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Full Deck Roleplaying Playtest Document
Full Deck Roleplaying Playtest Document
ROLEPLAYING
PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
} { [ ]
Playing Cards
Every player needs a deck of standard playing cards including the
Jokers. The Dealer needs two decks of cards.
PLAYER SHEETS
Every player should have a printed copy of the player sheet
included in the back of this document.
Special Thanks to Brian Glass and Ryan McCabe for the second set of eyes.
For C+G. I { You.
www.JasonLBlair.com
www.FunSizedGames.com
} ALL
HANDS
ON DECK
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} { [ ]
welcome to Full Deck
Hello! And welcome to the Full Deck Playtest Document. Full Deck
is a story-focused tabletop roleplaying system. What you’ll find
within these pages are the basic rules in their current, playtestable
state. There’s no setting affixed, no default world, characters, or
tone. You can use a setting of your own creation or leverage the
tools included to create one as a group.
I ask that you play your games using the rules as written inside or,
at least, how you interpret them. That will be most useful to me.
I appreciate that folks house-rule and ignore and fudge in their
home games but I would appreciate it if you ran the game with the
rules as presented so I can see the flaws as well as the strengths.
Thank you for your time and your interest. Now on with the game!
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{
HEART
OF THE
CARDS
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} { [ ]
PREPARATION
Full Deck is a tabletop roleplaying system designed for one
Dealer, who acts as the story facilitator and takes on the roles of
characters within the world, and multiple players, who each portray
a single character.
Together, the Dealer and the players tell a story. The game system
presents everyone with options and also presents interesting
narrative complications that must be dealt with or the players will
face the consequences.
All of this is done through the use of cards from a standard playing
card deck. Each player will need their own deck of playing cards
while the Dealer will need two decks.
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Hand of Cards
At the beginning of the game session and throughout play, the
players and the Dealer will draw cards into their hands. The
maximum number of cards you can have in your hand is five.
Discard Pile
After cards are played and the action or actions are resolved, the
cards are then put face-up into a discard pile next to their player’s
remaining deck. This is the discard pile.
Hierarchy of Suits
Whenever the suits of two or more cards are compared to see
which wins in a conflict, use the following guide to determine the
hierarchy of the suits.
}
}Spades - Highest Suit
{Hearts
[Diamonds
]Clubs - Lowest Suit
As you can see, Clubs is the lowest suit while Spades is the highest.
So Clubs beats nothing, Diamonds beats Clubs, Hearts beats
Diamonds and Clubs, and Spades beats everything. As a possible
mnemonic, the ranking is in reverse alphabetical order.
Value of Ranks
When the rank, or value, of a card is called for, use the following.
}
2 through 10 - Face Value
K, Q, J - 10
Ace - 11
Black Joker - Infinity -1
Red Joker - Infinity
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Note that the Jokers have the highest value and beat all other non-
Joker cards. When comparing Jokers, the Red Joker beats out the
Black Joker.
Second, playing a Joker gives the player the option to shuffle their
hand and their discard pile back into their deck and draw a new
hand. Note that this option is available when the player plays the
Joker, not when they draw it. This allows the player the freedom to
decide when they want to be able to shuffle their deck.
Some playing card decks don’t have a “Red Joker” but instead
have a full-color Joker or Blue Joker or something else befitting
the theme of the deck. For our purposes, that is the Red Joker. If
the deck you have doesn’t differentiate the Jokers or the Jokers
otherwise don’t fit the above designation, mark one as the Red
Joker potentially using a marker or highlighter. What’s important
is that the Jokers are distinguishable from each other and the
difference is used consistently.
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SETUP
BEFORE YOU PLAY
Every player has their own deck of cards. This is their player deck.
These cards are used first to make their character. After character
generation, the deck is reshuffled and used in play. The Dealer has
their own deck, the house deck, that is used in confrontations with
the players’ characters. A separate deck, the challenge deck, is
shuffled and placed in the center of the table. No deck is reshuffled
until either all cards in that deck have been drawn or a reshuffle
event happens.
In short: Every player needs their own deck of cards. The Dealer
needs two decks. I recommend everyone use decks with different
faces and/or backs to prevent them from being confused.
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SETTING
CREATION
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?
If you don’t have a setting in mind, or want to be inspired to create
one on the fly, you can use these optional setting generation rules.
The Dealer draws three cards from the challenge deck. The suits
determine Time, Theme, and Trope in the order the cards are
drawn. These are used as kicking off points for further exploration
and definition by the group.
