Fortune cards – I plan to ignore them

Since it’s the current big uproar in the D&D community, I thought I would give my two cents’ worth on the Fortune Cards news:

I plan to ignore them.

Yes, Wizards of the Coast seems to be trying to make more money by adding a collectible card game element to Dungeons and Dragons.  I understand why they’re doing it.  It doesn’t sound like much fun to me, so I plan to leave them out of my games.  Players will not be allowed to use them in games that I run.  I only DM right now so I’m not a player in a regular game at the moment, but if I were, I would vote to exclude them (and I’m pretty sure the people I play with would do the same).

I’m a little bummed about the part of the announcement that says, “For some Wizards Play Network programs aimed at experienced players, Fortune Card purchase will be a requirement to participate.”  They say that this will not apply to D&D Encounters (although this page talks extensively about Fortune Cards with Encounters, which confuses me), so I’m left to wonder what they mean.  I know that they required the purchase of Gamma World boosters for the Gamma World Game Day (which I did not participate in); is the plan to require Fortune Cards for future Game Days?  What about Living Forgotten Realms?

I’d be especially bummed if you had to use Fortune Cards to play LFR, especially since it seems that LFR is sort of run by the community now rather than by WotC.  I like LFR, and if I HAVE to buy Fortune Cards in order to play, then I’m not playing.  I’m just not interested in the cards.  Maybe someone will give me a stack of commons that I can put on the table and then not use.

Anyway, for people who don’t care about Organized Play (which is most D&D players, since most of us play home games), you can freely ignore Fortune Cards.  The two they’ve shown so far don’t seem that interesting anyway.

Is this a money-grab by WotC?  Yep.  They’re a business and are trying to maximize profits.  Is it distasteful?  Sure, but I don’t mind ignoring it.  I like D&D 4e without Fortune Cards, and no one can require me to add them to my home games if I don’t like them, so I won’t add them.

4 thoughts on “Fortune cards – I plan to ignore them

  1. The Fortune Cards replace the much larger encounter cards which if you played LFR before they did away with.
    If you ask me that was an area where someone thought they could make additional money from those players and sure enough its going to work out fine.
    The old encounter cards had many of the exact same benefits so its not really anything new, but in a new format. If anyone did play LFR when it first arrived I can’t possibly see how this isnt expected or even any big deal.
    Personally I bought a few packs and will be happy to buy more from time to time. My son and I both play LFR and I look forward to continued playing.
    I’ve played DnD since the very early 80’s and I don’t see what the uproar is over. DnD has almost always had optional tools or books to use, this is one such thing.

    • Great – I’m glad you guys like them! I had the old cards for LFR, and I was never much a fan of them, either. It’s just not something that excites me very much, but I’m glad that some players are enjoying them.

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