Cards as randomizers?

[Croesus]

That I don't see. I run my game at a dining table. There's a player just a foot or so from my elbow. I need a screen to keep my notes from being clearly visible to players, which we all agree would be undesirable.

Rolling my dice or putting my cards in front of the screen (where I could not see them while sitting down, or even standing!) would be a bloody nuisance, making the physical process of running the game notably awkward and difficult. Nobody's going to think keeping my dice and cards behind the screen is a premeditated attempt to allow me to fudge results.

My response wasn't clear - I was referring to a GM hiding extra cards behind the screen, in case he wanted to substitute the actual dealt card for a different one. That's one of the few ways I can think of to fudge a card, assuming the GM reveals his cards when used. If the GM simply tells the players what card he's playing without showing it, then that's no different from using dice and rolling behind the screen.

um really? there's a whole industry in Vegas to defeat cheating at cards. Every other player who's gotten into playing Hold'em has mastered the art of flipping chips and card tricks. Those are the guys to watch out for because they've mastered the dexterity and moves for dealing with those objects.

Not to be negative, but this has pretty much nothing to do with playing RPG's, at least in my experience. Yes, I've encountered (very few) players over the years who would cheat in any way possible, including using loaded dice. And as soon as the group figures out what they're doing (and it always gets noticed eventually) we boot them. As I said upthread, while I can forgive casual fudging, premeditated cheating is not acceptable.

My position is simply that casual fudging with cards is more difficult than with dice. YMMV

 

[Croesus]

I have a bias against cards as I see them as not functionally better for resolving a random determination over dice. I also have a bias for just about any alternative random resolution mechanic over roll some dice, add them up, did you get above/below a target. Thats because the standard is quickly learned, quickly parsed and quickly automated. Every other design strikes me as design wankery to be different for different's sake.

If we're only talking about generating a random number, dice work as well as cards for most uses. For example, there's a game called Perudo. Players roll dice secretly and can lie about the results. This game could just as easily be done with cards, but why change something that already works?

I still would suggest that cards are better than dice for certain uses, for example dealing multiple action cards in Deadlands. One could do something like that with dice, but I'd argue it would not be as elegant or flexible. YMMV