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Issue # 9
This Issue:
* Disclaimer (read this first!)
DisclaimerBIRTHRIGHT, DRAGONLANCE, FORGOTTEN REALMS, and SPELLFIRE are registered trademarks of TSR, Inc. DUNGEONS, NIGHTSTALKERS, and UNDERDARK are trademarks of TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc, and are used in this electronic newsletter in a not-for-profit manner. Anything else pertaining to TSR and WotC are used with no intent of profit and are in no way intended as any sort of challenge to trademarks and copyrights, and any opinions are those of the writers and in no way reflect upon employees of TSR and WotC.
The Flame Burns OnIt has been several months since the idea returned of continuing SpellNews. In that time, a lot has come up, thus the delay. As I'm typing this article, it has been nearly ten months since Cess and I did an issue of SpellNews. A lot has changed since then. Among them, the status of the game we all know and love. As it stands right now, Spellfire is Retired. (not dead, just retired!). Yet, in the SPELLFIRE-L mailing list, there are often sixty to a hundred messages per day, ranging from questions regarding the game, to debate, to debates over Godzilla. Due to goings-on here at home-base, Cess and I continue to be unable to do as much as we'd like to with SpellNews. Therefore, we are asking that anyone interested in writing an article let us know, and write it, as well as combos, strategy, etc. We will remain editors of the 'zine, but will not be able to play a very active role, and must now rely on help from fellow spellfire players and supporters. I have rambled on enough now, so I will cease my prattling. Good Reading! ~ Ranger (Arevar)
Ten Funny Things Heard in a Spellfire Gameby: Phil "tout le monde" Cornett (pcornett@4STATE.COM)
10. So uh does Midnight give me permission to cast spells? (in phase
3 even!)
Greenland Booster (part 1)
"Greenland" Campaign Setting
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An Educational StoryA MAGIC player, a SPELLFIRE player, and a comic collector walk into a bar, and start talking. "You know, I collect the best thing there is, guys...MAGIC!" says the magic player. "Oh, yeah??" challenges the spellfire player. "How do you figure that one?" The magic player responds "Well, the cards are worth money, people pay ridiculous amounts to buy them from me, and I don't even have to know how to play." "Well, I say that SPELLFIRE is the greatest thing there is to both play AND collect" states the spellfire player. "Why?" asks the magic player. "You see, spellfire is fun, people will trade well for good cards which I have a lot of, but it is not hard to learn and so I meet a lot of great people and don't have to concentrate on one mindset to play a game." "You two are both wrong" chimes in the comic collector. "HOW?!?" the magic and spellfire players ask in unison. "Let's see.....i pay money, I can buy and sell parts of my collection, and I don't have fanatics on either side within the same company arguing which is best!" Moral of the story: doesn't matter what game you play/collect, just realize that we're under the same roof as MAGIC, as they are with us.
The Spellfire Clubby: cmchill@aol.com Well met my fellow MASTER OF SPELLFIRE. We of the SPELLFIRE CLUB wanted to give you (and maybe the SPELLNEWS) a brief history of our group's journey into SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC, and some clarifications on the way we play the game and OUR set of rules. First off, we are the SPELLFIRE CLUB; it's nothing official just what we call ourselves. Our group consists of 16 players (and hopefully will continue to grow), we play by worlds (which is a variation of the WORLD WAR variation, which I didn't even knew existed until I downloaded the SPELLFIRE TOURNAMENT RULES VERSION 1.3) to pit theme world vs. theme world (picture it as one global sphere where everyone is trying to forge their own empire in the name of AD&D, RAVENLOFT, DRAGONLANCE, FORGOTTON REALMS, DARKSUN, BIRTHRIGHT and GREYHAWK to rule the world supreme). This helps the rule of the cosmos, making it harder for those that are pitted against each other playing the same world. Our world decks consist of 125 to 150 cards (we use the 110 deck limitations listed in the SPELLFIRE REFERENCE GUIDE #2). Each player makes his own decision of how many cards he wants in his world deck. We feel by leaving the choice of how many cards between 125 and 150 adds flavor to one's particular world deck. We also feel that our game is based more on strategy and game play then on speed (MAGIC, THE GATHERING and the 55 card play of the original SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC RULES). Since we play with no sideboard during our one on one games (or in our multi-player games) everyone's world deck MUST be competitive against everyone else's world deck, so we are constantly "tweaking" our world decks to get it ready for "CARD NIGHT" (which is Wednesday night and our once a month SPELLFIRE CLUB TOURNAMENT, where we see who has bragging rights as the top dog/the main man with the best world deck /the king of Spellfire/ until the next tournament the following month). A great one on one game could last 30 minutes and a good multi-player game could last 1 hour. Now here is a brief history of how we came to be