I have been a collector and player of FFG games (amongst other distributors) for a long time. I am currently 51 years old, probably much older than the majority of participants on this board.

One of the things I have begun to notice with game makers, and specifically with FFG, is that the games they produce contain rules, quests, cards, etc. that all seem to be coming out with smaller and smaller and smaller text on them.

I already wear glasses to be able to read much of this stuff, but I have begun to find that the magnification provided vs the text/font sizes on some of the cards simply isn't sufficient.

This is especially true with Descent 2e and the smaller cards included.

Now I realize that the target demographic/audience for many of FFG's games trends younger (certainly compared to me), but it seems to me that if this trend continues, I won't be able to play the **** games without someone holding my hand and reading things to me … LOL.

I am wondering if I am the only one who has noticed this trend …

I'm sorry. I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't read your post. lol Well, I think the problem is FFG (and a lot of games now) are trying to get away from the rule books and put all the info on cards so that when new sets come out, you dont have to worry about re-writing the rule book because "cards trump rule books". This, of course, leads to having to be explicit and concise with the rules on said card because of people who want to abuse and look for loop holes. This leads to having to put a lot of info in a little space. And to save money, we go from normal card size stock, to itty-bitty cards. So, yes, being 42 I see your point. I have to put on my glasses to see the board and then remove them to read the cards. Annoying, but the nature of the beast.

wootersl said:

Agreed. Never thought about it but the text on these cards are quite small, as well now they made hobbit cards too. Perhaps what developers should consider is the aging demographic as well players who will continue to play these games, like me, into their elder years. I wonder if "Large Print" conversion kits would be cost efficient for FFG, or did making the hobbit cards for Descent 2e have an economic reason itself and making all games accommodate for large print not factor into a reasonable budget? I couldn't see how much regular cards and hobbit cards could make that huge a difference on price, but I agree that reading easier is a win-win.

You may consider buying a big magnifying glass. I saw at my local Wal-Mart they sell them at the eye-care center.

wootersl said:

I see this as more saving space, than saving money. When you're running a campaign and you have 6 skill cards and 3 equipment cards in front of every player, those smaller cards take up a lot less table room.

And as suggested above, a full-page reading magnifier should help.

Llenyd said:

Well, I think if I can manage 20 Uno cards in my hand I can handle 10 full sized skill cards. lol

wootersl said:

Why would you ever have the skill cards in your hand? It's table space that it cuts down on, which I find it does successfully as I've been able to play second edition even with four heroes on much smaller tables then I needed for the first edition with two players. It also helps to make it easier to share dice, read each others' cards, etc. when everything is closer together.

I have certainly noticed that FFG's cards have been getting smaller lately, and I agree that it's probably a space-saving measure moreso than a cost-saving measure. (If it also saves them money, that's just cake.)

I've also considered making and printing out blown-up versions of cards and sticking them to spare playing card decks, though I haven't formally gone about doing this for any games yet. =P

I will say this … one aspect of making things smaller (cards, monsters, etc.) is that I found that after unpacking Descent 2e, I was actually able to get it all back into the original box, and close the cover. I didn't even have to make any special effort to do so. That in itself is a miracle.

My Descent 1e and all of its expansions no longer comes close to fitting in the appropriate game boxes. I actually have a complete set of hard plastic carrying cases for everything. Protects the stuff better as well.

Nevertheless, it was interesting to find that by shrinking stuff (expecially the figures), everything fits nicely into the original game box.

Now if I could only read everything … LOL

Steve-O said:

I'm not a big fan of the 'mini' cards FFG puts out, and have considered redesigning all the cards to be 'normal' sized and having an ArtsCow deck available..

-shnar

-shnar

I love you. But only if you do this thing.

Share with a link for artscow on BGG too please?