Friday, April 17, 2015

[Kickstarter] Last Few Hours For Cartomancy, Playing-Card-Based RPG System

"What if the primary randomizer used in role-playing games had been based on playing cards rather than polyhedral dice?" That's the interesting thought experiment that launched the concept of Cartomancy, a new RPG now in its last 24 hours on Kickstarter.

Here's the (abridged) description straight from the Kickstarter page:

Cartomancy is a card-based roleplaying game. The conventions of card games—hand management, straights, kitties, trumps, window cards, widows and all the rest—form some of the most basic conventions of Cartomancy.  This means that it it plays differently than a dice-based game. A die can be rolled an infinite number of times, whereas a card can be played but once, making every action a sacrifice. When the cards are dealt at the beginning of a Cartomancy scene, all of the luck is in place and it is up to the players to see if their hands will win or lose. As cards are fundamentally different than dice, so is Cartomancy fundamentally different from other RPGs.

I'm a sucker for a clever game mechanic, and Cartomancy's description was different enough that I tossed in a dollar to give the playtest document a look. After reading a bit about the how the mechanics worked and watching the gameplay vid, I decided to support the campaign. The rules are positioned as a universal toolbox which allows you to use the Cartomancy mechanics for any genre you desire. However, three settings are planned for the initial roll out:

Four Kings: An adventure and setting that should feel comfortable to most fantasy game alumni.
Consoles & Cards: A solitaire or co-op JRPG-inspired setting.
Toytastrophey: A tactical war-game of battling kid’s toys.

As of this posting, the Kickstarter has 24 hours left. If this sounds interesting, I suggest you race over and check it out and -- perhaps -- toss a few bucks into the kitty!

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