Hi all! I recently played a game of D&D ad-lib where we used a couple decks of playing cards to draw random results, and it worked really well! Have you guys ever tried playing with a deck of tarot or playing cards? I think this could be a wealth of creative opportunities. What we did when a character leveled up is we took some of the lower results, like 2s, out of his deck, so aces low were still in there for critical failures but his results were generally better.
What do you guys think about adapting D&D 5 to a deck of playing cards, how would you do it?
Rather than adapting D&D, it would probably be easier to just use a system that's based on cards. That said, cards are and interesting way to randomize things, with their main advantage being that they always balance out over time if you don't reshuffle.
Although I agree with Lunali that if you want a card-based system, look elsewhere, there are some simple things you can do for card-based D&D fun.
To emulate a 20 sided dice, just use two suits and remove all face cards (so red Ace-10 represents 1-10, black Ace-10 represents 11-20). You can create the other dice in a similar manner. To 'roll' just draw one card off the deck. A bit clunky, but it works.
Assign each of your spells to a card and simply draw from the deck to determine which spell you use (really chaotic, and also works better if you have the official spell cards, lol).
Have cards represent your spell slots (Ace = level 1, 2 = level 2, etc.) so you can slowly agonize as you spend your spells throughout the day.
Also take a look at the Tarokka deck from Curse of Strahd and how it's used in that adventure. The cards correspond pretty much 1-to-1 with a real deck of 54 cards. You can do some cool stuff with that!
For any other changes, I'd probably just find another system rather than trying to rewrite the fundamental math behind 5e. 4/52 is much different odds than 1/20, and you'll introduce a lot of imbalance if you try to force that. Don't even get me started on removing lower cards as you progress. To not be overpowered that would have to replace Proficiency Bonus, which would create a whole host of other problems.
*still poking around at a google of the Tarokka deck* This is on the same vein to what I was considering! Maybe I'll purchase a copy.
It's probably a terrible idea, but I was thinking of throwing 2d6 for attributes and having 11 or 12 as the highest possible stat; then the card system fits. You might have to take out the kings if you do that, though...
People use playing cards or numbered slips of paper instead of dice. It's actually less efficient to play D&D with a system you have to recode into dice values, but it's done.
There are a number of games where card draws are used as part of the official mechanics, some of those systems can be imported into D&D, replacing existing systems of practice. Most notable and I think common are initiative based card draws, usually done with a game system proprietary "deck" (really a hand) of ten numbered cards.
The original and current Twilight: 2000 system use a deck of playing cards to describe prewritten NPC or determine randomly encountered NPC dispositions. Basically the suit was motive or drive (I think clubs = violence, diamonds = money/wealth, hearts = emotional bond, I forget what spades were, maybe power? the numbered cards had more typical performances of those values while the A/J/K/Q cards were exceptional unique traits, like Jack of Clubs meant sadist I think).
I don't think it's unique in doing so, but the current edition of Kult: Divinity Lost's "GM Manual" (Beyond Darkness and Madness, it's really not a GM manual, or at least not how GM manual's usually work, but it's a great book for horror GMs) has a whole Tarot system for determining a character's backstory with hints toward destiny. I've played around with it, it's fun.
Could you drop such systems into D&D. As mentioned Ravensloft's Tarokka is basically Tarot light, and can be used in a number of ways in CoS. So to the question, the answers basically "yeah, people do that."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Hi all! I recently played a game of D&D ad-lib where we used a couple decks of playing cards to draw random results, and it worked really well! Have you guys ever tried playing with a deck of tarot or playing cards? I think this could be a wealth of creative opportunities. What we did when a character leveled up is we took some of the lower results, like 2s, out of his deck, so aces low were still in there for critical failures but his results were generally better.
What do you guys think about adapting D&D 5 to a deck of playing cards, how would you do it?
Thank you for your time,
BlueYeti
Of course I played with friends! We decided to try playing D&D using a deck of playing cards, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We chose a tarot deck and used it to generate random results. This added a new level of creativity to our game. Let me tell you a little... When a character leveled up, we actually decided which cards to remove from the deck to reflect his growth and development. For example, we removed some of the lower scores, such as twos, from the deck to highlight his improvement in skill. At the same time, minor aces were left in order to emphasize the possibility of critical failures. Lately I've been playing less and less, I recently downloaded a new application, found a guide about it and liked it. Although I thought that I would never download or play anything again. But you should never say never.
