Setup:
Each player picks their character's race, class and name. These are only for prosaic purposes. Players must also name a missile attack, melee attack.
Each player draws five cards. These are action cards:
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Club: Melee damage. You can attack anything near you. As armor, halves melee damage before action check.
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Spade: Missile damage. You can attack anything far from you. As armor, halves missile damage before action check.
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Diamond: Attempt to steal, pick locks, any rogue-like action.
As armor, player spots treasure in any room they enter. -
Heart: Heal self or another player. As armor, restores one hit point at the end of each action.
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Ace: Treated like a number 20 card of the suit
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King: Treated like a number 15 card of the suit
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Queen: player draws next card and must use it; suit effects stack.
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Jack: player draws next card and must use it; suit effects do not stack.
Each player receives 20 pennies. These are hit points.
Initial round:
- Players pick one card to be their armor, and draw to bring their hand back to five. Only even numbered cards can be armor; aces and faces are not allowed.
Action check:
- When being attacked, the player's armor is divided by two. If the attack is less than or equal to that number, the player is not damaged. If it's greater, the player takes the difference in damage.
Armor swap:
- Consumes an action.
- The player discards their current armor, and replaces it with a favored card from their hand. The player then draws a card to restore their hand to 5.
Taking action:
- The player selects a card from their hand, specifies a target and a representative act (for example, "I fire an arrow at Jonesy" for a spade, or "I try to pick the lock on the door" for a 10 of diamonds).
- Combos: Any valid poker combination may be played as an action together, to stack the effects and points. Combos also come at the cost of 1 hitpoint per card played.
NPC activities:
- The DM may choose to draw a card and treat it as armor for an action check, or may predefine the minimum card for a successful action. The DM may also apply status effects as needed.
Play: The DM presents a scenario, the players act on it, and are expected to remain in-character. Penalties for attempting an interaction in the universe out of character are up to the DM, but shouldn't be more serious than a hitpoint's damage or a forced armor swap.
The DM can create items and status effects, and rules for these, at their whim.