Plot Generator: the Card Game by Peter Cobcroft is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.

With thanks to Marcus L. Rowland for the inspiration. Like his game, the mechanics will be similar to Bartok. Although primarily a solo game to be used by GMs

Plots are divided into four suits - each suit representing a genre, these suits vary according to the setting of the game being run. For example, a Doctor Who game would might have Comedy, Mystery, Horror/Tragedy and Action. Each genre is broken up into 9 levels of intensity and 3 specials (for the court cards) and a wild card (the Ace). Finally the Jokers are used as reversals.

For a card to be played on another card it must either-

• Be of the same suit and numerically higher or lower in value than the current face-up card (Varying intensity)
• Be of a different suit and numerically the same as the current card (Varying genre)
• Be a Joker (Reverse)

Either start with a random card, or go through the deck and choose a card to start with. Whenever you need a plot decision - draw cards. You can do this in a number of ways-

• Draw a random card and use it.
• Draw cards until you get one you like and use it. Shuffle the other cards back in.
• Draw cards until one of them matches the Playing Cards“ rule above and play it. Shuffle the other cards back in.”
• Draw a hand of cards (say 5 or 7) and play one that matches the Playing Cards“ rule above. Replace it from the deck and keep your hand of cards until the next time you need a plot decision.”

CategoryGames