and how we came to play the game SPELLFIRE. I can't really remember the day or date but it was almost 3 months before SPELLFIRE came out. My friends and I were at our local hobby shop trying to decided whether we could scrape enough money for the newest TSR product (my wife had stopped giving me money for role playing products and felt that the players in our group should also help invest in our weekly roleplaying endeavors and that because I was the DM I shouldn't have to shell out ALL the money for new gaming accessories). My friends and I have supported TSR for over 20 years all together with our hard earned money. The newest buzz around the hobby shop was a new card game called MAGIC, THE GATHERING which was put out by a company called WIZARDS OF THE COAST. We said "card game, why in the world you play a card game when you can play AD&D." The store owner (who probably put his kids thru college from all the stuff I've purchased over the years) explained to us what MAGIC, THE GATHERING was about and it peaked our interest. He even told us the now legendary fable that MAGIC, THE GATHERING was selling so fast and hot that the FBI had raided a shipment of MAGIC cards because they thought that drugs were being smuggled in the packs! The only thing we didn't like is if you died quickly during a multi-player game you were out and might as well had a coke and a smile and watched TV... So, we asked "how about TSR? Surely they are going to come out and challenge this upstart card company? How dare WOTC put out a "fantasy card game", don't they know that TSR is the only company that can produce and put out great games of "fantasy" whether it is a role playing game or a "card game"! Now if TSR puts out a "card game" they will have access to the greatest fantasy artwork known to man, just look at the artwork produced over the years at TSR by CLYDE CALDWELL, LARRY ELMORE, JEFF EASLEY, KEITH PARKINSON and the great many other talents at TSR." The store owner told us that TSR was making a card game called SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC. Immediately we said "SPELLFIRE!!! Cool, just like the title of ED GREENWOOD book SPELLFIRE". The store owner told us it would be about 3 months, so being the great supporter of TSR products that we are we passed up MAGIC, THE GATHRING and decided to wait with baited breath for TSR'S SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC. When it finally came out the artwork was fantastic (coming from the the TSR ART VAULT). Immediately the game was viciously attacked by people who had been supporting MAGIC, THE GATHERING by paying inflated prices and who viably couldn't support 2 collectable card games monetarily. Even people who had supported TSR through AD&D had turned on TSR unfairly. They attacked the artwork of SPELLFIRE saying "the art is old and rehashed" the supporters of SPELLFIRE said "SO FREAKING WHAT, the art of TSR and the artists of TSR ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD and had won more art awards than anyone over at WIZARDS OF THE COAST". Card magazines also started attacking SPELLFIRE especially INQUEST and SCRYE MAGAZINE (I cant tell you how many letters I wrote telling them it was their job to have a biased view on ALL the cards being produced and to stop attacking SPELLFIRE by ONLY printing MAGIC owners letters bashing SPELLFIRE in their letters section of their magazines). Again the attacks on SPELLFIRE by owners of MAGIC "SPELLFIRE cards have no borders" again "SO FREAKING WHAT" by having borders on the cards (MAGIC) the artwork is cropped, cut down, shrunk down and practically must be seen with a microscope!! No such problem with SPELLFIRE CARDS. "SPELLFIRE is just a copy of MAGIC" they couldn't be so wrong, SPELLFIRE is about a king or a queen (the players) trying to build/forge/create realms to form an empire while the other kings and queens try to destroy it by sending over their generals (their champions) with their armies (their allies), casting powerful spells and employing powerful magical items or even ancient artifacts to sway a battle in their favor (this is how we explain SPELLFIRE to this day to new and potential players, to get them to play and experience SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC). MAGIC is not about building an empire but about being in MORTAL COMBAT with someone (if anyone copied anyone MAGIC copied MORTAL KOMBAT because that's all it is-MORTAL KOMBAT done with a fantasy setting). Now the one knock SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC did have in the beginning was that the rules were very vague, so our group sat down and came up with the RULES I'm about to present. Our rules have evolved from the original rules which were so vague we didn't know if we were playing the game correctly or not. Since no one had a computer at that time to ask about card conflicts or how the rule was to be interpret or just the game in general, (we only had the SAGE ADVICE from the DRAGON MAGAZINE which stopped printing Q & A'S concerning SPELLFIRE) we came up with our own rules. In the original rules if one player had more champions out in play than his opponent, there was no actual way one could raze his realms without causing irrepairable harm to your own game plan. The first thing we did was expand the draw from 3 to 5 cards per turn