Role playing card game

I Need help from internet great hive mind, I'm tring to make a card game rpg. I'm aiming for a classic d&d feeling of dungeon crawling, mistery and adventures, but with cards instead of dices and books. At the moment I have not yet found it, only card games with some rpg elements or rpgs who use cards as a visual aid. The closest thing I found is videogame called Card Hunter. It's cool, but I want real cards.
Can you help me?

Take a look at how Arkham Horror the Card Game does it.

I know AH, it has some good ideas, expecially the "quests", but it's a full card game, there is no interaction between characters. If, for example, I want to bribe a guard to let me enter a building, I cannot do it.

But how would that work in the card game?

There was an Anima card game that you might want to check out.

Deck building game

>Each player gets a base set of actions (cards) then can buy from a pool to make classes. In adventures they draw cards from their deck and play from their hands, once their deck is empty they shuffle all cards back into it.
>After each encounter there is some treasure cards that can be drafted from and players can move cards from reserve to the active deck (so there is no deck bloat).
>Enemies can be static cards with cool abilities, there are also some powerful characters with their own decks (wizards are a good example).
>For a base creatures, they has options similar to a Planeswalker from MTG (has tokens and abilities that add or remove them, can only do shit if they have the tokens for it.)
>As time goes on, better cards can be drafted and opponents/challenges get more powerful.

So you basically want something like a traditional ttrpg, except actions are determined by cards? I think you need to be a little more specific, OP. Im intrigued by the concept if its that. Something like you build a deck that represents the kind of actions a character would take?

Well, unisystem games use playing cards instead of rolls and Savage Worlds has cards the players can draw at the start of a session that let them do things like reroll or 'remember' they had something on them the whole time.

Check out Gloomhaven. Something like that but with a hand size would be cool.

Look up the old TSR Saga system.
The made Dragonlance and Marvel versions.

check out Shadowrun: Crossfire

also, there was an official D&D card-based rpg. It was in the Dragonlance universe, but I forget the name

Immediately thought of Hand of Fate, which is a videogame that has the occasional beat-em-section, but otherwise revolves around the concept of deckbuilding the events of an adventure. More or less. Some aspect of that may be worth copying.

Have a look at Tokyo Nova.

take a look at 1d4chan.org/wiki/Magic:_the_Gathering_RPG magic the gathering of heroes which was a WIP RPG using MTG cards and mechanics. i actually played it and while it needs a little bit of work, is quite fun!

Im thinking of just carrying on with this game idea now that I started it. Ill do some private dev but her are some extra tidbits:
>Types of Player Cards: maneuvers (defensive, attacks, movements), Skills (Bartering, climbing, searching), Spells (Obviously), Artefacts (Played in a a tableau and have ongoing effects), Summons (Creates creatures that fight for you!)
>You have a max hand size of 3. You can perform 3 actions per turn (a card may cost more than 1 action), but can bank up to 2 extra actions between turns.
>New cards are drafted randomly. Gm makes an equivalent to a MTG cube with varying levels of power and rarity of cards (rarity as in how many there are in the cube). The cube is then broken down into little packs (3-5 cards each) that are awarded when treasure is found. Each player takes 1 card in a draft, any left over cards are discarded and returned to the pool to be made into new packs (the same with any card lost or removed from reserves for any reason. new packs are only made after all other packs have been opened)
>Players can have max 30 cards in their reserve (this also includes cards in the deck).
>Will there be a miniature aspect?

So something like 4e with power cards except more cards for... stuff?

The Penny Arcade guys actually did a game like that. The deck had your moves, but it was also your health, if you were hit you shuffled "wounds" , "poison" etc. into it, which represented your character getting more tired (more of your hand would be taken up by trash cards).

If you want to check out a single player version of that concept, Slay the Spiral (on Steam EA) works like that and I have been playing it like 60 hours last month.

Very interesting stuff guys, thanks! :)
I have a lot to check, in the meanwhile I post the w.i.p. rules I wrote before the New Year.

