Meta Cards: "Magic" Items For Players
Added 2018-08-30 10:25:01 +0000 UTCThis article covers two kinds of Meta Cards. Absentee Cards are special single-use tokens players get when a member of the party can’t make the session but the game must go on! Their somber siblings are Memorial Cards, tokens received during character creation when a player’s last adventurer has unexpectedly perished. By Mike Myler; illustrations by Tamara Cvetkovic, Rick Hershey, Herman Lau, Yihyoung Li, Victoria Oliveria, Phil Stone, Egil Thompson, and Kim Van Deun.
Comments
The suggested design tenet is to scale dice on the card by half level (so that'd be 10) but you should absolutely make cards specific to the characters *and* design them in concert with the players. I definitely want to see what you all come up with! :D
Mike Myler
2018-08-30 22:21:32 +0000 UTCI have to say, I was instantly interested in this concept, and my group was as well. However, it was our general consensus that the examples are quite rough in quality and lacking in variety. The fact that they're tied to levels sounds bad too because it multiplies the number of cards needed by 20. We're writing a bunch of new cards for our use, let me know if anyone wants this.
Rafael
2018-08-30 19:13:49 +0000 UTCAbsentee character (so the cleric would get the rage meta card, assuming you're talking about the one where they have to yell something grammatically incorrect with each attack).
Mike Myler
2018-08-30 16:58:48 +0000 UTCYes sir they are meant to be used once (playing the card) after which they are gone. If an effect lasts an entire session it should say so explicitly. Of the example cards only Tiona's Endless Focus has an open-ended duration (and even then it'll be a challenge). Something permanent (like access to a race normally not allowed in a given campaign) isn't really what the cards are about--they are a resource that players can deploy for a boost when they feel the need to do so. Your example sounds fine...maybe the resource they pay is for that player/character to not get access to Meta cards at all! ;)
Mike Myler
2018-08-30 16:56:24 +0000 UTCI have a question. The cards appear to be about roles, but whose role exactly? That of the absent character, or of the one that casts the card? For instance, there's a cleric and a barbarian, so the barbarian is absent. Does the cleric get a healing meta card or a rage meta card?
Rafael
2018-08-30 15:10:19 +0000 UTCAre these meant to be one time use? You use them and they go away? Or do they last an entire session in the case of the Absentee Cards? I think the Memorial Cards are a really good idea, but I think it would be neat to grant the incoming character a card, that is permanent, that gives him something that you otherwise might not allow at your table. Sort of a reward, for proving themselves a good roleplayer, or for achieving certain goals with their previous character. Like maybe you don't ordinarily allow Underdark races at your table, but a Memorial Card would allow him to do so, as long as he pays a resource (sacrifices a feat or ability score increase).
R0GUE
2018-08-30 14:59:09 +0000 UTC
