It's Time to D-D-D-D Draw Cards! (Perfect Draw IC)

I Summon My Interest Check Thread in Attack Mode
When this thread enters the forum, I can tell you about Perfect Draw,a Powered by the Apocalypse RPG released last year by Double Summon games. It's an RPG inspired by card battle Shonen anime, chief among them Yu Gi Oh! As such, Perfect Draw's World seems at first like the modern world we're all familiar with, but under the surface it's brimming with cults, mad science, conspiracies, wierd powers, supernatural beings, and aliens. All of these elements are tied together by their fixation on a game from antiquity. Rediscovered in a temple in Athens Greece, this ruleset was released into the world as an open source document - then multiple companies started churning out product for it which has lead to a surge in global popularity (and put kids who spend their lunch money at card shops in dangerous proximity to all the weirdness mentioned before).

So, what differentiates Perfect Draw from a superhero game with a quirky power constraint? I've always said that good PbtA games mechanically reinforce the genre they seek to emulate. Perfect Draw does so by having players design a small deck of cards that they'll play for battle encounters. They start at about four cards that are supported by replayable "staples", with quick-play reactions handled via die rolls. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper CCG without regular opportunities to expand and trim you deck - and there are plenty of example cards in the book to help you with your own designs or just to refluff for your own use.

Also, if you'll indulge me a bit of editorializing, it has some of my favorite pbta playbooks out there. I put this game up there with Masks: The New Generation, which is good because CCG Anime fans have like ... one other option that I'm aware of.

You can buy it here: https://noorasphere.itch.io/perfect-draw-ttrpg
And, if you're like me and enjoy the wierd stuff that's hard to justify in a core book;
The Booster Pack is here: https://noorasphere.itch.io/the-booster-pack-a-perfect-draw-expansionDon't miss your timing!
I'm planning to run the game at a fairly measured pace of about 3 - 5 posts a week. That said, when card games happen, I'm going to be posting deadlines for the return post. Given the potential for reaction play, I want to keep things moving when they're at their most mechanically intensive. Given that card games are generally 1 on 1, and there isn't much inter-player strategizing to be had, I think that's achievable.

It's your move!
My intention is to leave this IC thread up for a week; I figure that'll give people enough time to stumble across the thread, flip through the book, and decide if it excites them as much as it does me.

If I can get 3 players, that'll be enough for me to move forward. If I get more than five ... well, I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I'll probably have to make some cuts. This won't be a first-come-first-served kind of deal, so take your shot!

I'm not asking a whole lot just yet. Just state your interest, the playbook(s) that most have your interest, and your favorite card in gaming. No wrong answers; UNO's Reverse Card is as valid as the Jace the Mindsculptor or Red Eyes Black Dragon.Artwork shamelessly borrowed from Fábio Fontes and his brilliant work for Millennium Blades.

Consider me interested! The Resolved, the Glowing and the Rogue playbooks caught my eye. My favorite card is Swords of Revealing Light.

Definitely still interested. (Though if theres lot of interest I'l step back as I've got quite a few games on.

The prodigy and turncoat are archetypes I tend to enjoy, but Ally could also be fun and different for me. Haven't had a chance to skim the expansion yet.

Edit: Now have, Mentor and Facade both seem fun.

Favourite card is a tough one. I was very basic when younger and ran a blue eyes deck. May more recent dabbling is MTG where I am fond of the various Elsbeth's, but that is partially as it was the first planeswalker I pulled.

It occurs to me that if I'm asking it of others, I should supply my own:

Perfect Machine King


I wouldn't claim to have ever been good at CCG's, but there were a few years while Duel Monsters was airing that I was in a kitchen table tier group of like eight to twelve people. I just got my first job, so I was buying boosters for myself and my little brother who was still in school, so that we could enjoy this thing together. Throughout, my gimmick was Machines - I've always been a mecha fan and I was seduced by the power of Limiter Removal early on. So, I ran Machine King, though I always felt like his art was kinda dumpy. So, people are graduating and moving on with their lives, and with this bitter-sweet feeling we decide to hold one final event. As a parting gift, the main organizer (who was a regular at locals) hands me this Perfect Machine King, because he knows it would always have a home with me.