Here the concept:
- Simple rules
- Still an rpg (so you can choose to make any action you want, and there is a DM)
- Different classes for different playstyles
- Expandable
- With power progression (lv up)
- One/two small decks
- Physical actions should be translated in card management

It is far for finished, for example, you have to use a six sided dice.
Sorry for the terrible english in the file, it is not my mother tongue.

Card Hunter

Looks good OP. Good luck and I look forward to what you make. Im going to keep hammering out my style because fuck WOTC and im a but bored.

>Card mechanics:
>"Flip" a card to use an ability (Like tapping in MTG, at the start of a turn player will unflip all cards
>'Counters" used to count strength of an effect or spent to trigger an effect

>Artifact card types:
>Armour - Used for defensive abilities, usually triggered by attacks
>Weapons - Used for offensive abilities, primary way to deal damage
>Relics - Used for special and unique effects

>Spell types
>Charms/Runes - Card added to the tableau and can have its effects be triggered multiple times if conditions are met
>Incantation - Card is played for a powerful one time effect, card is then put into discard pile
>Hex- Can be played only to counter a specific effect or ability. can be played outside of ones turn (if the payer has the actions)

>>Artifact card types:
>>Armour - Used for defensive abilities, usually triggered by attacks
>>Weapons - Used for offensive abilities, primary way to deal damage
>>Relics - Used for special and unique effects
I actually dig this a lot.
I'd make play mats where you put equipment cards in designated slots, hand/foot/head/ongoing spell #1/ongoing spell #2/Tool slot etc.

Classes would be defined primarily by what sort of equipment slots you get on your mat, and what restrictions they have.

Equipment are the only cards that you play during the game that stay in play between combat. Cards with duration, like torches, are rotated Torchbearer style.

>Classes would be defined primarily by what sort of equipment slots you get on your mat, and what restrictions they have.
I am usually partial to undefined classes in the RPGs I make. Each player is free to choose whatever cards they want at the start of the game and make whatever archetype they want. Also I plan to have no real character stats outside of HP. Everything will be based by the cards in deck and in reserve.

>Equipment are the only cards that you play during the game that stay in play between combat. Cards with duration, like torches, are rotated Torchbearer style.
Equipment, Charms/Runes, and Summons (I forgot to add, you can bring in creatures of your own). Also solid idea on permanents only having a certain life cycle before going into the discard pile.

>rotated Torchbearer style.
Wut?

>I am usually partial to undefined classes in the RPGs I make.
Normally I'd agree with you. But to incorporate the use of cards, I think a lot complexity has to be sacrificed for ease of play.

>Wut?
Torches in Torchbearer rotate every "scene" or whatever. Each side of the card is marked with a number. You rotate the card to represent the passage of time and the torch running out.

Basically the cards with limited durations have a built in way to track time.

My biggest issue is how to rule challenges outside combat. If the character wants to search for clues? Talk to a npc? Climb a rope?

>Normally I'd agree with you. But to incorporate the use of cards, I think a lot complexity has to be sacrificed for ease of play.
Good point, I will need to balance that out on way or another. My philosophy is to try to keep the gameplay on the card end. But the first couple of alpha runs will make things more clear.

>Basically the cards with limited duration have a built in way to track time.
Cool stuff, I was thinking more of a counter countdown. Each turn a counter is remove or each time an ability is popped off

One could have skill cards in their reserve and reveal them during non-combat encounters. The reserve is different from the deck a player uses to fight. So players will have a few skill cards for situations, like social, physical, intellectual. If I player has a skill card that matches the scenario, all players succeed. These skill cards do not get put into a combat deck, it is just if they have them in the reserve (maybe even through in a simple dice mechanics for good measure)
It could work or I might make the RPG more light/combat focused.

>The reserve is different from the deck a player uses to fight. So players will have a few skill cards for situations, like social, physical, intellectual.

