The Despair Deck, and You.
The Wind up
At DDXP this year I was given the opportunity to sit in rooms full of awesome people from WoTC, Baldman Games, Freelancers and other generally awesome folk (Tracy, Matt, and the guy with the southern accent who’s name I’ve forgotten already [sorry!] – I’m looking at you!). I got to ask them annoying questions, beg for autographs, pick their brains and most importantly game with them, all the while attempting to contain myself and resist the urge to squeal with childish delight.
I was able to see a lot of upcoming and even some top secret stuff, which was awesome. Since I signed an NDA however, I won’t be telling you about any of that awesome, top secret stuff – because I’d have to kill you. Seriously. Or perhaps just because the Legend of Greg Bilsland is so rife with peril that I fear for my own life. So I’m here to tell you all about the awesome new despair deck, because I can talk enough about to entice you with it’s splendors and not have to fear being caught crossing one of two gentlemen who regularly play catch with the earth.
Aaaand The Pitch!
The despair deck is a set of 30 cards that will come with The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond boxed set, due out this coming May. There are 3 types of cards within the deck centralized around one of three core emotions; Madness, Apathy and Fear – all of which are aptly named for the mechanics that stand behind them. The way the cards work is basically as follows: you draw a card, more likely than not a slightly detrimental effect is bestowed upon your character, you must try to overcome it and when you do, something good happens. There’s some great flavor text that goes along with each card that is usually an example of something your character might say while under it’s influence.
You carry the effect with you until you reach a milestone, at which point you make a saving throw and if succeeded, the debuff is lifted and you are granted a boon for overcoming whatever weight was on your shoulders. Most of the cards detail that if your character is trained in a certain corresponding skill, they will gain an added bonus to the saving throw made to shrug off whatever melancholy or skiddish effect they may be under. You also do not have to reveal your despair card(s) to other players, keeping it a secret can be half the fun.
The deck can be used at the beginning of each adventure as well as in multiple places throughout (DM discretion), such as certain rooms or perhaps after particularly poignant events (ex: trapped in a maze, a fellow party member dies, the characters becomes lost, etc.). There’s also no telling when you’ll come across the next despair inducing moment so there’s a chance you could have multiple effects, both good and bad on you simultaneously.
The Deck In Action
I found that the “detrimental” effects of the despair cards were actually more interesting and fun than anything truly hindering or game breaking, the effects are truly minor. The boons that you receive after overcoming them are also minor but add a great bit of flavor and sense of reward to the play experience. What I absolutely loved was the role playing that accompanied them, because by each player acting accordingly to the mechanical bits behind their card brought about an almost intrinsic role playing experience that was fun and easy to pull off.
