Not that you were saying they were, I just felt it was worth noting.


glass.

But ... I seem to remember buying boosters for Everway? And getting "special" cards with tin foil on them.

I could have sworn it was collectible. Just with a really big starter pack.

/M

 

[Michael Morris]

The spirit of MtG can be adapted to the D&D ruleset, and I personally think the many planes of Dominiria would make a much more interesting (albeit EXTREMELY OVER-THE-TOP HIGH MAGIC) world than Eberron, or even the Realms for that matter (which I've become bored with). I'd kill for a chance to do that as a stand alone product for WotC.

Truth be known however, the CCG R&D division and the TCG R&D division are kept on opposite sides of the WotC offices for a very good reason folks - most of them do NOT get along (I've heard this multiple times directly from members of both teams). A MtG crossover to D&D has been tried -- TWICE, but fell apart in hopeless bickering between the two sides each time and was pulled before a single page was written -- Well, a few pages have been written according to a source I will not reveal, but they are not being developed for publication, instead they're sitting in some filing cabinet collecting dust in the offices (though no doubt the move shook it off).

Outside of the offices, WotC is painfully aware that the majority of the CCG and RPG communities do NOT get along. Ryan Dancey made this very clear at GC 2000 at the debut of 3e - I asked him during a public seminar on the newborn 3e if there would ever be a crossover. He took a show of hands of all opposed and I swear nearly everyone in the room rose their hand. He then said he could probably go up to the CCG room and get the same response to the same question. Now, it's been 5 years since then, but I doubt attitudes have changed much.

If I could figure out a way to develop this myself without being sued I would, but I can't without changing things so much they are unrecognizable. Wizards isn't going to take a gamble with the potential to damage the profitability of not one but TWO of their biggest lines either.

So folks, in closing, take any rumor like this not with a grain of salt, but with a semi-truck load of salt.