and a players hand at the end of his turn would be 10 cards and not 8. on the next draw the player would have 15 cards in his hand (we felt this was sufficient to supply champions with support cards and successfully be able to raze a realm in the 2 possible tries one is able to do when attacking during the players phase 4 (the 2 attacks during ones phase 4 is explained later). During step 3, the current player can move magic items freely between champions in his pool to lend greater support to just drawn cards. In essence we made our game a game of WAR & STRATEGY with more emphasis on combat and to reward the winners of battle/combat with spoils of victory. We had always thought it was lame by only awarding the defending champion a spoils of victory by defeating the attacker (and only if the attacker was DISCARDED) in the ONE combat while the attacking player sent over say 5 champions won the first 4 and lost the last combat and the attacking player get NOTHING or the attacking player sends over all of his champions to raze the realm just to fall short because the defending player has more champions in his pool than you do. So we reward ALL winners of combat (and not the DISCARDING of a champion) a spoils of victory whether attacking or defending. We also limit the number of attacks to 2 attacks against the realm the player is attacking. The attacking player gets 2 chances to raze the realm. After the first combat the attacking player asks the defending player if the realm is razed, if the defending player says "no" then the attacking player has a second and final chance to raze the realm. THE CHAMPION ALLY-we liked the early idea of asking other players to contribute an ally in a multi-player game during a combat between 2 players but since we mostly play one on one this is kind of hard to do. So we came up with the champion ally. Once during each combat the players in battle can play a champion ally which has to be a champion of level 4 or less adjusted (when it's legal for that player to play an ally). We found great use for those low level champions that I know many SPELLFIRE players do not in their decks and are just sitting in a shoebox somewhere. The champion ally is susceptible to all cards that can affect allies. The champion allies special powers still works as do all attached cards and the icon, racial and movement notation are still in effect example: ochimo is in combat against the lovely colleen and ochimo brought over a level 4 of less monster champion from his pool to aid ochimo in combat as a champion ally, the lovely colleen would destroy him because the ally is still a monster. THE COMBAT SEQUENCE-since the original rules for SPELLFIRE didn't clearly outline this, we came up with our own combat sequence, which works rather nicely for us. RULES THAT ARE IN EFFECT-Barbarian's Game, so a player cant cheaply win a game by playing caer allison and menzobarranazan on his turn as his 5th and 6th realm again strategy is the key and not speed, one must be able to defend his empire from all attacks until the beginning of his next real turn. Blue Line Rules, dragon breath weapon-we felt since we are playing a card game version of AD&D that dragons needed to have more of a presence in SPELLFIRE, more power in SPELLFIRE, to be what they truly are DRAGONS. So we came up with dragon breath weapon for dragon champions and dragon allies. Champions can use ANY type of ally when attacking unless restricted by a card's special powers. Because of the early limitations when SPELLFIRE came out; flying champions could only have flying allies or allies who could get to the realm, earthwalkers had to have earthwalking allies, swimmers had to have to swimming allies etc...The only problem in the early days was that THERE WAS NO FLYING, SWIMMING OR EARTHWALKING ALLIES!!!!!! We felt this was not good for the game so we changed it to the current way of play our club uses. Avatars, since avatars are the physical manifestations of the gods in the spellfire game, players can use any avatars in their world decks and not be bound by the world logo. Monsters using psionic power cards-before the POWERS BOOSTER PACK came out, we had a deal with our local card shop (one of 4 shops that carried cards and comics not to mention national chains stores like Walden Books, B Dalton Books, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us etc....) to buy exclusively from him as long as he sold the booster packs cheaper (he'd knock 25 to 50 cents off depending on the sales of that particular booster pack around the country) and he could get them in before the other outlets did. Well, when POWERS was announced, my group ordered about 20 boxes (yes boxes) and when they came in we were shocked to find that powers was practically a DARKSUN BOOSTER PACK! Well, the members of our club wasn't about to spend money on a box of booster packs they couldn't use fully(I received my box first being the president of our club and informing everyone of this predicament, I wasn't disappointed since I and I alone played DARKSUN). The shop owner was about to lose a lot of money and would be sitting on a lot of boxes of POWER BOOSTER PACKS and MY players were hugely disappointed. So I came up with a compromise for the shop owner and my group, monsters of level 8 (icon level) and higher can use psionic power