Cards aren’t common in RPGs because I guess they’re expensive to print. Those games that do contain cards these days are being marketed towards people who buy board games and will pay board game prices for a RPG, like WFRP 3e.

Lace and Steel’s core mechanic for fighting (and sorcery, and repartee) uses a card deck. I’m running a L&S game in just over 2 weeks. Problem is, no cards.

No problem. Drivethrurpg has the L&S Player’s Pack with printable cards. But how do I make the cards? My printer won’t handle card stock.

I did think about using blank playing cards and a sharpie. (Incidentally the same supplier does blank d6 which I considered for a system – at the moment, I don’ t have time).

Then the nice people at The Gameskeeper suggested Deck Protectors.

These are for your rare MtG cards or whatever. So I printed out my sheets of cards – ‘scuse the mess:

I used MtG commons as stiffeners (what else am I going to do with a dozen Craw Worms?)

The deck protectors have one side black and slightly textured. I put the MtG cards in face-down, providing a nice dark border for the card.

Job done.

The cards shuffle very nicely; they’re stiff and easy to handle. This opens a lot of possibilities for designing new card systems. Hurrah!