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[SealyStar]

Welcome to the first (that I know of) Draw to Dodge game. Like a standard RtD, it utilizes random values to determine the success of a player's actions. Unlike a standard RtD, it uses playing cards rather than dice for this randomness. And what better journey to be determined by random cards than a trip from Flagstaff to Las Vegas along The Road Formerly Known As Route 66?

Spoiler: Rules (click to show/hide)

1. Specification of the Deck
This game uses a single full 52-card deck of French-suit player cards, plus two jokers.

2. Outcomes
Numbers 2-10 represent varying levels of success:
≤3: Epic failure
4-5: Serious failure
6-7: Failure
≥8: Success

Faces and Aces have special rules:
The suicide and ax murderer kings (K♥ and K♦) and one-eyed jacks (J♠ and J♥) represent "Pyrrhic victories" or "overshots"; they signify a success with a downside.
All other face cards represent major success.
Aces signify success in an unexpected, but not negative, manner. Act of God sort of things.
Jokers signify failure in an unanticipated or bizarre manner. Like negative aces.

3. Special Rules
The call is a special action that can be performed on any turn. To perform this, simply post "Call (Red/Black)". If the color called matches that of the card, numerical cards will receive a +2 and overshot face cards will be treated as major successes. If the color does not match that of the card, numerical cards will be given a -2 and all kings and jacks will be treated as overshots.

Every player also has a strong suit, which grants them a natural +1 to all numerical rolls matching that suit.

Spoiler: Backstory (click to show/hide)

At some point it occurred to you that it would be a good idea to go to Las Vegas and lose all your money on all those things your mother told you to never do. So, naturally, instead of taking a plane to Vegas you somehow wound up in Flagstaff, Arizona. With your group of fellow gambling addicts, your goal is to drive 250 miles through the baking desert to Sin City. But what perils will you face along the way?

Spoiler: Gameplay (click to show/hide)

1. Your Car
Predictably, you will be driving the route from Flagstaff to Vegas. Because you are either a middle-class white-collar worker going through a midlife crisis or kind of poor already, you will start in your choice of:
1. A reliable pickup. 15 mpg. Resistant to damage. 75% speed.
2. An old sedan. 20 mpg. Normal damage. 100% speed.
3. A midlife crisis sports car. 15 mpg. Vulnerable to damage. 150% speed.

2. Driving
Every turn, a card will be drawn to determine how far you've made it. Aces and face cards all count as major successes for this.

Epic failure: 5 miles
Serious failure: 6 miles
Failure: 7 miles
Success: 8 miles
Major success: 10 miles.

Walking (see below): .5 miles (jeez, you can walk fast)

These can be modified by certain actions, events, etc. that occur over the course of your travels, and by the speed of your vehicle.

3. Gasoline and Car Status
Your car is neither invincible nor capable of running forever. It requires gasoline and can be damaged over the course of your travels. Damages incurred will gradually affect your speed and possibly ability to respond to encounters. Sometimes your car may be totaled or simply take too much wear to drive, in which case you attempt to find another car, or just walk until you find one. Gasoline is based on the above MPGs. Also, all the crummy cars in this universe have 5-gallon gas tanks because the world hates you. Just thought I'd point that out.

4. Encounters
If this was just a board game based on drawing cards, it wouldn't be much fun, now would it? So the GM has card-based tables of random encounters which they will consult. Every turn they will draw two cards to tell you what is on the road ahead. While the actual encounter tables will be kept secret, they are categorized by suit as locations (♣), events (♦), items (♠), and people (♥).

This is the core of the gameplay. The actual driving is just a natural progression to follow. Your posted actions every turn, for which cards are drawn, will involve dealing with these encounters.

5. Items and Money
You can collect, use, and lose various items and cash as you travel along the road. Cash can be spent in certain situations to purchase various things, obviously. You start with no items and $200 in cash.

6. This Is Not a Race
Your goal is not to get to Vegas first. Your goal is to get to Vegas alive and in as good shape as possible.