I dislike this. I think it should be the same pool. Abilities should simply have a "type" associated with them. If you got a "Strong" type move, you can use it to break doors, bend bars, threaten peasants and make the noble ladies 'mire your well oiled musculature. Same for "nimble" or "divine" or "mystical" etc.

Whatever resource the card costs determines how big a bonus it gives to the skill check. You could even possibly set it up so that each thing the players want to do has a total difficulty level, and the players have to "exhaust" that many point value of abilities (while justifying how the ability helps with that particular task to keep the RP going).

That is definitely the weakness of the system so far. It is VERY combat oriented. More of a dungeon diver at this point.
I was thinking each card has a color/type (5 to 7 types total?). In non combat encounters cards from your hand can be used to 'defeat' it via each cards power and type. The number of turns it takes marks the degree of success, after a number of turns the task fails (the "difficulty").

Dungeon Solitaire ,can mix and match the mechanics without playing the game RAW.Good system ,1 change is to include the Hearts suit as a friendly encounter.Is possible to play using standard cards or tarot cards or proper deck(which i just got ,took 3 weeks and $38 au dollars inc delivery-well worth it).Good fun for solo (RAW and modified) even though that isn't what you want?

Let's take a step back. A rpg is basically a simulation. You have a problem and you have to find a solution. In a good rpg your solutions (or lack of) have consequences. You can use your muscles, you can use your abilities, you can use your nogging or you can interact with people.
In my version of the game I used these 4 solutions as base stats and the cards as bonuses for them. The dice is useful to represent randomness, but I am not a great fan of it.
Let's make an example: Your character want to obtain access to a castle treasure room. What do you do? You should be able to do any way you want, but you are more proficient with certain skills, so making it your way is easier.

>A rpg is basically a simulation.
Very true, the problem with a deck format is that is is a little constrained. Saying want you want to do and rolling a dice is open ended. You need to find a way to find the same open endlessness whit a hand of cards.

How is a hand of cards less open-ended?

You draw seven cards from 20 at the beginning of an encounter. that alone would limit your options verses you rolling a d20 as many times you want.
I should of said "degrees of freedom".

Consider what the cards do. If the cards are representative of dice rolls you effectively force players to at some point choose their nat1 and their nat20 if they're playing from hand, otherwise, if playing off the top of a deck, there is a unique recognition of probability that their next action is a nat20/nat1/success/failure.

You can't have the cards represent gear, especially if done in a ccg format because at that point players need to only order singles to progress. If you're playing out of box with all cards available to players, you're just running an RPG with equipment cards, something that already exists.

The final option is ability cards, something that also already exists. What makes an ability deck unique, however, is that players have X number of points to spend on abilities at each level, and each skill has a cost. At the start of each day players build a deck based on available class skills. If I am a wizard and have a cost of 15 I might bring 3 cost 5 cards that day for spells if I don't expect much combat. Adversely I may bring 15 cost 1 fireballs if I expect lots of rats on my journey.

Cards controlling narrative might function well for a single player game, but cards offering branching paths like "do X Y or Z" restrict player freedom, which is something to be wary of.

The skill cards are not a bad idea, but how they work? For example if the mage use a fireball, the speel does all the time the same damage? It hits all the times.

In last d&d night I got the embryo of an idea. What if you draw (or play) more cards of your main ability? A card can be played for its standard effect or you can discard a number of cards for a bonus on the "roll". For example a charming character can draw (or discard, or pile up, I don't know ) 3 cards if he won't to seduce a npc, but the party brute only one.

The closest I have seen are RPGs that replace the dice with a deck of playing cards. And also an obscure game from a few years back that replaced the initiative system with five cards with different stances that interacted in different ways with each other.

Otherwise you might wanna look into dungeon crawling board games. I know some of them at least use cards. Gloomworld, or whatever it's called, did just that so that might be what you're actually looking for?

Well, the idea was born playing the Parker's D&D Fantasy Adventure board game, a clone of Heroquest. It's cute, but only if you want to battle enemies.

The original design for 4e actually had the game based more about having a hand of powers which refreshed over time.

Look up the original 4e design books:
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