Thread by @doctorcomics

Let’s talk about the ways in which tabletop RPGs use cards. Suggestions welcome, but I may decide they’re just new examples of a use case I’ve already listed. A thread.

1: Substitute for Dice. In Castle Falkenstein, you have a hand of cards. Activities are tied to suits. (Clubs=Physical). When you stab Rupert of Hentzau, you play a card and add its value to your Fencing ability. If you play a club, you get the full value, otherwise you get +2.

2: Plot Twists. In TORG, you can play cards from your hand to let the bad guy get away, prompt an NPC to fall in love with you, or make someone run out of bullets. Many other games use this as an optional “Whimsy Card” system.

3: Subsystem. In Savage Worlds, playing cards are used to determine turn order. In Lace & Steel, fencing and repartee use the same deck of bespoke cards. Some games use cards to represent zones in a vehicle chase.

4: In-World Object. In Amber Diceless, magical cards called “Trumps” can be used for instantaneous travel or communication, and player characters with the right ability can craft them or use them in other, more unusual, ways.

5: Encounter Pacing. In TORG (again), the GM turns over a card every turn in an encounter, and that card creates circumstance modifiers that encourage some actions (Trick or Taunt, for example) and discourage others.

6: Interpretive Task Resolution: In Everway, a GM can adjudicate a PC action by drawing a card from a unique deck and interpreting the image on the card and its associations. Draw the “Drowning in Armor” card, and your own defensive measures weight you down, for example.

7: Player Aid. In Pathfinder 2nd edition, Bestiary Battle Cards summarize information for each monster and provide a player-facing illustration. This is only one of many different kinds of card-based player aids for this game.

8: Procedural Generation. In the Starfinder RPG, the Deck of Many Worlds can be used to generate planets with variable levels of magic, technology, religion, and accord; of varying alignment and biomes; with dominant species and threats.

9: Character Creation. In games already mentioned, players draw cards to determine everything from personality traits to supernatural powers. A character sheet could be nothing but a selection of cards, as in City of Mist.