And it always has. My old deck sits in a clear acrylic box, with this guy at the top of it. The meta long ago left this guy behind, but when Master Duel came out he was the guiding star by which I navigated 18 years of new cards and strategies. Ancient Gear, Desktop Bots, Machina, Geargia, even a doomed Formula Athletes deck. One of these days, I'll get him beyond Gold Rank.

I'm definitely interested!

As for Playbooks, the Glowing and the Prodigy caught my eye. Possibly Turncoat as well, but I'm leaning most towards Glowing, I think.

Now, favorite card... that's difficult.I remember the last time I was really into Yugioh, I liked Dark Diviner a lot. I've always been really into alternate win conditions and so I built myself a Milling Deck, with this one as my Ace. I'm sure it was by no means competitively viable, but it was good enough to duel my friend.Honorable Mentions also go to Exodia (Alternate win conditions again), and Arcana Force XXI: The World (I love the idea of Arcana Force cards, but they're just not very good. I tried to build a deck around The World once, but it's just impossible to make viable)

I'm vaguely interested in the game, but I logistically cannot buy the book and you also already have three players, so I wanted to ask if maybe I can sneak in as a spectator? :3 As in, an in-game spectator! A fan who shows up occasionally to be a nerd or cheer up on the duelists? Or maybe some other sort of a supportive role? So there'll no need to wait on my posts, they'd just extra flair.

It's fine if not though, just thought I'd ask! :D

(Also my favourite card is Anointed Procession from MTG; the physical one I have was one of the first MTG cards I ever owned, and it has sentimental value attached. Plus it's just good for my many token decks. Bant gotta Bant. XD)

Not necessarily! I could make an easy argument for playing Dartz as The Destined.
Hmn ... it's an interesting angle, and I can see a few ways that I could integrate it. I'd feel bad about effectively locking you out of any mechanical interaction though. Let me chew on it a little bit.

I'm sympathetic to a light wallet though, particularly when the interest is vague. Let's see if we can't navigate that a bit. The quick-play demo kit is here. Why don't you page through it, see if you like what's on offer. Maybe we can refluff a pre-gen, or I can help you get a character together some other way if none of them appeal. There are a couple of ways I could think to build the concept you already have.

We are Passed the Post, so it looks like this is happening. There's still time for people to express interest, but I'm going to start working on the backend stuff.

I once joined a Lancer game as a non-pilot, so some people don't mind being locked out of the mechanical stuff 😆
Up to Flying of course

To be completely transparent, it's not a light wallet - it is a logistical impossibility, since all of my regional banks are banned from most international payment systems right now. I'd happily buy it if I could, but itch.io only has systems which don't work for me, and getting a card from another country is costly and complicated. :'D

I'm not particularly concerned about not participating mechanically, I can vibe with just writing (spinach can attest, hehe)! It will probably be hard for me to play without the rules anyway, even if we do manage to go through character creation. And I do kinda like the idea of being a cheerleader... XD But I can certainly look at the demo kit too!

Took a stab at building a character sheet for the system. If anyone's got some insight on how to improve it, I'm open to critique - I'm still pretty inexperienced with Gamers Plane's BBCode.

Looks like you don't need much help building a sheet after all, Cel!

I just kinda Frankensteined it together from the many examples in the character sheet thread. Couldn't tell you how many times I broke it and had to figure out where my syntax had failed, ha ha.

I think I've figured out Gamers Plane's card decks, but we'll see when in the game itself goes up.

I'm interested in joining this game with the Idealist playbook.

My favorite card is Yata-Garasu

Hokay, and with that, the deadline has been reached and the player count is full! I've sent out invitations to everyone, and we can start getting this game moving.