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TIME
WHEN DOES THIS TAKE PLACE?
A setting’s Time determines a number of factors from ready
access to a certain kind of technology, proliferation of knowledge,
advancement of civilization, the general zeitgeist, and even
geography. Time, whether it’s 25000CE or 400BCE, can
accommodate a wide array of Themes and Tropes so explore
different pairings over multiple games.
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}Spades - Past
World War II. The Wild West. Elizabethan England. Medieval
Europe. The Edo Period. The February Revolution. Ancient Egypt.
The past is a wide and varied landscape. Pick your favorite or most
interesting historical era and go from there.
Speak as a group to nail down three to four hard facts about the
time frame in which the game is set.
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THEME
GENRE IS IMPORTANT
Your setting’s Theme determines the broad thematic genre that it
would fall under if it were a book, a movie, a show, or, y’know, a
roleplaying game setting.
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}Spades - Fantasy
Hunting massive serpents in subterranean systems, wielding arcane
magic from overdue library books, facing off against a planet of
mischievous goblins. The game is about the heroes and creatures of
folklore and myth made manifest.
{Hearts - Horror
Diabolical cults summoning humanity’s doom, extradimensional
beings scratching at the veil between realities, madness-inducing
visitations in the middle of the night, a crazed killer stalking the
streets just outside your window. The game is about the unsavory
possibilities of our world and those who dare face them.
]Clubs - Superheroes
Specially-gifted mutants under the tutelage of an old professor,
alien visitors granted powers by Earth’s yellow sun, the products
of a clandestine government experiment, technological whiz kids
testing out their latest exo-suits. The game is about extraordinarily-
abled beings facing impossible threats.
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TROPE
WHAT IS THE SETTING ABOUT?
A setting’s Trope is its general background or driving force. When
you first determine a setting, the Trope should help inform the big
picture. Then, before every successive session within the same
setting, you should draw the Trope for that particular session to
see what that session is going to center on. As above, discuss as
a group the details and overall goal of the game session so it fits
within the determined Trope.
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}Spades - War
It never changes. The game setting is defined by one large conflict.
The Nazi Regime is expanding its foothold across Europe, the
children of the future are drafted as mech pilots against an invading
alien menace, or street-level resisters band together to topple an
occupying force.
{Hearts - Melodrama
Near, far, wherever you are, all matters of the heart are what the
game’s setting is all about. The forbidden love between members
of rival kingdoms, the convoluted affairs aboard a mining vessel
headed for Arctos-VII, or the mistresses of Cartel drug lords and
the lieutenants they long for.
[Diamonds - Thievery
If they have it, we want it. Thieves guilds competing to get the
biggest bounty, near-future pioneers venturing into a parallel world
to retrieve the heart of an extradimensional monster, or invading
a cybernetic stronghold to retrieve blackmail that threatens your
favored political candidate.
]Clubs - Conspiracy
Various factions are working against each other, doing whatever
it takes to become the victor. This can be corporations in an arms
race to be first to market by any means necessary, dissatisfied
baronies aiming to assassinate the king, or black-suited federal
agents trying to keep Big Truth from making the news.
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SETTING
EXAMPLE
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
Now that we have defined the rules for setting creation, let’s see all
of that in action.
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~}{[]~
Example: Sherri, the Dealer, and her three friends, Quinn, Malcolm,
and Delilah sit down for a game of Full Deck. This is their first time
playing and none of them have a setting in mind. They just want to try
out the system. Sherri deals three cards to determine the setting. The
suits are, in order, Diamonds (Near Future), Hearts (Horror), and Spades
(War).
This setting could easily adapt to any of the four tropes in future
sessions. An angel and a demon could be lovers torn by duty who
recruit the player characters to find an artifact to end the war
(Melodrama), an earthly cult could be using magic to convert Patricians
(Godly militants within the setting) to follow Satan (Conspiracy) and
the player characters must stop them, or the player characters could
be tasked to find and seize the flaming sword of Archangel Michael
(Thievery).
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CHARACTER
CREATIONPLAYERS, MEET YOUR PERSONAS
Characters only need to be made once per setting. The following
rules will take you through figuring out who your character is. The
final Full Deck Roleplaying system will include rules for character
advancement across multiple sessions.
In Full Deck, characters are generated with cards. You draw cards
that represent certain facts about your character that you will
further extrapolate upon in conjunction with other players and
the Dealer. The below method has the players drawing one card,
in order, for each aspect of their character. As an alternative, each
player may draw four cards and assign the suits as they wish.