cards. This allowed my group to have many more champions to use psionic power cards instead of the 1 Forgotten Realms champion, the 2 Greyhawk champions and the 2 Dragonlance champions that were provided in the POWERS BOOSTER PACK. I chose monsters of level 8 and higher because in AD&D monsters of 8 hit dice and higher can see things invisible (I assume this is due to higher brain function plus most of the dragons in SPELLFIRE are 8 and higher) and 8 sounded good. This satisfied my group immensely and the shop owner breathed a sigh of relief. It was at this time rumors swirled that SPELLFIRE would be cancelled after the UNDERDARK BOOSTER PACK came out unless sales picked up, so we had no idea that TSR would produce many more champions who could use psionic powers cards (but still not enough of them or the new thief class). Now we made this use by monsters a special power that was invisibly written in their box as opposed to the blue line rule of dragons can fly and use their breath weapon and dwarves can earthwalk as these are what we called inherent racial abilities that can not be copied or taken away unless a card specifically states so. The set of rules [in this issue of SpellNews]* are the rules we use to tell new players and during our games and tournaments. we are trying to make SPELLFIRE a success here in Panama City, Fl., but trying to convert MAGIC players is hard (you try to convince someone to start spending money on our new concept of SPELLFIRE when he's already spent thousands on rare and hard to find MAGIC cards) but not impossible 5 of our members were once MAGIC players that were turned off by the original SPELLFIRE RULES and we brought them back into the fold, it may not be the original SPELLFIRE fold but it is SPELLFIRE nonetheless. If anyone wishes to e-mail me you can at CM CHILL@AOL.COM. Well, I hope this letter helps clarify the way we play SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC, and if there is anyone not happy with the way you are playing SPELLFIRE or you just want a change, try our rules, it makes for one competitive night of CARD HACK & SLASH/LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE/COMBAT FRENZY FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! * altered from original text
The Spellfire Club's Rulesby: cmchill@aol.com ADOPTED RULES FOR SPELLFIRE, MASTER THE MAGIC ***note: the spellfire clubs' adopted rules are partly from the following; the spellfire reference guide #1 & #2, the 3rd & 4th edition starter deck rules, spellfire tournament rules version 1.3 and questions answered by any official tsr source IE. dragon magazine, tsrjim @ aol.com, www.tsrinc.com,the spellfire mailing list and any spellfire fanzine source. a) all players choose a world to play (forgotten realms, greyhawk, darksun, advanced dungeons & dragons, ravenloft, birthright, or dragonlance). the world you play consists of the following: a minimum of 15 realms of said world, holdings of said world, champions* of said world (see note below concerning avatars) & artifacts of said world. then since your rule cards, ally cards, spell cards (cleric & wizard), magic item cards, event cards, psionic power cards, blood ability cards, thief ability cards & unarmed combat cards are labeled advanced dungeons & dragons, you use these cards to give your world substance. ***note: ad&d artifacts which say they can be used by any champion or by a champion of any world, can be used in your world deck. any avatar can be used in your world deck. they are not bound by the world logos. these are modifications of the "world war" optional rule. ***note: all world decks must contain a minimum of 125 cards and no more than 150*. this is to promote gameplay and strategy and not speed!
the following are the limitations deck size 125-150 *only 1 dungeon card per deck and it is a free card in addition to your world deck
***note: no individual card can appear more than once in a deck (unless an exception is specifically stated on the card IE. ONLY ONE PER DECK, NO LIMIT PER DECK ETC....) ***note: total champion levels, not to exceed 250 levels, one avatar may be included at no additional cost. ***note: the following card has been banned by the spellfire club because it does not promote gameplay: young strahd 8/20 from the artifacts booster pack. *****once you have established your world deck, you're ready to play***** b) rules that are in effect: rule of the cosmos-6 unrazed realms to win the game-the barbarians game (formerly known as defenders rule)-dispell magic rules-fear of the undead-blue line rules: all dragons are dragons. they can fly (except the brine dragon & dragon turtle) and use thier breath weapon. dragon breath weapon is double the icon level if the opposing champion fails his save. save is determined by drawing and discarding the top card of the draw pile and noting its last digit. if the last digit is equal to or lower than the saving champions base level, save has been made. discarding a card is not an option as long as the breath weapon was declared. if the dragon champion wins, he cannot be used until after the players next turn. all dwarves are dwarves and can earthwalk, except for muls (darksun dwarves). the ability to fly & use breath weapon by dragons and the ability to earthwalk by dwarves are a racial ability-champions can use any type of ally while attacking, unless restricted by a cards power-monsters whose icon number is "8" or higher can use psionic power cards, this is a special ability invisibly written in thier box.