The Inside Scoop on Gaming

"All you really need is a good game master, some bored gamers and a pack of ordinary playing cards. Nothing more."

MetalMan's Review of "CARDS" by Leonard Tai

The Premise:
CARDS is an attempt to create a system of mechanics for running RPGs using only decks of playing cards as randomizers instead of the traditional dice.

What Ya Get:
CARDS is a very quick printout as it is only an eight page HTML document.

Cost:
Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.

Appearance:
CARDS appearance is very minimal even by free RPG standards. It looks like someone took a plain ASCII text file and just added in HTML tags to it to put it up on the web. Some effort is made to bold certain headings but it is a token gesture at best. It won't be winning any web design awards but, on the other hand, it does load very quickly.

The Game:
Lets start off with a warning. CARDS is terribly organized in that reading the text from start to finish will most likely just leave you confused. The sections of it should be rearranged to make for more logical connections between them. Starting the rules off with what each card signifies and then finally getting into card allocation three sections later is annoying and forces you to go back and reread sections instead of building on continuous sections. There are also numerous "if... read X" errors that make figuring things out extremely frustrating. Another point of contention is that the rules lead you to believe that you can play the game with a single deck of cards. This is impossible as the GM isn't left with a deck of cards to use because the single deck is already split up between the players. PLEASE bear in mind that I could be mistaken on this or any of the other points because this game is borderline incomprehisible with leaps of reasoning and semming contradicitions. I've read through the rules five times so far and I THINK I have them figured out but I can't even guarantee that. If you can figure it out or notice any mistakes, feel free to use the feedback forum below to enlighten me.

Play is started with a deck of cards being divided by spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. Each suit is then spit into two stacks: one containing the face cards and the other containing the aces and 2-10. All three Jokers are removed (yes. I said "three" - I'm hoping this is a typo or all my Deadlands decks are now hopelessly outdated). Each suit represents a class (Spades = Fighter. Hearts = Cleric. Clubs = Thief. Diamonds = Mage). CARDS is specifically geared towards fantasy roleplaying. If you're looking for something more generic for a mechanics system, you might want to look elsewhere or figure out how to modify the rules to handle your idea.

During the game, players may use cards from their "Ace & 2-10" pile to perform task resolution checks against the GM. Each player flips a card from their decks and the higher value wins. Damage is handled likewise in a combat situation. If the player fails a combat attack, he is hit by his opponent and suffers "damage" (the loss of a random card from his "Ace & 2-10" deck). What is also maddening is that you aren't told how many hit points you start with. I'm assuming that all players have 10 hit points (one for each number of 2-10 and the Ace) but this isn't implied. A player may also choose to use one of their face cards for "special abilities" native to their class (such as the figher being able to automatically win an action). These special abilities can be contested by the GM making use of his face card deck. Again, higest value wins.

Characters level after each adventure. The GM is provided with three different methods of leveling depending on how they want to handle it. Suffice to say, all of them involve the addition of cards to the player's decks (so you'll want to have a spare deck or two around to cannibalize for cards).

Jokers are treasure. If players are able to collect all "three" (ahem) Jokers they are able to complete their quest for a story-based award or they are able to turn the Jokers to automatically use any of the special abilites regardless of class. There is no mention if this use can be contested by the GM.

There have been, to date, four expansions written for CARDS: The Random Quest Generator (which apparently adds in some board game-like properties to the system), A Saber Marionette J module, A Slayers module and a Children of the Blue Star module. I can't comment on the quality of these as I haven't looked at them but CARDS does appear to have some additional support from the author.

Overall Impression:
I'm going to take a few aspirin. Stay away unless you're adventurous or just want to take a crack at it yourself.

MetalMan signing off.

CARDS
CARDS Capsule Review by MetalMan on 03/11/01 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) A free RPG marred by leaps of reasoning & contradictions. Avoid if at all means possible. Product: CARDS Author: Leonard Tai Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Free RPG Line: Cost: FREE Page count: 8 Year published: ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by MetalMan on 03/11/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Anime Diceless	"All you really need is a good game master, some bored gamers and a pack of ordinary playing cards. Nothing more." MetalMan's Review of "CARDS" by Leonard Tai The Premise: CARDS is an attempt to create a system of mechanics for running RPGs using only decks of playing cards as randomizers instead of the traditional dice. What Ya Get: CARDS is a very quick printout as it is only an eight page HTML document. Cost: Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free. Appearance: CARDS appearance is very minimal even by free RPG standards. It looks like someone took a plain ASCII text file and just added in HTML tags to it to put it up on the web. Some effort is made to bold certain headings but it is a token gesture at best. It won't be winning any web design awards but, on the other hand, it does load very quickly. The Game: Lets start off with a warning. CARDS is terribly organized in that reading the text from start to finish will most likely just leave you confused. The sections of it should be rearranged to make for more logical connections between them. Starting the rules off with what each card signifies and then finally getting into card allocation three sections later is annoying and forces you to go back and reread sections instead of building on continuous sections. There are also numerous "if... read X" errors that make figuring things out extremely frustrating. Another point of contention is that the rules lead you to believe that you can play the game with a single deck of cards. This is impossible as the GM isn't left with a deck of cards to use because the single deck is already split up between the players. PLEASE bear in mind that I could be mistaken on this or any of the other points because this game is borderline incomprehisible with leaps of reasoning and semming contradicitions. I've read through the rules five times so far and I THINK I have them figured out but I can't even guarantee that. If you can figure it out or notice any mistakes, feel free to use the feedback forum below to enlighten me. Play is started with a deck of cards being divided by spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. Each suit is then spit into two stacks: one containing the face cards and the other containing the aces and 2-10. All three Jokers are removed (yes. I said "three" - I'm hoping this is a typo or all my Deadlands decks are now hopelessly outdated). Each suit represents a class (Spades = Fighter. Hearts = Cleric. Clubs = Thief. Diamonds = Mage). CARDS is specifically geared towards fantasy roleplaying. If you're looking for something more generic for a mechanics system, you might want to look elsewhere or figure out how to modify the rules to handle your idea. During the game, players may use cards from their "Ace & 2-10" pile to perform task resolution checks against the GM. Each player flips a card from their decks and the higher value wins. Damage is handled likewise in a combat situation. If the player fails a combat attack, he is hit by his opponent and suffers "damage" (the loss of a random card from his "Ace & 2-10" deck). What is also maddening is that you aren't told how many hit points you start with. I'm assuming that all players have 10 hit points (one for each number of 2-10 and the Ace) but this isn't implied. A player may also choose to use one of their face cards for "special abilities" native to their class (such as the figher being able to automatically win an action). These special abilities can be contested by the GM making use of his face card deck. Again, higest value wins. Characters level after each adventure. The GM is provided with three different methods of leveling depending on how they want to handle it. Suffice to say, all of them involve the addition of cards to the player's decks (so you'll want to have a spare deck or two around to cannibalize for cards). Jokers are treasure. If players are able to collect all "three" (ahem) Jokers they are able to complete their quest for a story-based award or they are able to turn the Jokers to automatically use any of the special abilites regardless of class. There is no mention if this use can be contested by the GM. There have been, to date, four expansions written for CARDS: The Random Quest Generator (which apparently adds in some board game-like properties to the system), A Saber Marionette J module, A Slayers module and a Children of the Blue Star module. I can't comment on the quality of these as I haven't looked at them but CARDS does appear to have some additional support from the author. Overall Impression: I'm going to take a few aspirin. Stay away unless you're adventurous or just want to take a crack at it yourself. MetalMan signing off.