RPG Gear: Playing cards

[Umbran]

Starting up a new campaign, running Savage Worlds, which uses a deck of playing cards as mechanical support in a few places.

While I have playing cards around the house, this struck me as an opportunity. Folks get special dice and dice storage, GM screens, tneire gamign tables. But how about playing cards - a thing I can expect players to interact with pretty much every session.

So, give me your sources for cool playing cards!

 

[Pedantic]

So I know this company only because they're planning to break into boardgames and licensed my friend's design, but their primary business is fancy cards:

Art of Play - Wonder Emporium

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Several years ago, I bought a set of clear plastic playing cards- some of the earliest ones on the market, as far as I know.

Invisible Playing Cards

Cards are waterproof, so they are very handy for the beach or any outdoor adventure. Waterproof, transparent PVC playing cards in frosted PVC box. 100% plastic and make a great gift and they're fun to have around the home & office

kikkerland.com

They didn’t get much use in my gaming group because we didn’t play many RPGs that needed playing cards. When we DID need cards, it was usually poker night, and since several players were serious about that game*, we used standard cards. That was in part because- back then, at least- plastic cards were a little auntie and had more friction than standard cards, which could lead to difficulty in randomizing decks.

But if you look now, there’s LOTS of plastic cards out there, with a bunch of nifty designs. And the thing about plastic cards is they won’t get damaged as easily as the basic ones. No bends, tears or damage from liquids are likely. All kinds of companies make them, including the big names like Bicycle & Hoyle. Just search for “clear plastic playing cards” “waterproof cards” or “PVC cards” and you should see a bunch. Here’s a nifty example:

AQUA Playing Cards

The closest thing to an invisible deck of cards. A completely transparent deck of plastic playing cards with clear ink print. 100% waterproof including the box.

aqua.makeplayingcards.com

If you want something special & different, try a place like:

Playing Cards Store & Online Magic Tricks Shop | theory11

theory11 produces the world's finest playing cards and amazing, impossible magic tricks that you can learn how to do - today.

www.theory11.com

Or:

Blvck Paris | Black Playing Cards

Bring a whole new look to your card games with the brand new set of blackout 'Blvck Playing Cards'. Each card features a beautiful matte black finish with subtle glossy highlights to reveal the design and details. The unique glossy black details reflect the light, changing the design from ultra...

blvck.com

* as in, they were good enough to play for money and often broke even on weekend casino trips. Some even finished just outside of qualifying for playing on TV at certain tournaments.

 

[Spectral Anomaly]

A deck of Bicycle Vintage are a necessity for your Deadlands game.

Or you can use the tiles from a copy of Solitaire for Two with a draw bag if you don't like shuffling cards. (Cheap copies available here.)

 

[Umbran]

A deck of Bicycle Vintage are a necessity for your Deadlands game.

I'm currently using a Bicycle 1800 series, which is a little less distressed, but same basic idea, as is the Bicycle 1900 series.

Edit to add: My Upcoming game is a little weird, in that it is Deadlands: The Lost Colony. So, it is Deadlands, but it is also set in 2097 in another solar system (indeed, another galaxy), but without tons of manufacturing. So, the "vintage" and "sci-fi" themes are both in play.

 

[payn]

Cool and affordable.

 

[MGibster]

While I have playing cards around the house, this struck me as an opportunity. Folks get special dice and dice storage, GM screens, tneire gamign tables. But how about playing cards - a thing I can expect players to interact with pretty much every session.

PEG, Inc. does produce their own cards for use with Savage Worlds. They're larger than a standard deck of cards which is actually kind of nice when using them for the game. But I'm guessing you might want some cards related to the theme of whatever game you're playing. I picked up some Walking Dead zombie cards a few years back, but the images disturbed one of my players so I stopped using it after two sessions. I also picked up a pirate themed set with pictures of famous 16th and 17th pirates (Blackbeard, Ann Bonney, Jack Rackham, etc., etc.).

 

[prabe]

Starting up a new campaign, running Savage Worlds, which uses a deck of playing cards as mechanical support in a few places.

