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2 years ago ::
Feb 18, 2011 - 10:49AM
#11
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Date Joined:
Jan 31, 2011
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Some of the players are familiar with the LFR and have been imposing that rule on themselves without asking for a rules call, but I was curious as to whether they could put more copies in.
Don't worry about the legalese, I'm a legal assistant and used to it.
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2 years ago ::
Feb 19, 2011 - 10:19PM
#12
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Date Joined:
Mar 24, 2010
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At the first the reception of the cards was very positive. 1/3 where great fans, 1/3 liked them, 1/3 thought they where un-needed to an evil plot by Wizards to Destroy D&D. We had a few players that decided not play in this Season because of the Cards. but most people where positive. At the start of session 1 all of the players traded cards, build their decks with plans and plot a plenty, they made Character Builder Characters to get the new promo cards. But, when the game started, they barely played any cards. They forgot about them. They where no right for the situation. A few people in Session 2 even stopped even bothering. Very few people bought cards in the 2nd session. This might change. as people are still getting used to them. I am still collecting data before I make an opinion.
On the other hand. Players where not happy with the change on Twitter Buffs. Usually one player would monitor Twitter at each table. They would be excited when another message came in and start plotting how to use it. At my table, they considered it a secret weapon to offset the DM tricks that I had up my sleave. But, now that just change the way the cards are played and people are disappointed. In Session 2, only one table out of three even bothered. And it think that Session 3 it will be none.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 03, 2011 - 8:26AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Jan 31, 2011
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These last 2 weeks the fortune cards have been getting a lot of use. I've been keeping an eye on twitter buffs to see how it effects the players. Now that people are used to it and about half of them now have built a deck they are remembering to check and use them. I'm seeing around 5-8 cards used per encounter and the players seem to be enjoying the benefits they're getting. I'm starting to warm up more to the idea of the cards but it has definately taken some getting used to. As the DM I'm wonding if I should run with a monster deck just to add a bit more variety and keep the challenge level up for my players?
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2 years ago ::
Mar 03, 2011 - 8:58AM
#14
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Date Joined:
Jun 18, 2003
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These last 2 weeks the fortune cards have been getting a lot of use. I've been keeping an eye on twitter buffs to see how it effects the players. Now that people are used to it and about half of them now have built a deck they are remembering to check and use them. I'm seeing around 5-8 cards used per encounter and the players seem to be enjoying the benefits they're getting. I'm starting to warm up more to the idea of the cards but it has definately taken some getting used to. As the DM I'm wonding if I should run with a monster deck just to add a bit more variety and keep the challenge level up for my players?
Same thing here. After of a couple weeks of getting used to the cards, the players at my table are not just aware of them, they are starting to plan their strategies based on which card is up at the moment. Although I am neutral on the cards themselves, as the DM I put on an enthusiastic front in their support and continued to remind players to use them, flip them at the end of their turns, etc. They seem to be catching on.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 03, 2011 - 11:36AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Mar 24, 2010
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Most of the players at our store have given up on the cards. I was thinking of an idea for a Monster Deck with the cards or similar effects, but it looks like there is no interest. I have noted that the only players that still use them at our store are players under 14 years old. (I'm not making a judgement here, just an observation  ). The Twitter buffs have also basicly given up as well. They vastly prefer the previous non-card connected Twitters. At one table where the DM was still using them, the players only used it to have the Misfortune not occur when the DM wanted, but when they wanted it. Basicly, the cards seem to be a goose egg over here.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 03, 2011 - 12:24PM
#16
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Date Joined:
Feb 26, 2011
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The fortune cards started off pretty slow in my group as well (only 1 card played total in week 1), but they seem to be picking up little by little each week.
Some ideas that might help out:
Use 1 community deck for the whole group to draw from/discard into. This allows new players or players who don't want to purchase cards still participate. We assign one guy to distribute a card to each player every round (unless they are holding onto a card that they like and waiting for a prime oppurtunity to play it). That seemed to solve our intial problem of players forgetting to draw a card until after their turn was already over.
Because of the reduced chance to draw a card that is immediately useful, consider simply picking out a few cards that are useful to your PC's and handing them out at the start of the combat. Once each PC has played his intial card that was handed to him by the DM, then he goes back to drawing from the deck as usual. This gets players in the habit of playing the cards as part of their turn.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 03, 2011 - 1:32PM
#17
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- Dragon Slayer
- If only he would apply himself
- Dammit Jim, this is Star Trek, not D&D!
Date Joined:
Jan 31, 2006
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Monster or DM decks seem to rub many players the wrong way. They see it as adversarial competition.
I recommend forgetting the why but just analyzing challenge level. If the challenge level is not appropriate, regardless of reason, adjust the challenge level.
I think DMs have plenty to track, so a monster deck can be a burden. It also creates the trap question of "should I do a random deck or optimize", which can lead to horrible results either way (a waste of time flipping cards or something gone wrong when you change the game). To explain further, each monster role is predicated on a level of accuracy. Outside of placing a leader monster in your PC (which is accounted for in monster design), you don't want to mess with that accuracy because it can cause bad things to happen.
I've played games like Spycraft, which has a cool system of Action Dice. PCs get a certain number of them and can roll one or more to bump up a die roll result. Roll d20, get a 12, not happy with that, roll one of your d6 action dice, decide to roll another, get a 21, succeed. PCs can further earn these by doing cool things, but when they earn one the DM gets one too. The DM has more flexibility in what they can do. This is a cool system, but spending the action dice is a simpler thing than reward cards.
So, rambling way to get back to what I said. If the game isn't challenging, adjust the monsters through scaling. Don't add a monster/DM deck unless you really have a strong feel for 4E and are pretty sure your players will be ok with it.
Follow my blog and Twitter feed with Dark Sun campaign design and DM tips! Dark Sun's Ashes of Athas Campaign is now available for home play (PM me with your e-mail to order the campaign adventures).
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2 years ago ::
Mar 03, 2011 - 9:51PM
#18
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Date Joined:
Feb 15, 2010
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This week the use of fortune cards took off at our table too. I played 4 cards, one each round. Everyone else either played a card or was remembering to discard and draw I new card at the start of thier turn. FYI my deck is currently built around 10 cards that are all Play at the start of your turn.
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