Using cards instead of dice

[Phantomdoodler]

I tend to use playing cards now, instead of dice. I understand the new edition of Bash! has a playing card option?

I am thinking of using my own No Dice system for this:

Draw a card and multiply the result. If you draw a Jack, that counts as a zero, so the action will fail, irrespective of the multiplier. If you draw a Queen, that counts as a 10 -draw again and add both cards before multiplying (if you draw another queen keep going). If you draw a King, keep that (it may be used at any time for a redraw), and draw again.

Not sure how this effects the probabilities though, but i think it is reasonably similiar.

[MrJupiter]

That's a neat idea. Drawing cards might be a great way of appealing to people with dice aversion ("Oh no, this isn't one of those dice games; we'll be playing with cards!"). Also, there is probably a deck of cards in every house. Another neat feature of cards is that they are quieter than rolling dice and there is no arguing over whether it should 'count' since it 'rolled' off the table!

It would be cool to have a math-whizz work out the probabilities.

[AslanC]

I gotta say Phantom, I like what you are outlining here.

[BASHMAN]

There is a Card system in the alternate rules appendix- but you don't multiply the cards- you draw multiple cards & high card wins (except for damage, where you do multiply 1 card). However, yours sounds neat and like it would work just fine.

[Phantomdoodler]

Thanks everyone. Yes ever since my gaming group started using cards, we havnt turned back. The main benefit is that you can play from the sofa - no more table surfaces needed! And its much faster.

[BASHMAN]

Well I hope that your game goes well. Please share with us how it goes.

[Kinetic]

Well... Probabilities would be affected as you have only four cards in 52 that are capable of "exploding", and the chance that you'll get a second exploding card after drawing the first is even less.

Chance to draw a Queen = 8%
Chance to draw a second Queen = 5%
Chance to draw a third Queen = 4%
Chance to draw the fourth Queen = 2%

If you're using a 50-card deck then the probabilities are a little different:

Chance to draw a Queen = 8%
Chance to draw a second Queen = 6%
Chance to draw a third Queen = 4%
Chance to draw the fourth Queen = 2%

Very slight change in probability, but not much.

Now, the chance to get doubles on 2d6 is 1-in-6; you don't care what the first die is, but you have a 1-in-6 chance of matching it with the second die. That comes out to about a 16% chance to roll doubles and get an exploding roll. Each roll after the fact has a 1-in-6 (~16%) chance of adding to that explosion.

If you are only rolling one die (rare occasion but it does come up in BASH! UE) then you have the same chance to explode: 1-in-6.

Now, I'm not saying that this is a bad method just talking about probabilities. I'd actually like to give it a try myself. I'm assuming that Jokers are removed and Aces count as 1, right (which is another thing - a 1 on 2d6 is impossible without modifiers)?

I like that the system is built on a 10-point scale AND that there is a built in failure. Very interesting.

[Lindharin]

For more common exploding, you could do something like any even-numbered spades (or odd diamonds, or whatever) are exploding. That way you would have a 1-in-8 chance to explode, but the explosion is a whole new card (ie, 1-10, not a 1-6, so on average almost double the normal bonus for exploding). The end result would be a bit higher exploding total, but that could help balance out the auto-failure of the Jack.

[MrJupiter]

Well... Probabilities would be affected as you have only four cards in 52 that are capable of "exploding", and the chance that you'll get a second exploding card after drawing the first is even less.

Chance to draw a Queen = 8%
Chance to draw a second Queen = 5%
Chance to draw a third Queen = 4%
Chance to draw the fourth Queen = 2%

If you're using a 50-card deck then the probabilities are a little different:

Chance to draw a Queen = 8%
Chance to draw a second Queen = 6%
Chance to draw a third Queen = 4%
Chance to draw the fourth Queen = 2%

Very slight change in probability, but not much.

Now, the chance to get doubles on 2d6 is 1-in-6; you don't care what the first die is, but you have a 1-in-6 chance of matching it with the second die. That comes out to about a 16% chance to roll doubles and get an exploding roll. Each roll after the fact has a 1-in-6 (~16%) chance of adding to that explosion.

If you are only rolling one die (rare occasion but it does come up in BASH! UE) then you have the same chance to explode: 1-in-6.

Now, I'm not saying that this is a bad method just talking about probabilities. I'd actually like to give it a try myself. I'm assuming that Jokers are removed and Aces count as 1, right (which is another thing - a 1 on 2d6 is impossible without modifiers)?

I like that the system is built on a 10-point scale AND that there is a built in failure. Very interesting.

For more common exploding, you could do something like any even-numbered spades (or odd diamonds, or whatever) are exploding. That way you would have a 1-in-8 chance to explode, but the explosion is a whole new card (ie, 1-10, not a 1-6, so on average almost double the normal bonus for exploding). The end result would be a bit higher exploding total, but that could help balance out the auto-failure of the Jack.

Wow, thanks guys! Also, thanks BASHMAN, I had forgotten about the card rules in the appendix!