Alright, just about got everyone but Sal in, so I'm kicking things off a little early. Weekend will be character introductions and RP between yourselves as you guys get ready to head off on Trial, so no rush.

Heh. So, for those of you playing the home game, the way I'm doing this is simple. I have a tarot deck. I draw a card for the weapon, shuffle, card for the armor, shuffle, next character. If it's a card of your caste, it gets an enchantment on it. The higher the card, the better the ability the enchantment grants. If you pull your Destiny card, you get something reaally shiny. If you pull your Flaw, you get a cursed item.

Pulling... there are two enchanted items and one CURSED item out of the stuff you guys picked out. Yep, someone pulled their Flaw on an item.

Muahahahaha.

The four NPCs got one enchanted item.

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... and, for something ELSE which shall go unexplained, more draws... two of your draw your Destiny cards. Yay! No normal caste draws at all...

... aaand the guy who drew his Flaw for a cursed item, drew it again.

Wow dude. Just. Wow.

Still tinkering with the combat system, so you guys still have some talking left.

Still, for those interested in the basics of it...

Combat rules for Arcana:

Instead of explaining it step by step, I’ll run through an example combat using Karina and Mat against a big bad EVIL dude and explain as I go. The nature of combat is going to be, for all intents and purposes, cinematic – you RP what you’re doing, I respond in RP in kind. Battles in this system are a battle between Destinies and Fate itself. Fate flows throughout the battle – if you lose the protection of Fate, then you are vulnerable to the Fate of the victor – depending on the battle, this may mean death, capture, whatever is appropriate. This is the bare bones of combat as it stands - I'm still tweaking things here and there.

Shorthand:
P - Page
J - Jack
Kn - Knight
Q - Queen
K - King
W - Wands
Cu - Cups
C - Coins
B - Blades
(1-10 should be obvious, I would hope)

So, at the beginning of combat, I draw a (tarot) card for each combatant. This is your initiative order that will continue throughout all of this combat.

Drawing…

Karina: Knight of Wands (KnW)

Leo: VI of Wands (6W)

EVIL: VII of Cups (7Cu)

The way that cards beat other cards is this: Higher card goes wins (so a 2 of Wands beats a 1 of Wands). If you draw your Flaw Arcana, you will go last. If you draw your Destiny, you will go first. If you draw a card of your Caste, it functions as a ‘trump’, and beats out someone who has a higher card, but not of their caste. FOR INITIATIVE ONLY, any draws of Arcana are discarded, UNLESS it is a Destiny or Flaw. If there is a tie, there is another flip between the two and the higher flip wins. So, from smallest to largest…

Flaw, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Kn-Q-K, In Caste 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Kn-Q-K, Destiny

Karina: Knight of Wands (KnW) - (Highest card, but not her Caste)

Leo: VI of Wands (6W) – (Hey, look at that, it’s his Caste)

EVIL: VII of Cups (7Cu) – (Let’s say EVIL dude has Cups as his Caste)

So, initiative order goes…

EVIL (highest in Caste), Leo (Caste), Karina (highest non-Caste)

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Now, everyone draws a ‘hand of fate’ that they can use to ‘twist’ fate to their advantage. I’m still debating hand size here, but for right now we’ll go with 5 cards each. Drawing in initiative order…

EVIL: 4C, 2Cu, Star, 7C, 5C, Magician, 4B, KnCu, 8W, QCu

(Since this is a single large boss, he has a single large hand of cards – other foes might have no cards at all, the same hand size as you, or more - generally speaking, the more cards, the bigger the bad guy or vice versa)

Leo: 5W, JCu, Hierophant, 2W, Fool

Karina: Strength, JW, 1Cu, Tower, KCu

This is your hand. Any card that is ‘in hand’ can’t be drawn Wild – they’ll be in a separate pile that I can’t draw from.

At the start of the game, you have 1 Action. For the purpose of this basic of basics battle, you have Attack and Defend actions.

EVIL begins.

