Scrolls - don't think I've used them in a game yet. They're kind of clunky with GLOG-style magic. This is a post to attempt to make a better version of them for GLOGery.
Instead of scrolls, you have cards. Each card has a number and a suit, or a major arcana (e.g. fool, hermit, the world, etc.). There are many more suits for scroll-cards than for playing or tarot cards because each suit represents a spell. If a card has a number then that is the [sum] which its spell is cast with when it is played - if you are not familiar with GLOG magic dice and notation and suchlike, please refer to here. If a card has a major arcana then it has a "meta-magic" effect. You can play as many cards of the same suit and as many major arcana cards at once as you have - their [sum] and other such effects will be cumulative.
For example: You are carrying a 3 of Fireball, a 5 of Fireball, and a Magician. If you play them all at once, you cast a [sum] 8 fireball spell that dispels any other spells in its area of effect with a lesser [sum].
You can throw in some nuances to keep it interesting - e.g. if you play two-pair that's a miscast, same as if you rolled two of the same number with MD, and if you play a straight then the [sum] is multiplied by the lowest number in the straight. Maybe you can figure these out by experimentation, maybe you're just told at the outset, or maybe you can kick a sage's ass to get him to spit out the details.
Oh yeah, and just like how potions aren't often just labelled "potion of water-breathing" (or whatever else), I think it'd be more interesting if you didn't just call a card of fireball a card of fireball. Instead, use tarot-esque symbolism to suggest the card's spell, and call the suit like "Falling Stars" instead of "Fireball" or whatever. Refer to the card below created by the very talent Locheil of The Nothic's Eye for a great example of how this could look:
This is pretty bare-bones right now but I think it's a good start on scrollprovement (scroll-improvement). Maybe there's a dungeon where low-number scrards are used as currency, idk. Room for expansion on this idea.
Love this idea! Was just thinking about how I'd like to see more TTRPGs that utilize Tarot, but other kinds of cards could also be great. I know cards in TTRPGs more broadly aren't new, but it can be tricky and I like where this is headed.
ReplyDeleteI remember Gamma World 7e (the one based on D&D 4e if I've got the numbering correct...) used cards in a kind of fun way, and there's this superhero RPG I've been wanting to check out, Spectaculars, that also uses cards.
I like the Tarot or Tarot-inspired idea for exactly the reason you say, that there's a symbolic and combinatorial aspect to it; similar to what I like about Concept Crafting.