cornixt:
Sounds like a good idea to me, keeps it all within the theme and makes it a bit different to most other RPGs.
zobo1942:
Old West… Cards… Poker… Gunfighting… Good idea!
Willmark:
Ok back to this.Think I may have come full circle on this. When I wrote the original rules in 1996 the fantasy game Quest that this was based on a d12. My making a draw of an Ace a auto success in the game I'm left with a range of 2-12, 1 could possibly be represented by the Jokers in the deck.
I've been toying with getting this fully card based. A deck of cards has its own advantages and disadvantages. Namely the fact each suit has 13 cards, creates a bit of an issues when trying to frame it on a range of 1-100... I've worked out the percentage jumps about (7.5 per 4 cards of each suit.) Part I'm debating is assigning a card value to each attribute. Would seem weird to look at Gun Fighting on your sheet and instead of a score it says "Queen"? Or "Jack"? Tentatively I'm putting down 2 through 13...
Willmark
EDIT: may have come up with a way to marry up a range of 1-100 with a deck of card working through it now.
Willmark:
I wrangled with this all weekend and it just doesn’t fit easily. So its back to d100 for the attributes. One benefit is I did come up with a better method using cards for generating starting attributes.
Willmark:
Next step before I change anything else is editing, spelling and proofing. Anyone want to hop on board? :o
Here is the latest version with for use until the monumental task of editing is done.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?qwzbo6snoxofakl
EDIT: of course as soon as I said that I upped Wounds to a maximum of 50, and noticed that attribute modifiers need to be better defined as. They do not reflect where they are used and where they are not.
Willmark:
Ok I simplified the mechanics further and eliminated the issue of attribute modfiers. Fingers crossed I think I have the issues corrected and its not going through with a fine tooth comb and making sure its consistent. Then onto editing and proofing.
Latest version here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?a0jodpzz586jqxp
Willmark:
Ok next milestone I think that the Beta period is drawing to a close with the rules being pretty firm.
What I’ d like to know if there is someone who wants to engage in some editing. Considering the scope I’m debating a number of incentives for someone who might want to undertake this. The person should have a strong understanding of rule mechanics as well as being a good editor. Rather then go through the whole document at one time I purpose engaging in editing one section at a time, then onto the next and so forth till its complete.
As a reward:
1 free copy of the rules once it is bound and printed via lulu (Still debating hardcover or soft).
2. Further incentive… I’m looking to divest some of my older miniatures. I’m willing to part with my entire Dark Elf and Brettonian force. So if your interested we can swing a deal (on a unit by unit basis).
PM me if interested.
Here is the next update to the rules.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/juu52p38301dd7n/Hurled_into_Eternity_7.pdf
Willmark:
Just when I think I’m done… I’m now debating changing this back to alpha. Why you ask?
"Why willmark?"
Glad you asked what if chnage it to it be able to go diceless or near diceless? Looking at it, it may be possible to rank everything from 2-12, wild aces being wild cards. 0-1 would represent no score.
This would be rather ironic as it started out as a d12 based game.
Thoughts?
cornixt:
I think that using just cards would be much better
Willmark:
One snag will be skills. No easy way to randomly determine them via cards so they might have to go to picking.
Talents are easier as their are less and they will still be random.
Willmark:
I’ve come up with a good mechanic for using cards and it flows fast, works for character gen as well as meshing with combat being converted to cards.
Big problem that remains is random determination of skills and other random areas in game. Using dice fits this well. Other areas I’m forcing the use of cards in some sections that doesn’t work. My WIP thought right now is got the Judge to use dice in those sections as needed.
EDIT: I’ve come up with any easy solution for random charts: just multiply by 2, 5 old whatever needed for the chart. Still picking through ideas for skills.
Edit #2: duuhhh Willmark, figured out a way for skills to be done via cards, just use suits for tables like I’ve done previously…
Willmark:
Ok now converted to 99% Card based (the players dont need to use dice, only the Judge now)
Onto looking for artifacts and improving the text.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/nm1vj516q0csbnv/Hurled_into_Eternity_8.pdf
Willmark:
I think I’ve finally reached a point where I’m confident I’ve closed all the loopholes in the rules and the system is sound. I’m really liking the “Wild Card System” and I think its a good solution to having scores range from 0-10. Using a deck of cards this was problematic as 13 cards in a suit was not easy.
Next up is editing section by section and then some more in-depth play testing to check mechanics of the game before moving onto an actual campaign.
Overall of this is the fact that the game can then be “back-ported” to its roots of a fantasy based RPG. In fact that’s what I set out to do in late 1996 with Quest, the d12 progenitor of Hurled into Eternity that never saw the light of day.
