Sycarion Diversions

Home of the Odd Duk

Page 212 of 213

Mavinian Deck of Cards

For the definition of a Mavinian Deck of Cards, consult the Encyclopedia Hesberica here. In short, a Mavinian Deck is a five-suited deck of cards with twelve ranks in each suit. The top card is the Merchant. The next set of cards range from one to ten. The lowest card is the Servant card.

A group of people known as the Mavinian Traders use these cards for amusement as well as communication in their own language. Each deck is hand-crafted, usually by the person using a given deck. Many are crudely made with whatever material is at hand, but a few are ornately made with the Merchant and Servants cards drawn with faces.

On the downloads page you can download pdfs and an all-in-one zip file. Individual OpenOffice Draw files will be posted soon. These example files do not represent an ornate deck. Instead they will serve as a prototype deck for playtesting.

These cards are very close to Las Vegas poker card standards - 2.35" wide and 3.25" long. The corners are rounded with a 1/4" radius.

Dice Poker – Draft

Requires: 1 standard deck of 52 playing cards and three dice for each player.

Each player rolls the dice at the beginning of hand and leaves them visible to all players. A round of betting begins.
Then each player is dealt three cards and another round of betting continues. This can be done one time after all three cards are dealt or one at a time after each card is dealt.

The dice are used either as face value for extra cards (sixes, fives, fours, threes, twos, ones). A player may also combine two or three dice to generate a higher value card. Face card values are: 14 = Ace, 13 = King, 12 = Queen, 11 = Jack.

For example, if a player rolls three sixes, he may opt to use them as three cards (three sixes) or two cards (a King and a six). If a character rolls 6,5,3, he may opt to use them as three cards (a six, a five, a three), two cards (Queen and three, eight and six, nine and five) or as one card (Ace).

Note: Ones as lower than twos and ones are not Aces. It is therefore possible to have a pair of ones.

This, of course, makes six of a kind sixes the highest hand.
The hand rankings are as follows: (lowest to highest)

  • High card - six different cards - no combination of dice and cards permit any higher hand.
  • One pair - same as traditional poker.
  • Bobtail - Four Card Straight that does not start with a one or an Ace. There are no wrap-around straights allowed.
  • Two Pair - same as traditional poker.
  • Three of a Kind (Barrel) - same as traditional poker.
  • Three Pair - Just what it sounds like
  • Odds or Evens - five or six cards in alternate sequence like A, Q, 10, 8, 6 or J, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1
  • Full house - same as traditional poker.
  • Straight - Five card straight, same as traditional poker. No wrap-around straights are allowed.
  • Four of a Kind - Same as in normal poker
  • Longtom - A 'Four of a Kind' plus a 'Pair'
  • Double Barrel - Two barrels (two sets of 'Three of a Kind')
  • Five of a Kind - same as traditional poker.
  • Major Straight - six card straight
  • Six of a Kind - just what it says

There are no flushes in Dice Poker, the dice are not wild, they are their own suit called by various names (half-suit, monkey suit, crazy suit, etc) but usually referred to as Dice. Referring to values used to create hands, you would say that you have an Ace of Dice or a two of dice.

Work on Lenga

Working on Lenga, I am going through the various sections of the Action! System one by one adding things where they belong in order to facilitate the use of magic. The work thus far is:

L01 - Basics:

  • Added mention of the Paranormal (PARA) Group of attributes.
  • Still need to add definition for Lenga and explain that magical terms include the lenga word for that term. The use of Lenga in playing is entirely optional.

L02 - Attributes:

  • Added descriptions of the PARA Group of attributes
  • Changed the STR table to reflect recomputed dead lift numbers.
  • Created approx IQs for various INT scores.
  • Added new Derived Attribure: Mana
  • Changed formula to determine MOV and changed example. The old example allowed Swingin' Sam to win the world record in the 100m Dash.

L03 - Traits:

  • Created new Advantages - Mage(Echewe) and Sorcerer(Surgura) that grant characters the ability to cast spells.
  • Created new Disadvantages - Night Sorcerer (Asoka Surgura) and Slow Mana Flow (mtororoke).
  • Need to add new advantages/disadvantages pertaining enhancing magic.
  • Need to add the ritual magic advantage - doesn't have levels like Mage/Sorcerer

L04 - Skills:

  • Added Skill Groups for each of the five elemental forces.  Each Skill Group automatically comes with Bolt, Blast, Wall/Shield, and CounterMagic skills.
  • Need to add Skill Groups appropriate for setting.
  • Need to add Skill Groups for Divination and Ritual Magic.

L17 - Magic described:

  • Magic defined.
  • CounterMagic defined.
  • Five elemental forces explained
  • Dueling explained
  • Need to finish translating OGL spells to this system.
  • Need to create more Water based spells.

LAA - Appendix A: Extended Attribute Tables

  • Attributes generated to 120 for each score with examples if applicable.
  • Removed Mega Damage category (made obsolete)

LAE - Appendix E: Divinations and Tokens

  • Examples of various divinations and tokens given.
  • Names of spellcasters using a specific token/divination technique will be provided in English and Lenga.
« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Sycarion Diversions

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