-the abyss rule: if a champion is sent to the abyss, all attached cards are also sent to the abyss.-tournament beginning rule: all players draw and discard one card from the top of thier draw pile to the appropriate discard pile (discard or abyss). lowest last digit of the card number goes first. in case of a tie, compare the whole number of the card. if a tie is still unbroken, compare the release date of the deck or booster pack. ***note: no sideboard! 1) game play turn sequence as stated in the srg #2 and 4th edition starter deck rules with this one exception, everyone draws 5 cards to start the game and on your turn you will always draw 5 cards (unless this is adjusted by a card in play). at the end of your turn, discard down to a maximum of 10 cards (unless hand-size has been adjusted by a card in play). 2) to rebuild a realm, the player must discard 5 cards from his hand, and not 3 cards from the hand or pool. this is because of the expanded draw. 3) continue play turn sequence as stated in the srg #2 and 4th edition starter deck rules. A) players can swap magic items between champions in thier pool only during the step 3 phase of thier turn (unless a card's special ability or powers allow the player to do otherwise). B) step 4, attack sequence: attackers announces which realm he is attacking and presents an attacking champion from his hand or pool, while the defender presents a defending champion from his hand or pool, or uses the realm to defend itself, if it is capable, or the defender can choose not to defend his realm, in which case it is automatically razed. battle commences as stated in the srg #2 and 4th edition starter deck rules, with this exception-during combat players can use 1 champion from thier hand or pool as an ally. this champion ally must be of level 4 or less. this is the champion's total adjusted level. all special powers and attached magical items apply. champion allies who are wizards or clerics can cast 1 spell for the main champion. champion allies who are heroes, psionicists, regents or thieves can play 1 of the following cards respectively for for the main champion; unarmed combat card, psionic power card, blood ability card or thief ability card. C) champion allies who are on the winning side are returned to the players pool unless discarded during the battle. while the champion ally who is on the losing side is discarded with the losing champion (unless they are saved by a special ability, some card's special power or an attached card whose special powers prevents the champion from being discarded). you can only use a champion ally once per combat. they can participate in the next round of combat only if they are the main champion attacking or defending. D) if the defender won the round of combat, he receives a spoils of victory and the player who attacked can make no more attacks and the realm remains unrazed. the attacker must get his hand down to his maximum hand allowed, begin step 5 and then knock, to pass play to the next player. E) if the attacker won the round of combat, he receives a spoils of victory, then asks the defender if the realm is razed. if the defender answers no, the attacker may optionally choose another champion from his hand or pool to attack the same realm a second and final time. the defender then can choose to defend the realm with another champion or just raze the realm. if the defending player chooses to raze the realm after the attacking player presents a second attacking champion, the attacking champion receives a spoils of victory. if the defending player presents a defending champion, repeat the battle steps as stated above. if the attacking champion wins the second round of combat, the realm is razed and the attacking champion receives a spoils of victory. once the realm is razed, no more attacks can be made by the attacking player. he must start step 5, and get his hand down to his maximum allowed and knock to pass play to the next player. F) if a second round of combat is fought and the defender wins, he receives a spoils of victory. the attacker is done for this turn and cannot attack anymore this turn. he must start step 5 and get his hand down to his maximum allowed and knock to pass play to the next player. ***note: the spellfire club does not play with the instant defeat escape clause-if you are instantly defeated by a cards power, those are the breaks! G) combat sequence: 1) rule cards 2) dungeon cards 3) realm powers 4) holding powers 5) attacking champions powers (unless negated by defending champions powers or attached cards) 6) defending champions powers (unless negated by attacking champions powers or attached cards) 7) attacking champions attached cards (unless negated by the defending champion's powers & attached cards or events) 8) defending champions attached cards (unless negated by the attacking champion's powers & attached cards or events) 9) champions whose powers can end the battle immediately circumvent steps 5 & 6 (unless negated by a cards special powers) H) any spoils of victory can be played immediately if possible, placed back on top of the draw pile, placed in your hand or discarded.