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FOCUS
WHO IS YOUR CHARACTER?
Draw a card from your player deck. The suit of this card determines
your character’s Focus. This is the general identity of your character
and main archetype they fit within. If someone else were to ask
your character what they do, their Focus would be the answer.
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}Spades - Wisdom
Your character is a wizard, a scholar, an exorcist, a military general,
or someone else who brings with them an ample supply of learned
knowledge and know-how.
{Hearts - Empathy
Your character is an artist, a cleric, an activist, a psychic, or
someone else whose stock in trade is human to human connection.
[Diamonds - Intelligence
Your character is a detective, a hacker, a science officer, an
inventor, or someone else who shines when it comes to intellectual
dissection and puzzle-solving.
]Clubs - Strength
Your character is a barbarian, a contract killer, a bodyguard, a
street samurai, or someone else who uses their physicality as their
primary means of getting stuff done.
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MOTIVATION
WHAT MOVES YOUR CHARACTER?
Next, draw a card to determine your character’s Motivation. This is
what pushes or pulls your character forward. It needn’t completely
define them but it is a key part of their personality and an initial
hook to connect them with the game’s story.
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}Spades - Justice
You are motivated by a drive to maintain balance. Sometimes
this means going after people whose actions have created an
imbalance—and setting things right.
{Hearts - Love
You are motivated by the calling of your heart. Usually this is the
love of another sentient being but could be love of country, love of
freedom, or anything else that plucks at your heartstrings.
[Diamonds - Money
You are motivated by cold hard cash. Or stocks. Or bonds. Or other
non-liquid assets. This needn’t be a selfish drive. You might be
indebted to a mob boss under a quickly approaching deadline or
you might be desperately acquiring bank to save someone’s life.
]Clubs - Honor
You are motivated by doing the right thing. What matters to you is
the greater good, and you will do what you must to achieve what’s
best for the most people. That said, the definition of “greater good”
can be distressingly singular.
Example: Malcolm draws for his character’s Motivation and gets Clubs
(Honor). Expanding on what Malcolm has already established, he adds
that his character is looking to convert Patricians to a new way of
thinking and acting. He believes they misunderstand the Word and are
enacting horrible abuses. Malcolm’s character wants to make the world
a truly better place.
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LIGHT
THE ANGEL ON THEIR SHOULDER
Third, draw a card to determine your character’s Light. This is a
positive aspect of your character that will come into play during
the game. This may define your character or be something your
character keeps on the down low.
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}Spades - Perceptive
Your character is able to notice things other people don’t. They can
read the room upon entering, they sense danger before it happens,
pick up on details others don’t, and can read even the most stone-
like poker face.
{Hearts - Beloved
Other people tend to like your character. They can easily earn
another’s trust and friendship, and they serve that person well in
kind. Your character may not be a saint but they have a charm, wit,
or certain something that connects with people.
[Diamonds - Affluent
Your character has access to a large amount of cash or some
other valuable commodity within the setting. They could have
accumulated it themselves, have been born to money, or have a
priceless object one buyer away from netting them millions.
]Clubs - Talented
Your character has a talent such as woodworking, magic tricks,
ventriloquism, or lock picking. This talent should have limited utility
but still be useful in play, such as with lock picking above.
The same as you did with Focus and Motivation, define the
specifics of your character’s Light.
Example: Malcolm draws for his character’s Light and gets Spades
(Perceptive). He interprets this as Father Anthony being able to tell
when people are troubled, upset, or hiding something. It always helped
him in the church—his sermons were well-regarded for their pointed
observations and insights. In this world, plenty of people are hiding
plenty of things so this ability will serve him well.
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}Spades - Obsession
Your character is fixated on a person, place, or thing, and that
informs their overall goal and is likely tied to their Motivation.
While every action may not push your character toward their
obsession, this is where the character is looking to end up.
{Hearts - Addiction
Your character has a vice and it calls to them deeply. Maybe they
cannot faithfully maintain monogamous relationships, or they hit
the bottle every night to drown out reality, or they must otherwise
indulge in some addiction regularly or will become irritable and
irrational, unable to concentrate on anything until they get their fix.
[Diamonds - Greed
Your character is never satisfied. They may be greedy with regards
to money but it could be anything—land, toys, information, food.
They are about taking as much as they can and denying it from
others. When your character sees a chance to take something, they
jump on it.
