Normally I wouldn't want to do a pair of news posts in one week, but we have two bits of really exciting new Dice Masters news that I didn't want to wait to share with you!
Firstly, we have a new announcement from WizKids that says we can expect Dungeons and Dragons Dice Masters in Q4 2014! I don't know about you, but Dungeons and Dragons is near and dear to my heart, and I know The Reserve Pool's own Evan is a huge D&D fan as well. This release will coincide with the release of the new D&D rules sets from Wizards of the Coast (called simply 'Dungeons & Dragons Next' by WotC, or 5e by those who want to be precise and differentiate it from the rest of the editions). So it's unsurprising that Q3 2014 bringing us a new rule set for the roleplaying game, and Q4 will bring us new Dice Masters dice.
The second piece of news come from Board Game Geeks user jhoratio in this thread, a picture from the Origins program guide that brings is more information about the upcoming Uncanny X-Men Dice Masters set. Let's break down what we've learned from this and the earlier thread from zeroeo. Originals are available at the links, but I've scaled these pictures down to fit in our article.
Box Contents
The expansion will have 'more than 30' all new characters and dice (The AvX set had 38, so it's looking to be a similar size). We've got the same contents advertised in the Uncanny X-Men Starter Kit as from the AvX Starter Kit: 44 custom dice, 38 cards, 2 dice bags, and the Dice Masters Rulebook. We have seen about 16 new characters, 4 reskinned/recolored old characters, and 1 die I believe is still unidentified and not linked to a character. Even though the mock up shows 15 characters in the starter box, given the number of cards/dice in the starter kit I think it's far more likely we're going to see the same contents: 8 new characters with 3 cards each, 10 basic actions, 16 character dice, 12 basic action dice, 16 sidekick dice. The pre-release materials for AvX did a similar showing that included characters not in the final Starter Kit. Which characters will actually be in the Starter Kit remains to be seen.
New Characters
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| Credit to zeroeo on BGG |
The picture from zeroeo presents the best look at the new characters, and based on the powers of magic and science (also known as The Reserve Pool having Marvel Geeks on staff), we've probably identified the 15 characters shown on the starter kit. We hypothesize that they are, in order from top left to bottom right:
Pyro, Falcon, Quicksilver, Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Sentinel, Iceman, Toad, Bishop, Mr. Sinister, Cable, Juggernaut, Scarlet Witch, Emma Frost, Namor.
We have partial text from 4 cards, and full text from another, as well:
X-23: Assassin (Unknown Cost, Fist Energy, Unknown Alignment)- "When X-23 [...] characters. T[...] (if able)." Well that's helpful! Pure speculation, but I think we're going to see a when-fielded or when-attacks ability. Given it's X-23, I think it's more likely she has an attacking ability. We've seen the 'if able' wording on Spider Man: Web Slinger, forcing characters who are able to block to block. My best guess is this is thematically related to Laura's Trigger Scent, and that perhaps when fielded she assigns a character who must block her when she attacks. Awesome! (Pure Speculation)
Mister Sinister: Nasty Boy (5 Cost, Bolt Energy, Villain) - "While Mr. Sinister [...] Villain is kn[ocked out? ...] deal 1 dama[ge...] Global: Pay [...] one of his ch[...]" Slightly more helpful than X-23's sneak peek, looks like Sinister deals damage when someone's Villain is knocked out. This might be a guard against Common Mjolnir, keeping you from being able to kill Villains with impunity. Sinister's die, as shown in the Starter Kit picture, is a very offensive character, however, at 1/4/1, so he seems unlikely to remain fielded in the wake of an attack on him. His Global is confusing, since it seems to focus on Mr. Sinister as a character or die, or perhaps 'his' refers to the player.
