House Rule: Using Tarot Cards

[Skars]

I was excited to see the cover of Fate's Fell Hand and it reminded me of one of the house rules I am using in my campaign...

House Rules I am using for tarot cards during my DCC sessions

At the beginning of each session, we each take a moment to shuffle the deck of tarot cards and then one is chosen randomly by each player after everyone has shuffled. The card is read based on it's orientation (right side up or inversed) for flavor from the accompanying book. Finally, cards can be turned in and spent at any time during the session with the following effects:

Card Value 1-10 for one of the suits = 1 time +2 Modifier to a roll
Face card for one of the suits = 1 time +3 Modifier to a roll
one of the 22 Trumps = 1 time +5 Modifier to a roll or you may automatically succeed at a mighty deed or similar action with Judge approval. Additionally, you can also turn in this card for 1 XP but then the Judge can use the modifier/effect for one adversary against the players.

It has worked out to be really fun thus far. Players can make of it what they want, but as folks have gotten accustom to the cards in play, their usage has turned out to spice things up nicely and to encourage truly awesome attempts! In time, I may tailor the cards to being more specific effects but for now the broad application works. If you end up trying out this mechanism please let me know the results. Thanks!

(Since I posted a suggestion for a DCC set of tarot cards a few weeks back, this was repeated in two threads and so I apologize for the redundancy)

[beermotor]

Hey this is a neat idea. I've wanted to incorporate cards into my game somehow... originally (pre-DCC) I'd toyed with the idea of having character generation based on card drawing/choice, very similar to the way you "rolled" your character in Ultima IV / V (and maybe VI, I forget) with the gypsy. And I think there's some wild / weird west RPGs that use decks of cards for spellcasting / hex casting? Deadlands or something like that? Anyway... neat rule, I'm going to try it out.

[Skyscraper]

Cool stuff! I think Wizards of the Coast used a similar idea with their recent D&D cards, where the cards offered not only bonuses but also different powers or effects.

[cjfodel]

Dead lands also uses cards for int. deals out one card each round.

Charles