]Clubs - Violence
Your character has a temper and needs to let loose or they become
snippy, irritable, and just plain insufferable. When a situation comes
up where violence is an option, your character takes it.
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FINAL
DETAILSFIRST IMPRESSIONS
The last thing to do is write up some details about your character.
List three things people notice about the character when they first
see them. You can phrase these however you wish but keep them
short. Also, give your character a name.
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~}{[]~
Example: Malcolm starts with his character’s name: Father Anthony
Muldoon. For the three things, Malcolm lists:
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RULES
OF THE
GAME
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} { [ ]
HOW TO PLAY
With all that determined, you are ready to play the game. The game
is played in rounds that break down as such. Each step is further
explained and explored below.
}
Situation is presented.
Players act.
Complications are encountered. (Optional.)
Complications are resolved. (Optional.)
Situation is resolved.
A new round begins.
At the beginning of the first round, every player draws five cards
from their deck. The Dealer draws five from the house deck. The
challenge deck isn’t touched—yet. Play begins.
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Situations should be relatively simple, focusing on a singular
one-step goal. By “one-step,” we mean something that can be
accomplished without too much time or coordination. Anything
complex, such as enacting a plan to steal a priceless artifact from
the Earmington Museum or winning a battle against the Galaxian
Armada, should be broken into multiple situations that eventually
lead to that end.
The best way to present a situation is to lay out the set up—where
the characters are and why—and an initial conflict.
A situation needn’t involve all the characters but those that only
include one or two should be kept short. Those should be about
the group coming together.
During a situation, players will lay down cards with their actions,
depleting their hand. When a situation is completed, the player
draws from their player deck to refill their hand to five cards.
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Sample Situations
The characters have arrived at an encampment looking for a friend
who has gone missing. Guards patrol every square inch.
Example: Sherri sets the initial situation for her group. She says the
three player characters—Malcolm’s Father Anthony, Quinn’s tech whiz
BJ Stocks, and Delilah’s beefy biker “Dog” Willis—have recently come
into possession of a powerful Holy artifact. The trio is trying to figure
out what the item is and what it does. But they have also gotten word
that demonic forces are descending upon them looking to claim it for
themselves so the clock is ticking.
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ACTIONS
WHAT YOUR CHARACTER DOES
During a situation, players take actions. As a player, the actions
available to you are determined by the cards you have in your
hand. The suit represents the type of action that card represents.
The rank is the power of that action. The higher the number, the
stronger the action. The type of card you’ll want to play depends
on what you want to do.
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}Spades - Evade
Use this to get around whatever is in your way. Whether it’s
slinking through a laser grid to get a priceless treasure, dodging
a punch, or avoiding a probing question, if you want to get away
from something, use Spades.
{Hearts - Emote
Painting a portrait that will make someone cry, delivering a rousing
half-time speech, seducing a guard to slip the key from his pocket,
or making an appeal to someone’s better nature. If you’re trying to
connect to someone on an emotional level, use Hearts.
[Diamonds - Think
Crafting a convincing argument, deciphering a cryptic message,
repairing a broken machine, or solving the riddle of Argomet’s
Tomb. If you need to flex your thinking skills, use Diamonds.
]Clubs - Attack
Physical punches and kicks fall under this but so do psychic
bombardments, scathing accusations, and anything else that goes
for the metaphorical or literal throat. If your intention is to hurt
something or someone in some way, use Clubs.
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FOCUS
ALIGNMENT BE WHO YOU ARE
When a player takes an action in service of their character’s Focus,
they may play two cards of the same suit and add their ranks
together. The player must describe how the action connects to the
Focus of their character. A player can only set forth a maximum of
two cards toward a single action.
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MOTIVATION
ALIGNMENT GO WITH THE FLOW
When an action aligns with a character’s Motivation, the player
may use a card of any suit to bolster the action.
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LIGHT
ALIGNMENT THEIR BETTER NATURE
Players may use a card whose suit aligns with their character’s Light
as a free action. The player may then look through their discard pile
and use any card from it as their true action.
“Father Anthony notices one of the heavies kinda snears when Gregor
speaks. Anthony makes a comment about it. Gregor gets upset and
confronts his underling. This creates an opening for Anthony to slip out
from in front of Gregor and get closer to the door.”
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DARKNESS
ALIGNMENT GIVING IN TO TEMPTATION
When a character’s Darkness enters into play, two things happen.
