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Friday 10 July 2020

By the Love of cards...

I don't know about your experiences, but DTRPG has this convenient Card section where you can buy decks of cards... BUT DAMN! the shipping charges to Canada are BRUTAL.

One deck of cards will require $20CAD for shipping. 2-3 decks will usually be $50+
(and that's for cheapest shipping, it can be $50 or $116 for the other 2 options for just 1 deck)

FYI: The Pictured box full of cards is the Numenera Cypher box set with a lot of add-on card decks with it. The Box set gives you a lot to already work with (just not this many) You will notice a difference in coloring from the Box set vs the once you get from DTRPG. Even a slight size difference as well (noting the last picture below in the white/gray cards)



I've slowly built my collection of TheStrange and Numenera decks, first by purchasing the box sets, and then slowly adding new decks if I can get them on Ebay or Amazon, if possible.

The Decks I have from Monte Cook Games, I use in pretty much all my sci-fi gaming.
These are great in the Expanse RPG as well as TRAVELLER (usually dealing with alien technologies that could be billions of years old).

Another way to make decks is to purchase the PDF versions, print them yourself.
There are also office store companies that can print these on full page sticker paper in full color, and you can adhere these onto regular playing card decks purchased from the dollar stores.

I haven't done this myself, but I've seen this done on YT videos. Seems to be a cool hack to get past some expenses.

I've played numerous games of Numenera, and it's honed my skills at improv during the game. The cards give enough information to let your brain chew on, and you can pull partial ideas out of the cards that fit the situation. I use these cards for snake-eye rolls in TRAVELLER or Expanse, or 1's in all other D20 systems.



I love the idea that a "fail" roll is not just a fumble, but could also be a situation being enhanced with a further complication.
Find the chart in the book, Rolling, and then figuring out the result can add up in game-time. The cards can be and easy flip, read, and result, all in one motion. Pull 2 cards, read the best idea of the two... or combine the best idea of the two.



There are a number of new products on DTRPG that have taking the MCG decks idea and made them their own. These will be cards with multiple entries on them, also showing a random color, and number and maybe some sort of symbolism on it.



These are great tools for Game-Masters out there. Some are even genre themed for Sci-fi and Fantasy. I really recommend using cards to help enhance your game.

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