Caedrus wrote:But what if we went beyond the idea of dice-based RNGs? What if we had systems where you had to worry more about the next piece in the pattern, adapting correctly to new and dynamic situations, guessing the enemy's next move, or, in cases where there is randomization, making it something that's a bit more under your control (such as being able to draw a hand of cards and then decide how they're used), such as the way Hero Academy lends variety to its matches? Mind, these things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive with RNGs, but they have the potential to replace the role they fulfill, and doing so can lead to a game with deeper and more concretely rewarding strategic play. When one sits down to play, say, Culdcept Saga (I should probably pick a better example than a relatively obscure videogame series but whatever), what's more rewarding? Rolling the right numbers to land on the right space? Or the back and forth bluffing involved in battles where players try to figure out which item card (if any) will be played by their opponents and how to react to that? Bluffing the enemy into wasting his defenses or making him think he's calling your bluff then using your own items? Or using powers from your carefully constructed deck to forego or manipulate the results of rolls with idols, spells, and terrain effects?
Card-game RPGs never seem to get past brainstorming because of several problems:
Card-counting and body language. The skill cap for Poker is way higher than the skill cap for Craps. Usually when this is pointed out, almost everyone involved realizes that they personally aren't good at poker (most people aren't) and don't want to deal with another player or GM who is.
Probabilities are harder to calculate (or Card Counting Mk II). The average TTRPG designer can't be trusted to figure out that exploding step dice or White Wolf botches are a bad idea; I don't want to see how they think cards work when every card drawn changes the probabilities for the next card. If someone who can do basic math gets to write the Rules section, they will probably call for a lot of shuffling at very specific times. GMs won't get why they should do it (
even especially if it's explained to them) so they won't.
Card Bloat and Collectibility: If cards are going to produce results that reflect what you're actually doing (i.e. if the item cards you mentioned have actual rules for items and you don't have to look up on a table that seven of hearts is a Bag of Devouring) then there are going to be a ginormous fuckton of cards. Anything which doesn't have a card will be regarded by players as "not part of the game" (although fanboys will scream like chimps in heat if you tell them that in an argument) so you seriously need thousands of the fucking things. Obviously this is going to cost some serious fucking money to print, so it's going to cost a lot to play too. I can't see any way the cards wouldn't be collectible, and having to buy booster packs to play the character you want turns people off.
I don't think it's possible to make a card-based RPG that isn't a card game first and an RPG a distant second. I wish it was possible, because the idea of "character decks" where every skill perk and item is a card seems really cool. I just don't see how it could work. Every time I imagine how it would work I imagine that all the cards I want to exist just magically do, and there's no way to make that happen.