Hywaywolf wrote:You'd spend more time searching through the cards for the monster that you wanted than you would just opening the book or searching on your computer
A wise DM would pull the cards he might need ahead of time..
Another thing I saw in one D&D Next adventure was something called an 'Encounter Sheet'. It was basically a single sheet of paper that had the monsters stats and HP for all the monsters in the encounter as well as a place to track the initiative. I thought it was pretty slick and a great way to have all the information the DM might need during the encounter all one place.
It was similar to the first one, except the creature breakdown looked alot like how it would appear in the monster manual.. But these are cool.. I actually REALLY like the second one for a nice way to keep the party stats together for the DM? Have these always been up on the DL site?
Hywaywolf wrote:I can see a use for the DM to use them if they felt they didn't use a computer, but it will be an endless need for new cards everytime someone comes up with new monsters.
Says who? We can just stick to the core ones, and maybe a page of blank templates so anyone can fill in additional ones themselves as needed.
Anyway, the potential for a useful tool to be misused doesn't make it useless.
Hywaywolf wrote:I can see a use for the DM to use them if they felt they didn't use a computer, but it will be an endless need for new cards everytime someone comes up with new monsters.
Says who? We can just stick to the core ones, and maybe a page of blank templates so anyone can fill in additional ones themselves as needed.
Anyway, the potential for a useful tool to be misused doesn't make it useless.
Obviously, "says me", since it was my opinion. Just like it is your own opinion that people won't be asking for cards for monsters in the Field Guide that Smoot is working on. It is my personal opinion that the use of cards in a game begets the use of more cards in a game. You can see that with the growth of modern gaming. 4e added tons of cards. And for the record, I take offense to the accusation that I think its useless. I said I can see a use for them if used by a DM. The DM should use whatever tool he can get to keep the game moving along. I just think things like this should be kept out of the players hands, not because they would be useless or misused, but because things like this take away the players need to think outside the box and just play what they have handy.
I agree with Hywaywolf. Unless the GM will only use the core monsters it can become like a rolling snowball... And think about all the cards you must keep at hand and safe unless you have to print a set of new card each time you loose one of them, or you need to keep lots of files to keep each monster individually...
I would prefer all the cards in a book type file, so you have a "condensed monster book" with the monster pic plus the more relevant stats.
This, of course, is only possible if any existing monster (at least from the core) can be summarize in a card-type format... Otherwise, I don't see the point in using a card that needs to be referred on the corebook...
These are just my opinions and point of view so please don't feel upset if you disagree
Just like it is your own opinion that people won't be asking for cards for monsters in the Field Guide that Smoot is working on. It is my personal opinion that the use of cards in a game begets the use of more cards in a game. You can see that with the growth of modern gaming. 4e added tons of cards. And for the record, I take offense to the accusation that I think its useless. I said I can see a use for them if used by a DM. The DM should use whatever tool he can get to keep the game moving along. I just think things like this should be kept out of the players hands, not because they would be useless or misused, but because things like this take away the players need to think outside the box and just play what they have handy.