A Card Based System

I'm back on my bullshit (I always am) and I've been pondering the idea of using a deck of playing cards instead of dice. Yes, I'll admit, I'm inspired by His Majesty the Worm, but I'm not just copy-pasting the idea.

For one, I think I prefer a standard deck of 52 playing cards to the tarot. Don't get me wrong, tarot are aesthetically pleasing, but I think a standard deck accomplishes much of the same goals while being more attainable for the average person, which is good because I've been pondering a game where everyone uses their own deck.

The Basics

Each player and the GM needs a standard deck of 52 playing cards plus a joker. At the start of the game, each player draws a hand of 4 cards. They must play cards from their hand to perform actions, the effectiveness of the action depending on the value, suit, or royalty of the card (as determined by the GM). Cards are played into a discard pile.

• Value is the listed number of the card, where aces are 1, jacks are 11, queens are 12, kings are 13, and jokers are 0.
• Suit is the suit of the card.
• Jacks, queens, and kings are royals. 

Sometimes cards must be played to beat a check. The check is succeeded if the value of the card played is equal to or greater than the value of a check, with a bonus reward for hitting the value of the check exactly. A player might choose to play an additional card to add or subtract the value of that card to their total. A player might also choose to push their luck. To do this, they flip over the top card of their deck and add or subtract it from their total. If this new value fails the check, they receive an extra negative effect. Most checks have a value of 10. In addition, a GM might call for a check of a suit (such as a spades check to bust down a door) or a check of royalty.

Note on math: any given card has a 30% chance of being 10 or greater, giving you a 42% chance to have a 10+ card in your first hand. However, this value changes over time, and an important part of the game is knowing rough probabilities based on what cards are in your discard pile.

When all players have run out of cards, or have decided to stop playing cards, they discard their hand and draw 4 more cards and Time Passes. Time passing is relative to the situation, but you can think of it as a round in combat or a dungeon turn.

When someone plays a joker they discard their hand, shuffled their discard pile into their deck, and draw a new set of 4 cards. Whatever they were attempting to do fails automatically, and has an extra negative effect. Jokers are bad. A deck is also shuffled if a player attempts to draw from an empty deck, though they don't draw any cards from the newly shuffled deck. They get what they get.

During standard play, the GM does not draw or play cards, but may flip the top of their card to determine things as they see fit.

Each player plays a character, which is represented by four stats: spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds.

• Spades represents strength. Spades centered actions are often blunt, a measure of brute force and martial might.
• Clubs represents dexterity. Clubs centered actions are deft and quick, focusing on indirect means.
• Hearts represents faith. Hearts centered actions are about supporting oneself and their allies through devotion.
  
• Diamonds represents lore. Diamonds centered actions focus on knowledge and the proper application of such.

Each character specializes in one of these four stats, and can add or subtract 1 to any check made with a card of that suit.

Combat

When combat starts, each player discards their hand and draws a new 4 card hand. One of these cards is played as their initiative (they may play cards modifying this if they see fit). Starting at a value of 0, the GM will count up initiative. When a player's initiative is reached, they take a turn. On their turn, they may move once for free (additional moves cost a card, but require no check usually), and can take one major action.

A major action takes time and commitment, such as swinging a weapon. All other actions are minor actions, and can be taken at any time AFTER a creature has just made a major action. Opening a door, taking a defensive stance, or drinking a potion are all minor actions. These still consume cards, just not a turn.

Combat takes place in zones, roughly 30 foot circular areas divided by distance or natural features, such as walls or a river. Within a zone, movement is 100% free, though movement between zones is not.

When a creature is attacked, they become engaged with the creature that attacked them, and cannot move away from that creature without playing a card (with no check) to disengage.

Attacking involves making a check against that creatures initiative. Attacks do more damage the lower the final value is, assuming they beat the initiative. Some actions can negatively modify your opponents initiative, making it easier to hit them, and thus easier to land large damage. Like all checks, hitting the value exactly is an extra bonus, in this case a critical hit.

Unlike usual, the GM also draws a hand of cards, at least 4, though they draw an extra card for each point of peril the bad guys possess, up to 10.

Note: Peril is a system I've been pondering for years now. It's a replacement for the concept of hit die or challenge rating. Roughly, a mook, like a goblin, has a peril of 0. A more powerful creature, like an orc, has a peril of 1. A peril of 6 is the maximum, and is reserved for things like dragons.

As per usual, once all players (and the GM) are out of cards, they draw new hands and Time Passes. At the start of the round, each creature may play a card to modify its initiative if they so wish, but this does not replace their initiative, only modify it.

Example of Play

Ysgor the warrior is attempting to flee down a decrepit dungeon hallway as a horde of skeletons chase after him. He won't be able to beat them, so he has to slow them down, or speed himself up. He has a hand of 4 cards, the king of spades, a 9 of diamonds, a 4 of hearts, and the joker. To escape the skeleton horde, he needs four successes.

