Card Game RPG: Worst Idea Ever, or Possible Fun?

[F.H. Zebedee]

Now, I know that this exceeds the legal nerd value in some states, but what would happen if one was to hold a Card Game based RPG at the table?

I was thinking something along the lines of a silly little campaign that would last like a dozen sessions (three months), where they start out as total newbs to a card game system that I'm homebrewing, and from there duel a local tournament, then the nationals, and then finally go and try to deal with a group of counterfeiters who are making cards that totally break the game. (Something to the effect of wagering their remaining prize money against a contract with the head counterfeiter that would force them the cease and desist, and similar things to get the information to pursue the head.) (This isn't really serious business, after all.)

The game itself would be more like VS. or YGO than MTG or Pokemon, with cards that can all be tossed together and function, but really get powerful when you can start assembling combos and such. It's compatible with up to four players at a time, and simple enough that as the DM, I can run two matches at once with relative haste.

The way the players would level up would be winning prize money, and using it to buy new cards for their deck, either in booster packs or in singles, which are more expensive, but a surefire way of getting the needed cards.

As for out of cardgame occurences, like sneaking around or whatever, I'd probably assign a target number, go and ask them for what they try to do, provide a modifier to the target number, and roll for the result. It probably wouldn't happen that often, but it helps to have some form of resolution for tasks beyond playing your next card.

So, could it work, or is this just a pie in the sky dream campaign?

[UglyPanda]

I can't help but think about Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series. Some thoughts:
-There is no danger involved in playing children's card games.
-If a player wins a tournament, where does that leave everyone else?
-You're going to have to invent two new games, one of which is incredibly hard to balance by its very nature.
-Your players are going to end up role-playing characters who hang around in comic book shops and play card games in the back. In other words, themselves.

[Zincorium]

Dang, from the title I was thinking this was about Dragonlance's 5th age card-based RPG or something similar.


For what you're doing, you may just want to use, say, an actual card game if you already have enough cards. Making your own is fun, but it's hard to do well since cards made on regular paper are hard to shuffle and tend to wear out extremely quickly.

Essentially what you are trying to do is create a story framework around playing CCGs (and I'm assuming the people in your prospective group already play those), and that's not a bad plan on the surface.

[F.H. Zebedee]

Actually, with the way the system was designed, we don't need actual cards (luckly quirk of the system, hard to explain).

And yeah, I'd definately go the whole "Humorous Campaign" route with it. I mean, it's a card game. I'll save my serious and horror for my monster slayer campaign, I think.

[Citizen Joe]

It needs to have miniatures and spaceships!

[Grey Paladin]

Personally, I think that running an RPG based on M:TG where you actually roleplay immortal planeswalkers and sacrificing creatures becomes a morale dilemma can be rather fun . . .