How did the Drama Deck work?
The Drama Deck served three functions:
1: Modeling the flow of combat
2: Handling Complex Skill Checks
3: Giving players some influence on the story
Modeling the flow of combat
Group initiative is determined by the turn of a card each round of combat. The card gives initiative to either heroes or villains. Torg uses two different flavors of encounters (Standard and Dramatic), each of which had a separate entry for initiative. In standard encounters, the heroes mostly had initiative, while in dramatic ones the villains were favoured.
Additionally, the cards vote Approved Actions from a list of eight actions defined in the game system, e.g. Attack, Defend, Maneuver, or Taunt. A player receives an additional card for succeeding at an Approved Action.
Handling complex skill checks
The GM can declare a skill check to be a complex one. This can happen during combat as well at other times, as long as there's some form of time pressure involved, even on an abstract scale. The skill check is organized in a number of different steps, which have to be made in order; different steps can also use different skills. The steps are denoted with the letters A to up to F. When the skill check starts, the GM turns up a card from the Drama Deck. It shows several letters corresponding to the steps of the skill check. The player can only attempt the next step, when its letter is shown on the card, otherwise he has to wait.
A failure on a single skill check usually has no big consequence; you just lose a turn. Only if the complex skill check is designed in such a way, it may have more serious repercussions. "You rolled a one for Electric Devices when trying to clip the right cord of the bomb's trigger? Hmmh."
Player influence on the story
Each player starts the game with a hand of four cards from the Drama Deck. When combat rounds start, each player places one of his card face-up on the table per round. These cards form his pool, from which he may activate cards. The reason for this process is to give the GM some preparation time to incorporate the card in the flow of the story.
A lot of cards are simple affairs like giving you a bonus. Other ones are more powerful (Escape - the party escapes from an encounter), and the third group really can change the direction og the story. A player may meet someone he knows from the past, he might declare a villain to be his nemesis, or find his love - in the lair of the villain.
I should note that the Drama Deck is not only used in combat, but in other situations as well. The cards are used whenever the GM needs some control about who does what and when, be it combat rounds, a chase, a negotiation or whatever.