The Fate of Spellfire*authored by THE GREEN BARON*
Once upon a time a bunch of humble Wizards in a deserted Coast had an idea that meant to change the face of gaming. The main concept was substituting the classic game materials with collectible cards. The result was a pretty attractive game that soon evolved into a mania fascinating players around the globe. Under the circumstances TSR Inc. couldn't possibly remain idle, so the greatest designers in its force (including David "Zeb" Cook, main designer of AD&D 2nd edition) worked together to produce a new card game. The result was a remarkable product with great potential fully able to turn the tide against WotC. In contrast with the relatively unknown Dominia, SPELLFIRE featured the famous characters and lands of the various AD&D settings. The average quality art that dressed MAGIC: the Gathering was crap compared to the masterpieces of Easley, Elmore and other artists that SPELLFIRE boasted. However things didn't quite go as expected. Let's try to find out why... 1) POWER Very soon the various TSR employees that were assigned SPELLFIRE projects showed that they wanted to turn the game into a plaything for power-gamers. After the remarkable RAVENLOFT and DRAGONLANCE boosters the designers started a race to make each release much more powerful than the previous. The FORGOTTEN REALMS booster with cards like Helm, Caer Allison, Limited Wish, Wish, Bell of Might, Cold Cup of Calamity and more, made gamers focus on non-battle decks. The ARTIFACTS booster had more than enough instant-win cards. The POWERS booster was by far the worst SPELLFIRE product ever. The psionics were more powerful than needed. The result was that the following designers were so panicked that devised more than a dozen of ways to instantly defeat a psionics deck. Simply pit your psionics deck against Ur Draxa, Throne of bones or Master the Magic, not to mention the infinite number of champions who are "immune to psionic attack". Today it's simply impossible to get a decent psionics deck and win. The DRACONOMICON booster was built on a false concept. I read that one designer said that "we feel that dragons ought to ravage anything, so we gave them a bit extra power". I agree wholeheartedly!!! But if a race is that powerful you don't make a whole booster with its members. The 3rd edition of the game was pretty much well conceived and it gave a good but not excessive level of power. Still it had its drawbacks, like creating new annoying cards like Estate Transference. The 4th edition was a true crime against the game. By including so many powerful cards the older gamers felt somehow cheated for spending all that money for now useless boosters. Power players came to Nirvana by being able to purchase cards that simply kicked butt although they were absolutely no fun to play. The result of all this ? Simply look at the decks that win championships. They are all identical including three dozen ways to destroy opponent's realms from afar, a zillion cards to dispel, cancel or calm everything the opponent tries to do and new tricks to allow the player to go through his deck on the first half of his turn (simply call me Speed Deck). Of course there is no need for combat because this player's realms can only be attacked by three-eared drow who ate pickles yesterday afternoon. Now compare this abomination to the game you started playing - and you loved. 2) EVENTS Not exactly different from the previous problem, events were the single cards that were so abused. This was admittedly done from the birth of SPELLFIRE with the infamous three C's (Calm, Caravan, Cataclysm). Still it didn't stop there. TSR could simply upgrade the rules and ban these cards. Instead they worsened the problem by creating more events than needed. The very concept of events was wrong. events should affect all players (like Tarrasque, undoubtedly the greatest card in the game) so as to require timing, strategy and thought. Under the circumstances events are nothing more than ultimate punish cards that need no effort on behalf of the owner because they can simply be played at any time with no problem. All this resulted in two things: First, cards that stopped events were rendered priceless and parts of every deck. Second, each deck today contains 10 events (the maximum) out of which the 5 are the same (3 Cs,Good Fortune,Cold Cup of Calamity often accompanied by Caer Allisson, Deflection and Genie Bottle). 3) RELATION WITH AD&D Whether you like it or not, the major target group of SPELLFIRE was gamers who already were familiar with AD&D. After all why buy Drizzt Do'Urden on a card if you don't know who he is? However the designers seemed to ignore this. They gave ultra-powers to humble persons and sent world-shakers down the dumper. Karlott the Shaman is part of most decks. Well, I don't see many Elminsters around. The Simbul and Khelben were probably the most underrated cards with petty powers that nobody cared about. Same goes for a dozen other champions. At least the great wizards of Oerth were saved from total humiliation by seeing print in a fairly recent booster, thus having useful powers. OK, so one might say "and what's your problem ? this is SPELLFIRE, not AD&D in cards. Well, I don't know about you but I can't watch great Mordenkainen being beaten by a stupid Living Wall simply because somebody doesn't think before writing special powers on the cards. I don't even want to talk about cards that had powers completely alien to their AD&D nature... Also the designers missed a great opportunity to make SPELLFIRE truly great. AD&D has survived for so long because it gives options to the players. With SPELLFIRE you have no options. In theory you can create really interesting theme decks. In truth these decks are only nice cards put together with no game value. Please make a FORGOTTEN REALMS wizards deck, I'll wait ...Or better yet a DARK SUN psionics deck. ..Now play against Ur Draxa.... (You know that other game has a huge variety) 4) LAUGHABLE STOCK Well, I don't know for sure, but