Okay so this is admittedly anathema to many of the posters here, but I just had an evil idea and I have to let it escape my brain.

What about an RPG that's a CCG at its core?

So all dice are right out.  Everything that dice would do are done by decks instead.

I am picturing each player having various decks.  One for initiative.  One for melee.  One for damage.  One for skills. Etc.  The randomization is done via shuffling.

Now to add the 'level up' component,  each card would have a positive or a negative point value.  So a hit is worth 1 and a miss is worth -1.  A crit would cost 5.  Each PC would have a point cap for each type of deck.  So your attack deck needs to net no more than +10 until you level up.

Boosters would have variations on this theme with commons being hit or miss and rares being 'called shot to the head' or 'multiple hits'.

Something like that.

Actually I wouldn't be surprised to find that this exists already...

Gabe from Penny Arcade is working on something similar. It's not even a billion miles away from any other card-driven system.

But with your idea, if I had, say, a 10 point cap on my "accuracy" deck, why would I ever want to put something other than 2 x 5pt "Crit" (Best option) or 1 x 5pt "Crit", 5 x 1pt "Hit" (Good option) in there? CCG's work by requiring multiple cards to build up to a victory with, so you'd need to make many more "situational" cards.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's doable.

That's an excellent point.  I suppose you'd need a minimum deck size, so you are forced to pad in negatives to offset the total.

Adventurer is a like that but not many of it's cards are collectible, and it's not very RP-ish.

I suppose it's resolution system could be tweaked a bit so it has more RP elements.

As a resolution system, cards instead of dice can work.

The collectible part I don't want anywhere near a rpg. The collectible pellet feeder craze is more fitting to a competitive game anyway. The last thing an rpg needs is player effectiveness based on how much cash they can spend on boosters.

As a company I can $ee the appeal.

Quote from: mcbobbo;680753What about an RPG that's a CCG at its core?

Sounds like D&D 4E.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;680829As a resolution system, cards instead of dice can work.

I don't think this "no dice, only cards" would be a hard requirement for a card based RPG. There are enough CCGs that use dice, or counters.
Counters can be ressources like in Marvel's system, or characters can have fixed stats like in Amber or Unaria.

QuoteThe collectible part I don't want anywhere near a rpg.

That's true. Maybe the non-randomized deck building games with thematic sets of expansions are the road to follow.

QuoteAs a company I can $ee the appeal.

Make the expansions limited editions. Rotate editions, like MtG expansions.
Make sure that basic rules/skills return and are available at all times, maybe slightly tweaked and/or with different art.

The artwork is the main problem I have with card-based RPGs. That's why I stopped my own card game design. With generic games like D&D or even fixed-setting games like Shadowrun each player can decide what his character looks like, what his equipment looks like, etc. With cards that show persons in action, or specific items (even if they look deliberately bland and generic), that freedom is lost.
With Everway it was very difficult to play Arthurian fantasy.

I would defend the collectible nature on the basis of profitability. See the thread about getting space at the FLGS.

It's just the price of doing business - literally.