Playing Cards

[Tiernan]

Here are my thoughts on playing cards in general.  I'll outline my overall project, paying careful attention to point out that I guarantee absolutely nothing.  This is one of many projects I'd like to do, but whether or not I actually do it is my prerogative.  Please leave any inquiries about when it may be completed to yourself.  I'll get around to it when I get around to it.  Maybe soon, maybe never.  Suggestions, however, are always welcome.

Phase 1:
Getting the 24-card Kruth deck to work as it was originally described.  This deck needs to be "strict", i.e. no duplication / exactly 24 unique cards, to fit the documentation on what the deck is.  The concept of strictness is important because we need to identify and discern what a strict deck is from a hodgepodge of random cards.  My first thought is "Woot, Zalanthan Euchre!".  I'll leave it up to an enterprising player to figure out which are the like suits for picking bowers and write up a help-file on it.  

Phase 2:
Once Kruth decks are strict I can move on to building another style deck that mirrors a typical 52-card poker deck.  I'm still deciding the history and composition of this deck, so feel free to make suggestions on what this new deck of cards should be.  Limitations are 4 suits and 13 ranks.  This deck will also be strict.  Ideal for Zalanthan versions of popular RL games that use 52-card decks.  Mal Krian Hold 'Em anyone?  At this point a large percentage of RL card games can be Zalanthified.

Phase 3:
Creating "a hand of cards" objects.  The general idea would be similar to key-rings, in that a single object would contain 2 or more cards.  Excellent for folding in games where you don't want to show your cards.  Easier to manage instead of "give card dealer" repeatedly.  Some issues to resolve for those crafty sleight of hand folks, for peeking/cheating, and whether or not it should be automatic.  My intention with this object would be to make card management easier and address the issues of cheating outlined elsewhere on this board.

Note:  A limitation of this design is that there is no concept of "going blind", i.e. a hand of cards which are unknown to the player.  This might be one of those concessions that we have to accept.

Phase 4:
Compilation / multiple decks.  Perhaps using the craft command or expanding the shuffle command to take strict deck objects and build a new deck object that is the compilation of the decks.  This type of deck makes no guarantees about the cards within and the responsibility for its contents are on the dealer.  I can see this as ideal for playing a Zalanthan version of Canasta.  As with my suggestion about Euchre, I'll leave it up to an enterprising player to write up a help-file on it.

[Eternal]

Awesome, bringing a whole new level to Zalanthan gambling... after all, it is those who have the least that tend to lose the most.

Lord Templar Hard Nose carefully shuffles a deck of elf-skin kruth cards.

[Hymwen]

Does a normal Kruth deck really have only 24 cards? I would think two or even three of each card. Some of the games are gonna be really lame with just 24 cards.

[Yokunama]

Does a normal Kruth deck really have only 24 cards? I would think two or even three of each card. Some of the games are gonna be really lame with just 24 cards.

I agree.  :cry:

[creeper386]

I'm in huge favor of this, especially if you can have bigger decks.

Like,

Code Select Expand


> shuffle deck deck
You shuffle the two decks together.
>exa deck
This is a deck of cards. 48 total.


Or what not.

[Hymwen]

That would work nicely.

[Dalmeth]

Phase 3:
Creating "a hand of cards" objects.  The general idea would be similar to key-rings, in that a single object would contain 2 or more cards.  Excellent for folding in games where you don't want to show your cards.  Easier to manage instead of "give card dealer" repeatedly.  Some issues to resolve for those crafty sleight of hand folks, for peeking/cheating, and whether or not it should be automatic.  My intention with this object would be to make card management easier and address the issues of cheating outlined elsewhere on this board.

You know, I had an idea about a hand object. Make it capable of easily being peeked by those who aren't proficient.  When they peek, they only see how many cards a person has unless the character is good at peeking.  An addition to this would be to allow someone to show his hand, revealing the specific identity of the cards to all who peek.

So, it'd work out something like :
>grab card card card card

You arrange the cards into a hand.  (the hand is a container object held by the player.)

>peek player's hand

Edit : I don't know if this can be done, but a hand released or given to someone empties its contents into the inventory and disappears.

[Tiernan]

A standard deck of Kruth cards consists of a base of twenty-four cards, repeated in equal proportions.

The main problem with the Kruth decks as previously implemented is that they violated the "repeated in equal proportions" stipulation.  There was no accounting at all for the cards in the deck versus the cards that were dealt and in-play.  This means that the games used with these Kruth decks were all chance and no skill.

The first step in any playing cards project had to be to account for all the cards in the deck, or to implement the concept of strictness as outlined previously.  Once this accountability is in place, the foundation is set to do a lot more with playing cards.

[mansa]

http://www.armageddon.org/general/game-kruth.html

Has anyone gone through this to see if any of these games cannot work now?

[Hymwen]

They may technically work with 24 cards, but imagine playing Tablelands Topple with 4 or 5 players...

[facehugger]

Mr. Timelord.

Your ideas make me happy.

Sincerely,
Facehugger

[Barzalene]

I live for the day I can play bridge and arm simultaneously.

I'll have to recruit oocly for bridge playing family members

[creeper386]

I'd just like for some realistic gambling.

Honestly, I'd prefer the option to have the old decks untill a new system is completely. As I don't think only having 24 cards in a deck is feasible.

And carrying around multiple decks would suck.

[Medena]

I live for the day I can play bridge and arm simultaneously.

I'll have to recruit oocly for bridge playing family members

Oooh! Pick me! I'll be your mom! The blowsy, frizzy-haired woman. She lives to table-talk, wears kitschy little Kruth-card earrings and makes kalan jam sandwiches cut into cute little geometric shapes.


Edited to add:  Sorry for the derail. I got carried away by my enthusiasm for the Kruth card changes.  I think they are awesome.

[Delirium]

Tiernan:

Suggestion to help solve the messiness of having to either get all the cards from the table or give them all to the dealer: have the 'shuffle deck' command work on furniture objects.

'shuffle deck <table>' shuffles in all cards on the selected table.

No cards on the table returns a 'you don't see any cards on <table's sdesc>'.

[EonBlueApocalypse]

Delirium is a smarty.

The first step in any playing cards project had to be to account for all the cards in the deck, or to implement the concept of strictness as outlined previously.

I'm going to make a suggestion realizing that it might sound completely stupid.

Right now, it seems it is coded that object (deck of kruth) creates other objects (kruth cards).  What if, instead, kruth cards together comprised item type deck.

For instance:

a kruth card
a couple kruth cards
a few kruth cards
some kruth cards
many kruth cards
a deck of kruth cards

If there's more than say, 12 or so, the items combine into type deck.  Then, of course, you can arrange them into a hand, etc etc.

I don't know if this is stupid or what, but I also think cards should have to be placed on the table to be dealt.  The dealer has to pick up the deck to shuffle.  If a player wants to cheat, they can slip/palm a card that they bought from their own deck of cards, etc, because cards are individual items.

Edit to add:  12 cards would read as "half a deck of kruth cards" and so on.