Quote:
Wizards of the Coast: Are there other such games you have in mind, at least in concept?
Rob: Yes, I always have a game design project going. This is the perfect moment to ask, since I've just finished design work on the sequel to Three-Dragon Ante. It's a deck of 70 entirely new cards using the same rules as the first game. You can either play this deck alone, or mix pieces of it with the earlier cards since the cards will have the same card backs. The goal is to make the sequel even more fun that the original 3DA. I've had great help from people at WotC and the sequel is now the version of 3DA my family wants to play. I can't tell you exactly when it will be published, but it's moving into production and we're figuring out the schedule. I'm happy.
This is great news (as long as the expansion turns out to be fun) and very unexpected to me. I mean, I know most of the games on this site have expansions, and that WOTC are money-grubbing capitalist pigs
, but I simply didn't think that such a well-rounded and balanced game could be expanded upon.
Maybe this will help solve my problem - most of my friends prefer playing poker to TDA (even though they like D&D and boardgames) because it's more confrontational and adrenaline filled (I personally despise poker because at our level of skill, which is practically none, it's mostly a game of chance).
Are these cards supposed to only just replace or mix with the old or can you play with all 140 cards at the same time ? If you can't use more than 70 cards at a time, then this will be just another version of the same game, not an expansion, much less valuable in my eyes.
Using 140 cards would enable more players to play together, but it would also make it twice less likely to build a color flight (and perhaps cause other problems), is there any solution to that problem ? Perhaps colors could be divided into pairs which would be considered similar enough to be treated as the same for the purpose of color flights, or simply the reward for color flights should be increased (doubled) ?
And is there anything but the number of cards left for drawing to limit the number of players in one game ?
Rob Heinsoo wrote:
Ian,
Part of the point of the new set is to allow exactly the customization you've mentioned. There will be 5 new colors of Good Dragons, 5 new colors of Evil dragons, and 10 new Mortals/WaitAndSee. The rulebook will have a number of suggested games, listing selections of dragons and mortals that create specific types of game.
So long as you play with equal numbers of good and evil dragon types, most mixes of the original and new cards will be fun. When I say 'most' I'm referring to the fact that there are a couple dynamics emerging in the cards that make a couple cards more interesting when played with specific other cards, not as interesting (or at least very different) when played alone. The rulebook will mention that...
I wish I could say more about the game now, but I just turned over the art order ten days ago, so the game is still in the production loop, and I've been asked to talk about the cool new aspects a bit later in the summer rather than now.
When we start saying more about it, I'll make sure to come back here and share the news.
--Rob Heinsoo
Game Designer at WotC
I'm not sure I entirely like the concept of this expansion. For example, I like the current rules but wouldn't mind new (optional) game mechanics. In comparison to other games on this site or roleplaying games this game could stand a bit more complexity.
And while I love the idea of new types of dragons, I wouldn't mind expanding the categories a little, as long as it fitted with the setting. What I mean is - how about we have good and evil dragons, mortals and gods ? And what does "Mortals/WaitAndSee" mean exactly
?
And how about changing the images on the dragon cards to reflect their power ? What I mean is this - divide dragons of the same color into classes based on their power which roughley correspond to D&D dragon age classes and change their images accordingly without changing their function and power. For example the weakest dragons could be portrayed as hatchlings surrounded by egg shell pieces. As long as they were obviously the same color it wouldn't make recognition any more difficult and would make already beautifull cards even more interesting. Offcourse this would require reprinting the old cards too...
raviv wrote:
I just hope this time they'll make a better box (one that fits the size of the cards, and can stay closed).
I've been thinking the EXACT same thing ever since I bought the game. The cards are so beautifully designed they're practically a work of art. The dragon on the back is the perfect choice although it looks more chinese than D&D-ish, and the shape is elegant and original.
But since the rulebook is bigger than the cards and the box bigger than both it all just clunks around in there, and since it can't even close properly it's useless for carrying the cards around, and I don't want to use rubbers on such beautifull cards (to keep them in perfect shape). If the rulebook was reduced in size and fattened, and the box made to be a tight fit, then it would all be perfect. I don't see why they made it so big in the first place. Perhaps for marketing purposes ?
Last edited on 2009-07-30 05:26:00 CST (Total Number of Edits: 3)
Posted Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:17 pm