First, the character becomes momentarily scrambled. The call
of their Darkness wells up inside them and things get hazy and
confused for a brief second. To reflect this, the player must discard
the highest-ranking card in their hand. The player then shuffles the
discard pile and draws a card from it to place back in their hand.
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Second, the player must now repel the call to their Darkness or
indulge in it. If they choose to indulge it, they indulge in it. This
will most likely make them susceptible to an attack or other action
against them. If they choose to repel it, the Dealer flips a card from
the challenge deck. Ignore the suit for now. What matters is the
value. That is the target value that the player must beat using cards
in the suit of their Darkness. If they cannot meet or beat that value,
they not only indulge but suffer a penalty. Place the card that was
played from the challenge deck in front of the player. They cannot
play a card of that suit for the next two actions. You can track this
by having the card be upright until the first action is done and then
turning the card sideways. After the second action, put the card
back on the challenge deck’s discard pile.
Example: Father Anthony was able to create an opening and get away
from Gregor, the vile head of the local Patrician sect. He is now nearing
the door out of the compound. Sherri, the Dealer, calls out there’s a
bottle of painkillers on the table that catches Anthony’s attention. This
speaks to Father Anthony’s Darkness, Addiction. The presence of the
drugs scatters Anthony’s brain. Malcolm, Father Anthony’s player, has
to pick the highest-ranking card in his hand to discard. His highest are
two tens. The 10 of Hearts and the 10 of Clubs. Hearts outranks Clubs
so the 10 of Hearts has to go. Malcolm discards it. He then picks up his
entire discard pile and shuffles it. He deals himself a new card. The 3 of
Spades. Malcolm puts that into his hand.
Malcolm now has to decide: Does Father Anthony go for the pills,
possibly leaving him open to being tackled or shot and maybe killed, or
does he try to resist? Malcolm decides Father Anthony will try to resist.
Sherri, the Dealer, flips over the top card of the challenge deck. 7 of
Clubs. So 7 is the target.
MULTIPLE
VIABLE
ASPECTS
WHAT TO DO WITH SO MANY OPTIONS
There will be times when invoking multiple aspects makes sense
from a narrative perspective. You could invoke Focus and Light and
Darkness all in one action. But you can’t. You have to pick one.
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Remember, you can only take actions when you have a card of the
appropriate suit. You can’t attack unless you have Clubs, you can’t
evade unless you have Spades, and so on.
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You then compare the ranks of the cards in play. You need
only compare the cards of characters in direct opposition. Two
characters can fight in the same round that someone else is trying
to pick a lock, for example. You would compare the cards of the
two characters in the fight against each other while you compare
the lock picking character’s card against a threshold. (We will
discuss that later.)
The card with the highest rank, and thus the highest value, wins the
conflict. In the case of a tie, the highest suit wins. If that still ties, all
actions succeed if that’s possible. Otherwise, all actions fail.
Example: Father Anthony and Dog stand out front as three demons
literally descend upon them. The leader of the demon pack, Malus,
saunters up to the priest and laughs. Sherri speaks for her.
Since Father Anthony’s Focus is Hearts, Malcolm could play both the 7
and Jack of Hearts from his hand. He decides to only lay down the Jack.
“Father Anthony tells the demons that the artifact was stolen,” Malcolm
says. “He doesn’t say it was Patricians but he implies it was someone
working for God.”
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Sherri looks down at her cards. She has only one Heart, a 5. She does
have a Queen of Clubs though. She plays that.
“Malus isn’t one for talking,” the Dealer says. “She immediately goes to
punch you.”
Malcolm and Sherri compare values. Jack and Queen are both ten so
they compare suits. Hearts are higher than Clubs. Malcolm wins.
Father Anthony puts up his hands and begs the demon not to swing.
Malus stays her hand, looking at the human with pity.
Delilah says Dog takes advantage of this and goes in for the fight. Dog’s
Focus is Clubs so she can lay down two Clubs cards if she chooses. And
she does. Delilah lays down a 4 and a 9 of Clubs. A total value of 13.
Dog takes a swing. Sherri checks her hand. The only Clubs she has is a
6. She looks for Spades, to see if Malus has enough to avoid the hit. She
only has a 3 of Spades. That’s nowhere enough to overcome Delilah’s
13. Sherri doesn’t play anything.
Sherri says Malus takes the hit. The other two demons, seeing their
leader bested by a human, each take a step back. Malus gets to her
feet, flames flickering from her eyes.
Sherri doesn’t know what else Delilah has in her hands and decides not
to push it.
