Chances are if you happen to’re like me, you’ve received just a few cardboard skeletons in your closet. Magic: The Gathering has been round since 1993 and within the intervening years a whole bunch of video games have tried to seize the imaginations and the wallets of avid gamers by getting them to purchase tons and plenty of playing cards. These video games may need been performed for some time. They may need been tried a couple of times however by no means caught on as a result of there wasn’t another person keen to purchase in. They may even be ones that you just performed loads however have fallen by the wayside resulting from newer video games or different actual life points. You might attempt to promote them on the secondary market…or you should use them as methods to enhance the RPGs that you just’re at the moment enjoying. Here are just a few methods I’ve used my previous playing cards to encourage tales in different tabletop video games.

Themed Oracle Decks​

One of the most effective issues about collectible card video games is usually the artwork. It’s eye catching and inspirational which is ideal for the GM who could be scrabbling for recreation concepts. Flipping by means of previous binders or stacks of playing cards can spark plots, characters or magic objects simply by wanting on the playing cards you have already got. Think of this course of like a recreation of Dixit or Mysterium the place you interpret the artwork to suit an concept. Do you want an archwizard to vex your gamers? Time to flip by means of your rares in search of a caster kind. What does that glowing blue blade do in your homebrew world and the place is it hidden?

You might additionally take a look at the cardboard kind as a leaping off level. Shuffle collectively a deck of previous playing cards after which pull three. One is the setup, one is the complication and one is the decision. Slot the playing cards within the spot that you just like. For instance, when you have a firebolt, an ork chieftain and a mountain card, there are just a few methods to go. The chieftain might search a robust magic merchandise on a mountain and the gamers must get it first. Or the chieftain was wounded by a magical assault and the gamers must climb a mountain to go get him. Short prompts like this a meant to spark a storyline when wanting on the clean web page simply isn’t working.

Plot Twists​

When I ran the most recent version of Over The Edge for Theatre of the Mind Players, Atlas Games despatched the video games utilizing boosters and starters for his or her previous On The Edge CCG as packing supplies to maintain the books secure. (They’ve been doing this for YEARS, so that they should have plenty of these playing cards left over from the 90s) The new version of the sport additionally has a plot twist mechanic the place if you happen to roll a sure quantity you will get plot twist, like a secret ally abandoning a password, a nasty plot twist like an enemy agent popping out of nowhere to ambush you and even one in all every on the similar time. Life on Al Amarja is unpredictable that manner. I had my gamers take a pair boosters, crack them open and select a few playing cards from every deck. Then I took these playing cards, shuffled them into an enormous conspiracy deck and each time a participant rolled a plot twist, I drew a few playing cards for inspiration as I weighed the sudden coincidence.

This methodology is a superb use for video games already linked to RPGs, resembling Doomtown, Shadowrun or The Eternal Struggle. Many of those video games are linked to these video games’ broader tales which provide gamers an opportunity to pick out which metaplot components they may need to work together with. But it’s additionally high quality to make use of them to generate story beats which can be extra targeted on the sport at hand. Drawing a Stone card doesn’t imply the literal character has to point out up in your Deadlands recreation, however there’s most likely an intimidating gunslinger character that your gamers will suppose twice about going through who can match the invoice.

Creature Counters​

This choice requires a bit of little bit of arts and crafts. A fast examine on-line to be sure to’re not demolishing a precious card additionally most likely wouldn’t damage. You’ll want just a few frequent playing cards, 1” round gap punch, some craft glue, and a spherical counter resembling a wood chip or washer. Take the commons and use the outlet punch to chop out the artwork on the cardboard. Then glue the punched out circle onto the washer. If you utilize two playing cards per counter, you’ll be able to mark one facet as a typical situation within the recreation, resembling blooded or Shaken.

I’ve at all times favored the concept of huge combats on huge tabletop grids however I by no means had the funds to match. Using a bunch of previous commons like this could actually give a way of scale. They additionally match nicely with dangerous man minis. The miniatures are the bosses and the dangerous guys are the minions!

Have you performed something artful along with your previous CCG playing cards? Let me know within the feedback!