Dungeon Crawl Classics: Magic Cards

About four months ago, Sully of A Pack Of Gnolls posted this sample DnD spell card. I thought, and still think, that cards for magic spells is a great idea.

Fast forward to June 2011, and the beta release of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The magic system in DCC RPG just begs for a spell card system, with the name, an illustration and effects of each spell printed on the front of a card. The spell card can be flipped face-down when the magic user fails her casting roll, signifying that the spell is no longer available.

My suggestion to Goodman Games is that they reduce and tighten up the range of spell effects so that each spell description and effects can be printed on the front of the card.

Perhaps the initial offering of magic cards can be for first to third level spells, and the range of results be limited to results between 12 and 25 (since a roll of one to eleven means failure, we don't need that range printed on each of the cards).

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Magic Cards

About four months ago, Sully of A Pack Of Gnolls posted this sample DnD spell card. I thought, and still think, that cards for magic spells is a great idea.

Fast forward to June 2011, and the beta release of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The magic system in DCC RPG just begs for a spell card system, with the name, an illustration and effects of each spell printed on the front of a card. The spell card can be flipped face-down when the magic user fails her casting roll, signifying that the spell is no longer available.

My suggestion to Goodman Games is that they reduce and tighten up the range of spell effects so that each spell description and effects can be printed on the front of the card.

Perhaps the initial offering of magic cards can be for first to third level spells, and the range of results be limited to results between 12 and 25 (since a roll of one to eleven means failure, we don't need that range printed on each of the cards).

Fantastic Treasures

Fantastic Treasures is a two volume catalogue of magical and mythological items from folklore and legend, printed in 1984 by Mayfair Games, under its Role Aids line of gaming supplements. Role Aids is an uneven line of supplements, with adventures like Evil Ruins and Lich Lords (both are decent) interspersed with less stellar fare.

The Fantastic Treasures catalogue includes several hundred magical items, each one paired to a black and white illustration. Even though Fantastic Treasures is, by definition, derivative, since it uses myth and folklore for its inspiration, it is the presentation of this catalogue that I find appealing. And i'm not just talking about the Boris Vallejo art that graces its two covers.

Paging through the AD&D Monster Manual, you will find most D&D monster descriptions accompanied by an illustration. That is never the case for magic items in the Dungeon Masters Guide. I can recall poring over the 1979 DMG, bewildered by such unfamiliar items as censers, periapts, phylacteries, and scarabs. Without an illustration, and therefore a mental image to draw upon, I found it difficult to describe those magical items to the players.

In contrast, each of the magical items described in Fantastic Treasures is accompanied by an illustration. Admittedly, unlike the mysterious periapts or a phylacteries, I don't need illustrations of thimbles, horseshoes, or boots, to visualize or describe those items. But there is something immediate and meaningful about seeing an artist's depiction of an item, even if you don't end up describing it as illustrated.

While some of you will be familiar with a broad cross-section of myth and folklore, you are bound to find several items in the Fantastic Treasures catalogue that are new to you. The usual suspects are included of course, like cloaks of invisibility, magical pendants and gems, musical instruments and the like, from Greek, Norse, Chinese legends. But some interesting and obscure African, Indian and frontier American items are also included: Paul Bunyon's Axe, anyone?

Perhaps I am drawn to this catalogue due to my own interest in the development of generic item and treasure cards. I appreciate these economical magical item descriptions, paired with perfectly serviceable illustrations. If only they came in card form!

Fantastic Treasures is a one of those gaming supplements that does something just a little bit different. While i've seen other magical item gaming supplements that claim to provide fresh magic items, few of their entries are accompanied by illustrations, and few items are truly campaign-ready, unlike the tried-and-true vanilla items from myth and folklore.

Collecting such a wide range of magical item tropes, and pairing each with an illustration, makes this supplement 'game-night ready'.

Fantastic Treasures

Fantastic Treasures is a two volume catalogue of magical and mythological items from folklore and legend, printed in 1984 by Mayfair Games, under its Role Aids line of gaming supplements. Role Aids is an uneven line of supplements, with adventures like Evil Ruins and Lich Lords (both are decent) interspersed with less stellar fare.