“Malus tells her crew they’re leaving,” Sherri says. “But she warns you
that they will be coming back. With even more friends.”
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UNOPPOSED
ACTIONS
WHEN NOTHING STANDS IN YOUR WAY
Actions where no one is directly opposing you but where the
outcome is still in question are considered to be uncontested. In
that case, the Dealer sets a suit and a threshold. The suit should
pertain to the type of action needed to succeed. Clubs for prying
open a car door, Spades for navigating a minefield, and so on.
The threshold is the value of the task, from 2-20. The higher the
threshold, the harder the task.
The player attempting the action must play cards of that suit, one
per turn (or two if the suit aligns with their Focus), until they meet
or beat that threshold. The Dealer can impose a turn limit if there is
time pressure or some other consideration. Otherwise, the action
will eventually succeed if the player keeps putting cards towards it.
If the character takes a break to do something else, the cards
already applied to the threshold remain with that task until the turn
limit is met or the threshold is reached. The Dealer should make
note of this.
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If it makes sense, different characters can contribute toward
the goal but not at the same time. (Though they may bolster the
character making the attempt. See below.)
Scenario 1: Quinn only has one card in the suit of Diamonds, a 6. They
play that towards the threshold. They draw a new card from their
deck. The King of Diamonds. Yes! They lay that down for a total of 16.
They figure out the purpose of the artifact. It’s a means to speak with
Archangels whose tongue is otherwise unintelligible to humans. A Holy
decoder ring. Nice.
Scenario 2: Quinn only has one card in the suit of Diamonds, a 6. They
play that towards the threshold. They draw a new card from their deck.
The 5 of Hearts. That’s not going to help them. The Dealer decides that
BJ has a bit of an idea but he is too preoccupied with other things going
on to go any further and he needs to step away to think. Sherri writes
down “Artifact/15” and next to it “BJ/6.”
Scenario 3: Quinn only has one card in the suit of Diamonds, a 6. They
play that towards the threshold. They draw a new card from their deck.
The 5 of Hearts. BJ steps away to mull it over. Sherri writes down
“Artifact/15 - BJ/6.”
Dog and Father Anthony come back after dealing with the demons.
Dog asks if BJ figured out what the artifact does. BJ says not yet.
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UPPING
THE
STAKES
HANGING IN THE BALANCE
When the Dealer wishes to jack up the tension of a situation—a
storm breaks out and makes negotiating the rain-pelted highway
a nightmare or a bank robber grabs a hostage at gunpoint or a
clash between spandex-wearing titans shakes a building to its
core and it is about to collapse on top of everyone—they can add
a Complication. The Dealer describes the Complication and then
draws a card from the challenge deck. This card represents the cost
if the Complication is ignored.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
}Spades - Bonds
A bond will be broken or a relationship will be altered or strained. A
coworker will discover a character’s alter ego as a justice-obsessed
vigilante, hurtful words will be spoken in the heat of the moment,
or passion will overtake two characters and confuse an already
complicated relationship.
{Hearts - Innocents
An innocent is in danger and the players must decide whether
to help them or continue along their current path. A child will
succumb to poisonous gas filling the cargo bay of the spacecraft, a
reporter will get swept away by the rising tide, or the owner of the
inn will get his head bashed in by a surly drunken orc.
[Diamonds - Possessions
The players will lose a precious item if they ignore the
Complication. A thief will make off with their brand new jet bike,
a prized painting will go up in flames, or the barbarian’s favorite
mythril axe will fall into the cracks of the earth and down into the
hellacious pits of Mount Agonia.
]Clubs - Health
The players will get hurt if they ignore the Complication. They may
lose the use of a limb, temporarily go blind or deaf or mute, or get
pinned beneath some falling debris.
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}
2-10: Harmful but not fatal
K, Q, J (10): Irreparable damage
Ace (11): Death
Joker (20): World-altering event
At any time, the Dealer can use a card from their hand to either
replace (if a different suit) or bolster (if the same suit) the challenge
card. If replaced, use the suit and rank of the new card as the
challenge and declare what it is. If bolstered, the ranks of the two
cards are added together per standard bolstering rules. Be sure to
define how exactly the new card is aiding the challenge in play.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
In order to best a Complication, players have to deal with it in
one action. They cannot keep adding cards over time like with an
uncontested action.
Example: The situation is this: Father Anthony, BJ, and Dog have the
artifact in hand and are in transit to a safe house. Dog said he knows
somewhere they can lay low for a while to get the demons off their trail.
