''Whimsy Cards'' is a 1987 role-playing game supplement published by

Lion Rampant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Chr ...

''Whimsy Cards'' is a role-playing aid, a set of event cards that players can use to affect the outcome of a game storyline.

Publication history

''Whimsy Cards'' was written by

Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games ''Ars Magica'', ''Everway'', ''Over the Edge (game), Over the Edge'', ''Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dra ...

and

Mark Rein-Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing, card, video and board game designer best known as the creator of '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated ''World of Darkness'' games. Along with Jo ...

and published in 1987 by

as 48 flimsy cards and a 4-page rules pamphlet, shrink-wrapped; a second edition published the same year came packed in a bag with stiff cards. Shannon Appelcline stated that Lion Rampant wanted ''

Ars Magica ''Ars Magica'' is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Mi ...

'' to be the initial release for the company, "but as Gen Con 20 (1987) approached it became obvious that their premier product would not be ready. Rather than rushing it out (a mistake made all too often by RPG companies), Lion Rampant instead prepared an alternative product for that Gen Con: ''Whimsy Cards''." Appelcline detailed that the storytelling branch of design for role-playing games was developing at that time, so for ''Whimsy Cards'', "The idea was simple: print up a deck of 43 cards (plus a few blanks) where each card presented a distinct story element ..These cards were shuffled and handed out to players at the start of a game; those players would later play a card and describe how it applied to the story. If the gamemaster liked the results, he incorporated the description into the story, otherwise he vetoed it."

Reviews

*''

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * Whi ...

'' #8 (Dec./Jan., 1987) *''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' #129 (January 1988)

References

{{reflist Role-playing game accessories Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1987

Contents

Publication history

Reviews

References