Custom playing cards/ Fantasy card games

The Game Room
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I realize I’m outing myself as a geek amongst geeks with this thread, but…

I’m involved with a fantasy-based larp (live action role-playing game). We pride ourselves on having an immersive atmosphere, but one thing that’s always bugged us is that, durring downtime, our players bust out the cards and play… Texas Hold-'em.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Texas Hold-'em, but it’s so glaringly out-of-period that it drives us up a wall. So, for this comming year, we’re trying to encourage our players to pick up some more “fantasy” card games. We found one we like, and we’d like to introduce to our players, but it uses a custom deck and printing on cardstock just doesn’t have the same feel (or, I suspect, durability) as real playing cards.

So, my questions are twofold - does anyone know anywhere (store or website) where I can get a custom playing card deck printed at a reasonable price, and does anyone know of any good, easy-to-learn, fast-playing card games that will feel more fantasy?

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  1. No, I don’t know about that, but I do know you can buy blank-faced playing cards. I picked a deck up at a hobby store in Freeport, Maine on vacation once. You should be able to find them on E-Bay or elsewhere. Then, you can do what you like with those cards.

  2. Hmmm…let me think about this one. I’m assuming you’re looking for a game that several players (probably more than four) can be involved in at once. That cuts out a lot of games that would fit the bill, because there aren’t a whole lot of classic, fast-playing games for more than four.

I’m thinking Eleusis would be a good choice. Although it’s not as fast as Hold’em, there’s definitely an element of fantasy in the game. It almost plays like a role-playing game, with the “oracle” standing in as DM, and it’s certainly a game with plenty of strategy and a bit of mind-reading. I’d urge you to give it a shot.

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Thanks - I’ll have to look for those blank cards next time I’m at the hobby store. Shouldn’t be too hard to draw stuff (or print stuff) on them.

If you’ve got a good game that takes fewer people, great! We’ve got a small holdout for Euchre, so I know we’ve got players who play with fewer people. Eleusis looks interesting, I’ll have to try it out with a few people and see how it works out.

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Lots of game prototypers on boardgamegeek.com use artscow
http://www.artscow.com/cards-stationery

Brian

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http://www.thegamecrafter.com/ is a suprisingly inexpensive site that lets you get professionally printed, completely custom cards.

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Moved Cafe Society --> The Game Room.

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Ugh – scooped by JSexton. If you go the Game Crafter route, please post back and tell us how it worked out.

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Thanks for the responses, guys!

Looks likes it would cost about $10/ deck on Game Crafter - I’ve certainly spent more to get less in a toy!

CaveMike - I think I’m going to get my art together tonight, and work out an order tomorow. If all goes according to plan, I’ll let you know next week!

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Awesome. I think with Game Crafter you can also make your cards available for sale to us too!

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OK, a few more games from other countries. All seem to fit the fantasy mold in one way or another.

2-player suggestions:

Durak for two. Classic Russian attack-and-defense game.

GOPS. Depending how you look at it, either the purest strategy game, or the purest luck game.

4-player suggestions:

Zheng Shangyou. “Swimming Upstream” in Chinese. Winner is the King, Loser is the Asshole. Awesome game, in any language.

Le Jeu de Tarot. Nope, not telling fortunes: an honest, sly card game from France, played with a tarot deck. My friends and I were crazy for this game at Leeds.

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Or, you know, there’s Three Dragon Ante, which is a realized fictional card game from Dungeons and Dragons with its own deck…