The GM narrates Ysgor coming to a massive chasm. Ysgor states his intention to leap accross, and the GM declares this is a check of 10 or spades. As Ysgor can do both with his king of spades, the GM grants him a boon, two successes on escaping the skeletons.

Next Ysgor encounters an overgrown tunnel full of lashing vines. Ysgor ponders a moment before throwing caution to the wind and charging through. The GM rules this is a check of 10, which Ysgor can only beat by playing his 9 of diamonds and his 4 of hearts for a total of 13. A third success on escaping the skeletons.

Ysgor next encounters an immense iron door, too large to open without a feat of super-heroic strength. Sadly, all Ysgor has is the joker, so his attempt to open the door is both a failure and attracts unwanted attention. As Ysgor shuffles his deck, the GM narrates a ghoul crawling out of the darkness towards him. Combat begins.

A ghoul is peril 1, so the GM draws 5 cards as Ysgor draws 4, each play a card for initiative, a 3 for the ghoul and an 8 for Ysgor. The ghoul acts first, rushing towards Ysgor and playing a 9, subtract 1, for an 8, a critical hit. Ysgor takes nearly half of his health in damage. The ghoul then uses a 6 to defend itself, changing its initiative to 6.

On Ysgor's turn, he swings his mighty battle axe, playing a lucky 6 to crit the ghoul back for excellent damage, then as a minor action discards the 2 of diamonds to blow his horn of thunder, finishing the ghoul off in a mighty blast.

With the ghould defeated, Ysgor discards his last card and draws a new set of cards. He is now wounded, and the skeleton horde is dangerously close, but he can almost taste the freedom in the air. The GM rules that opening the door is a mighty check of 15, and Ysgor's new hand is miserable at best, only getting him to a total of 11 when added together. Ysgor pushes his luck, flipping over the 4 of hearts, just barely managing to force the door open and get his final success to flee from the skeletons.

Conclusion

It's not a game, more of a proof of concept, but I think it's neat! And I can't get it out of my head. I've been thinking about how different concepts translate to a card game:

• A fighter might focus on changing the values of cards to land critical hits easier.
• A thief might focus on getting to draw extra cards for free.
• A mage might focus on suits rather than values, needing cards of different suits to cast different spells.
• Magic items grant abilities that require the use of certain cards, such as Ysgor's horn of thunder requiring a diamonds card.
• A GM could create an encounter table using both the suit and value of a card to easily determine what pops out to scare the players.

And the best part is you can play around the randomness. Perhaps it's just me, but I love the concept of players pushing their luck when their decks are full of good cards and the GMs deck is bereft of them, and playing more cautious when the jokers are near and all is bad.

 

I think that's interesting. Maybe that's just me.

Firearms for His Majesty the Worm

Neurim has guns. If I ever intend to run HMTW in Neurim (and I do) I will need rules for firearms. These are those. Balance is secondary to idea.

General Firearm Rules: Like other ranged weapons, bullets and gunpowder are required to use a firearm and stack 6 to a slot. Firearms are difficult to reload mid combat, and require discarding two cards as a miscellaneous action. Blunderbuss cannot be reloaded in combat. Firearms can't hurt magical things. Intense magic will break a firearm just as quick as water.

Pistol

Pistols deal piercing damage. They do not grant attacks favor when attacking you in melee like other ranged weapons.

Musket (2 Slots)

Muskets deal piercing damage. Muskets grant access to the bow's special Aim Challenge Action. While wielding a musket, those attacking you with a melee weapon have favor.

Blunderbuss (2 Slots)

Blunderbuss can either spray over an entire zone, dealing 1 wound to all things inside of it, or can be fired at an engagement, dealing piercing damages to all things within said engagement. You are liable to shoot your allies with a blunderbuss. Such is life. While wielding a blunderbuss, those attacking you with a melee weapon have favor.

The Powder Monks

Specialist warrior monks who use firearms. They were the first to adopt the strange technology, and as a result have an understanding over their weapons not seen in all of the lands. The Lord Saint Gideon was a powder monk, and it was his years in solitude studying the musket that taught him to skills necessary to hold back the orctide in the south. The powder monks are a reclusive lot, but they will teach anyone with the capacity to learn their secrets.

The following talents are intended to start unlearned for all paths, but can be learned by any path.

The Wind of Black Powder

As a miscellaneous action you can attach or remove a bladed bayonet to your firearm. While this bayonet is equipped, the firearm is a melee weapon (treated as a dagger for a pistol or a polearm for a musket or blunderbuss). If the firearm is loaded, you can remove the bayonet as part of a normal attack action.

Saint Gideon's Blessed Rounds

Spend a resolve to perform a trick shot that would be otherwise impossible, such as curving or bouncing a bullet.  This isn't magic (though it definitely looks like it).

Snapshot

You may Riposte as an interrupt action using a loaded firearm. If the riposte is successful, the attacker does not gain favor from using a melee weapon against you while wielding a missile weapon.

His Majesty the Worm: First Impressions

 I return from the grave to discuss the best game I have ever read: His Majesty the Worm. Before we begin, allow me to specify a note on terminology: This is a first impressions, not a review. I have not played HMTW, and definitely not to a level where I could give a comprehensive review. This is simply how I feel after reading through the book a few times.

