With the Great Dalmuti card game ringing in its 25th anniversary, Wizards of the Coast is releasing an all-new Dungeons & Dragons themed deck of cards, complete with new names more fitting for the D&D theme. The “Knight” card has been cleverly reworked into “Templar,” the “Cook” is now an evil “Apothecary,” and even the “Peasant” card has been transformed into the more evocative “Rat Catcher.” What better way to celebrate 25 years of fast-paced fun than to create an adventurer-friendly deck?
Each card has gorgeous, visually distinctive art attached, making all 13 dead ringers for the newly-minted fantasy names. The Templar’s imposing figure, accompanied with the silhouettes of weaponry falling like rain in the background of red mist makes even having this middle-of-the-road card (representative of the number 6, close to the exact center of card value) a treat. Each card has fascinating visuals like this, skillfully illustrated by artist Harry Conway.
Even though the deck has been renamed to appeal to D&D fans, the rules of the game itself haven’t changed, and if you aren’t sure how to play, picking it up for the anniversary won’t take too long. The Great Dalmuti uses a non-standard deck, so those playing will need 13 types of card and a total of 80 cards individually: every card must have an equal number of duplicates to its rank. This means there should be six cards marked/ranked ‘six’, and eight ranked ’eight.’ and so on (except, as usual, two jokers). It gets more in-depth, but it’s something best learned by playing.
Just know this is a game where the rich get richer, so to speak - players who win a round are given an advantageous role in the next round, and allowed to force other players to trade them their best cards. Just like Dungeons & Dragons, however, there’s always a chance for things to turn around if you get the two “Fool” cards you need to perform a “revolution,” which could be considered The Great Dalmuti’s form of rolling a natural 20.
The rules of the game haven’t changed, but playing it will certainly be a whole lot more interesting with cards like these. You can view the full deck of cards for the D&D themed deck here on Wizards of the Coast’s official website, and pre-order the $15 game, set to launch in November of this year, online or at your local game store.
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