Cards (Or: How to Solve a Plethora of Problems Through Science!)

Alright so I just mentioned in the above post that we should change the story dice into story cards and add Gamble Cards to the game as well.  Now, it should also be mentioned that we already have the "leveling cards" as an idea too.  That's a lot of cards.  

And for some reason I've still been talking about dice.

Just now, in the shower, the thought came to me, "Matt, with all the cards you're thinking of using, why the hell do we need dice?"  

I mean seriously, we've potentially got cards for everything else, why not make the d10, a deck of 40 cards numbered 1 through 10, shuffled and put in a deck.  Each time someone attempts to do something during an encounter, they draw a card, add it to the skill, then discard it.  At the end of the encounter, everything is shuffled back together, and the process starts over again.  Enemies use the same deck for their attacks as well.

Hell we could potentially use them for damage too, or just throw in a single set of dice, or d6's for the damage stuff.  That way people new to RPGs wouldn't have to find a specialty store to order weird shaped dice.  

Pros:

- This would be a unique mechanic not seen in many RPGs.

- It would build tension, when the players knew that they'd drawn all the 9s and 10s, so they'd know that something bad was coming up.

- It would go with the whole aesthetic of the rest of the game.

- Less responsibility for the player (I'll get to this in a minute)

Cons:

- More expensive for us

- Easier to cheat than rolling dice

But let's look at this for a second, with cards being used, players wouldn't need to bring their own dice, or use them.  There wouldn't be any of the stuff of "Oh crap guys, I forgot my dice tonight".  You know what, let's take that a step farther: let's make it to where everything they need comes in one box.  Seriously, think about it, one of the biggest problems about RPGs is all the stuff you need to remember to bring: the books, the dice, the character sheet, pencils, etc.  Now, if we had all of that in one box, then one guy could just bring it, no one else would have to worry about it.

At the end of the night everyone just gathers up the cards, puts them in the box, put their character sheets in, etc.  They close the box, leave it there, or take it home, they bring it next time and everything is already inside.  Just pick up and play (The same aesthetic we've been going for).  

Think about it, one box comes with all this: * means optional

- Rulebook (or two since there's multiple people DMing)

- Bestiary/Monster Manual* (If not already in rulebook)

- Character Sheets (Potentially optional, so long as they can copy them from the rulebook, but some in the box would be nice, remember, pick up and play)

- Story Cards

- Gamble Cards

- Level Cards

- d6's or Damage Cards*

- Board that shows where cards go*

- Any extras we want to throw in for Kickstarter or Flavor*

All of that comes nicely packaged in a single box, for the same price (give or take) as a normal RPG.  Take for instance D&D (I'll be using the list prices for this example, not the Amazon prices), in order to buy the essentials here's what you have to buy:

- Dungeon Master's Guide - $35

- Player's Handbook - $35

- Monster Manual - $35

- Set of Dice - $5 - $10

This is the stuff you need just to play the game, no frills or anything, and that is running about $110.  We could easily produce something that comes complete in a package, for easily half the price and still turn a profit.  Granted, the book won't be hardcover or anything, but still, we can produce something for much cheaper.  

Anyway, just some ideas to chew on.  Personally I like this solution, tell me what you think.