(Big long EVIL monologue of RP here)

<Attack Action: Wild, Leo>

Since EVIL is silly, it decides to do a random draw and trust the whims of Fate (Wild) as he attacks Leo. Since Leo doesn’t have an action set yet, he HAS to draw Wild (see Defense Action below). For the purpose of this combat, EVIL will only have one Action, just like his opponents.

EVIL vs Leo: 3C vs 8W – not only does Leo draw a larger card number-wise, he draws an in Caste card (which trumps EVIL’s non-trump 3C, even had it been a larger non-Caste card) - so he easily fends off his attack.

Leo’s turn. Leo is a Wand. He wants to make CERTAIN he hits. So Leo decides to ‘twist Fate’ to aid him by playing one of his cards. He swings…

<Attack Action: Twist, EVIL (5W)>

Leo vs. EVIL: 5W vs. 3C

Leo successfully attacks EVIL. Yay Leo.

Damage is very simple. You make a Wild flip. 1-5 is weak, 6-10 is moderate, Page-King is severe, Destiny is Severe + Another Wild Flip worth of damage, Flaw is no damage at all, Arcana... the whims of Fate itself does something (as in, as GM I get to play and stuff happens)

Damage: 10W – decent damage, and EVIL takes damage, losing two cards. Randomly. Magician and 8W, in this case.

Your hand is how you stay alive. If you lose a match with no cards in hand, you’re down and at the mercy of your opponents if your comrades don’t survive. You literally hold your Fate in your hands, so don’t squander it.

Karina sees EVIL roar in pain. She also notices it’s looking really, really EVIL! So, wisely, she readies a defense against the coming onslaught!

<Defense Action: Twist (KCu)>

A Defense Action allow you to prepare a good defense ahead of time, so you can use it to block a big attack if you know it is coming. In this case, Karina uses her biggest card, the King of her Caste suit.

Now, let’s look back at everyone’s hands:

Karina and Leo both have 4 cards – EVIL has 8.

Start of round 2.

EVIL is angry! EVIL is mad! EVIL SMASH!

<Action: Ability – Whirlwind (KnCu, 2Cu)>

To use this powerful ability, EVIL doesn’t just have to have two cards, he has to have two in Caste cards. This is much the way that all abilities will be used – you have to have cards of a certain suit, or a certain strength - lot of means to play around here. In this particular case, it’s a pretty nasty ability that hits automatically all around EVIL. Note that generally speaking, you’ll have a chance to see these big attacks coming – use your RPG instincts and pay attention to what your opponents are doing.

EVIL vs Karina: KnCu vs. KCu - and we see Karina’s defending pay off, as her in-Caste King saves her.

Leo, however…

Damage Flip: 7B, moderate damage. Leo loses 2 random cards – JCu, Fool.

Leo took a good hit, which he doesn’t like. But he hasn’t played his best card yet…

<Attack Action: Twist, EVIL (Hierophant)>

By playing his Destiny card, he automatically succeeds at what he is doing, for it is his Destiny! (effectively, with your Destiny literally in your hand, you can do some really crazy things, because Fate bends around you). In this case, it makes Leo automatically hit.

Damage Flip: QW – Severe damage! Evil loses 3 cards. 4C, Star, and 7C.

Karina sees that EVIL is going down, so she decides to attack as well…

<Attack Action: Twist, EVIL (1Cu)>

Karina vs. Evil: 1Cu vs. 1W – as Karina’s card is in Caste, it wins (ties go to a Wild flip)

Damage Flip: 9B – moderate damage, EVIL loses 2 more cards, left with only QCu.

Now, looking at the hands… EVIL is bad off with 1 cards. Karina has 3 as well. Leo is worse off with 1.

EVIL doesn’t like that. Evil is crazy. Evil attacks Karina, twisting fate to his advantage by spending its last strong card.

<Attack Action: Twist, Karina (QCu)>

EVIL vs. Karina: QCu vs 2B – Karina is easily hit by the strong attack.

