Is there any system where magic uses a deck of playing cards, and where stuff happens when the deck is depleted? As a representation of "too much magic in one place = reality gets fucked up".
To clarify: everyone using magic in the same general area is drawing from one deck. Some spells would work off the discard pile and let people replenish the deck if they're trying to avoid the reality fuck.
deadlands USES a card deck, so might be a good base for a system. Haven't heard of one that you're looking for though.
might I suggest if you homebrew, using the suits for types of magic (spades/swords for attack magic, diamonds/pentacles for creation magic)?
>>43801740
Sounds pretty cool but I haven't seen that idea implemented before.
Here is a rough idea: Every spell has two preferences(stuff like odd/even, color, suit, royal/non). Cards that fulfill one preference increase the spell power. Cards that fulfill two preferences let you choose between an even bigger power boost, or drawing a card.
In addition to this, you have several card-manipulating actions available to you. Stuff like drawing, looting, tutoring, regrowing, and sending discarded cards to the bottom of the deck. This allows for complex strategies like selectively putting certain cards back in the deck, then tutoring so they get shuffled around and make the deck in general better suited to you.
Of course, it could all just be a big clusterfuck.
>>43801740
I am in fact writing something like this, loosely based on dungeon world.
The system is nowhee near completion, but I'll probably post it here if i'm ever done.
The card deck represents the magic energy(beta phase name) of the area, it can be depleted, and you can even make a melee character with loads of channeling to suck all magic and cripple the caster, then proceed to fuck him up with your blade.
When magic is used it causes effects and goes back to the deck/environment.
casting works by announcing the spell beforehand and drawing cards equal to your channeling skill... the sum must reach the casting number, like in WFRP.
It was supposed to be an MtG system but it became it's own thing.
>>43802373
Dude this seems fun as hell. I remember a game which /tg/ put together (called wild cards?) where the players got magic guns which were based on suits and had specific powers. Combat was resolved by playing poker
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Wild_Cards
You could base a more general magic system on that
>>43802566
How do you tie up the magic of an area if it goes back into the deck after being used? What determines when the deck gets shuffled?
>>43802595
Deck gets shuffled after any card returns to it.
Provided you have enough channeling, and some other skills to be able to channel magic without a spell to use it into(let's call it mana pocket), you can go someplace beforehand and stuff every single card/all the mana, into your mana pocket.
Kings in the setting, and maybe some bigger cities, will have proper dudes just for doing this shit, so no wizardfuckery happens near the king, and the citizens aren't bothered by some bastard magic student.
There are areas with different magic consentrations, which would be represented by removing cards from the deck... even a warrior could drain a lot of magic from the place to assure his victory through technique.
I say warrior, but the system is shaping up to be classless, and widely receptive of all kinds of gishes... you can't just put all your points into one stat, second highest must be at least half the highest.
What are some things that could happen when somebody tries to draw from an empty deck?
>>43802687
The land dries, the skies darken, animals run, fires go out and everybody feels a chill going down their spine.
Congrats, you just defiled the land, it has momentarily lost one card of each suite.... do it enough times and you kill the land, it starts unmaking and being sucked into the void.
Of course, only a hig-level wizard could do it without dying.
>>43802714
My concept is more "number of cards = integrity of reality" rather than it being how much energy is in the land.
>>43802751
hmmm..... acid trip?
Read the amber chronicles if you haven't... the way they walk between planes could be useful to describe it.
I guess the only way to do it would be an anomaly chart like some games have. With more severe anomalies reshuffling more cards, and with the potential for casters based around generating anomalies and using the discard pile as a resource.
>>43801740
You need to do this with a five suit deck. (The fifth suit is Stars, in case you are wondering, and each suit has a Princess, which is equal in value to a jack. Colors run Stars yellow, Clubs green, Hearts red, Spades black, Diamonds blue.)
>>43803027
Kind of reminds me of GURPS Unlimited Mana
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/unlimited-mana.htm
>>43801740
Look up Castle Falkenstein. It uses cards and iirc there is a limit in how much magic is available in an area.
I was literally think about ways to creat such a system just before I saw this thread and a lot of the ideas here are the same as what I was coming up with.
