Sex & Violence: Roleplaying in the Darkest of Places

[Ace]

I knwo none of this matters, but...

Spades represent swords, which are weapons.
Hearts are well, hearts...
Clubs are a warping of Cups or Coins... representing wealth and prosperity
Diamonds are a warping of wands, which represent intellect/magic.

Okay, in the Unhelig edition... ;)

I always think of clubs being used to bash people's heads in, hence clubs=violence.

Thanks re: face cards. That's one of the ideas I kinda like about the system. Kinda. Needs work. :(

Not a bad game concept at all. I am a huge Vachss fan so maybe i am bit biased. As too the mechanics, Cards are a great idea they reinforce the "street level" feel nicely.
reminds me of Burke and Maxs ongoing bridge games actually.

Now as too card mechanics, I used a card based system (crappy) for a pick up supers game once (No dice handy and didn't want to make chits) We used all 52 crads but i didn't think of using the suites. Instead I had a "high card wins" interpretive system. Jokers represented "Weirdness or Chaos"

 I would like to suggest that you consider allowing the Jokers in a cinematic game, they could represent a stroke of luck good or bad.
Maybe if you get a Joker in your hand you can play it once either as a lucky break or or you or a bad break for the other guy.  
If you don't want much luck you could discard the joker or if you could have the DM add it too his hand as "Karma" for using a little luck,

Good luck is always followed by Bad in the City that sort of thing.....