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Deck of Adventures Quickstart Guide

What is Deck of Adventures?

Deck of Adventures is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG) where friends tell a collaborative narrative story together as a group of adventurers. This guide is enough to get started, but we recommend you read the Full Player's Guide to learn all of the rules, mechanics, and story-telling devices.

Quick-Start Guide

Your Game Master (GM) is about to play narrator to a story in which you will take part. The GM will be there to help guide you through the process and understand the rules. They serve as the primary storyteller and referee throughout an Adventure.

The Deck

Grab a standard deck of playing cards, reserving the Jokers, and shuffle well. Cards will be drawn from this deck and make their way to a Discard Pile.

Checks

If your character attempts an action with an unknown outcome, you'll be asked to make a Check, which involves drawing one more cards from your deck, and comparing the outcome via...

  • A Target Card (TC) that is drawn and shown on the table, which you hope to Draw a value close to in order to succeed on your Check. Think of it as the bullseye of the target you are aiming for.

  • Difficulty Range (DR) that defines how far away from the Target Card you can be and still succeed. Think of it as the closest rings surrounding the bullseye. A Difficulty Range 'above' a King is an Ace, then 2, and so on. A Difficulty Range 'below' 2 is an Ace, then King, etc.

  • A Modifier (Mod) is associated with a specific skill or attribute and can be found on your character sheet. A mod allows you to add that number to the Difficulty Range, increasing the effective Difficulty Range and making it easier for you to succeed. This helps widen the rings around the bullseye that will result in a successful draw.

  • Under some circumstances, you'll be asked to draw with the Upper Hand or the Lower Hand.

    • With the Upper Hand, you can draw an additional card(s) and use the more favorable value to increase your odds.
    • With the Lower Hand, you must draw an additional card(s) and use the less favorable value, decreasing your odds.
    • A single instance of Upper Hand or Lower Hand requires you to draw just 1 additional card. However, these effects can compound, requiring you to draw 2 or more cards for the applicable check. Upper and Lower Hand can also cancel each other out.

  • For example, on a Target Card of 4, with a Difficulty Range 1, you would need either a 3, 4, or 5 to succeed on a Check. If you have a +1 Mod, the effective Difficulty Range is now 2 which means you can draw a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 and still report a successful draw.

There are two special kinds of Checks:

  • A Contested Check is triggered by two characters using skills for opposing goals. The initiator sets the Target Card (their own card) and the Difficulty Range (3 - Mod/2). The character responding makes a simple check against these values.

  • A Save is a Check made with an Attribute (see below) with a predetermined Difficulty Range that a character makes against their own Target Card.

Fate Cards

You start with 2 Jokers in your hand as Fate Cards. Any Aces drawn during play are also reserved as Fate Cards. At any time, you can discard a Fate Card to ...

  1. Push Fate: redraw use the new value.
  2. Exchange Fate: gain one Power Point per card discarded.
  3. Toughen Up: nullify one point of damage taken per card discarded.

Characters

You will have a Character Sheet with all the information about your character. This includes Attributes (general traits, like Agility and Intelligence), and specific Skills under each Attribute (e.g., Finesse under Agility). Each Attribute and Skill has a Modifier that you add when performing a Check related to that Attribute or Skill, signified by a number like +1. If a Mod equals 0, do not add or subtract from the Difficulty Range when making a check.

Also on your character sheet are Powers. This is anything your character can do that might not be accessible to others. Some Powers, labeled Minor and Major, may require Power Points to activate. Your character sheet shows your starting number of Power Points as your maximum. You'll need to keep track of how many Power Points you have left as you use Powers.

You can work with your GM to create a custom character for the Adventure, or use one of the premade characters as a quick way to get started.

Gameplay

Throughout an Adventure, your GM will describe scenes and may provide visual cues or props. It's up to you to ask follow-up questions and figure out what your character would do in each scenario. Creativity and thinking outside the box (i.e., exact rules) is encouraged.

The GM might announce an Epic Event, a series of trials in a tense scenario.

  • The GM will reveal a Target Card and the Difficulty Range. One or more players can volunteer and decide which skill they want to use for the relevant check.

  • Each player and the GM will take turns drawing on the Target Card to get a success with a matching suit.

  • Each Target Card is a collective success or failure.

The GM determines how many successes are needed to resolve the Epic Event. At the end, the GM will reveal the narrative consequences for their success or failure.

Resting

Your character may need to rest to recharge Power Points or heal Health Points. If a rest is interrupted, you do not gain the benefits and need to try resting again.

  • Quick Rest takes 30 minutes of in-game time. Each player can draw a number of Rest Cards.

    • Each Rest Card is used in a Difficulty Range 3 check to regain Health or Power Points. On a miss, regain 1 point. On a success, regain 2.
    • At the end of the rest, shuffle a number of Discarded cards into your deck equal to 10 plus twice your Vitality modifier.

  • A Full Rest takes 8 hours of in-game time. Return to your maximum Health, Fate, Power and Armor Points.

    • If you run out of cards before you can successfully take a Rest, you may reshuffle your discard pile into your deck, but you gain one level of Fatigue. This signifies your character running out of Stamina during a long day.
    • Return all Aces to the deck, and Jokers to your hand and shuffle. Some GMs may also ask for shuffling on Quick Rests.

If you run out of cards in your deck before you are able to take a rest, you gain one level of Fatigue, which makes certain actions more difficult
(see status conditions for more detail).

Combat

During an Adventure, your party may need to navigate conflict. If not resolved peacefully, this may result Combat. The GM decides when to initiate a separate set of Combat rules, where a turn order is implemented. A map may be used as a visual aid, whether physical or digital, or "theater of the mind", as determined by your GM.

At the start of Combat, each character draws their own Target Card to determine turn order, Ace to 2.

  • On your turn, you can move and take 1 Major Action and 1 Minor Action, in any order. Minor actions include object interactions and some Skill Checks.
  • Your movement is limited by the Speed value on your character sheet, showing the maximum number of spaces you can move. The average speed is 6.
  • Your character sheet will give you optional actions that you can take listed under Powers, but you can always try something new. Ask your GM if your idea is possible under the circumstances.
  • Unless otherwise stated, Powers have a range of 6 spaces and do 1 point of damage.
  • If you get hit, you can expend a Fate Card to nullify 1 point of damage.
  • Some attacks may result in a Status Condition.

Have Fun!

You're now ready to play your first game of Deck of Adventures! Remember: having fun comes first.