As they are speeding down the highway, a herd of massive spectral
beasts charge across their path. Dog is driving and has to deal with
this. He doesn’t have any Spades (Evade) so he has no choice but to go
right through. The beasts, which are appropriately enough the Dogs
of War, are incorporeal. And they travel in hugely dense packs. So the
player characters drive into them and are surrounded by black smoke.
They can’t see anything, which is especially problematic for the human
Dog. Sherri, the Dealer, declares this to be a Complication and draws a
card from the challenge deck. It’s the King of Diamonds (Possessions).
They need to deal with this. Now.
This resolves the Complication. While the dense black fog doesn’t
magically go away because the Complication was dealt with, the
characters have found a way to make it a non-issue.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
This is what might happen if that Complication didn’t get resolved.
Example: The same situation as above but, this time, BJ only has the
5 of Clubs. The three of them press on, driving blind through a horde of
ghost dogs.
Predictably, it’s a mess with the car bouncing all around, hitting
potholes, and scraping against abandoned cars. As the situation nears
its end, the Complication remains ignored. Sherri, the Dealer, resolves
the Complication.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
ADDITIONAL
RULES A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA
The following are additional, optional rules that players can use
during a game session. Feel free to include these or not per your
group’s discretion.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
Straining Themselves
A player can attempt two different actions at once by straining
themselves. The actions must be things that can happen
concurrently, such as delivering a speech while dodging bullets or
fighting two opponents at once. If the player strains themselves,
they may play two different cards from their hands. The suits must
match the actions they wish to take. In the above examples, the
player would play Hearts to deliver the speech and Spades to avoid
the gunshots, or they would play two separate Clubs cards, one
for each opponent they are facing. These actions are considered
separate yet concurrent actions and are resolved per the standard
rules and can be bolstered per usual.
As a cost for straining themselves, the player must remove the top
two cards in their deck and put them into their discard pile at the
end of those actions.
Going All-In
Once per game session, a player can go all-in. When they do this,
they add the value of all their cards and apply it to any one suit. The
player must be playing a card of that suit amongst the five cards
they are playing when they do this.
Redraw
A player can redraw their entire hand once per situation. They must
discard their current full hand and draw five new cards. They must
then discard an additional five cards from their deck.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
THE
DEALER
A SPECIAL ROLE WITH SPECIAL RULES
As you’ve read above, the Dealer plays a special role in Full Deck
Roleplaying but not one that is so different from the game master
in other typical roleplaying game. As Dealer, your job is to set
up situations, facilitate the story, and present the world and its
characters to the players.
The details of most of those actions are detailed above with the
play systems. Let’s now talk about rules particular to the Dealer.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
Constant Fill
Players refill their hands to five cards at the end of a situation.
Generally speaking, the players have the cards they have to resolve
the issue set before them.
A Dealer fills their hand after every time they lay down a card.
You played a card? Draw a new one. Every time. The card you just
drew can be played immediately like a normal card to replace the
Complication, bolster a card, or have a DC take an action. As the
Dealer, you are churning through the house deck so you will be
shuffling your discard pile more often than the players.
No Strain
As the Dealer, you can and will have the same character take two
concurrent actions and you do not have to worry about straining
the character. The maximum is two actions though.
Bolstered by Complications
When a DC uses a Complication to their advantage, the Dealer can
add half the value of the Complication to the Dealer Character’s
card for that action. Essentially, the Complication is bolstering the
DC’s action. Only DCs can capitalize on complications. The Dealer
must describe how the character is leveraging the Complication to
give themselves an advantage.
Example: The characters are on the hunt for supplies and run across
a seemingly-empty shopping plaza. They pull in to look around. Sherri,
the Dealer, decides to add a Complication: Malus and her gang are
also there trying to find something. Sherri draws a card from the
challenge deck to see what the severity is. She draws an Ace of Hearts
(Innocents). Perfect. As the characters confront Malus, one of her goons
drags out a young man, no older than 20. The soldier puts a gun to
his head. If the characters do anything Malus doesn’t like, that guy is
gonna die unless the characters stop them. Before they can act though,
Malus demands they hand over their weapons—and the artifact. In this
case, Malus is leveraging the Complication. Sherri, the Dealer, plays a
7 of Hearts (Emote) from her hand. She then adds half the rank of the
Complication, rounded down. Ace is worth 11 so she adds 5 to the 7 of
the Hearts for a total of 12. It’s a convincing argument.
