A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling, and usually are sold together in a set as a deck of cards or pack of cards.
Playing cards are the second most common type of randomiser used in role-playing games, after dice, but can also have other uses, e.g. to represent player resources.
Forms[]
Playing cards are available in a wide variety of styles, and different types of card decks can be found in different areas of the world. The most common type of deck in role-playing is the standard 52-card deck, which uses French suits and is known and used internationally. This deck has 52 cards (54 including Jokers) arranged in 13 ranks in each of the four French suits: clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), and spades (♠). Each suit includes an Ace, a King, a Queen and a Jack, each depicted with a symbol of its suit; and ranks two through 10, with each card depicting that many symbols (pips) of its suit.
Other types of cards such as Japanese hanafuda and Italian playing cards are well-known in their locales.
Tarot cards are also used in role-playing games.
Cards may also be produced for trading card sets or collectible card games (e.g. Magic: The Gathering by Wizards of the Coast), which can comprise hundreds if not thousands of unique cards.
Uses[]
Some games use the standard 52-card deck for their random resolution game mechanic, including:
- Castle Falkenstein
- Cards & Quests[1]
- Dog Bear[2]
- Motobushido[2]
- No Longer With Us[2]
- Primetime Adventures[2]
- Unbound[2]
Savage Worlds uses playing cards to determine initiative.
The Quiet Year uses playing cards to introduce new twists and setting elements.
Aces and Eights uses playing cards in its combat mechanics to determine things like hit locations.
In Dungeons & Dragons, playing cards (specifically Tarot cards) are used to represent the Deck of Many Things.
The Deck of Fate is a custom deck of cards that replaces 4dF rolls in Fate Core and related games.
References[]
- ↑ Cards & Quests. Fox and Ox Creations. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 u/TheGrimPeddler et al. "Compiling a list of RPGs that use playing cards.". /rpg at reddit. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
External links[]
- Playing card at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Standard 52-card deck at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Cards (cards drive the action) at RPGGeek