I've been an exhibitor at G2E in Vegas last month and got my hands on some Bee poker card packs. Beautiful production in red and gold, very high-quality. Cherishing those freebies got me thinking, that there must be some way I can integrate them into D&D.

Have you ever used poker cards in D&D or do you have any neat idea in how they could support combat or magic, maybe even dungeoneering or hexcrawling? Maybe you think tarot cards suit it better, if so, in which way?

I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Just regular playing cards?

Aside from making a Deck of Many Things and a sliding puzzle? no.

They can be used to track HP and other things. But so can dice.

They can be used to map a dungeon. But so can pen and paper or index cards. Which can do it better.

They cannot be used as a standard randomizer. But can be used as a diminishing randomizer. Such as random items or PCs lost from a set.

They can be used in puzzles. Number puzzles, sliding puzzles, match puzzles, etc.

If you dont mind destroying the cards they can make simple wall props. But so can index cards.

Check out Cardmaster for TSRs try at card based D&D play. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11177/cardmaster-adventure-design-deck

Quote from: OmegaJust regular playing cards?

Yup. In my case at least. Is there something, other traditional cards are suited better for?

Here in Austria, we have a grand tradition of card making (Piatnik, since 1824), so the variety is there.

QuoteThey can be used to track HP and other things. But so can dice.

They can be used to map a dungeon. But so can pen and paper or index cards. Which can do it better.

Using cards is of course allowed to be gimmicky, but they should be used for something cards can be specifically good or even better at than other RPG utilities.

QuoteThey cannot be used as a standard randomizer. But can be used as a diminishing randomizer. Such as random items or PCs lost from a set.

That's why I think the S&W card sets were a fantastic idea, even though they are system-specific.

There are a lot of things in a standard card set you could use for randomisation: colors, symbols, numbers, etc.

There is of course classic I6: Ravenloft, which uses playing cards to randomize the plot and the location of things...

It's a solution looking for a problem. The only real limit is what you think it would be useful for.

You could use the suits to represent the party's posture, and the encounter's reaction to them. Separate into suits, then draw from the pile that accords with the party's posture, pick a value range for good to bad, and use the face cards to slip in a memorable NPC. Or you could just use a table and dice, too.

Check out Suzerain for some ideas to use card pips, face cards, and suits. That might help you brainstorm ideas. However, I would also lower my expectations too, as it is just a slower method for random generation (and in may ways easier to cheat) than dice.

You could use it for character generation, wild magic effects, or possibly as some sort of action/fate point-like thing.

As for the last, imagine you get a card when engaging in an encounter (combat, puzzle, whatever). Or when doing something noteworthy. You can have up to 5 cards (or 2 + level/2, or... something)

Suits might be linked to different things:
Hearts -- social (diplomacy, sense motive, intimidation, healing, Charm/mind control, Water)
Clubs -- labor (craft, appraise, building, breaking things, Fire)
Diamonds -- money (appraise, finding treasure, stability, resisting damage, Earth)
Swords -- knight/noble (combat, perception, illness, Air)

Then you could attach various cards to different things.
Like, oh, a 2 could be 'deflect/reflect.'
So a 2 of clubs or swords could reflect an attack, while a 2 of hearts might turn a mind-control attempt back on the attacker.

Savage Worlds uses them for initiative and interludes, among other things.

Savage Worldsd is cool, but Suzerain is mere shite.

Traveller the New Era used them to quickly generate NPC personalities much like Will suggested.

I occasionally use them to randomize the plot / generate encounters.

Hearts - Romantic or Compassionate based NPC
Clubs - Violent or Threatening NPC
Spades - Proficient or otherwise useful NPC
Diamonds - Greedy or Rich NPC

I tend to treat the numbers as a degree, so a two of diamonds might indicate a poor but greedy person while a ten would indicate a rich one.  The face cards indicate a special case.

A  Jack is a rival of the appropriate sort.
A Queen is aggressive or actively seeking out a PC.
A King is a patron or powerful enemy.
An Ace is a hyper competent individual like a hero.

Quote from: David Johansen;795650Traveller the New Era used them to quickly generate NPC personalities much like Will suggested.

I occasionally use them to randomize the plot / generate encounters.

Hearts - Romantic or Compassionate based NPC
Clubs - Violent or Threatening NPC
Spades - Proficient or otherwise useful NPC
Diamonds - Greedy or Rich NPC

I tend to treat the numbers as a degree, so a two of diamonds might indicate a poor but greedy person while a ten would indicate a rich one.  The face cards indicate a special case.

A  Jack is a rival of the appropriate sort.
A Queen is aggressive or actively seeking out a PC.
A King is a patron or powerful enemy.
An Ace is a hyper competent individual like a hero.

That sounds way cool. Makes me regret giving away TNE years ago (I think I got Sett's copy back in the day).

You could also use them for rough, quick, and dirty wilderness-style encounters. Figure out four main population groups for the area, and let each suit of the deck stand for one of these. Hearts = orcs, diamonds = dwarfs, or whatever. A draw of a numbered card gives you the type and number. I'd probably have face cards stand in for successively worrisome/savvy leader-types, drawing another card or two to figure the strength of the leader's retinue. And I'd leave the jokers in to remind me to do something weird.

So let's go with orcs and dwarfs, I draw a J of hearts, that's a mildly powerful orc leader-type, just a jack, so I'll just use max hit points for that guy, maybe give him the next higher damage die or +1 to hit. Easy. But we need a second card. King of hearts! Wow, that's a hell of an orc! Multiple HD probably, maybe a dirty trick like a counter-attack ability, whatever works (if I don't already have a some kind of Alpha Orc statted out for the region). But I don't want to leave these orcs alone, so I draw one more card... 10 of diamonds. These two orc leaders have a guard of 10 dwarfs? Maaaybe... or maybe the triumphant dwarfs are leading two very valuable prisoners... and are overanxious to defend them as they transport them to camp.

But that's just off the top of my head, nothing I've actually ever done. You'd either want to do a little prep or be ready to narrate results by the seat of your pants I suppose, because if you're just flipping cards and staring at them silently it's going to be boring and awkward from the other side of the screen.

One thing I'll note is that I find it much more effective and functional as a simple inspiration mechanic to get a bit of inspiration when I'm hitting a wall or the PCs throw me a curve.

The idea of tying it down with a lot of charts and defined results would loose the flexibility and speed of the idea.

I use the major arcana of a Visconti tarot (the oldest intact tarot) as a prop for the Deck of Many Things.