GameMastery Plot Twist Cards

4.80/5 (based on 12 ratings)

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Ready for a whole new way to roleplay? Draw a Plot Twist Card and guide the adventure in directions limited only by your creativity. Plot Twist Cards open up a new experience of shared storytelling, providing players with ways to suggest new events during an adventure or get help when they need it most. Each of the deck's 51 cards presents a different theme that the GM and players, working together, can weave into the game’s narrative, as well as related rules effects. With Plot Twist Cards, everyone can help tell the story and enjoy being surprised by new and unexpected turns of fortune.

GameMastery Plot Twist Cards add a new storytelling element to roleplaying games, allowing players to bring their own twists to an adventure’s plot. Each card provides a minor story-altering idea along with a few options players can either use as presented or take inspiration from to craft similarly themed suggestions that affect in-game events. Every Plot Twist Card can be interpreted in countless ways, allowing players to suggest minor alterations to a game’s events that a GM might add or adapt however best fits the story’s needs. Such alterations might bring about an added bit of luck to improve the situation for the PCs or up the ante to create even greater challenges—it’s all up to the players and their Game Master!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-262-3


Sample cards. Click to enlarge.

Illustrated by Matt Dixon.

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This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

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PZO3014


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4.80/5 (based on 12 ratings)

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A good way to spice things up a little.

3/5

The premise behind Plot Twist Cards for Pathfinder is that they allow players to influence the story in ways other than what their character directly does. Each card has a theme, a picture to accompany the theme, a flat mechanical effect, and then four plot-related suggestions that could happen. For example, the "Bad News" card shows a picture of a burning building, has the flat mechanical effect of "Target gets a -4 penalty on a single roll", and then has these plot suggestions: "A messenger brings bad news", "An ally faces peril or death", "A favorite refuge is destroyed", and "Something important is stolen." Players can use the card either for the flat mechanical effect or for one of the story suggestions; the latter use requires GM interpretation and decision-making, and the instructions are quite clear that the GM should feel free to modify the suggestion (or even refuse it) as necessary for the story. The deck comes with 51 different plot twist cards, two cards of rules, a card with the Open Gaming License, and a card that's an advertisement for other products.

I've been using the Plot Twist Cards for about 20 sessions while running an adventure path. Instead of giving one to a player every time their PC levels up (as per the instruction card), I've been more cautious and handed out one to every player at the beginning of each chapter of the AP (and drawing one myself to use against them!), with unused cards going back in the deck. My players have used the cards to do some fun things, like have the "Broken" card cause the floor of an abandoned building to crack open, the "Sanity Check" card to have a tentacled water monster appear in the river, etc. In my limited experience, PCs don't use the flat mechanical bonuses and instead use the plot suggestions, saving the cards for when they're needed in an important fight and centering their suggestions on things that can hamper the enemies or help their allies. On the whole, I'm of mixed feelings about them. I really like the surprising twists that the card facilitates and it's great for the players to have a little something hidden away for a rainy day. On the other hand, it's often challenging as a GM to interpret the card and the player's suggested twist in a way that respects the integrity of the concept while also being careful not to trivialize an important encounter. I think I would suggest the cards are good for a group that is a little easy-going and understands the role of GM discretion, but they'd be a bad idea for a very strict "Rules as Written" group.


My Group Loves These Cards!

5/5

My players and I love the plot twist cards. At the beginning of each session, I give all of the players a card to play at will asking them not to show the card to me or anyone else in the group until played. In last week's game, right before they were about to enter a manor, my wife plays the "Path Least Traveled" card. So I have her discover a secret door leading to a stairway to some catacombs under the house. Another player immediately plays the "Fleeting Glimpse" card. He hears some ghouls that would have been in the next room waiting for the unsuspecting party members. My last player says, "Ah, what the heck." He plays the "Sanity Check" card and a tentacle comes out of the ground destroys the ghouls and all hell breaks loose…

These cards are a lot of fun. If you are a GM who is well prepared but looking for something to shake things up with some random happenings you should try them out. They may require a little bit of quick thinking and on the fly rulings, but they have so far always been the highlight of our game. We have been using them for a few weeks now.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I used to play the old MasterBook system and will never forget the time when a player used the Betrayal card to screw over another player, while the house was burning down thanks to the Disaster card.

So I recently bought the Plot Twist cards and like the fact that some of them have negative consequences. However, I can't really see the players using them against themselves if they're in their hands. The risk of these cards is that the plot twists will always be twisting in the players' favor if they're only used by players.

What do you think of a rule that if you play a detrimental card during a fight or other pivotal moment, the Challenge Rating is increased? That gives the players a measure of control over the difficulty of some encounters, and can correspondingly receive a reward (XP). Another possible reward would be an extra draw (or two) from the deck.

I'm also wondering about using them as a random encounter mechanic, or to add an element of randomness to basic encounters. Has anyone out there used them as such?

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