I e-mailed Jim Goings earlier today to commend him on this website, and the community that seems to be flourishing within. I’ve been lurking for some time since my attention was first brought here some weeks ago. Now I find that I’d like to contribute to it and the respectable community involved.
Since 4th Edition finally previewed, I (like so many others) have begun working on my own personal projects at home. The power cards seem to be a real popular choice, but I’ve noticed that almost everyone has has almost the same approach towards it: treat them like CCG elements with symbols, standardized backs, and ‘typical’ card size. Personally, I wanted something a little different, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have bothered creating yet another style of power cards.
The cards I’ve designed (not sure if that’s the right word for it) are very colorful, to say the least. They’re not forgiving on ink, but the results are quite impressive, IMHO. They use both front and back for gaming information. But rather than printing them on opposite sides of pages and risking problems of misalignments with various printer settings, the card faces are laid out side-by-side so that they can be folded over and glued together, if so desired. (Personally, I’m in the process of lamenating mine!)
I’ve sent Jim a sample of them, in which he did have some feedback for me on the colors. He felt some of the text would not show up clearly against some of the background colors, but I assured him that my own results (using HP Deskjet 1400) proved better than the anticipated issues. However, since not all printers (and eyes) are created equal, I’d like to invite others to try it out for themselves and see what they think.
Feedback is welcomed and encouraged, but I’d like to hear some real printer experiences by different users before someone mentions the potential color scheme again. I’d be willing to change a few things to make sure the quality is suitable to the majority of others, but I don’t feel a real need to create more work than is needed.
UPDATE: I’ve uploaded the entire set of Heroic Tier power cards for anyone who is interested. Enjoy.
I’m one of those guys who liked the icons and symbols, even moreso than a lot of the posters at ENWorld, but that doesn’t matter because I’m really just making my cards for myself. Even the limited audience I had here wasn’t that impressed. But, that makes sense in some respects. I’m a poet, not a graphic artist.
I saw your cards at ENWorld and thought there were an interesting take on the idea. When I first saw them over there, I tried a test print of them on my home printer, and like you said, they are not forgiving on ink. They looked good though. The front and back idea with the fold over was particularly ingenious. How did you make these?
I’m one of those guys who liked the icons and symbols, even moreso than a lot of the posters at ENWorld, but that doesn’t matter because I’m really just making my cards for myself. Even the limited audience I had here wasn’t that impressed. But, that makes sense in some respects. I’m a poet, not a graphic artist.
When it comes down to it, you have to ask yourself: Why am I doing this? If it’s to impress others, then you’re only going to do what they want you to do in order to please them (or fail miserably otherwise). However, if you’re doing it just for yourself (which was exactly the case for me with this) then it’s really not about what others think. You’re just sharing your passion with others, and if you’re lucky, others will appreciate that passion, if nothing else.
I saw your cards at ENWorld and thought there were an interesting take on the idea. When I first saw them over there, I tried a test print of them on my home printer, and like you said, they are not forgiving on ink. They looked good though. The front and back idea with the fold over was particularly ingenious. How did you make these?
Thanks! After a few trial and error tests trying to line them up with front and back prints, it just suddenly dawned on me to do it this way. Sometimes I think we’re so used to following the examples made by others that we forget to think for ourselves a little bit.
Edit: Incidently, the few images I placed in ENWorld were only jpegs; nowhere near the quality if printed from the pdf files. Still, it’s interesting to hear that even those came out looking decent.
I started with Paint Shop Pro to create the background images. Everything else was assembled in Word, then compiled (is that the right term) into pdf formats, optimized for printing instead of viewing. I decided if I was going to do something like this, I’d want to do it differently for my own tastes. There’s plenty others doing pretty much the same thing already, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just figured there might be others, like myself, who might be looking for something different. Some people might like these. Maybe most won’t (or won’t commit to the amount of sacrificial ink cartridges required for this project!).
Anyway, you shouldn’t give up just because you’re not getting a big train of people behind you. If you’re happy with what you’re doing, then keep at it! I’m sure there’s others who will share your personal taste for symbols and what-not. There’s no ‘right way’ about anything in roleplaying games, unless it’s just obviously wrong.
