Can this work as a roleplaying game?

[malladin_ben]

I am currently reading R Scott Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before, when I was struck by a neat idea for a CCG system. Given the production impracticalities of small press CCGs, I was wondering if I could get the same idea to work as an RPG rather than a CCG.

For those not familiar with the book (and from what I have read so far at still less than 100 pages in) the theme that inspired my creativity was that there are a number of different schools of sorcery, each deeply involved in keeping secerts and spying on each other.

The idea I had for a CCG was one where cards could be played face down, and could be used in a general way when placed face down. By strategic positioning of these cards they could be used to achieve a range of generic effects, such as draining an opponents life/resources points, or bolstering your own. When turned face up, they would have specific effects based on the type of card they were, so a sorcerer card might be able to cast spells, equipment cards might make your spies more powerful, etc. However, less consequential cards could also be played face down as decoys. Players could "see" a face down card, forcing it to be revealed, by also revealing their own card. Once both cards were revealed there would eb some form of conflict resolution to decide what happens.

Does anyone have any ideas how I might port this mechanic into an RPG, preferably based on a similar theme? Could players play individual spies within the game, or could a player play a whole "school" of sorcerers? I've been thinking of ways to use a standard deck, similar to a deck of playing cards, to work the mechanics, so I don't need ideas in that regard, more a ideas as to how this pretty cool mechanic idea (IMO) can be used in something I could realistically put out there.

I'll post other ideas as I think more on this over the next few days, but I look forward to suggestions from others.

Thanks in advance,

Ben

[Eero Tuovinen]

Either I missed it, or you didn't say it - why are do you want to make a rpg out of this kernel of a card game? I lost you when you jumped from the card game to the notion that you should.

[malladin_ben]

Just in terms of practicality of producing a ccg on the budget I have. I can make a roleplaying game very cheaply, if not for zero expenditure other than my own time and expertise. I'd really need to come up with quite a lot of cash to make a CCG, even for personal play.

[Selene Tan]

Hi Ben,

Good news: producing a CCG just for yourself and some friends is not as huge an expenditure as you think. Check out the Guild of Blades Print-On-Demand Cards service.

You can also use the Avery 5390 Name Badge refills for playtesting, as they're pretty close to card dimensions. (POD Card Printing, Maybe (split)). I even had one friend playtest his cards by printing them out on regular bond paper, folded double so that the back part showed one of those security-envelope-type patterns so you couldn't see through it.

[Vulpinoid]

Does anyone have any ideas how I might port this mechanic into an RPG, preferably based on a similar theme? Could players play individual spies within the game, or could a player play a whole "school" of sorcerers? I've been thinking of ways to use a standard deck, similar to a deck of playing cards, to work the mechanics, so I don't need ideas in that regard, more a ideas as to how this pretty cool mechanic idea (IMO) can be used in something I could realistically put out there.

Anything can be developed into a roleplaying game...but Eero has the right point. Why would you want to convert this into an RPG?

What sort of stories would gain benefit from being played out in RPG fashion? What areas or roles would you like to simulate through roleplaying that aren't more effective in CCG format.

If you're worried about the costs of CCGs, why not develop a game where the players get a set of rules to generate their own cards, which they then slide into opaque-backed card sleeves. Photocopying is cheap (so is generating files that the players can print out for themselves).

V