Damage Flip: 8B – Karina loses 2 cards, JW and Tower. Tower is her Flaw. Losing your Flaw from your hand from ‘damage’ means the damager gets another damage flip against you - it's not quite as bad as him getting his Destiny, but it's close. This could be dangerous…

Damage Flip: 3W – Karina gets lucky, but still loses her final card from her hand. This puts her at the whims of Fate – if she gets hit again, she’s out of the battle. On one hand, using your Flaw as a card means you will automatically fail at whatever you try to use it at. On the other, leaving it in your hand can get you knocked right out of the battle.

EVIL and Karina are now subject to the whims of Fate – both have no cards in hand.

Leo steps up to the challenge. He knows that if he can get a hit in, the fight is over, so he uses his last card…

<Attack Action: Twist, EVIL (2W)>

Leo vs. EVIL: 2W vs. 3Cu - and watches in despair as EVIL gets lucky with a random higher Caste draw.

Karina decides it’s now or nothing, and decides to trust in the whims of fate…

<Attack Action: Wild, EVIL>

Karina vs. Evil: 2C vs. KC – and Fate betrays her, once again allowing EVIL to block the final blow.

Now all have no hand, and all bow before the whims of Fate...

EVIL laughs with insane glee, and decides to attack Karina…

<Attack Action: Wild, Karina)

EVIL vs. Karina: 5W vs. 3C - There are no damage flips needed, as this knocks Karina out of the combat.

Leo only has his luck to save him now… not good, for one who’s Flaw is Fortune. Yet, he trusts to it…

<Attack Action: Wild, EVIL)

Leo vs. EVIL: KW vs. PCu – Fielding his strongest card short of his Destiny, Leo wins, and once again, no damage flip needed – EVIL is defeated!

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To do:

Arcana - what I plan to do with them is have them effectively act as mini-abilities that can be played - however, starting out, you guys won't know what each Arcana do. I just need to figure out what each one does besides the vague ideas I already have.

So there would be:

<Arcana Action: (insert Arcana card played here)>

And something would happen. This might affect you, your enemy, all friendlies, all enemies... you won't know until you try. Unlike Arcana results from a Damage Flip (which will be come what may, with me likely going oh THIS would be fun), Arcana played as an Action won't change effect - so once you learn one, you'll know what it does. If the Arcana card happens to be your Destiny or Flaw, a magnified effect occurs (either good or bad).

To do:

Castes - I want each Caste to 'play' differently from one another. Think White/Red/Blue/Green/Black Magic cards - each has it's own sort of running theme in the kinds of abilities it has. I want much the same here, even here at the beginning of the game - some basic mechanic that makes each stand out from one another.

To do:

Decide on a draw mechanic. Currently I'm leaning toward being able to spend your action to draw a card if you choose to, with abilities/Caste/Arcana allowing you to draw more. Leaning towards white magic style Cups (like Karina) having an innate automatic card draw every round - mainly because one of the things about white magic is that it gives you a slow 'self-heal'.

To do:

Each of you has a Destiny - I want to incorporate that in some way as an innate ability you can use in battle.

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Anyways, figure I'd give you guys a heads up as to how/where things are going. If you have ideas/questions/comments/complaints, either post them here or bug me on Skype.

I'll have more to say on skype, but for right now, lemme just say...

Man I love this combat system.

I like!

*mandatory applause*
Seems like it could be fun.

After a bit of debate, I decided I was going to move your first combat til after the Trial... which, to be honest, makes more sense, since then you'll be ready to test your newly acquired abilities anyway. Besides, this way I can use the Trial in a slightly different way than I originally intended - your answers to what is about to happen will help guide me in 'shaping' your chosen path and abilities, so what you say/respond/react with does matter in this.

Arcana post in progress. Please stand by.

Special Abilities:

Blades:
-Aimed Shot: Attack - When Valerie uses a caste card for an Attack Action Twist, she gets a Wild Flip - the better result is used (or, possibly, modified in the case of it being an Arcana card)
-Shield: Defense - When Tyr uses a caste card for a Defense Action Twist, he gets a wild Flip - the better result is used (or, possibly, modified in the case of it being an Arcana card)

Cups:
-Heal: Action - As an action, Karina can use a caste card to either increase her or an allies maximum hand size by 1 (max 5).

