Gamma World Booster Draft - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Gamma World Booster Draft

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
trojanrat
Oct 14, 2010 20:32:36
While reading over several different articles on several different sites about the Gamma World booster packs, a thought popped into the back of my mind regarding doing a sealed booster draft during character creation.

Two or three packs are purchased for each person involved in the game (the GM and all the players). You open your first pack and select one card that will become part of one of your two decks, You pass the rest of your cards to your left and repeat the same process. Once the first pack is completed you repeat the same process but pass to your right instead. Finally, with the last pack, you pass to your left again.

I could see several different strategies that could be used to make your card selections. If this is done after the rest of charcter creation has taken place, players could focus on selecting powers that they could use their +2 primary origin bonus on. Alternatively, a person could focus on grabbing the best Omega Tech out of the packs early, and letting their mutations end up being the ones that everyone else passed over. As the GM is involved in the draft as well, there's also the chance that he or she is going to pull out cards that may throw a wrench into an encounter they have set up.

Thoughts?
#2
palmerkun
Oct 14, 2010 21:14:31 At my local gameday, one GM is buying a box of boosters himself, and is just passing them out for people to use (he's keeping the cards though).

A draft like this is perfect for this kind of setup (where all the cards still belong to one person), since there's no concern about "losing rares" or anything.

I'll mention it to him.
#3
necroloid
Oct 16, 2010 9:47:03 Since i have connections and can get boxxes at cost I wll do this for my group.
#4
Finarvyn
Oct 16, 2010 9:54:13 That is a neat idea, and it takes some of the "bummer random" element out of the game. I'm not thrilled about booster packs because you might not get at all what you want, but this does take some of the sting out of it.
#5
trojanrat
Oct 16, 2010 12:40:08 For those that end up giving it a try, I'd be curious to hear how it worked for your game. I intend to give it a try myself with my game group when my turn to DM comes up, but that could be a while yet.

The one possible problem I can think of using this method is making sure the players have the correct number of cards for each deck. (minimum 7 cards, no more than 2 of any one mutation or tech.) There are a couple of easy solutions for this problem (reminding players of what they need to have while they're drafting cards, or changing the number of packs the players draft from).

But if one person at the table makes it a priority to grab 1 of the 2 card types (lets say, a guy that makes Omega Tech a priority over Alpha Mutations), will that person get enough cards of the other type to still make a functonal deck?
#6
palmerkun
Oct 16, 2010 17:24:44 If you fail to meet the minimum of 7... then you have no personal deck for that type and are stuck with the GM deck.

However, if you use 3 packs to draft, it's much easier to avoid being short in a category.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 trojanrat Oct 14, 2010 20:32:36	While reading over several different articles on several different sites about the Gamma World booster packs, a thought popped into the back of my mind regarding doing a sealed booster draft during character creation. Two or three packs are purchased for each person involved in the game (the GM and all the players). You open your first pack and select one card that will become part of one of your two decks, You pass the rest of your cards to your left and repeat the same process. Once the first pack is completed you repeat the same process but pass to your right instead. Finally, with the last pack, you pass to your left again. I could see several different strategies that could be used to make your card selections. If this is done after the rest of charcter creation has taken place, players could focus on selecting powers that they could use their +2 primary origin bonus on. Alternatively, a person could focus on grabbing the best Omega Tech out of the packs early, and letting their mutations end up being the ones that everyone else passed over. As the GM is involved in the draft as well, there's also the chance that he or she is going to pull out cards that may throw a wrench into an encounter they have set up. Thoughts?
#2 palmerkun Oct 14, 2010 21:14:31	At my local gameday, one GM is buying a box of boosters himself, and is just passing them out for people to use (he's keeping the cards though). A draft like this is perfect for this kind of setup (where all the cards still belong to one person), since there's no concern about "losing rares" or anything. I'll mention it to him.
#3 necroloid Oct 16, 2010 9:47:03	Since i have connections and can get boxxes at cost I wll do this for my group.
#4 Finarvyn Oct 16, 2010 9:54:13	That is a neat idea, and it takes some of the "bummer random" element out of the game. I'm not thrilled about booster packs because you might not get at all what you want, but this does take some of the sting out of it.
#5 trojanrat Oct 16, 2010 12:40:08	For those that end up giving it a try, I'd be curious to hear how it worked for your game. I intend to give it a try myself with my game group when my turn to DM comes up, but that could be a while yet. The one possible problem I can think of using this method is making sure the players have the correct number of cards for each deck. (minimum 7 cards, no more than 2 of any one mutation or tech.) There are a couple of easy solutions for this problem (reminding players of what they need to have while they're drafting cards, or changing the number of packs the players draft from). But if one person at the table makes it a priority to grab 1 of the 2 card types (lets say, a guy that makes Omega Tech a priority over Alpha Mutations), will that person get enough cards of the other type to still make a functonal deck?
#6 palmerkun Oct 16, 2010 17:24:44	If you fail to meet the minimum of 7... then you have no personal deck for that type and are stuck with the GM deck. However, if you use 3 packs to draft, it's much easier to avoid being short in a category.