The Fantastic Treasures catalogue includes several hundred magical items, each one paired to a black and white illustration. Even though Fantastic Treasures is, by definition, derivative, since it uses myth and folklore for its inspiration, it is the presentation of this catalogue that I find appealing. And i'm not just talking about the Boris Vallejo art that graces its two covers.

Paging through the AD&D Monster Manual, you will find most D&D monster descriptions accompanied by an illustration. That is never the case for magic items in the Dungeon Masters Guide. I can recall poring over the 1979 DMG, bewildered by such unfamiliar items as censers, periapts, phylacteries, and scarabs. Without an illustration, and therefore a mental image to draw upon, I found it difficult to describe those magical items to the players.

In contrast, each of the magical items described in Fantastic Treasures is accompanied by an illustration. Admittedly, unlike the mysterious periapts or a phylacteries, I don't need illustrations of thimbles, horseshoes, or boots, to visualize or describe those items. But there is something immediate and meaningful about seeing an artist's depiction of an item, even if you don't end up describing it as illustrated.

While some of you will be familiar with a broad cross-section of myth and folklore, you are bound to find several items in the Fantastic Treasures catalogue that are new to you. The usual suspects are included of course, like cloaks of invisibility, magical pendants and gems, musical instruments and the like, from Greek, Norse, Chinese legends. But some interesting and obscure African, Indian and frontier American items are also included: Paul Bunyon's Axe, anyone?

Perhaps I am drawn to this catalogue due to my own interest in the development of generic item and treasure cards. I appreciate these economical magical item descriptions, paired with perfectly serviceable illustrations. If only they came in card form!

Fantastic Treasures is a one of those gaming supplements that does something just a little bit different. While i've seen other magical item gaming supplements that claim to provide fresh magic items, few of their entries are accompanied by illustrations, and few items are truly campaign-ready, unlike the tried-and-true vanilla items from myth and folklore.

Collecting such a wide range of magical item tropes, and pairing each with an illustration, makes this supplement 'game-night ready'.

Card-Based Dungeons And Dragons

Though not precisely old-school, A Pack Of Gnolls is one of the blogs on my reading list, as Sully makes some interesting observations and seems to appreciate the old-school aesthetic.

He recently published this Magic Mouth spell-card, which was designed for D&D 4E. In that version of the game, non-combat spells seem to have been reclassified as "rituals", which can be used on those rare non-combat situations.

It seems like a year or more since I last blogged about my D&D resource cards project. That project was my attempt to create small, 1" x 1.5" cards that could be used for resource management at the game table. Those cards included magic items, equipment, spells, rumours, and spell components.

I have not spent much time on that project of late, but the recent developments with 4E have me thinking again about this.

Would I love to have a set of spell-cards for Dungeons and Dragons, similar to the one designed by Sully, and accompanied by old-school artwork and descriptions of the spells? Absolutely. It would be great fun for the players to actually play the cards when they want to cast the spell, flipping it face-down when that spell has been used.

I think 4E adherants misunderstand the objections of many old-schoolers to the recent 4E resource and ability cards distribution. It's not the idea of cards at the table that has many of us shaking our heads. It is the blind, collectible format, where players must spend significant amounts of cash to ensure they collect the ultra-rare cards. The inevitable rebuttal from that crowd is that the cards are optional. Today, perhaps. The same can probably be said of M:TG cards. After all, I suspect it is not too difficult to print a copy of a rare M:TG card and place it in your deck, if you're simply playing a friendly Magic game with your friends.

If someone designed a set of D&D spell cards, for old-school tabletop gaming, i'd be all over those. I'm just not interested in buying them in a blind, collectible format.

Card-Based Dungeons And Dragons

Though not precisely old-school, A Pack Of Gnolls is one of the blogs on my reading list, as Sully makes some interesting observations and seems to appreciate the old-school aesthetic.

He recently published this Magic Mouth spell-card, which was designed for D&D 4E. In that version of the game, non-combat spells seem to have been reclassified as "rituals", which can be used on those rare non-combat situations.

It seems like a year or more since I last blogged about my D&D resource cards project. That project was my attempt to create small, 1" x 1.5" cards that could be used for resource management at the game table. Those cards included magic items, equipment, spells, rumours, and spell components.