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| Credit to jhoratio on BGG |
Marvel Girl: Superhero (5 Cost, Bolt Energy, X-Men) - "Heroic: Wh[en?...] up with a diff[erent?...] part of your[...]. While Marvel [Girl...] her partner [...] ??? Heroic." Well, 'Heroic', huh? It seems to be a new mechanic. For those of you who aren't in the know, Marvel Girl is another alias for Jean Grey, but definitely doesn't have the same stats as Phoenix with her one die face showing as 1/3/3. Perhaps this has something to do with the 'Heroic' nature of her card? Who knows?
Falcon: Recon (3 Cost, Fist Energy, no alignment) - "When Falcon [...] can't be block[ed...]" Cool! Another cheap character with a can't be blocked ability. He seems to be a bit similar to Angel in the current form. We might see him be reliant on Captain America, in the same way that War Machine is reliant on being on the field with Iron Man, but we don't know yet. It's unlikely he'll have the exact same abilities as Angel, but given that his die showing in the Starter Kit is 0/2/2 he definitely has similar stats. I'm surprised to see him without an Avengers affiliation, as Falcon has frequently been part of the team, but it might be to keep him from being a killer in conjunction with Nick Fury: Patch.
Quicksilver: Thanks to Isotope E (4 Cost, Bolt Energy, X-Men) - "When fielded, Quicksilver does 1 damage to each opposing sidekick." We can also see most of his die faces: 0/3/1, 1/3/2, 1/4/[2?]. This makes Quicksilver a quick field option for sure, and there's already talk that he might be the answer to Gobby. The X-Men affiliation is a little bizarre from a thematic sense, as he's been much more closely associated with Villains, the Avengers, and the Inhumans in recent years.
Zeroeo's picture also shows a yellow-on-dark blue fist die to the left of the window. This might be another side to the die I think belongs to Cable, or this could be a yet-unidentified character. Our presumed Bishop die is also associated with shield energy.
Returning Characters
Cyclops returns with a red-on-brown die, Magneto with a dark purple-on-light purple die, Professor X with a dark brown-on-light brown die, and Angel with a red-on-white die. These mark a change from the original colorings, but all of the dice sides we see show at least one face with the exact same stats as from their AvX set dice. Whether this means the dice will retain the same stats between expansions remains to be seen. There is a solid argument for having new dice between packs, but given that Dice Masters is targeting a more mass-market audience we also have a justification for the dice remaining the same between expansions.
I will note that the Wolverine die from AvX has a burst symbol on two sides but has zero affiliated boost powers, which suggests that the die is forward thinking. I've got a huge pack rat mentality, so I'm going to want 4-5 of each color die regardless, but I could see some others being annoyed by the recycling of dice between packs. Having new dice would also open up the question of whether or not you could field two different Angels or Magnetos (since they would have different color dice) or whether rules will come in to prohibit this.
Basic Actions
We still know nothing about Basic Actions and whether or not the new packs will come with new Basic Actions, but my current strong suspicion is that we WILL see new Basic Actions to keep the numbering of the new expansion internally consistent.
Final Thoughts
So we have a mix of new characters and old, definitely with all-new abilities, we have no evidence of any new alignments (the characters only show the traditional 'Hydra/Villain' logo and X-Men logo). We so far have no confirmation of any new Avengers or Fantastic Four, so I have a feeling we will be hearing an announcement for some 'Fantastic Avengers' sometime in the next few months. This expansion seems to be answering the call for some cheaper purchase cost X-Men and maybe some cheaper Villains as well.
Pyro, Sentinel, Bishop, Juggernaut, and Emma Frost seem like they could be the heavy hitters of this expansion, with Toad, Psylocke, Scarlet Witch and maybe Quicksilver providing some cheaper Villains and X-Men.
Cable is in all likelihood going to have an awesome on field power given that it costs 2 to deploy him with 3/3 stats.
Given that Falcon is not associated with the Avengers, I don't think Namor will be associated with the Fantastic Four, which I had originally hypothesized. We may see no new Avengers and Fantastic Four this expansion, so far.
A new mechanic/character type of 'Heroic' is coming, and seems to have additional abilities that compliment the core abilities of a character, and may take additional cards or dice to activate.