I imagine that SPELLFIRE booster # 11(NS) must be the most laughable CG booster all over the world. It's not that I am against some humor in the cards. But hell no when it's about thieves. The very name of the booster implies a dark mood. Its focus (thieves and undead) was supposed to make you shiver. The pictures were by far the most ridiculous thing TSR has ever published. I don't know about you, but the photos give me the impression that during one night Butler & Co. were returning home drunk as it goes and made a stop to shoot photo material for a new booster. *Sigh* Why, why? I can well understand that you had no money for new art. So be it. But you don't throw a whole dark-mooded booster over the cliff for that reason. You either postpone it until cash flows in or choose a different light-hearted subject (something with goblins, gnomes, halflings etc could probably save the day). Of course the booster sold well... Power players bought it because the SPELLFIRE design team once again gave a great amount of power to the cards to make up for the ridiculous photos. And while together with DUNGEON cards one can create a highly successful thief booster, the true lovers of SPELLFIRE sat back watching legendary figures like Artemis Entreri and Storm Silverhand being portrayed as Mr. and Mrs. Frankestein respectively... To be really honest, though, it was not the first time that ridiculous cards were created to satisfy the wishes of its designers. Long before Night Stalkers there were some cards the besides having no AD&D reflection they just served as a "that is the card I want to have" -Genie Bottle and the King of Elves come to mind. However they were restricted to Chase where everything is and should be allowed. 5) SMALL BOOSTERS One thing that is not tragic, yet annoying, is that the boosters were too small. And I am not talking only about the change from 15 to 12 card boosters. The number of booster cards were too small. As a result, variety was undermined and many important lands and NPCs were overlooked. Just tell me where I can find Dannilo Thann, Arilyn Moonblade, Tarl of Phlan etc. OK so that's not so bad but it would be much better having 300 or 400-card boosters. Just ask yourself: Would you prefer a Runes & Ruins, Underdark, Night Stalkers booster released within a year. (3 100-card releases) or a truly memorable Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk booster with 300 cards where the whole setting was included. Don't be hasty. After all AD&D has enough material to create thousands of cards. All you need is creativity... You know you really lose interest in a booster you can complete by buying 30 packs. 6) SO,WHAT CAN WE DO ? Please don't take me for an enemy of SPELLFIRE (after all as someone who spends his minimal free time writing his thoughts and imaginary boosters can't be all that bad - can he ?). I really love SPELLFIRE, but in its pure form where strategy and original combos made the winner, not the amount of instant win cards. So I ought to put my two cents' worth in the argument about the future of SPELLFIRE. The easiest solution is to try to fix the wrongs of SPELLFIRE with new releases. Cards that stop the most annoying events etc. could be made. Also underrated boosters like Birthright could be upgraded. Perhaps there is still time for improvement. I designed GREENLAND under this kind of thinking. Still... There is an idea that seems all the more intriguing ... I know that WotC doesn't really care about players but about cash... So try to be broad-minded and read on... Just don't rush with e-mails demanding my beheading before thinking it through.... HOW ABOUT A SPELLFIRE 5th EDITION ??? I am not talking about the same things here. I am talking about bringing a new kid on the block. Abandon old SPELLFIRE. Keep the rules with some exceptions in order to make two player games more interesting. Introduce some minor new prospects (alignment sounds nice). Rewrite ALL the cards from every booster discarding the ridiculous ones. You should even change some pictures(photos). Give equality to all the parts of the game, so that psionics could go against wizard spells and hero decks could well face dragons. Make great NPCs great cards so that Elminster will be a rare card that all players prize. Make room for some battle !!! The satisfaction of SPELLFIRE is bringing your opponent down after a furious battle (without Complete Surprise), not winning with Caer Allison, Menzoberranzan and Labor of Legend all in a single round. Make unattackable realms a rare and useful ability, and for God's sake drop the speed. Why should I draw my entire deck in the first turn ? Why should I win because I have thrice the hand size of my opponent and not because I had a better strategy. Add variety most of all. AD&D has infinite possibilities...explore them. Just imagine it. A 2500 card 5th edition containing the core AD&D game, with all classes, huge amount of spells, mag.items, artifacts etc, the classic settings (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, DragonLance, core AD&D). And then a 350 booster pack from Ravenloft with sly undead, a 350 booster pack featuring the unique abilities of Birthright characters, a 600 booster pack with the characters from the Shattered Lands (Dark Sun) and mind blowing psionics, a 600 booster pack exploring the multiverse of PlaneScape, a 350 booster pack with random cards based on the best Dragon Magazine articles and ...was that an Alternity booster coming around the corner ? I know...this is a huge project that requires a lot of time and money. Well WotC has both... Wouldn't you like to play THIS game? Who knows, now that Dominia is coming out, more players will become familiar with the various AD&D worlds. And one day SPELLFIRE could become the most successful card game ever.... And for us veterans, a Reference guide could be made including the 1000 or so old SPELLFIRE cards that with some adjustments could be included in 5th edition decks... A nice dream...but perhaps we can make it more than that...
