Build Your Own Luck (What is C22)

A C22 system is a tabletop roleplaying engine using playing cards and a set of rules that give you control over your own luck as you tell stories of fictional characters performing great deeds. This SRD provides the basic rules of how to use a standard 54-card deck of playing cards to play a character in any setting you and your friends can imagine. Additionally, you will see how your deck can grow and shift, becoming a unique expression of your character. Grab at least two friends and a deck of playing cards each, and let’s dive in!

Players and The Dealer

The participants of a roleplaying game take on the roles of different characters to go on adventure and overcome obstacles to collectively tell a story. One person will take on the role of The Dealer, while the others will be Players taking on the roles of characters in the story. The Players will take turns describing how they interact and change the story, while the Dealer explains how the world and all its inhabitants respond using the rules presented in this book as a guide.

What You Need to Play

To play a C22 system, you will need the following:

  • People: One person to facilitate the game as the Dealer and at least two others as Players. This game works best with three to four Players but more can be easily added.

    Character Sheet: One character sheet per Player. Available later in this book and each setting book.

    Pencils and Paper: For notes written throughout the game.

    Playing Cards: One standard 54 card deck of playing cards per Player. More for the Dealer is preferred but not necessary.

    A Setting: A world of your own to explore and create your own story in. See Punk Galactic for a Scifi/Cyberpunk setting or Sails & Sprockets(Name Pending) for something more Fantasy Steampunk.

Optional Ideas

The following ideas can be used to enhance your experience playing any C22 system:

  • Tokens: To represent the various characters within a battle or combat situation, including the heroes, NPCs, and monsters. This does not need to be a 3D model replica of what your character looks like, but can be something as simple as a bottle cap. The token just needs to be easy to identify.

    A Hex Grid: Tactical combat in default C22 systems take place on a hex grid as it provides more options for characters and an easier way to visualize the intricacies of a battle. Not all settings require combat to be tactical.

The Deck

A character’s deck is made up of 22 number cards. The default starting deck contains the 2s, 4s, 5s, 6s, and 8s of all four suits. The Red and Black Jokers are also added.

As your character performs actions and makes Skill Checks, you will draw cards and place them face up in front of you in the resolution area. Once the current Skill Check is resolved, move all of the cards in the resolution area, into the discard pile face up. Once a Joker is drawn and the turn is resolved (meaning the effects are applied and the Skill Check is resolved), reshuffle the deck by taking all of the cards in the discard pile and the deck and shuffling them together.

For every Skill Check, cards will be drawn until a number card is reached. Number cards are any card with a number on it, (the 2s through the 10s), along with Aces and Jokers. Aces and Jokers count as number cards but have additional rules that will be covered in The Deck. The Red Joker is a critical success with a number value of 14, and the Black Joker is a critical fail with a number value of 0.

The other card type is Face Cards, the Jacks, Queens, and Kings. Face cards can be used to change the suit of a number card and can grant additional benefits to skilled characters. We will cover more of this in later sections.

As characters level up, they will be able to swap cards in their deck, upgrading numbers or adding face cards. Jokers cannot be removed from the deck for any reason.

The Skills

The other defining aspect of a character are their Skills. Their Skills represent the experience they have accumulated throughout their lives. All conflict resolution is handled by using Skills. The value of the card combined with the benefits granted from Skills will determine the degree to which the action succeeds or not.

General Skills

Skills have two types: General Skills and Specific Skills. All characters can use a General Skill unless the setting says otherwise, but Specific Skills can only be used by characters that have experience with them.

General Skills have a governing Potential, which helps tie the Skill to a suit on the cards. When the associated suit is present, the General Skill gets a benefit. When the opposite suits are present, the General Skill gets a penalty. This represents favorable and unfavorable conditions that can occur throughout a story.

Specific Skills

Specific Skills are like General Skills except narrower in scope. Specific Skills are related to a General Skill. This association will be shown on the Character Sheet. The default General Skills and their associated Specific Skills are listed in the section Default Skills.

When a character levels up, they will be able to improve the General Skills by purchasing or improving Specific Skills. Specific Skills are bought with the Skill Points granted each level. If the Specific Skill is already known, a character can improve the Specific Skill.

Example

You have two Skill Points and want to improve your character’s Athletics General Skill.  First, you must spend Skill Points to learn one or advance one Specific Skill.  In the case shown below, you could spend both points to increase your character’s Sprint skill from rank one to rank two, or you could learn both the Climb Specific Skill and Swim Specific Skill. Once the new Skills a learned, you advance your character’s Skill Tree, described in detail in the section about Skill Checks. You advance the General Skill Tree by one for each rank gained in a Skill. So, if you learn both Climb and Swim, gaining rank one in each, you advance the Skill tree by two ranks. If instead you want your character to be better at Swimming, advancing it to rank two from rank one, you advance the General Skill Tree by only one instead.

Skill Checks

A Skill Check is required whenever an outcome is in question. This is done outside of an encounter by drawing one number card. The value of the check is equal to the value of the card number plus the suit modifier plus the Skill modifier. The average difficulty for a check for characters will be between 6 and 9.

Meeting the check value grants a success with a complication while being slightly below grants a failure with a boon.

Card Number + Suit Modifier + Skill Modifier = Check Value

Encounters

An encounter is a scene with stakes for the players.  They will come in a variety of themes and styles like a chase, combat, or exploration.  In any case, at the start of an encounter, you will draw a card to determine initiative with suits playing a bigger role than the number in determining who goes first. Each round, on your turn, draw two number cards from your deck. Using those two cards , choose how your character will act this round, allocating the cards to a weapon, to a maneuver, to magic, or to General utility. Each Character has two attack actions and two Movement actions they can take each turn. How they use these cards in conjunction with their actions is up to the Player and can lead to a plethora of different results. Encounters are covered in detail in the section Encounters.

Combat

By default C22 Systems feature fast, deadly, and tactical combat. Combat is a specific type of encounter.  It is turn based and takes place on a hex grid. Your character will lose Health nearly every time they are in combat as the stresses of battle wear them down. Combat is expected to last between 2 to 4 rounds.

Maneuvers are methods with which characters attack, hoping to disable an enemy or ensure a better hit. These maneuvers are learned through Specific Skills and provide unique options for the characters. Basic maneuvers are always available but when the conditions are just right, the correct card is drawn, a more powerful version of the maneuver can be taken.

Magic in combat is unpredictable in C22 Systems. The two cards drawn at the start of the turn are used to build the spell the character wishes to cast. Both numbers decide the level of success while the suits determines the theme of the spell.  The system is built to encourage creativity from you as you adapt to the theme brought forth. Magic is discussed in detail in the section about Magic and Powers highlighting the options available to magic wielders as they grow.