Quote from: Onix;918855Okay, I'll give an example of where cards can be more useful than dice in a game.

I've never liked the implementation of force powers in Star Wars games. They don't seem to match the story in the movies. I thought cards would work well as a randomizer and a value tracker.

So force powers are linked to emotions, anger, fear, aggression. And mental states, calm, at peace, passive. Now this is where a custom deck would be useful because I need six suits for those, but I figured I'd make it work with a standard deck. So spades=anger and aggression. Clubs=fear. Hearts=calm and peace. Diamonds=passive.

Most games have some kind of force level and we'll use that for how many cards you hold in your hand (lvl 20?!?). 6d has a die number for three disciplines (Control, Sense and ? I can't remember) but they tend to be around the same number. Lets go with your highest discipline die number for how many cards you get.

The face value of the card is an intensity of the feeling. The number value is the minimum value of your roll or if you don't mind really high numbers, roll normally and add the card value as a bonus. You play one of the cards in your hand whenever you use a force power. Your cards are kept in a pile on the table in front of you. You may then draw to fill your hand at the end of your turn.

If you don't want to use a card you can meditate and discard then draw a new one.

We know that Luke and Vader were particularly susceptible to anger so this tells us that not all feelings are created equal for all force users. So when a character is created the GM secretly draws a card from the deck and notes the suit for that character. This is the feeling/state of mind that the character is weak in. At the end of each game the cards and their suits are tallied by the GM. Dark side suits count toward moving to the dark side. If you're weak in a dark side suit, it counts double. Light side suits count for moving to the light side. If you're weak in a light side suit, you don't count those cards.

If your light side cards tally greater than the dark side cards, you get a bonus for moving to the light side, most RPGs already have a mechanism for tracking where you are in light and dark. Conversely if your dark side points are greater you move toward the dark side (dark side points in d6).

Some players would never use their dark side feelings like Yoda urged. But we know that Luke used dark side feelings at times and it seems like Qui-gon did also but you want to do it sparingly.

So the cards track what you've done during the game and in higher levels, give the player choice in what cards to play in what order. They also aid a bit in giving the player interesting choices. A ace of spades can be a mighty strong temptation in a pinch!

Quote from: Cave Bear;918869What do you think about simplifying this down to three suits: light side, dark side, and maybe a grey side for some of the expanded universe stuff?
Then you can use Mahjong tiles!

Quote from: Onix;918877I'm actually more likely to make a "force deck" with six suits. If I did that, I'd make characters weak in two suits instead of just one.

Quote from: Onix;918855Okay, I'll give an example of where cards can be more useful than dice in a game.

I've never liked the implementation of force powers in Star Wars games. They don't seem to match the story in the movies. I thought cards would work well as a randomizer and a value tracker.