I have not spent much time on that project of late, but the recent developments with 4E have me thinking again about this.

Would I love to have a set of spell-cards for Dungeons and Dragons, similar to the one designed by Sully, and accompanied by old-school artwork and descriptions of the spells? Absolutely. It would be great fun for the players to actually play the cards when they want to cast the spell, flipping it face-down when that spell has been used.

I think 4E adherants misunderstand the objections of many old-schoolers to the recent 4E resource and ability cards distribution. It's not the idea of cards at the table that has many of us shaking our heads. It is the blind, collectible format, where players must spend significant amounts of cash to ensure they collect the ultra-rare cards. The inevitable rebuttal from that crowd is that the cards are optional. Today, perhaps. The same can probably be said of M:TG cards. After all, I suspect it is not too difficult to print a copy of a rare M:TG card and place it in your deck, if you're simply playing a friendly Magic game with your friends.

If someone designed a set of D&D spell cards, for old-school tabletop gaming, i'd be all over those. I'm just not interested in buying them in a blind, collectible format.

Resource Cards: The Holy Grail

One of my ongoing projects is to develop a set of resource cards, for use as props in D&D games. The idea behind those is to pass out the resource cards to the players, when they purchase equipment, find treasure, obtain rumors and clues, and so on. They therefore will have some tangible representation of the item or information, rather than simply writing the item or information down on their character sheet. That project was inspired by several things: the Paizo Gamemastery cards, the resource cards from the Civilization boardgame, and of course my much-beloved Magic Realm treasure cards.

While the Paizo Gamemastery cards are beautifully illustrated, I find them a little too large for what I am attempting: the Paizo cards are the size of a traditional playing-card (roughly 2.5” x 3.5”) while I am looking for cards that have a smaller footprint, say 1” x 1.5”.

Lately, I have let my resource cards project languish, but it is not forgotten. Here’s an example of a treasure card from Magic Realm, side-by-side with one of my prototype D&D resource card props. As an exercize in developing some resource cards, I am trying to re-create the Magic Realm cards, but with the addition of some simple artwork. Clearly a work in progress, but you get the idea.

Don’t let the card selection of the Sacred Grail fool you: as I have said previously, I neither like the Paladin class in D&D, nor do I have any interest in playing one. In my estimation, the specialist classes like the Paladin, and the introduction of 4d6 character stat generation, took D&D down the wrong path.

The Sacred Grail treasure, in Magic Realm, is a real boon to that game’s White Knight, as it supplies him with WHITE magic, and thereby gives him the ability to cast spells, away from the sanctuary of the Chapel. Of course, it is tempting for the other players (like me when I am playing the Black Knight) to cheese off the White Knight and simply sell the Sacred Grail to the Order, and thereby gain the 12 gold, but more importantly, the 50 fame points.

Resource Cards: The Holy Grail

One of my ongoing projects is to develop a set of resource cards, for use as props in D&D games. The idea behind those is to pass out the resource cards to the players, when they purchase equipment, find treasure, obtain rumors and clues, and so on. They therefore will have some tangible representation of the item or information, rather than simply writing the item or information down on their character sheet. That project was inspired by several things: the Paizo Gamemastery cards, the resource cards from the Civilization boardgame, and of course my much-beloved Magic Realm treasure cards.

While the Paizo Gamemastery cards are beautifully illustrated, I find them a little too large for what I am attempting: the Paizo cards are the size of a traditional playing-card (roughly 2.5” x 3.5”) while I am looking for cards that have a smaller footprint, say 1” x 1.5”.

Lately, I have let my resource cards project languish, but it is not forgotten. Here’s an example of a treasure card from Magic Realm, side-by-side with one of my prototype D&D resource card props. As an exercize in developing some resource cards, I am trying to re-create the Magic Realm cards, but with the addition of some simple artwork. Clearly a work in progress, but you get the idea.

Don’t let the card selection of the Sacred Grail fool you: as I have said previously, I neither like the Paladin class in D&D, nor do I have any interest in playing one. In my estimation, the specialist classes like the Paladin, and the introduction of 4d6 character stat generation, took D&D down the wrong path.

