Using cards to replace dice

[Asmor]

Your first paragraph needs the key phrase "without replacement" to make it totally clear what you mean (i.e., generally no reshuffles between draws). By the end I figured it out, but that should be a critical part of the initial description.

I just finished grading a big stack of statistics final exams, so maybe I'm a bit touchy on that issue right now. YMMV.

Indeed. My apologies.

Well, personally, I love that bouncy sound of dice rolling and the uncertainty as the die flips just one more side before finally stopping, resulting in that collective 'ooohhh...'

The card system would be a good idea though if you play in a place where dice rolling is not possible, either because of space / instability constraints (playing in a car, on a boat etc.) or when the noise of the bouncing dice is too loud (sleeping baby in the room next door or somesuch...)

Just my 2cp

Yeah, I was thinking it could be good for something like LARPing. Just keep a deck in your pocket.

There is only a minor technical fallacy in your idea, and it is in bold above. What you have actually done is create a system and removed randomness from the possible outcomes. true randomness is not an equal spread of numbers in a designated set of roles, true randomness is just the same potential for every number on every role. The system that you are creating has diminishing chances for any number as that number is drawn, and totally eliminates it after 2 draws. In true random rolling you could potentially roll 3, 4, 10 of any given number in a row, in a system you could not.

Instead of using the joker to skew the result of a 20, you could simply use it to shuffle the deck again. That would reduce the predictability of the system, but it would still be a system, not random.

It is a fine substitution method for situations where rolling dice might be impractical, but it does have limitations.

As has been mentioned, it's still random, just a different kind of randomness. I wasn't trying to emulate dice perfectly, if that was my goal I'd just use dice instead!

This basic idea -- and I think it's a pretty nifty one -- is outlined in Green Ronin's Advanced Gamemaster's Manual. An added twist is that all players and the DM are given 5 cards at a time, allowing each person to choose when to play high cards and low cards. When all 5 are played, the character draws 5 more.

I haven't tried this technique, but my hunch is that it would work very well in a story-driven game, allowing participants to play their cards for more dramatic effect.

One could also imagine a whole slew of accompanying mechanics: feats or spells that allow someone to draw more than 5 cards, discard a bad card, and so on.

The thought had occurred to me, but I figure it's best to keep it simple for now. Plus, perhaps I'm being hypocritical, I really like the idea of using cards as a resource which you can tactically choose, but for some reason I don't like the idea of having a hand and then redrawing whenever you run out. I think if I were going to go in that direction, I'd make it so that you use your entire hand at once. For example, assign all your cards between defense and offense or something... But at that point, I'm basically redesiging an entirely new game system, which is beyond the scope of this.

Building on the using cards as hero-points idea...

I used to play Magic: The Gathering. I don't anymore. What if you took some of the action-sounding cards like Blood-Lust, Aspect of Wolf, Jump... or just take some and write your own title on them. And then make a sizeable community deck out of them. Players draw a number of cards or maybe the GM gives them out as rewards like hero points. Players can use the cards for specific effects when they need 'em or even use them on allies if need be.
So for example, you find yourself surrounded by enemies and separated from your team mates. Play blood-lust and you get the equivalent of a barbarian rage for a turn or two.

There's already something like this called Swashbuckling Cards. You can probably find them on google, or use the search on this site if you've got a CS account.

 

[Woas]

Actually you know what? Now that I think about it, WotC put something together like this too. It's probably where I got the idea sub-consciously I think I got one or two for World-wide Game Day a couple years back. They were printed on card stock and were named "Bane of my enemy" and such.

Nihil sub sole novum I guess.

There's already something like this called Swashbuckling Cards. You can probably find them on google, or use the search on this site if you've got a CS account.

 

[Asmor]

Actually you know what? Now that I think about it, WotC put something together like this too. It's probably where I got the idea sub-consciously I think I got one or two for World-wide Game Day a couple years back. They were printed on card stock and were named "Bane of my enemy" and such.

Nihil sub sole novum I guess.

You might be thinking of the RPGA cards... I can't think of what they're called off the top of my head, though. Only issue with those is that (aside from ebay) they're not available commercially or otherwise.

 

[kenobi65]

You might be thinking of the RPGA cards... I can't think of what they're called off the top of my head, though. Only issue with those is that (aside from ebay) they're not available commercially or otherwise.

Player Reward cards. They give a few away as promotional cards at events (like WWDDD, or GenCon), but, generally, you can only get them by accumulating points for RPGA play.