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
Dealer Characters
The Dealer introduces their own characters into the game. Some
of these characters will be friendly. Some will be dangerous. All are
Dealer Characters or DCs.
DCs are created the same as player characters. They do not have
their own deck though. Their actions are played from the Dealer’s
hand using cards drawn from the house deck.
Situational Advantage
After setting up a situation, you can declare a situational
advantage. That means that a particular suit will have an advantage
in that situation. Any cards played in that suit will have an
increased value of +2. That goes for any cards of that suit from any
source. The suit declared should thematically fit with the situation.
Use this to incentivize particular solutions, especially if the group
has been favoring a singular approach and you want to reward
some other way of getting the job done.
Example: Sherri has noticed that the players have been perhaps a bit
too emotional and cerebral and she would like to see some action. For
the next situation, she declares that Clubs (Attack) have a situational
advantage. The players will add +2 to the rank of any Clubs used during
the situation, whether as actions, to bolster, or whatever.
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]
WORD
OF
MOUTH
61
} { [ ]
PLAYTEST FEEDBACK
Thank you for downloading, reading, and playing the Full Deck
Playtest Document. I appreciate your support and would love to
hear your feedback. Feel free to email me at JasonLBlair@gmail.
com with “Full Deck Playtest” in the subject line. See below for
some question suggestions, but don’t feel obligated to answer all of
them. The person who delivers the feedback will receive 25% off a
digital copy of the final Full Deck Roleplaying book.
INITIAL QUESTIONS
1. Who played in your session?
2. Are you all okay with being credited in the final book?
3. How many sessions did you run?
4. What drew you to try Full Deck?
RULES QUESTIONS
5. Did the rules text make sense?
6. Did any of the wording or examples create confusion?
7. Did you use any of the Additional Rules?
8. If so, do you feel they added value to the session?
PLAYER QUESTIONS
9.Were you able to make a compelling character?
10. Were you able to act in ways that fit that character?
11. Did you feel like you had control of how the character acted?
12. Were there situations where the cards you had in hand led to
interesting actions you might not have otherwise considered?
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FULL}DECK PLAYTEST DOCUMENT
DEALER QUESTIONS
13. Did you have any trouble managing two decks?
14. Did you feel like you were still able to present a compelling
narrative with input from yourself, the cards, and the players?
15. Did you add Complications to any situations?
16. If so, do you feel they added value to the gameplay?
17. How often did you have to refer to this document to get clarity
on rules?
18. Did you use the Rules Reference document?
SETTING QUESTIONS
19. Did you use the Setting Creation rules?
20. If so, were you able to create an interesting setting?
21. Did any of the card combinations spark a cool idea?
FUTURE QUESTIONS
22. Are you interested in buying Full Deck when the final book
comes out?
23. What genres of settings are you most interested in seeing use
the Full Deck Roleplaying ruleset?
Thank you again for your feedback and your time! It is very
much appreciated. I hope you enjoyed your time with Full Deck
Roleplaying. I’m excited to share even more in the future!
} 63
FULL }DECK
SETTING SHEET
DEALER
playerS
SETTING SUMMARY
FULL }DECK
RULES REFERENCE
SUIT HIERARCHY RANK VALUE
}Highest 2-10: Face Value
{Second K, Q, J: 10
[Third Ace: 11
]Lowest Bk Joker: Infinity-1
(Reverse Alphabet) Red Joker: Infinity
ACTIONS COMPLICATIONS
}Evade }Bonds
{Emote {Innocents
[Think [Possessions
]Attack ]Health
ASPECT ALIGNMENT
Focus: Play two cards of the same suit and add ranks together.
Motivation: Player may use a card of any suit to bolster the action.
Light: Players may use a card whose suit aligns with their
character’s Light as a free action. The player may then look through
their discard pile and use any card from it as their true action.
Darkness: Discard the highest-ranking card in their hand. The
player then shuffles the discard pile and draws a card from it to
place back in their hand.
COMPLICATION SEVERITY
2-9: Harmful but not fatal.
Face Card: Irreparable damage.
Ace: Someone or something will die.
Joker: World-altering event from any of the four categories.
FULL }DECK
PLAYER SHEET
BIO
Name
player
DETAILS
ASPECTS
FOCUS MOTIVATION
}Wisdom }Justice
{Empathy {Love
[Intelligence [Money
]Strength ]Honor
LIGHT DARKNESS
}Perceptive }Obsession
{Generous {Addiction
[Affluent [Greed
]Talented ]Violence
} { [ ]