Let's talk about using cards in your role-playing game sessions. I don't mean as an alternative to task resolution systems, but as a tool for players and game masters at the table.
Recently, I ordered a Deck of Fate via OneBookShelf's sites. I ordered it because I've wanted a Deck of Fate, and also because I have wanted to see what the cards printed by the OneBookShelf POD services for cards was like. I am going to digress from the substance of this article for a bit to talk about the cards physically.
While the cards have the familiar mix of stiffness and flexibility familiar to regular users of playing cards, they are made of "regular" card stock, rather than the woven feel of standard playing cards. The cards have a slight gloss finish, without the lamination of playing cards. Obviously, this is due to the print on demand process, and the types of machines that the cards get printed on. How this will impact the long term viability of the Deck of Fate, it is hard to say, because I have only had them for about a month, but even the tougher, laminated stock of standard playing cards, can peel and split after enough use. The POD Deck of Fate aren't fragile feeling, and they look like they will stand up to the type of long term use and wear that a deck of cards utilized in regular play would get.
Card-based role-playing game accessories will fit (much like any RPG accessory) into one of two categories: player-facing or GM-facing. But, there are different uses within each category. Cards can be used as an aid in character creation and task resolutions, for both players and GMs, and they can also be used as a narrative aid, and again for both players and game masters.
Accessories like the Deck of Fate fall into the more popular category of player-facing. You can use them as an alternative to the Fate dice. There is an 81-card sub-deck of "dice cards" that serve this purpose. Instead of rolling dice, you draw one of the dice cards for a result. This gives you a result, like the dice, that ranges from -4 to +4, and also like the dice, the results are weighted towards the middle. You are more likely to draw a card with a +1, 0 or -1 than the other results. But this is the case with the dice as well.
All of the cards in the Deck of Fate also have very short phrases and words that can be used as aspects. One of the uses of them with the dice cards is help the players and GM interpret the results of that task. For example, one of the -3 cards has an aspect of "Bad Omen" on it. This can be used to show that the particular task's failure is a harbinger of bad things to come, or the GM can make a notation and refer back to the failure at some point in the future. Either way it makes task resolution more interesting than a simple pass/fail, and it gives failure (or success!) some interesting narrative depths.
It looks as though the main use for a Deck of Fate is to assist with character creation. All of the cards have two aspect-like phrases that can be used to flavor the results of tasks (as mentioned above) or as a way to quickly come up with aspects for characters. For both players and GMs, this is an aid for quick character creation. If you're playing a pickup game, or have someone new dropping in for a session or two, and you need fast character creation, you can draw a few cards use the aspects on them as the basis for your character. The aspects on the cards are both positive and negative, which would give you a good spread of choices for a character.
One of my favorite card-based tools to assist with character creation is the Short Order Heroes cards. Each card has some internal or physical trait that can be used to describe a character. In a Fate-based game, these traits can be uses as aspects for characters, or as the basis for aspects.
The best use of Short Order Heroes cards for me, as a GM, is using them to flesh out a random NPC, making them into something with motivations outside of "I must stop the player characters." You can have a stock Castle Guard #2, or draw a card or two from the deck and have guard who is Loud or who is Cowardly and Nefarious.
Even if you're GMing an old school dungeon crawl game, Short Order Heroes can make for a great GM's tool if you're looking for NPCs that aren't just cookie cutter. I've used my deck off and on in games over the years since they first came out about five years ago. You can also pick up expansions for the basic Short Order Heroes deck at OneBookShelf sites. I don't have any of these yet, but it looks like I should, because these expansions look like they would be useful additions to my GM's toolkit. The deck of Event cards look like they are a way to put a "fork" into a game session that has stalled out. This can be a "And then they kicked in the door!" technique to spark action from players who have stayed in one place for two long, or who have spent too much time analyzing a situation. This type of accessory isn't any different than using a wandering monster table, when the player's characters spend too much time arguing in a corridor when they should be doing something.
None of these techniques are new to gaming. We have been using techniques like this since the first time we rolled on a wandering monster table, or used a random encounter to motivate players. Using events on a playing card has the additional benefit of using imagery that can help to set the tone for a new encounter or event, giving that little extra bit of aid to a GM. There are times when we all need a little extra bit of help in running our games.
Another tool that I have used in my games for a long time, longer even than the Short Order Heroes cards are the old StoryPath or Whimsy Cards originally created by Lions Rampant and published by White Wolf back in the 90s. The StoryPath cards were like the event-based cards that I mentioned above. The cards could be used by players at any time during a session, and could introduce a new direction, item or theme to a scene. This might actually be the earliest shared narrative power tool that I have encountered in a game.
The power of the StoryPath cards was not an absolute one, which is what made them a good tool. The GM didn't have to accept the event on the card that the player offered up, or they could "edit" the card to make it better fit into the scene where it was being played. Obviously, the idea of a shared narrative tool isn't for everyone, but they can be a good way to encourage players to get more encouraged in a game.
The StoryPath cards are also making a return from Nocturnal Media. The Kickstarter projects was waylaid by the death of company founder Stewart Wieck, but recent updates to the project page show that the cards have finally been printed and are in transit to the company's fulfillment houses. The decks that were Kickstarted are based upon the two original decks published back in the 90s and offer more styles and themes for gaming groups. The StoryPath cards are also system neutral, so you can use them with any game, or genre for that matter.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg for card-based tools for your role-playing games. As we get older, and the amount of time that we have for game prep becomes more and more limited, I think that we will see a growth in tool that help a GM create and shape adventures and NPCs. One nice thing is that these tools are available for a number of different play styles, so regardless of how you play a game you should be able to find tools to help take some of the burden off of the group.
