Chronicles Of Darkness / World Of Darkness

[Nefaro]

Well, Gameleaper, you'll be happy to learn that I decided to check this out.  In it's most recent incarnation - Chronicles Of Darkness.

Ordered the Regular Hardback + PDF for a start on the core game.  Along with the Second Sight splat-book, because I want magic & psychic stuff for my mortals (+ Cthulhu-esque as a bonus) without all the extra junk in Mage.


So.. if I dig what I see, then the Hunters book may be next on the list.  Dunno yet.. probably won't read too much of them until the hardbacks arrive.

[gameleaper]

I want to look at second sight now :) I have mage but not got into it yet. there are cards with CoD you can add I think for $4 I think Ive seen them. I have the demon cards.

[gameleaper]

Chronicles of Darkness Condition, Numina, and Dread Power Cards


and here are some cards like the GM decks you found
Encounter Building Cards: Combat

[Nefaro]

I noticed some Condition cards & such, for CoD.  Figured I'd wait & see if I'd want them, or just make my own.

Will look up the other types. 

[gameleaper]

I like the WoD series , I'm sure you will, its the story teller rules system, so fast to get a game going, and the setting is easy to get into as its our own with a little grit.

[gameleaper]

if you need a card draw app, I could probably help. just give me dimentions of 3 cards side by side in a png file, and tell me how many cards in deck, and I will make you a simple app to draw a random card.

[Nefaro]

if you need a card draw app, I could probably help. just give me dimentions of 3 cards side by side in a png file, and tell me how many cards in deck, and I will make you a simple app to draw a random card.

Will do, if need be.

I figured the cards for this RPG were primarily for use as rule reminders for players afflicted with Conditions and the like.  Not so much random draws..?  Many newer RPGs started offering this kind of extras, to cut down on look-ups for PCs.

[gameleaper]

I shall have to read my demon cards I thought they were random thanks, WoD I have dose not use the new CoD decks, but demon may.

Ive made a random deck app, that allows for variable deck size and variable card size , set by the user, for any deck size upto 120 cards and cards size 800x600, you just add the sizes to the settings file, I have not zipped it yet, if anybody wants it let me know?

[Nefaro]

I dunno... sometimes it's a mix.

Such as Conditions just being a way to indicate effects, at the table.  Reduces the amount of notes people have to keep.

But there are also some recent examples of decks being used in place of Random Tables lately.  Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition does this with a few decks.  Examples: one for tracking the number of wounds, but also having different critical hit results on the back of each so you can just turn one over and see if you got a hand hacked off.  Separate decks for Spell Failure results (which can be pretty nasty in WFRP), Mutations, and other such nasties.  They're the small sized FFG cards, so don't take up much space and do double duty as both randomizer and indicator. 

Some people complain that so many cards makes it feel like a board game, but it's nice having all the rules there without having to note stuff down or memorize them all IMO.  Also makes the game more costly, however.

Star Wars RPG offers a couple decks (critical hits and vehicle crits IIRC), but obviously it's been trimmed down quite a bit since WFRP.  The rest of the decks offered for it are just NPC and Equipment cards for quick stat/info look-up.

Mutant: Year Zero has a few small decks.  They are just random tables in card format, which gives them that extra benefit of quick rules reference.  For example, a starting character gets one random mutation.  You can roll on the table, and write down what it does.  Or just draw a card, note the title down on the sheet, and keep the card, describing what it does, next to it.  Of course, the GM also has to draw random mutations for some NPCs & some beasties, so it gets used more than that.  Same for the other decks - one for drawing a "Threat" to the PC's "Ark" (their post-apoc community) at regular intervals, and another for loot from the old world.  All have tables in the manual, and aren't needed, but speeds up play a bit.


As for CoD cards, I'm first going to wait and see how they're used, and how often.  Sounds like some may be used both as randomizers and indicators/reminders.  In that case, I may just get them. 

[gameleaper]

Im not used to cards, then GM apprentice decks blew my mind, I may of passively been aware before, I didn't really consider them as a game mechanic, now I'm thinking there the most important tool you can add to an RPG. I think you could define a buildings floors and rooms with a stack of cards as well as the obvious uses, and what you said about having tables made into cards, I like initative to be decided with cards , put all the combatants cards in a pile shuffle and draw for move. cards are certainly fun. afflictions are a good use, I think combat could be really well done with cards instead of normal dice etc..

[Nefaro]

I agree.. they're versatile, fun, and add an extra tactile experience when you're physically moving them around. 

Also forgot to mention the way a poker deck is used for Initiative in Savage Worlds.  Simple but very effective at cutting down on bookkeeping and confusion.  Good stuff.  Gets used even more in it's Deadlands Reloaded setting, where the magical Huckster has to make a quick poker hand to see how well his spell cast went.

Most of the dice-less games I've played, which have cards providing all such outcomes, were board games.  Seemed to work fine, although being able to count cards, if someone's familiar with the results in the deck, becomes a factor.  For better or worse.  Runewars is one that I recall, off the top of my head.