While I have playing cards around the house, this struck me as an opportunity. Folks get special dice and dice storage, GM screens, tneire gamign tables. But how about playing cards - a thing I can expect players to interact with pretty much every session.

So, give me your sources for cool playing cards!

So it's not my thing, but one of the guys I TRPG with collects playing cards, and he sent some things along. My take, before I start quoting him and dropping links: There are several companies whose business model is centered around fancy cards, many of which are themed (the theme idea seems plausibly important to you, here). I can speak for the quality and attractiveness of Theory11's cards, because I have some, and I can confirm that my friend has brought many attractive decks of playing cards to game night.

Spoiler: Shopping for playing cards

One of my main go-to places is theory11. They're more pop culture with their card designs, but they do have decks that could be rivals to standard Bicycle decks that are still really elaborate with some really neat design spaces. Most of their decks run in the $12-$15 range.

Playing Cards: Shop Premium Decks of Cards

theory11 is the largest producer of premium, designer playing cards with recent collaborations with Jimmy Fallon, JJ Abrams, Neil Patrick Harris, and beyond.

store.theory11.com

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TCC makes some really neat stuff as well (the Snake deck, and the Peacock deck that I brought a number of Fridays ago are some examples of their cards. There's quite a bit of Asian designs for their decks, but they have plenty of other styles. Similar price range as theory11, though the gilded edged cards run closer to $25-$30.

https://tccplayingcard.com/collections/tcc-exclusive?page=1

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RiffleShuffle (and by extension, Organic Playing Cards [OPC]) has some fun designs. Lots of food-based designs, but the infernal-esque decks that I brought the other day are from them as well. They also sell decks from other companies (NOC, Dan & Dave, and some others). Prices comparable to theory11.

Riffle Shuffle - Playing Cards

A place where card meets art. Riffle Shuffle Strives to bring more unique playing card designs to life!

www.riffleshuffle.com

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52Kards and Art of Play have a huge variety of deck styes. Prices are kinda all over the map (or at least the ones from 52Kards are all over the map, Art of Play decks are generally $15-$20).

52Kards

52Kards has been leading resource for magicians since 2011. We create free tutorials and sell a curated selection of playing cards and magic tricks.

shop.52kards.com

Playing Cards

A collection of premium playing cards for games, tarot, and cardistry. Our cards are printed with the highest quality paper and feature hand-painted works of art, award-winning design, and luxury packaging.

www.artofplay.com

 

[Staffan]

I've gotten myself a few sets of fancy playing cards from Bicycle for use with Savage Worlds. I have found myself gravitating toward Alchemy II and Favole for my East Texas University game. If I was doing fantasy, I'd probably use Anne Stokes' Age of Dragons and Unicorns, or maybe the Gnomes deck I just got.

They seem to be pretty short on sci-fi-themed decks though. There are some space-themed ones, but they're basically just recolors of the "classic" deck, which I find rather unsatisfying. That's a thing I find annoying in general though – it's pretty common for decks to just have a different back and maybe a different design of the Ace of Spades, and then they call that a day. If I'm buying a fancy deck, I ideally want each card to have a unique picture. Barring that, I at least want different designs for the court cards and some rejiggering of the suit symbols.

Another thing that's annoying when looking for a cool deck is that marketing tends to be aimed toward doing card tricks rather than the art on the cards themselves.

This is ideal:

This is also pretty good:

This is OK. I'd have liked to see more differentiation between the non-court cards, plus there's an issue of the suits having different color backgrounds that bleed to the edge of the card. This can be seen clearly before shuffling the cards for the first time, with the edges of the cards clearly having four different colors.

This is fairly pointless. The suit symbols are a little spicy, but the court cards are just the standard ones with a palette swap.

In fairness, both Favole, Alchemy II, and Steampunk have one flaw in that their card backs aren't symmetrical. Most cards don't have a distinct up or down, but these do. That's a bit annoying.

 

[Jd Smith1]

A deck of Bicycle Vintage are a necessity for your Deadlands game.

In the Old West, cards did not have numbers, and were square cut. Rounded corners and numbers did not appear until the late 1870s, and did not find common use in the West until years later.

You can get authentic decks on Ebay and HERE.