Recently, I ordered a Deck of Fate via OneBookShelf's sites. I ordered it because I've wanted a Deck of Fate, and also because I have wanted to see what the cards printed by the OneBookShelf POD services for cards was like. I am going to digress from the substance of this article for a bit to talk about the cards physically.
While the cards have the familiar mix of stiffness and flexibility familiar to regular users of playing cards, they are made of "regular" card stock, rather than the woven feel of standard playing cards. The cards have a slight gloss finish, without the lamination of playing cards. Obviously, this is due to the print on demand process, and the types of machines that the cards get printed on. How this will impact the long term viability of the Deck of Fate, it is hard to say, because I have only had them for about a month, but even the tougher, laminated stock of standard playing cards, can peel and split after enough use. The POD Deck of Fate aren't fragile feeling, and they look like they will stand up to the type of long term use and wear that a deck of cards utilized in regular play would get.
Card-based role-playing game accessories will fit (much like any RPG accessory) into one of two categories: player-facing or GM-facing. But, there are different uses within each category. Cards can be used as an aid in character creation and task resolutions, for both players and GMs, and they can also be used as a narrative aid, and again for both players and game masters.
Accessories like the Deck of Fate fall into the more popular category of player-facing. You can use them as an alternative to the Fate dice. There is an 81-card sub-deck of "dice cards" that serve this purpose. Instead of rolling dice, you draw one of the dice cards for a result. This gives you a result, like the dice, that ranges from -4 to +4, and also like the dice, the results are weighted towards the middle. You are more likely to draw a card with a +1, 0 or -1 than the other results. But this is the case with the dice as well.
All of the cards in the Deck of Fate also have very short phrases and words that can be used as aspects. One of the uses of them with the dice cards is help the players and GM interpret the results of that task. For example, one of the -3 cards has an aspect of "Bad Omen" on it. This can be used to show that the particular task's failure is a harbinger of bad things to come, or the GM can make a notation and refer back to the failure at some point in the future. Either way it makes task resolution more interesting than a simple pass/fail, and it gives failure (or success!) some interesting narrative depths.
It looks as though the main use for a Deck of Fate is to assist with character creation. All of the cards have two aspect-like phrases that can be used to flavor the results of tasks (as mentioned above) or as a way to quickly come up with aspects for characters. For both players and GMs, this is an aid for quick character creation. If you're playing a pickup game, or have someone new dropping in for a session or two, and you need fast character creation, you can draw a few cards use the aspects on them as the basis for your character. The aspects on the cards are both positive and negative, which would give you a good spread of choices for a character.
One of my favorite card-based tools to assist with character creation is the Short Order Heroes cards. Each card has some internal or physical trait that can be used to describe a character. In a Fate-based game, these traits can be uses as aspects for characters, or as the basis for aspects.
The best use of Short Order Heroes cards for me, as a GM, is using them to flesh out a random NPC, making them into something with motivations outside of "I must stop the player characters." You can have a stock Castle Guard #2, or draw a card or two from the deck and have guard who is Loud or who is Cowardly and Nefarious.
Even if you're GMing an old school dungeon crawl game, Short Order Heroes can make for a great GM's tool if you're looking for NPCs that aren't just cookie cutter. I've used my deck off and on in games over the years since they first came out about five years ago. You can also pick up expansions for the basic Short Order Heroes deck at OneBookShelf sites. I don't have any of these yet, but it looks like I should, because these expansions look like they would be useful additions to my GM's toolkit. The deck of Event cards look like they are a way to put a "fork" into a game session that has stalled out. This can be a "And then they kicked in the door!" technique to spark action from players who have stayed in one place for two long, or who have spent too much time analyzing a situation. This type of accessory isn't any different than using a wandering monster table, when the player's characters spend too much time arguing in a corridor when they should be doing something.
None of these techniques are new to gaming. We have been using techniques like this since the first time we rolled on a wandering monster table, or used a random encounter to motivate players. Using events on a playing card has the additional benefit of using imagery that can help to set the tone for a new encounter or event, giving that little extra bit of aid to a GM. There are times when we all need a little extra bit of help in running our games.
Another tool that I have used in my games for a long time, longer even than the Short Order Heroes cards are the old StoryPath or Whimsy Cards originally created by Lions Rampant and published by White Wolf back in the 90s. The StoryPath cards were like the event-based cards that I mentioned above. The cards could be used by players at any time during a session, and could introduce a new direction, item or theme to a scene. This might actually be the earliest shared narrative power tool that I have encountered in a game.
The power of the StoryPath cards was not an absolute one, which is what made them a good tool. The GM didn't have to accept the event on the card that the player offered up, or they could "edit" the card to make it better fit into the scene where it was being played. Obviously, the idea of a shared narrative tool isn't for everyone, but they can be a good way to encourage players to get more encouraged in a game.
The StoryPath cards are also making a return from Nocturnal Media. The Kickstarter projects was waylaid by the death of company founder Stewart Wieck, but recent updates to the project page show that the cards have finally been printed and are in transit to the company's fulfillment houses. The decks that were Kickstarted are based upon the two original decks published back in the 90s and offer more styles and themes for gaming groups. The StoryPath cards are also system neutral, so you can use them with any game, or genre for that matter.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg for card-based tools for your role-playing games. As we get older, and the amount of time that we have for game prep becomes more and more limited, I think that we will see a growth in tool that help a GM create and shape adventures and NPCs. One nice thing is that these tools are available for a number of different play styles, so regardless of how you play a game you should be able to find tools to help take some of the burden off of the group.
