Goblin Squad Member. Adventure Path Charter Subscriber. Pathfinder Society GM. 258 posts. 1 review. No lists. No wishlists. 10 Organized Play characters.
The concept is great, the artwork is awesome, but the execution of the concept is flawed, at least based on my players’ reactions. Whenever I pull out one of the ‘disembodied’ face cards (i.e. with the arms and/or torso removed) the reaction is sniggers and severed head comments – demonstrating the cards are taking the players out of the game, rather than bringing them deeper into it.
Perhaps this design decision was made to emphasize a crisp distinction between the card background and the artful border, or maybe it was to draw focus towards each NPC’s face. If this is the case though, I think it’s too rigid or literal an interpretation of ‘face cards’. Where full body portraits exist, they’re very expressive. They help to reveal more about each NPC. I’d like to see more of them on the cards, not less.
Because of my players’ reactions, I’m selective about which cards I share with them. As a result, I end up formatting and printing portraits of many NPCs myself – a step I was hoping the face cards would eliminate from my game prep. I’d love to rate these higher, but the two star review is an honest assessment of the actual utility these cards provide to my game in their current format.
Pathfinder Society GM. 258 posts. 1 review. No lists. No wishlists. 10 Organized Play characters. 