Spoiler: Application (click to show/hide)

Player Name: [Your username]
Name: [Character name]
Background: [1-2 sentences about why your character is going to Vegas]
Strong Suit: [See above]
Starting Car: [See above]

Spoiler: Current Players (click to show/hide)

Mastahcheese - Cromwell Jackson [♣]
GreatWyrmGold - Fortuna Vermogen [♠]
DarkArtemisFowl - Raphael Dephios [♣]
scapheap - Clair Green [♦]
flabort - Roger MacCurren [♥]
Prose_Piranha - James Bradford [♥]

Have fun, and good luck!

[mastahcheese]

This looks awesome.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Player Name: Mastahcheese
Name: Cromwell Jackson
Background: Cromwell is headed to Vegas, under a bet that he wouldn't be able to make it and back. And as long as he's on a bet, he'd might as well do some gambling. He lives for the excitement, and the drive to win.
Strong Suit: The Club
Starting Car: Sports car, because I like to live dangerously.

[freeformschooler]

Oh, hey, that sounds pretty-

No, wait, you meant cards. Carry on.

[GreatWyrmGold]

In. Now, what character should I use...

[GreatWyrmGold]

Spoiler: Fortuna Vermogen (click to show/hide)

Background: A chronically unlucky girl. She just packed up pretty much all she has left after losing her job, her savings, and her family, all in one week. She's hoping to cash in the good karma all this bad luck has built up...maybe someone should explain how karma works to her?
Strong Suit: Spades
Car: Sedan

[DarkArtemisFowl]

Spoiler: Raphael Dephios (click to show/hide)

Player Name: DarkArtemisFowl
Name: Raphael Dephios
Background: He just wants to have fun, y'know? Away from the Guardians and all that.
Strong Suit: Clubs
Starting Car: A reliable Pickup. Always. The pickup.

[SealyStar]

Everyone so far has been added to the OP. How many should I count on before I begin?

[totallynotabump]

[GreatWyrmGold]

Ideally, the group would be one of each suit...but we have two clubs, so that isn't happening.

[SealyStar]

Ideally, the group would be one of each suit...but we have two clubs, so that isn't happening.

I also want a fair number, because the road-travelling element means there is limited room for new joiners once I start.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Hitchhikers.


And...are we starting in one car or many?

[SealyStar]

Hitchhikers.


And...are we starting in one car or many?

Many. That's why I have you request which car you want.

You will start as a convoy, and you can try to keep it that way. Just be careful. Or you can pick up more people (NPCs and stranded players) to go with you.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Well, new convoy members just make it all the easier to introduce new players.

[SealyStar]

I have noticed a lack of apparent interest in this game. I have also come to the conclusion that there is some error on my part responsible for this. By utilizing methodical practices, I have come up with three main hypotheses as to what that error may be.

Is the problem the overcomplexity of the game? There seems to be a moderately strong negative correlation (based on completely anecdotal evidence) between complexity and number of people interested, but there are plenty of exceptions to the trend (my own Coherence Length borders on rudimentary full RPG system, and it's wrangled 11 people). If this is a valid reason, I'm curious whether it's the card mechanics or the specific gameplay that more people think is too complex.

Or is it the card system to begin with? I figured it would actually increase interest, just because it's a novel gimmick. But maybe I'm wrong, and it's either too similar to get attention or too different to be accepted by most people.

My last hypothesis, because it seems the least probable, is that the setting is unappealing. This seems unlikely, since RtDs are generally successful independence of their bizarre premises/settings. But maybe the whole trip to Vegas thing is either too idiosyncratic or too cliche for some.

If there are specific beefs to be had, I will hear them now. If the first hypothesis seems most likely, I am willing to simplify the rules to correct the situation. I refuse to back down on the second - the card gimmick is the centerpiece of the game. If the third hypothesis explains it best, I will just make a new game using the card system in a different setting.

[DarkArtemisFowl]

I'm fine with it all. Just get like one or two more players and we can start.
But unsuccessful management per GM's part is to be cautioned on. Just make sure you check in regularly so no one forgets the game.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Some games just randomly don't get a lot of attention. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the idea of replacing the RtD system turns some folks off. You have to remember, though, that games like ER, LD, Perplexicon*, and YAFB, with dozens of players, are in the extreme minority. Some games died without getting a single player!

*We need an abbreviation for this.