Review: Scenes of Chance

I just received my shipment of Scenes of Chance from Twizz Entertainment via Kickstarter.

This system-neutral supplement basically consists of a deck of cards, where each card is about twice the size of a traditional playing card. Each card has several icons printed on it. I choose a card with an appropriate scene (say, an underground cavern) and reference the icons. Each of the icons corresponds to a reference card with 20 options. Either roll a d20 or pick something that catches my interest, then repeat for each icon on the card. All the cards have at least two versions with different icons except the ship. I chalk that one up to a simple packaging error, but I didn’t mind because two of the cards have iconless versions and of course nothing prevents me from deciding on my own which reference cards to use.

As an example, if I use a card for an underground cavern card that closely resembles how I envision the Underdark, there are icons for Cave, Mountain, and Oddity. When I roll d20 on each of them, this time I get:

Cave: A puzzle of fallen rubble blocks the travelers’ way
Mountain: A hibernating Yeti camouflaged in the snow is startled awake
Oddity: The mad ranting of a thousand voices blows in the wind

In the case of Mountain, I will probably modify the monster slightly to fit my campaign. Maybe I’ll use a Fomorian instead of the Yeti. Rule 0 applies everywhere!

I really love the paintings on the cards. Many have eye-catching little details, like the cave under the island castle or the fossil in one of the caves. The construction feels sturdy and professional; these cards should last a long time.

Twizz Entertainment did a fine job with this and I look forward to seeing what happens with their next project, a collectible card game called Summoners.