Very pretty, though my particular tastes don’t run to this style. Having to flip cards over to see all the information would get annoying in my book. Plus I want to be able to edit cards so that I can have them be specific to a character rather than generic to the power.
Still, I could certainly see people appreciating this kind of card.
Very pretty, though my particular tastes don’t run to this style. Having to flip cards over to see all the information would get annoying in my book. Plus I want to be able to edit cards so that I can have them be specific to a character rather than generic to the power.
Still, I could certainly see people appreciating this kind of card.
Thanks for the input! I would be very foolish to believe that this particular style would appeal to the majority of people out there (and for the record, I don’t like being a fool). This is intended for the smaller minority, which happens to include myself as part of that particular demograph of gamers and perfectionists.
Regarding the card flipping, I believe most of the real game-play information is kept on one side of the card. Let’s call that the back side. The front contains the labeling and fluff material, which isn’t as important during game play. I think that the back side is what most players will reference more frequently and possibly keep that side exposed more than the front itself. At least, that’s what I’m speculating. Could be a curious experiment to hand these out to a group of players and see how each of them use it differently. You just never know until you put things into actual use.
I had considered creating ‘blank’ cards, but there are already cards like that out there that won’t eat suck your ink cartridges dry. It didn’t seem like a reasonable idea for this design since the focus was more on appearances and placing a bunch of white blocks over it would defeat that purpose. However, I can’t speak for everyone else, so if that is something they would be interested in, it wouldn’t be hard to whip up.
Also, I mentioned that I began laminating my own printed set. If it came down to it, I considered using dry-erase markers or something similar to write on them as needed. But at this point, I haven’t really decided what notes I need to make other than what the current attack and damage rolls for the character’s current status. Then again, the math is so easy in 4th Edition, it seems very easy to just refer to the relevant information on the character sheet and plug it into the formulas for the ability. Does anyone else see a real need for this kind of annotation for their powers?
While we’re at it, has anyone tried printing these yet? I’m eager to hear how they turn out on someone else’s printers. The full Heroic set is ready to go barring any last minute modifications for feedback results.
UPDATE: I’ve uploaded the entire set of Heroic Tier power cards for those who might be interested. Feedback is still welcome as I begin work on Paragon and Epic tiers soon. If interest is not there, then I’ll probably hold off on the next sets until I actually need them for my own use. Otherwise, enjoy and let me know if I should work on the next sets more quickly.
Wow! Very nice work. You are insane of course, that must have taken you forever. I wouldn’t pressure you as I’ll be in the heroic tear for a good long time still. I was thinking of doing something like this myself, so thanks for saving me the time!!!
~Lakoda
Wow! Very nice work. You are insane of course, that must have taken you forever. I wouldn’t pressure you as I’ll be in the heroic tear for a good long time still. I was thinking of doing something like this myself, so thanks for saving me the time!!!
Thanks. I’m a perfectionist, which is considered a mild form of insanity by most. I’ve also got time on my hands with a million projects I’d like to do. If you print them out and use them in your games, I’d like to hear about it. As a perfectionist, I’m always looking for ways to improve anything (as long as I think it’s an actual improvement ).
These are awesome and my favorite that I have seen. I put all the pdfs on a thumb drive and dropped them off at Kinkos. They are going to print them, cut them, fold them, and laminate them. I encourage you to do the paragon and epic tiers, and I hope you will update powers as they come out in Dragon Magazine. My players are going to absolutely love these on Tues. night at our next game. My sincerest thanks for your work.
Just a qucik question, since I haven’t had a chance to read through all the sets. Does this inclued the Divinity powers that are taken as feats?
I have looked at and printed the Class Acts ones, very nice. I plan on using these with my games. Keep up the great work and I second the motion for Paragon+ cards.
These are awesome and my favorite that I have seen. I put all the pdfs on a thumb drive and dropped them off at Kinkos. They are going to print them, cut them, fold them, and laminate them. I encourage you to do the paragon and epic tiers, and I hope you will update powers as they come out in Dragon Magazine. My players are going to absolutely love these on Tues. night at our next game. My sincerest thanks for your work.
Thanks for the compliment! Glad to hear somebody else is enthusiastic about these things. (I knew there might be!) I’ll keep up with new material as long as people find it useful. I’d love to hear how it goes on Tuesday.
