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“Slowly you advance through the dark tunnel, your way lit only by the light of the flickering torches. Through the opening ahead you can see many foes. What do you do?”
“I roll to cast magic hand.”
“OK Jared, but what do you DO, like in character?”
“I roll the dice to cast magic hand.”
“But what does that look like?”
“Me rolling the dice and saying that I’m casting magic hand.”
“FINE. Jared, you cast Magic hand. So then – hold up, let me find the page in the DM manual. No wait, I think its in the other book, one sec. Crap, I dropped my bookmarks. You all hold up while I find my notes.”
Does this seem familiar? Like, TOO familiar? (Are you Jared?) Player aids, like reference cards, have been helping RPG players keep track of spell, weapon, and condition details for a while now, and Deck of Many produces a fantastic set. Now in addition to having all the pertinent info at your casting fingertips, you can watch the spells animate in real time, adding some visual flare to your story telling!
Deck of Many Animated spell cards are a 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons resource that is both a shorthand reference to spells and other in game effects, and an animation related to that effect.
Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition has streamlined the RPG for experienced dungeon crawlers and new players alike. But the cost of a highly immersive world with literally decades of backstory and fantastic creations is a compendium that no single player can keep straight in their head.
For almost as long as the game has been around, folks have been creating hacks to help organize that knowledge. These player aids often reduce the information needed for a single character into smaller chunks, which can them be arranged or organized by a player or DM dependent on their play style, keeping useful information at their fingertips.
Deck of Many’s initial set of reference cards contained all the necessary details for monsters, NPCs, weapons, and even the in-game Deck of Many itself. The animated set takes that a step further by including an 8 framed looping animation of the spell or effect.
Not every role player is a master storyteller. And certainly no one can remember every +1, spell effect, and bonus in the game. Of all the player aids to appear in the last few years, spell cards are among the best. And these kick it up a notch. The backs are beautifully detailed with every possible detail you could need. But the charm is those looping animations.
Now, back in my day if you got a moving picture (lenticular printed, actually a really cool process if you’re noodling around wikipedia some day) in your cracker jack you usually only saw it move if you squinted an eye and moved your head just so, and then it was maybe a arm placement change or something else kind of lame.
These aren’t those kind of pictures. A little tilt of the card sends a firebolt streaming from your hand or allows you to see a firework of acid bubble up from the table. This is the kind of aid that adds so much flavor to a campaign, a burst of multi colored visual reference to what your die roll really means.
Also, while the backs of the card hold every detail about a spell or effect, the fronts have your immediate details – cost, range, and duration – as an additional reference that doesn’t take away from the table action. And at tarot card sized, they’re large enough to contain full sized text that’s easily readable.
Last but certainly not least, they’re COMPLETELY waterproof. Whether you’re playing with a clumsy Jared or you regularly need to wipe tears of frustration from your reference materials, these will not be reduced to a wrinkled, inky mess.
Adding flavor AND utility to your D&D campaign, the Deck of Many Animated Spells cards are a fantastic addition you your bag of holding. Scads of useful information for quick reference as well as fantastically rendered animation to add flare to your adventure. Functional, gorgeous, and just a little bit magic.
The Deck of Many Animated Spells are currently in funding on Kickstarter. A $30 pledge will get you one animated deck in of your choice, with a scheduled delivery of June 2019. The campaign runs through Thursday, October 4th, so head on over and check it out.
