Using cards in your game?

[Morrus]

How many people use cards as props or for reference in their games?

I only started doing so about a month back. Now I wouldn't be without them. It started as an inventory management tool. I got some Monopoly money and used that as GP. The players loved it, I loved it, "accounting" errors became impossible - if you bought something you handed over the money. If you found or were paid money, the DM hands over the money. What you've got is what you've got. [Note to self - publish cool fantasy money].

I then moved on to making item cards. There's something cool about handing the players a physical card when they find an item. They can look through their possessions. They can lend or give their possessions to each other. The record keeping for this takes care of itself - again, what you've got is what you've got. In addition, details of what the item does are there on the card. I see TOGC are planning on making some Item Cards.

Next came spell cards. I bought the Complete Spell Cards from TOGC. Fantastic! I've asked TOGC to also produce a deck of all EN Publishing spells. Then I added the Complete Monster Cards. The PC wizard in my group has a Summon Monster Deck - the first card lists what monsters he can summon, and with it is a pile of monster cards. As he increases in level, the pile of monster cards will get bigger. No hunting through Monster Manuals.

I also made some Status Cards. When a player is affected by a condition (exhausted, panicked, entangled, etc.), I just hand him the card. It has the details on it. They're pretty crappy looking, but TOGC came to my rescue again and have made some professional looking Status Cards for me to release through EN Publishing. And, more to the point, to use in my game.

Some things don't suit cards, of course. But as a prop, I love them. I also plan to buy the Deck of Many Things card deck from SATurday Graphics, although I doubt I'll use the deck in my game. I'm searching my mind for other ideas of what cool card props I could come up with. Psionic Cards already exist, but I don't use psionics. I like the professional looking money cards idea (better than Monopoly money!) Spell templates and area of effect templates would make a good card-based prop, too.

So, who's using them? Experiences? Any cool ideas for more cards or props? Anyone hate the idea?

 

[Infernal Teddy]

Not yet, but we're working on it - I write every feat or spell a player selects on an index card, and I'm planning on doing the same for combat options...

 

[vulcan_idic]

I never have before... but after reading this thread I'm going to - it sounds great.

Especially for items, I love the cool way item art looks, but you don't get to look at the art too often in game, a nice item card would be nice - the art of the item on the one side so you can look at it, have it thrill you and inspire you, and once you have it identified you can read what it says on the back about what it does.

 

[Nailom]

I use them for my cleric. They're great. I can hold my memorisation in the hand like a Deck of Cards and drop them after I use them.

Can't wait for the Itemcards

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi Everyone,

I make spell cards for all my spellcasters (thus including non SRD stuff too). I found that the spellcasters were taking more time than was truly necessary and the spell cards fixed up the whole looking up spells thing. Particularly at higher levels, to quickly look through your spells for the most appropriate one has been a boon timewise.

As you say Morrus, I would not consider going back. The TOGC stuff sounds interesting; I think I'll have to check it out.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Shadowdancer]

I use the first Item Pack released by Paizo, and really like the cards. They have artwork and a brief description, and then you can write in your own game stats for the weapon.

I plan to buy their expansion decks.

Combine that with the Treasure Chest from Crystal Caste, and you have a neat, reusable prop for when the PCs find treasure. Put the cards in the chest, let them open the chest, and watch them get excited when they discover what's hidden inside.

 

[Dr Simon]

I made some item cards a way back (before you could buy such things over this newfangled intero-web thing) but found it was a bit too much work. Quite nice idea, though.

The DM in the last game I played in had a Deck of Many Things, which was nice. It encouraged the more rash players to make stupid numbers of draws, though (14, in one instance, although I think he drew the card that forces you to re-draw 1D4 cards- twice!)

I tried a playing card-based initiative system once, inspired by Deadlands. The higher your attributes that governed initiative, the more cards you drew, and kept the highest. It was but slow, but I tihink I redrew every round and a d20-style rolling initiative would work ok.

The there was Shatterzone, a WEG sci-fi game with TORG-like mechanics. That came with a deck of cards that did four things - initiative and what actions would get bonuses and penalties that round; they were also bonus cards that the players could use at certain times, lsort of like an Action Point system, and they could be use to keep track of ongoing situations with a time limit. They were sort of a neat idea but also quite clunky at the same time.

 

[blargney the second]

I've actually used the D&D Miniatures cards a bunch of times in game. The first was in a big tournament melee where the players each had a couple of squads of NPCs. The simplified rules are awesome for 20-50 creatures in combat!

Lately I've been using the regular D&D stats on the backs of the cards. They're handy in pre-game to prepare encounters, and convenient for running combats as well. I was surprised how useful they are.

 

[Gwaihir]

I hand out numbered cards representing the magic items that the party finds. Theyre no big shakes just a number and a brief description written on an obsolete business card. It eliminates the problem I used to have, namely "Where did you find that again?" and not remembering the item.

One of my players has started writing his memorized spells on cards and uses them as a deck, discarding as he casts them.

 

[Turanil]

I have used cards for magic items (with drawings I did myself), and later I also printed the spells PCs discovered on sheets of paper. Monopoly money would be great for a modern or sci-fi game, but I am not sure for a fantasy one. Long ago (ADD 2e), I had a deck with every monster on a single card. It was useful, but not so much as I had believed when making it (and spending hours doing so...).

In any case, the thing I would like to do, is to use a tarot deck card. I have one with drawings that are very evocative of a medieval ambiance. I thought of finding an interesting way to use them during a gaming session. Maybe I could begin a thread on that subject...