Version 2.0 is up there is one small section I just added about when to shuffle and reshuffle the deck, but can wait until the next revision.
So, opened up for comments, questions and criticisms. One caveat, again not edited and I’m surely not the world’s best writing but I work hard at/. In fact I’ve been continually trying to improve the text to make it less terse. When I look at what I wrote regarding Quest 17 years ago I can say I’ve improved by leaps and bounds.
Oh, and here is the work in progress cover, which will do for now.
Willmark:
Some minor updates in this next version, nothing major. Next step is play testing which will commence within the next week or so and the first print for binder purposes only. In other words its not ready for lulu until the rules have been tested and edited.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7a8af92n22hno92/Hurled_into_Eternity_9.pdf
cornixt:
I’ve been poking around with a design for my own deck of cards to have a variety of uses and remembered this game. Then it hit me - you could create a deck specifically for the game that would eliminate the need to look something up in a table. It would like a regular deck except that it would also have words on each card, maybe in a discrete place. So instead of looking up the eight of hearts in the book to see that it represents “severe wound”, you could have “severe wound” written on the card and maybe a brief description of what that means. You’d only be able to fit a few of those kinds of things on a card, so probably only do it for the most common things in the game.
The card design I was working on is not suitable for a wild west game, and I wouldn’t be able to produce anything suitable anyway, but it was just a random idea that I thought might help you if you ever get to a stage where stuff like this would be useful. I know a few places that offer decent prices on single custom decks if you ever feel like just doing it for your own group.
Willmark:
It’s certainly an intriguing thought. Obviously for now while the game is under development it makes sense to keep it on a standard one.
Very close now to play testing and printing it out for proofing.
While that gets underway I’m working now a few supplements which will go much easier. I think my next step is to link it to a larger forum like rpg.net to start getting feedback on it from a wider audience.
Willmark:
Ok I’ve gotten a ton of feedback and there are a lot of holes to patch in terms of improvements/clarifications.
So for those that have not read the rules and why haven’t you? 
here is a dilemma: In the game I’ve come up with a system I call the Wild Card system. Characteristics in the game range from 0-10, there is no 1, because Ace is always high and an auto success. The face cards are “wild” Currently they result in a redraw. Example, Cheyenne Bob the gunfighter jerks his pistol and goes to work firing off three shots. The mechanic to decide whether or not he hits is to draw one card from the deck for each shot and compare against his Gun Fighting characteristic. Equal to or lower results in a hit. A draw of an Ace is an auto hit regardless of the modifiers. Now the dilemma I face is that what to do if the draw for three shots is (by way of example) is: King, King, and Jack. As I have it right now the player would draw another card placing it on top of the face card until he gets a numeric card (2-10). He would repeat this with the other two initially draw face cards until either an ace or a numeric card is pulled.
In practice this goes fast. The objection I’m hearing is that a face card results in neither an advantage or disadvantage. Which is true I suppose if you look at it. So the challenge becomes what to do with face cards when only drawing single cards from the deck per each check.
I should add that cards are a wonderful mechanic because there is also color and suit for variation. Still mulling over those possibilities.
Why this has come up is the Wild Card system is one of the last things I came up with and bolted it on in a retroactive manner as the Core Mechanic. I think alot of the issues that have cropped up in the game will go away once I better flesh this out, thoughts welcome.
EDIT: thoughts I’ve brainstormed thus far revolve around something similar to the card game Uno for the wild effects of a J, Q, and K.
cornixt:
How about each face card counting as +1, added to the next number card.
Willmark:
Interesting what if its:
Jacks +1
Queens+2
Kings+3
?
Willmark:
Further thinking this out:
Wild Card System
2-10 numerical value for an attribute (stays as is).
Jack: +1 to value for a redraw (example: gun fighting score of 7 becomes an 8 for that draw only).
Queen: +2 to value for a redraw (example: gun fighting score of 7 becomes a 9 for that draw only).
King: Kings are wild! What this means yet I’m not sure
Ace: auto success (stays as is)
Jokers (auto failure) advanced rule option. (Stays as is).
Example in combat you can fire three shots. The gun fighters value is a 7 meaning any draw from the deck of 7 or lower is a hit. Draw one card put it face down in front of you. Repeat for the other two shots. If you draw any ace on any= auto hit. A draw of jack: leave the jack where it is and redraw, if its a numeric card compare to the gun fighting skill EXCEPT for that draw only, the value is now an 8 for the range of success. Queen same except increases by 2.
Considerations to test out: If you draw another jack or queen after drawing the first, perhaps they stack? Or it becomes an auto sucess (I like this best). Or on a third queen or jack. Kings- I need to define what Wild is.