When Comes the Worm

HMTW is, ostensible, a game about megadungeons. You could do something else with it, but at its core HMTW wants you to play a group of a questionably moral adventurers and go dig through an ancient dungeon beneath your home city with the goal of collecting treasure. This is not a unique idea (not that that's bad), but unlike other games that have a similar gameplay loop, HMTW is so well designed, such an immaculately well crafted game I am not surprised it took 8 years to make.

Let's start with the biggest weirdness of the system: you don't use dice. You instead use a standard 78 card deck of tarot cards, dividing into a 57 card player deck (the minor arcana and the fool), and the 21 card GM deck. A lesser game would treat this as a gimmick. HMTW instead makes the most out of every card. HMTW uses a simple core resolution system: draw a card and add its number to your relevant stat. If it beats 14, you win! The keen eyed among you might know that a deck of minor arcana only goes up to 14, and thus the likelihood of any random card + four (your maximum attribute score) is not particularly likely, and the system knows this as well. Risk/reward is built into the fundamentals of HMTW, even in the basic resolution of actions. You can always draw a second card and add it to your total, allowing you to succeed when you fail, or fail far harder than you would've before.

I cannot stress the elegance of this design. Yes, all of this could be done with dice, but HMTW goes further. If the suite of your card matches the roll, you can critically succeed, but only if your first card is a success. Most interesting of all is that you don't shuffle cards back in until you draw the fool, so as time progresses you get better knowledge of what's in the deck and can make more informed decisions. You would not be doing that with dice.

I could go like this about every mechanic in this game, and perhaps I could be persuaded too, but not here, not now. Instead, allow me to gush about my favorite part of this game: the combat.

A Duel of Cards

During combat, each player draws a hand of 4 cards. They play one of these cards as their initiative (lower is better). Their initiative is also their AC (high is better), so going fast is risky, but that risk is interesting because initiative is played face down. You don't flip it over until you are either 1) attacked or 2) it is your turn.

On your turn, you can play a card from your hand to do one of a list of actions, ranging from disengaging to attacking to riposting, which (along with every defensive action) is also played face down. You can even play cards when it isn't your turn, though these cards must match the suit of the action being used and you never add your attribute to these actions.

This system is simple, yet amazing. The hiding of information allows for very interesting questions from the GM. Is that player bluffing? Are they riposting for 2 or for 11? Is it worth finding out? These kind of questions are so interesting and make HMTW's combat more than the normal affair of move, attack, pass.

I'm not scratching the surface here. Health is very low (you can take 5 hits before dying without armor), so not getting hit is valuable. Zones make combat fast yet still tactical. Each weapon type is incredibly varied and has a niche it excels in.

Combat is dangerous in HMTW, but unlike most games its something to look forward too.

Rapid Fire Likes

• Backstory matters, and is naturally built into character creation, but it also isn't overbearing. This isn't the story of what once was, this is the story of the dungeon.
• Ancestries are interesting and encourage you to play in a way befitting of what you are. Snooty and ethereal elves, arrogant and self centered humans.
• Asking the GM for stuff your character knows but that you don't know is a mechanic.
• Experience is based on the party agreeing to do something and then doing it: completely self directed.
• No hirelings. Yes this is a positive in my eyes.
• The party isn't just a bunch of random idiots, you are members of the same guild. You have relationships with each other. Playing into these relationships is actively rewarded. You want to be best friends with another guild member? Act like it.
• Characters don't get better at doing stuff over time, they just get access to more options.
• The game encourages you to play the way I think is most fun, where its less about what you do and more about how you do it. You don't find traps by rolling to check for traps, you find traps by describing how you'd find them.
• Slot based equipment.
• The GM advice isn't concerned with what an adventure is or anything trivial like that, it's about how to make an interesting game. Add that to the rules on how to make a megadungeon and you have everything you need to play present in the book.
• Alchemy: you can cook and eat monsters to gain their powers.

Conclusion

I know I spent this entire impression gushing over HMTW, but frankly I utterly adore this game. There are few things I can critique. Perhaps spells are a bit whatever.. I appreciate the lack of spell slots, instead using inventory slots to hold the spell reagents to cast spells. What I don't appreciate is that only one of the games 4 'classes' gets magic, and they get all the magic. I likely would have preferred it if magic was a toy everyone could get, but you had to earn (same with alchemy).

My other complaint is the price. I payed for this book and I don't regret it, but HMTW's pdf is a whopping 40 dollars american, and its book and pdf is 60. Now, while I hesitate to call this over 400 page book anything other than a tome, that's still a steep asking price.

But I recommend it regardless. A new school game made with old school sensibilities is what HMTW is, a game with unique ideas and amazing implementation of them. HMTW is a game designed to be your forever game, and it has to legs to stand on to do it.

Buy this game. Read this game. Play this game. I beg you, nay I implore you. And while you're at it, check out Rise Up Comus, the creator's blog, and peer more into his impressive mind.