Coins:
-Barter: Action - As an action, Richter can use a caste card to exchanges 4 cards between players (i.e, player A trades with player B [2 cards traded), player C trades with player D [two cards traded]).

Wands:
-Alchemy: When Leo uses a caste card, he can combine two lower cards of the same suit into one higher card of the that suit.

Mat:
-Whims of Fate - When Mat chooses to do a Wild flip, he flips two cards and uses the highest.

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During each round, you have two Actions. Actions are currently Attack, Defend, Trade, Arcana, Discard, and any special actions (see above) you have:

Attack: T/W (Twist, in which case you play a card, Wild, in which case you draw a random card)

How to write: Attack: (T)wist/(Wild) - Target (Card if Twisting)

Defend: T/W (Twist, in which case you play a card, Wild, in which case you draw a random card)

How to write: Defend: (T)wist/(Wild) - Target (Card if Twisting) - note that you target Self if defending yourself, but you can also defend someone else.

Trade: As an Action, you can trade one of your cards with another player.

Arcana: As an Action, play an Arcana card for its special effect (you start off knowing no card effects - you'll have to find out the hard way which are beneficial and which are not)

Discard: You can discard a card as an action.

In the case of your special abilities, it is:

Action Name: (Card used)

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Once again, from weakest to highest cards:

Flaw, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Kn-Q-K, In Caste 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Kn-Q-K, Destiny

Arcana tend to have random effects drawn Wild as an Attack or Defense action. These will not be constant, like when used to Twist or through use of the Arcana action.

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The way damage works:

You have a max hand size of 5.
As you take damage, your max hand size is reduced.
If you have more cards in hand than the amount of cards you can hold (as a result damage taken, usually), then you are forced to discard a random card.
If you ever go to -1 or lower hand size, you are effectively KO.
You can have 0 cards and take damage - the important thing for 'health' is hand size, not cards in hand.

Attack/defense is still highest card wins.

Damage taken is still Wild flip - 1-5 is Weak - 1 damage, 6-10 is Moderate - 2 damage, J-K is Severe - 3 damage.

Arcana Card Effects list:

Strength:
-Normal effect: The next attack you (user) do damage with, increase the damage flip by one step (to a max of Severe).
-Destiny effect: ???
-Attack Twist effect: ???
-Defense Twist effect: ???

Devil:
-Normal effect: Must be played on first action possible. Target opponent must use worst card on next action... but so do you.
-Destiny effect: Target opponent must use worst cards throughout this round. If wild draw, draw two and use worst card. You must play your best cards on any following actions this round.
-Attack Twist effect: ???
-Defense Twist effect: ???

The Lovers:
-Normal effect: Target friendly player shares cards with you this round.
-Destiny effect: Target friendly player shares cards with you this round. Any damage taken is split between both hands.
-Attack Twist effect: ???
-Defense Twist effect: ???

The High Priestess:
-Normal effect: Scan target enemy. Know Defenses, Attacks, Attack Patterns, Fate (Health), or anything else you can come up with that I approve.
-Destiny effect: Full scan.
-Attack Twist effect: ???
-Defense Twist effect: ???

The Moon
-Normal effect: Target enemy cannot Wild this turn.
-Destiny effect: All enemies cannot Wild this turn.
-Attack Twist effect: ???
-Defense Twist effect: ???

Okay so what's the difference between using an Arcana Normally and as a Destiny? As in, do you just get to choose if you use it normally or as a Destiny?

May have answered my own question, as it seems Rich used his Arcana normally and Val used it as a Destiny. And we uncover the affects when used - right, I know what I'm doing.

When an Arcana is played, and it is your Destiny Arcana, you get an improved version of whatever the normal effect is.

So, since lovers is my Destiny Arcana I did that right yes? And if I were to play towers, it would be normal?

No, playing Towers as an Arcana action for you would be.... Very Bad. Because that's your Flaw. And.... yeaaaah. Considering what it does...

Protip - You know how people always freak out when they see the Death tarot card? How it actually means change, and is often good? Well, if they knew tarot, Tower is the one they'd really be afraid of.