The Sacred Grail treasure, in Magic Realm, is a real boon to that game’s White Knight, as it supplies him with WHITE magic, and thereby gives him the ability to cast spells, away from the sanctuary of the Chapel. Of course, it is tempting for the other players (like me when I am playing the Black Knight) to cheese off the White Knight and simply sell the Sacred Grail to the Order, and thereby gain the 12 gold, but more importantly, the 50 fame points.

Resource Cards: Production List

So far, I have completed and posted seven resource card sheets. That includes two armor sheets, two sheets of gems and coins, two equipment sheets, and a sheet of weapons, for a total of roughly 350 cards.

I have at least 17 more sheets in various stages of production. Many are just cards with item names at the top of the box, although I have populated some of those cards with images as well.

Here are some of the other categories of card sheets I am still in the midst of, or am considering, producing: Equipment, Weapons, Magic Armor and Shields, Jewelry, Lodging, MU Spells, Cleric Spells, Elf Spells, Rumors, Clues, Plot Points, Non-Magical Treasure, Magic Weapons, Potions, Scrolls, Miscellaneous Magic, Whimsy, Spell Components, Hirelings, and Special Abilites.

The Non-magical Treasure cards will include such things as pelts, artwork, spices, cloth, drink, and the like.

The Whimsy cards will be similar to the Ars Magica whimsy cards referenced here.

The special abilities cards may be similar to the 4e feats, or may simply be the special abilities possessed by certain classes or archetypes.

The Lodging cards will represent the sorts of places you might call home, such as a tent, hovel, barn loft, floor of a tavern, common room, Room at the Inn, Room at a House, Run of the House, Barracks, Cloister, Nunnery, Manorhouse, and so on.

There will be several sheets of miscellaneous magic items.

What have I missed?

Resource Cards: Production List

So far, I have completed and posted seven resource card sheets. That includes two armor sheets, two sheets of gems and coins, two equipment sheets, and a sheet of weapons, for a total of roughly 350 cards.

I have at least 17 more sheets in various stages of production. Many are just cards with item names at the top of the box, although I have populated some of those cards with images as well.

Here are some of the other categories of card sheets I am still in the midst of, or am considering, producing: Equipment, Weapons, Magic Armor and Shields, Jewelry, Lodging, MU Spells, Cleric Spells, Elf Spells, Rumors, Clues, Plot Points, Non-Magical Treasure, Magic Weapons, Potions, Scrolls, Miscellaneous Magic, Whimsy, Spell Components, Hirelings, and Special Abilites.

The Non-magical Treasure cards will include such things as pelts, artwork, spices, cloth, drink, and the like.

The Whimsy cards will be similar to the Ars Magica whimsy cards referenced here.

The special abilities cards may be similar to the 4e feats, or may simply be the special abilities possessed by certain classes or archetypes.

The Lodging cards will represent the sorts of places you might call home, such as a tent, hovel, barn loft, floor of a tavern, common room, Room at the Inn, Room at a House, Run of the House, Barracks, Cloister, Nunnery, Manorhouse, and so on.

There will be several sheets of miscellaneous magic items.

What have I missed?

Resource Cards: Equipment Sheet Two

I have already posted several resource card sheets. The purpose of those cards is to reduce the amount of resource tracking required of the players, and provide an interesting visual representation of their items, among other things.

This is the second Equipment Sheet. The first equipment sheet contained a fairly diverse range of items. This sheet is a little more focussed, in that it contains some of the more common equipment items that characters might possess.

So far, I have done two sheets of armor, two sheets of gems and coins, a sheet of weapons, and two sheets of equipment.

I'm gonna return to my list of resource cards, to see what other cards I have on my production schedule.

Resource Cards: Equipment Sheet Two

I have already posted several resource card sheets. The purpose of those cards is to reduce the amount of resource tracking required of the players, and provide an interesting visual representation of their items, among other things.

This is the second Equipment Sheet. The first equipment sheet contained a fairly diverse range of items. This sheet is a little more focussed, in that it contains some of the more common equipment items that characters might possess.

So far, I have done two sheets of armor, two sheets of gems and coins, a sheet of weapons, and two sheets of equipment.

I'm gonna return to my list of resource cards, to see what other cards I have on my production schedule.