Let's keep our fingers crossed for even more variety of abilities and meta-defining cards.
Suffice to say that the entire Reserve Pool staff is beyond excited for these new characters and new abilities to come and really shake up the game in a few months and create an entirely new interest in the game for anyone who didn't become involved during this first round of releases.
Tiny Edit:
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| Credit to traitorarmor on BGG |
This picture was on a mockup of a Uncanny X-Men booster box from the Gama Trade Show back in March, also posted on Board Game Geeks by traitorarmor, and shows an Apocalypse card on the side of the box (along with Psylocke, Wolverine, and Magneto). These are obviously mockup cards, as all four are listed as affiliated with the Avengers, and have no purchase cost, no energy, and so forth. But we miiiiight see an Apocalypse card in the next expansion.
Love it. SO excited about this new set! Can't wait. I'm an old AD&D 2nd edition player from way back so D&D has always held a special place in my heart, but I'm not sure yet how I feel about it coming to Dice Masters. Either way, more information is always great. Great reporting, Katie!
ReplyDeleteI'm also very excited, Matt! I've played D&D since 3e back in college, and I also enjoyed several of the released video games in the past as well. I'm a little conflicted myself, especially since it says we're going to be Forgotten Realms oriented. Does this mean we're going to be looking at those old-school heroes of the Realms, or is there going to be a Gelatinous Cube card/die?
DeleteI understand the desire to cross-promote the intellectual properties that WizKids has licenses to, but I'm a bit flummoxed as to how this is going to work. I actually have similar thoughts about the incoming Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as well, if they will be 'cards' or 'characters' or what.
Thank you! I was just happy to make note of this news early along and bring it to The Reserve Pool with my own little bits of analysis. I'm SO excited for these cards.
You were wondering the same things I was. Will this be characters like Elminster and Drizzt or are we talking about beholders and bugbears (H/T to the gelatinous cube reference...that's great)?
DeleteI'm a Heroclix player too, so I'm used to WizKids trying to get the pieces from different properties to work together (Marvel, DC, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Lord of the Rings, etc. all are technically compatible in the game) but Eric Lang's tweet that says, "D&DDM will be standalone but compatible with other Dice Masters games. However, it does have a unique ecosystem and mechanics." makes me a little nervous. It definitely makes me feel like there will be something lost from the original intent of the standalone concept by playing the different properties together.
In any case, honestly I don't care much about that at all yet. I'm just excited for the X-Men set for now!
Great write up! Really excited for the new X-men and Villains that are going to be in this set. I'm glad someone else can see the benefit in keeping the dice stats the same and just changing the card abilities for returning characters.
ReplyDeleteAlso of note when I was talking with Eric [M. Lang] earlier to day he mentioned that he and Mike Elliot will be the ones responsible for the design on all foreseeable expansions. Which is good to know, hopefully we won't run into any of the bad design interactions that other games have when the development gets handed off to some one else.
Yeah, based on what we're seeing I do think the dice will be the same, but there's always the possibility to surprise me later. At this point I'm hoping for same-dice, I think it would be much cleaner, and more understandable to the more general audience the game is attracting.
DeleteInteresting. I wonder if things like the 'Heroic' tag on Marvel Girl will be MDM only, or if we're going to see 'Heroic' characters in all sets. The factions are very likely to be different, of course. I think we'll just have to wait and see. I'm curious if DnD is going to be the next set released at all or if we'll see DC/YGO first. Sounds like DnD is next! I'll just keep on reporting the news as it happens!
There will be 10 new basic actions. The set will follow the same suit of the AvX starter, as well as the booster feeds including mostly characters with 2 different equipment type cards (like Mjolnir/Vibranium Shield). I know that one of them is the Fantasticar.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome, do you know where you saw that information? I'd love to include a link in the article.
DeleteOh, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! dice/cards will be the monsters, not human characters from the show. I will find the source, but I thought I read that in one of Lang's posts on BGG on the MDM board...
ReplyDelete