Hi all! I recently played a game of D&D ad-lib where we used a couple decks of playing cards to draw random results, and it worked really well! Have you guys ever tried playing with a deck of tarot or playing cards? I think this could be a wealth of creative opportunities. What we did when a character leveled up is we took some of the lower results, like 2s, out of his deck, so aces low were still in there for critical failures but his results were generally better.
What do you guys think about adapting D&D 5 to a deck of playing cards, how would you do it?
Thank you for your time,
BlueYeti
Rather than adapting D&D, it would probably be easier to just use a system that's based on cards. That said, cards are and interesting way to randomize things, with their main advantage being that they always balance out over time if you don't reshuffle.
I rather like the idea of taking some - but not all - of the low cards out of the deck as you level up. For instance:
At level 2 you remove 2 copies of the '2' card.
At level 3 you remove 2 copies of the '3' card.
At level 4 you remove 2 copies of the '4' card.
At level 5 you remove 1 copy of the '2' card.
At level 6 you remove 1 copy of the '3' card.
At level 7 you remove 1 copy of the '4' card.
At level 8 you remove 1 copy of the '5' card.
At level 9 you remove 1 copy of the '5' card.
At level 10 you remove 1 copy of the '5' card.
And so on, so there's always a chance you'll get a smaller result still in the deck but the odds are lower.
Although I agree with Lunali that if you want a card-based system, look elsewhere, there are some simple things you can do for card-based D&D fun.
To emulate a 20 sided dice, just use two suits and remove all face cards (so red Ace-10 represents 1-10, black Ace-10 represents 11-20). You can create the other dice in a similar manner. To 'roll' just draw one card off the deck. A bit clunky, but it works.
Assign each of your spells to a card and simply draw from the deck to determine which spell you use (really chaotic, and also works better if you have the official spell cards, lol).
Have cards represent your spell slots (Ace = level 1, 2 = level 2, etc.) so you can slowly agonize as you spend your spells throughout the day.
Also take a look at the Tarokka deck from Curse of Strahd and how it's used in that adventure. The cards correspond pretty much 1-to-1 with a real deck of 54 cards. You can do some cool stuff with that!
For any other changes, I'd probably just find another system rather than trying to rewrite the fundamental math behind 5e. 4/52 is much different odds than 1/20, and you'll introduce a lot of imbalance if you try to force that. Don't even get me started on removing lower cards as you progress. To not be overpowered that would have to replace Proficiency Bonus, which would create a whole host of other problems.
*still poking around at a google of the Tarokka deck* This is on the same vein to what I was considering! Maybe I'll purchase a copy.
It's probably a terrible idea, but I was thinking of throwing 2d6 for attributes and having 11 or 12 as the highest possible stat; then the card system fits. You might have to take out the kings if you do that, though...
Something like this:
People use playing cards or numbered slips of paper instead of dice. It's actually less efficient to play D&D with a system you have to recode into dice values, but it's done.
There are a number of games where card draws are used as part of the official mechanics, some of those systems can be imported into D&D, replacing existing systems of practice. Most notable and I think common are initiative based card draws, usually done with a game system proprietary "deck" (really a hand) of ten numbered cards.
The original and current Twilight: 2000 system use a deck of playing cards to describe prewritten NPC or determine randomly encountered NPC dispositions. Basically the suit was motive or drive (I think clubs = violence, diamonds = money/wealth, hearts = emotional bond, I forget what spades were, maybe power? the numbered cards had more typical performances of those values while the A/J/K/Q cards were exceptional unique traits, like Jack of Clubs meant sadist I think).
I don't think it's unique in doing so, but the current edition of Kult: Divinity Lost's "GM Manual" (Beyond Darkness and Madness, it's really not a GM manual, or at least not how GM manual's usually work, but it's a great book for horror GMs) has a whole Tarot system for determining a character's backstory with hints toward destiny. I've played around with it, it's fun.
Could you drop such systems into D&D. As mentioned Ravensloft's Tarokka is basically Tarot light, and can be used in a number of ways in CoS. So to the question, the answers basically "yeah, people do that."
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Of course I played with friends! We decided to try playing D&D using a deck of playing cards, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We chose a tarot deck and used it to generate random results. This added a new level of creativity to our game. Let me tell you a little... When a character leveled up, we actually decided which cards to remove from the deck to reflect his growth and development. For example, we removed some of the lower scores, such as twos, from the deck to highlight his improvement in skill. At the same time, minor aces were left in order to emphasize the possibility of critical failures. Lately I've been playing less and less, I recently downloaded a new application, found a guide about it and liked it. Although I thought that I would never download or play anything again. But you should never say never.