Resource Cards: Gems and Coins

Still working on my resource card project.

This particular sheet is comprised of coin cards, treasure chests and precious gems.

While I have placed values on the precious gems, the remaining cards are left blank, in order that the actual value of the coins can be written down as the cards are distributed to the players.

Staying with the traditional 1 gp = 1 xp model of OD&D, my thinking is that the players can either spend the coins on equipment and goods, or can turn the cards back in for the experience instead.

I should have my second equipment sheet done shortly, which will include several backpacks, 10' poles, torches, and other common adventuring gear.

Resource Cards: Gems and Coins

Still working on my resource card project.

This particular sheet is comprised of coin cards, treasure chests and precious gems.

While I have placed values on the precious gems, the remaining cards are left blank, in order that the actual value of the coins can be written down as the cards are distributed to the players.

Staying with the traditional 1 gp = 1 xp model of OD&D, my thinking is that the players can either spend the coins on equipment and goods, or can turn the cards back in for the experience instead.

I should have my second equipment sheet done shortly, which will include several backpacks, 10' poles, torches, and other common adventuring gear.

Resource Cards: Basic Equipment

I posted earlier that I intended to have several iterations of the same items on a sheet of basic equipment resource cards, particularly those that are the common adventuring items.

This sheet of basic equipment resource cards doesn't have that, to any significant extent, but I will do that on the next sheet I do. That resource card sheet will have several backpacks, 10' poles, torches, and other common equipment, that every adventurer tends to carry.

I am having a problem with pictures of rations. Does anyone have, or know where I can find, pictures of standard and iron rations? I am thinking some pictures of bread, cheese, dried fruits and meat, in a cloth napkin, and so on.

Resource Cards: Basic Equipment

I posted earlier that I intended to have several iterations of the same items on a sheet of basic equipment resource cards, particularly those that are the common adventuring items.

This sheet of basic equipment resource cards doesn't have that, to any significant extent, but I will do that on the next sheet I do. That resource card sheet will have several backpacks, 10' poles, torches, and other common equipment, that every adventurer tends to carry.

I am having a problem with pictures of rations. Does anyone have, or know where I can find, pictures of standard and iron rations? I am thinking some pictures of bread, cheese, dried fruits and meat, in a cloth napkin, and so on.

Resource Cards: Weapons

I have been working on this sheet of weapon resource cards over the last several days. Here it is, as a work-in-progress. I am happy with about 80% of what appears on this resource card sheet, but there are a couple of images that seem a little light or grainy.

Additionally, there probably need to be more swords. I only have one bastard sword and one great sword on this sheet, while there are three maces. Since I intend to do at least one more weapon sheet, I will need to balance out the weapon selections between that and this sheet.

Resource Cards: Weapons

I have been working on this sheet of weapon resource cards over the last several days. Here it is, as a work-in-progress. I am happy with about 80% of what appears on this resource card sheet, but there are a couple of images that seem a little light or grainy.

Additionally, there probably need to be more swords. I only have one bastard sword and one great sword on this sheet, while there are three maces. Since I intend to do at least one more weapon sheet, I will need to balance out the weapon selections between that and this sheet.

Resource Cards: More Armor

As I was mentioning earlier, I have been working on a second armor sheet. Here it is.

This sheet contains several different pictures of leather, studded leather, cloth and chainmail armor, in addition to several different shields and helmets.

The purpose behind this is to give the players a wider variety of choices, when it comes to what their armor looks like.

I am still working on a sheet of weapons, and two sheets of other equipment (backpacks, 10' poles, rope and so on).

I have also started several sheets of magic items, but those are going to take quite a bit longer, and may require some specialized artwork.

Resource Cards: More Armor

As I was mentioning earlier, I have been working on a second armor sheet. Here it is.

This sheet contains several different pictures of leather, studded leather, cloth and chainmail armor, in addition to several different shields and helmets.

The purpose behind this is to give the players a wider variety of choices, when it comes to what their armor looks like.

I am still working on a sheet of weapons, and two sheets of other equipment (backpacks, 10' poles, rope and so on).

I have also started several sheets of magic items, but those are going to take quite a bit longer, and may require some specialized artwork.