Just out of curiosity, how much is Kinkos charging for all that work and ink? Might be worth the money for all the time and ink I used to print, cut, fold, paste, and laminate only two sets…
Anyway, enjoy! (Any chance to get a few pictures of the cards in action?)
Just a qucik question, since I haven’t had a chance to read through all the sets. Does this inclued the Divinity powers that are taken as feats?
I have looked at and printed the Class Acts ones, very nice. I plan on using these with my games. Keep up the great work and I second the motion for Paragon+ cards.
Aric
No, but they do include the standard class features for their respective classes. I suppose a batch of Divine powers is in order. I’ll see about getting it done this weekend. By the end of the week at the latest.
Just out of curiosity, how much is Kinkos charging for all that work and ink? Might be worth the money for all the time and ink I used to print, cut, fold, paste, and laminate only two sets…
Anyway, enjoy! (Any chance to get a few pictures of the cards in action?)
Kinkos is charging $200. Not bad considering I would go through 4-5 printer cartridges since there are 183 pages. Also, with them cutting, folding and laminating, I have time to do other things.
Looking forward to getting the remainder of the power cards. And, I’ll see what we can do about some photos Thanks again for your hard, but very nice work.
Your Power cards are awesome but a set of Channel Divinity feat cards and racial Power cards would be also be useful when you find the time to create them.
The Second Wind and Action Point features would also be useful as cards.
I have already done a write-ups of Second Wind, Action Point and the racial powers for my own campaign. You are welcome to use them as raw text for your cards.
Action Point Character Feature
You draw upon your inner reserves to accomplish the impossible.
Encounter
Free Action Personal
Effect: You gain an extra action this turn. You decide if the action is a standard action,
a move action or a minor action.
Second Wind Character Feature
You go on the defensive for a moment to regain your breath.
Encounter
Standard Action Personal
Effect: You can spend a Healing Surge to regain hit points. You also gain a +2 bonus to all your defenses until the start of your next turn.
Dragon Breath Dragoborn Power
As you open your mouth with a roar, the deadly power of your draconic kin blasts forth to engulf your foes.
Encounter ♦ Acid Cold Fire Lightning Poison
Minor Action Close Blast 3
Targets: All creatures in the area
Attack: Strength/Constitution/Dexterity +2 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 + Constitution modifier damage
Fey Step Eladrin Power
With a step, you vanish from one place and appears in another.
Encounter ♦ Teleportation
Move Action Personal
Effect: Teleport 5 squares
Elven Accuracy Elf Power
With an instant of focus, you take careful aim at your foe and strike with the legendary accuracy of the elves.
Encounter
Free Action Personal
Effect: Reroll an attack roll. Use the second roll, even if it’s lower
Second Chance Halfling Power
Luck and small size combine to work in your favoras you dodge your enemy’s attack.
Encounter
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Effect: When an attack hits you, force an enemy to roll the attack again. The enemy uses the second roll, even if it’s lower.
Warforged Resolve Warforged Power
It’s difficult to take you down, even when you’re faltering.
Encounter ♦ Healing
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You gain a number of temporary hit points equal to 3 + one-half your level. You may make an immedieate saving throw against one effect to inflicts ongoing damage and can be ended with a save. In addition, if you are bloodied you regain hit points equal to 3 + one-half your level.
Your Power cards are awesome but a set of Channel Divinity feat cards and racial Power cards would be also be useful when you find the time to create them.
The Second Wind and Action Point features would also be useful as cards.
I have already done a write-ups of Second Wind, Action Point and the racial powers for my own campaign. You are welcome to use them as raw text for your cards.<snip>
Thanks for the help, Alisair. Someone already mentioned Divinity cards, which I’ll be working on this week. Might as well throw in the racial cards, too, eh? That’ll round out the set nicely.
I was thinking of actual tokens or playing-chips for things like APs and whatnot. Maybe conditions as well. Something you can pass around and keep track of that doesn’t necessarily require a full card treatment. We’ll just have to see.
No more room for attachments on this thread, so I posted Racial and Feat (Channel Divinity) Power Cards on a seperate thread in this forum. Now linktified for your convenience.
Thanks again for your hard, but very nice work.
