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3

Unlike most roleplaying games, Apocalyptic Space

does not use dice. Instead, the Game Master and

each

player should have a deck of cards with two jokers.

When a random factor is called for, someone will flip

up one or more cards to determine what happens.

Just to be sure, let’s be perfectly clear about that. No

dice are used in Apocalyptic Space. Standard decks of

playing cards with 52 cards and two jokers generate all

the randomness needed in the game.

Red cards are always positive. Black cards indicate a

setback or a failure of some kind—but some characters

can turn some black cards into success anyway.

Face cards (king, queen, and jack) are high, and aces

are highest of all. Whenever the rules mention a “high

card,” it means a jack, queen, king, or ace. When one

of these cards is flipped, it will have a large effect, as

interpreted by the Game Master. Low cards (5 or less)

call for little or nothing to happen. Mid-range cards (6-

10) mean that events unfolded about as you’d expect,

without great success or great failure. Remember

that this applies whether the card was red or black.

In other words, the king of

typically means a great

success, while the king of

means a great failure. The

2 of

means a minor or narrow success, while the 2

of

means a minor or narrow failure.

Except where a card's meaning is specified in the

rules, the Game Master decides a card's exact effect

using the simple guidelines that follow.

Suits Table

Suit

General

Effect

Specific Effect

(Success)

Heart

Excellent

An attack scores a solid hit

Diamond Good

• An attack scores a

glancing hit

• Figure out Technology

Club

Poor

• A feat of dexterity

• athleticism succeeds

• Open Locks

Spade Terrible

• A feat of strength or

endurance succeeds

• A defender dodges or

blocks an attack

Hearts

provide excellent results except when

defending. Drawing a

while attacking always means

a successful strike. When a

turns up, the Game

Master knows that things are going well for the

characters. Hearts are most important during combat.

Diamonds

provide good results. Drawing a

while

attacking means the attack struck a glancing blow; not

as good as a solid strike but better than a miss. When a

turns up, it tells the GameMaster that the characters

are having minor success or are making progress, but

slowly. Diamonds are also important when characters

try to figure out unfamiliar technology.

Clubs

indicate a minor failure or a setback. When

a

turns up, whatever action the character was

attempting didn't work out, but even if the

is high

(a face card or an ace), the effect will be more of an

inconvenience or a small difficulty, not a catastrophe.

The one exception is when a character is trying to do

something acrobatic or that requires great dexterity

such as climbing a wall, jumping from rooftop to

rooftop, or opening a lock without the key. In those

cases,

represent success.

Spades

indicate that whatever the character

is trying to do, it didn’t work out. The higher the

,

the worse the outcome. On a face card or an ace,

the outcome can be terrible or even life-threatening.

There are two exceptions: when attempting a feat

of exceptional strength or endurance, and when

defending yourself against an attack. A

represents

success when an action is a test of strength or when

a character is trying to avoid being struck in combat.

WARD CARD SYSTEM RULES