Dungeons FAQby: (editorial note--I apologize to whoever sent this to SpellNews--I had asked permission to use it, and failed to record who sent it, as the file sat for a couple months while SN has been in limbo.) For DU 3 -- This player may discard a Dark Sun champion from his pool or hand to psionically turn a just-cast spell back at it's original caster. "discard a dark sun champ. to psionically turn a just cast spell..." Can this be countered by something that counters psionics? Nothing that I'm aware of, since the player wouldn't be negating/canceling a psionic power CARD. Also, note that the caster of the spell must be a legal target for the spell (you can't discard a DARK SUN champion to turn a Disintegrate, since a caster is not a legal target).
du 4-- This player's monster (dragon) champions are immune to all events, spells, artifacts, and magical items that instantly discard or defeat them. monster (dragon) champs immune to all events/spells/art/mag items that instantly discard/defeat them--does this apply as well to "blue line" dragons/etc? Yes.
du 5-- Each time this player is entitled to draw spoils of victory, he may also take the bottom three cards of his draw pile. Any monster champions there may be placed into his pool. Any other cards are placed on the top of his draw pile. the exra cards are in addition to spoils, right? and can they be placed on top then in any order? Well, they're not spoils cards; only the monsters can be played into the pool. They have to place them in the same order as they were.
du 6-- This player's Greyhawk realms may only be razed or discarded through combat. for the realms--can they be discarded through catclysm/etc DURING combat, or only from DIRECT combat? (ie attacker attacks with no opposition) As long as it's during combat, anything is fair. Other players can even play a Catalysm! on that player's GREYHAWK realm. du 7-- This player's Ravenloft champions all become undead, and Young Strahd's special power has no effect on this player's champions. this applies to all ravenloft champs with the logo for WORLD, right? doesn't matter what set? Correct.
du 8-- This player's clerics need never ask permission to cast spells. Avatars may not attack this player's realms, nor may they defend against this player's cleric champions. this refers to ALL spells, right? wiz/cler? Correct.
du 9-- This player's heroes do not discard unarmed combat cards at the end of combat. Instead, they are retained for future combat, adding the cards' bonuses but ignoring their special powers. the combat cards are kept by the hero that actually used them, right? Correct, though cards of one player are never permanently taken by another player (so if a champion steals another player's unarmed combat card, it doesn't stay with that champion).
du 14-- This player may keep a spellbook. Each time this player is entitled to draw spoils of victory, he may instead search through his draw pile and retrieve any spell; the spell cannot be played immediately. is the draw pile reshuffled? Yes.
du 15-- This player's champions and allies become elves, elves (drow), dwarves, or halflings as the player chooses. Selection must be made in phase 3 and lasts until the player's next phase 3. what of champs put in play after power used? They have to wait until the next phase 3.
du 16-- This player's helpful events cannot be negated or cancelled by any card. this includes wish/unusually good fortune, etc, right? Correct, though Unusually Good Fortune is a harmful event if played on another player's Good Fortune card. Wish is not affected, since it can only negate an event with a stated duration.
du 17-- Any wizard spells with a stated duration that are cast by this player's AD&D champions are doubled in duration. end of this players SECOND turn if "end of turn" limit? Yes.
du 19-- Any defensive spells cast by this player's undead Greyhawk champions cannot be dispelled or turned. what if they're canceled/negated? Bad wording on this card, since a defensive spell can't be spell turned. They can be cancelled/negated.
du 22-- This player's realms can only be attacked by flyers, swimmers, or earthwalkers. His champions and allies all have the ability to swim as needed. thusly affected by the likes of volcanic eruption, etc? Yes. The power of this card alters the wording of the realms' power, making it susceptible to cards like this.
du 23-- No offensive magical items can be used by opponents when attacking this player's realms. The items remain behind in the attacker's pool. If the champion returns, they are reattached; if not, the items are discarded. can the mag items be added during combat? (ie MORE mag items not left behind) No. They can't be used in the attack whatsoever.
du 24-- This player's helpful events cannot be negated, and his harmful events cannot be copied. Events that are discarded without being used are placed in the discard pile instead of the Abyss. even if the discarding is voluntary? how about involuntaryily? It makes no difference if the discarding is voluntary or involuntary; unused events go to the discard pile.
And still, the flame burns on...Due to time constraints (ever-present, ever-annoying), a couple of changes were not added to this issue that were considered. However, they will be used in the next issue (provided there IS a next issue). Most likely, Cesstris and Ranger will be more in the roles of ONLY Editors, and will be relying on help from other spellfire fans. Please send any comments, questions, etc to nhsranger@aol.com, with "SpellNews" or "Spellfire" in the subject line, or else it will likely be deleted under assumption of SPAM. If you would like to contribute an article, combos, ideas, fan cards, etc or whatever, send email to nhsranger@aol.com. We hope you have enjoyed this issue. The future of the e-zine is now in the hands of the fans/readers. Until next time..."Good Gaming!"... |
