Can anyone point me to an existing use of standard playing cards in place of the classic dice resolution of 2d6+stat? I’m currently puzzling over how the probabilities compare.
Can anyone point me to an existing use of standard playing cards in place of the classic dice resolution of…
Can anyone point me to an existing use of standard playing cards in place of the classic dice resolution of…
The closest I’ve seen is in Magpie’s Zombie World which isn’t released yet.
The probabilities are different… but if I remember correctly the “stat” was how many cards you drew, and you just picked the “highest” card of the selection. Again (if I remember correctly) the value ranges for the success brackets were different. 7- miss, 8-10 success with condition, face card (J, Q, K) was a full success. You might want to mess with the cards for each value bracket… and how many cards to draw. (especially if you were planning on having negative stats, which might just be draw two cards and you get the lower card)… I could probably figure out the formulas to figure out the different probabilities… but it sounds like that’s the part you’re interested in figuring out.
.
Pick cards from ace to 6 of any two seeds and shuffle them togerher, then draw two cards and sum the values. That is just if you want to stick exactly to that probability the easiest way.
Murderous Ghosts!
This is the only way to directly add your stat bonus, as well. It couldn’t be possibile if you assign to a given card a specific result of success/failure.
Yeah I guess, if you wanted to simulate a die you could have cards 1-6 pick one card, replace it and pick another card…that would get you your 2d6… but you aren’t really taking any the affordances a deck of cards offer.
You are basically just ignoring most of the deck, and just using the cards as flat dice. No probabilities to compare.
Maybe I’m misinterpreting the intention of the question… but I don’t think the purpose was to simulate dice with cards, but rather to explore and compare probabilities and how to use a deck of cards instead of dice. Trying to replicate dice with a deck of cards is trivial… so I must assume the intention of the question is something deeper and more exploratory in nature.
Yoshi Creelman, nothing was specified, so we have to wait for further explanations on said request.
Murderous Ghosts might also be worth looking into
Giacomo Vicenzi I disagree.
One the question asked for game systems which use a standard deck of cards instead of dice.
Two “puzzling over how the probabilities compare” implies a non trivial difference.
Either way this is off topic… So far the only other legitimate suggestion is murderous ghosts.
Its not trivial, and you got plenty of options to choose.
I use poker dice for a fantasy-western themed hack of Dungeon World, and the maths were a pain in the ass until I found how to make it work >.<
I think Andrew Medeiros teased a card-based Western type hack on his Patreon a while ago? Can’t remember what it was called, though =(
Oscar Iglesias I disagree. I am not making myself clear. Simulating a die with cards is trivial.
I never stated simulating cards with dice is trivial, this is very difficult.
The probability space of dice is a subset of cards.
Even though the original question asked for released games using cards instead of dice, your application of poker dice instead of regular dice might be an interesting addition.
Thanks everyone. I can clarify that I am looking to explore opportunities of using a full or mostly full standard deck of cards while achieving similar probabilities of miss/partial/full/critical as PbtA’s 6-, 7-9, 10-11, 12+ division.
I would also love to allow players a hand of cards to play from, to which they add a flat stat modifier. I want players to wrestle with when they can afford to play their low cards and when to play the high ones before they can draw more, but I am not thrilled that the “single card+stat” model flattens the lovely 2d6 probability curve.
I’m very open to non-released games or just conversations or ideas about the topic too, like some of you are offering here. I have not checked out Murderous Ghosts yet, so I hope to do so.
Royal Blood uses a tarot deck, but you can get the same results with standard playing cards. You can draw extra cards and pick the one you want most if you spend currency (I think everybody gets 3 to spend each session by default), and the results are basically 2-5 (mmiss with GM move), 6-9 (success at cost), 10-face cards (success), and aces (crit success).
If anyone’s curious, this is the latest wild idea for adding some more feedback information for players (suits/colors) in my project to create a GMless experience sorta combining ideas from World of Dungeons and Swords without Master to tell stories about characters discovering and resisting (or maybe failing) against a mysterious and superior conspiracy/force that is defined emergently in play (in the style of XCOM, Bourne movies, maybe elder evils, kaiju/godzilla, Matrix, etc.)
Adam Minnie sign me up!
I suppose Resident Evil also fits that description of horror-thriller stories about tragic-heroism. Lethality is high and thus troupe play is encouraged, but the crew/Agency is the real main character, taking many cues from Blades in the Dark.
Aaron Griffin A super minimialistic alpha draft is nearly done. I aim to share what I can once I can. I have to do a lot more internal playtesting yet, especially ifI’m still debating shifting the entire resolution mechanic to something like cards. 😛
The Andrew Medeiros game is called Raising Stakes. And yes it is at his patreon. You can get it by joining up, that’s how I got it. Haven’t actually played it though.
Yep, Raising Stakes uses playing cards instead of dice. I borrowed and adapted the system from the upcoming Zombie World by Magpie Games. Remove all King cards and then have players draw cards = their stat. Highest card is their result and the range moves from 2-7 miss, 8-10 partial success, Face card a full hit. Works well, people begin to fear the deck more than dice, which was a fun surprise.
northfiregames.com – Raising Stakes
You could also take a standard deck of cards, strip out everything greater than 7, and use them just like standard D6.
I’ve tinkered with this and letting the player play a card and then having one random card (or card played by another player or GM). Add them together and use as normal for AW moves.