In the brand-new card game, Dungeons & Dragons Rock Paper Wizard, you are one of a group of adventuring Wizards, delving deep into a cavern coursing with Wild Magic. Your party has just defeated an ancient red dragon in a legendary display of spellcasting skills. As the fading glimmer of the vanquished beast’s flames illuminates a hoard of treasures beyond belief, thoughts of untold wealth take root in your mind. Greed overcomes friendship as mouths begin to murmur the secret syllables of powerful incantations, and fingers curl into the arcane gestures of reality-warping magic. The cavern explodes once again with sound and fury as you force your former allies away from the treasure while lining your pockets with as much gold as you can grab between dodging fireballs!

Rock Paper Wizard is a quick and interactive game where you attempt to deduce which spells everyone else is going to cast, as well as who their targets will be. You are also picking the spell that will result in the best outcome for yourself and aiming it at an opponent. Choose wisely, because the situation can change and cause your spell to act in ways you didn’t intend!

All of the players share a “spellbook” - an ever-changing row of familiar Dungeons & Dragons spells depicted on cards. Each spell has an effect and a hand gesture that triggers it. Every round, players secretly decide which spell they want to cast (and on whom). When everyone is ready, all of the wizards chant “Rock, Paper, Wizard” and gesture accordingly towards another player; spells are then resolved in turn order. Some spells push wizards towards the exit of the cave and away from the vast pile of gold pieces (gp), while other spells allow you to steal gold from opponents or even affect another player’s target. If two players ever target each other with the exact same spell, Wild Magic erupts in the cave and anything could happen!

Once all spells have been resolved, the wizard that is closest to the hoard takes 5 gp, while the second closest wizard takes 3 gp. Then the spell book is refreshed by removing the eldest spell and adding a new one to the row. With over 20 spells included, each game will be different. The wizard who collects 25 gp first is the winner!

Rock Paper Wizard was designed by Jay Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim, and Josh Cappel. Jay and Sen are a well-known design team in the game industry, and Josh is a veteran game artist and designer. They met years ago when Josh was hired on as the artist for a game the pair had designed called Belfort. The rapport was immediate, and it didn’t take long for them to bond as designers and friends. Inevitably, they decided to design a game together... and Rock Paper Wizard was born.

They started off wanting to make a game that used hand gestures as spells. It began as a bluffing game where players had to figure out what spells other players were casting. After a lot of playtesting, the team realized that casting the spells, making the gestures, and watching the cascading unintentional results was more fun than trying to bluff. They removed that aspect altogether and focused on player interaction via the spells. The result is a fast-paced, crowd-gathering game of high tension and hilarious consequences! Every round of casting triggers cheers and curses whether or not the spells end up doing what their casters intended!

For a limited time, you will get a bonus spell card when you purchase Rock Paper Wizard from a retailer, so make sure to ask for the “Levitate” promo card when you buy your copy!

Rock Paper Wizard will be available this December 2016, from WizKids.