Encouraged by folks online and offline, I'll be posting in September about introducing different subsystems in games. The first two posts will be about using playing cards for random encounters and magic items.

To better explain how these subsystems work, I'll use the Microlite20, The Black Hack, and Mini-Six games. M20 is roughly newish versions of D&D, The Black Hack feels a bit like older versions of D&D, and Mini-Six is non D&D.

If you know of a mini d% system or some other small (in size) game, let me know. I'm happy to branch out of D&D-ish games.

    <img class="alignnone" src="https://www.sycarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/spelljammer.png" alt="" />

I enjoyed the months of sessions my high school group played. It seems that my efforts to play something similar always end up either too serious or too goofy. (If you make it to the end, I ask for ideas to combine both ideas.)

For example, I generate competition for The Arcane with two other Advanced Aliens. That leads to competition and trade wars, which is all quite interesting. However, once we talk about warfare, the gnomes stop using the giant hamsters and use clockwork engines, the elves use other people's ships because their living ships take years to repair, and everyone is sending expeditions to other spheres in search of technology/magic/freedom from the tetrarchy of advanced aliens.

All of that sounds good to me on paper, but them the whimsical parts go out the window for the pragmatic reality of intrasphere warfare. Humans end up being the cheapest and best method to fight a war.

So I say, no competition for the Arcane. We'll add some other shapes for spelljamming ships and throw in some other races. Add in some Kenku with bird-shaped ships, then an ursine race with ships that look like tardigrades, and some alternate humans with ships that look like paper airplanes.

Of course, I focus too much on the paper airplanes and the new races. After zillions of paper airplanes, I don't have that much playable. And when I do want to run it, it's really really goofy. (I do the voice of all the paper airplane aliens as the Boomerang Fish guy from the Muppet Show.

I can fix the too goofy part (summon self-control, level 5 Arcane spell), but I also want the alternatives to the Arcane.

Any ideas?

    I love RPG mechanics so much, I should do a bunch of posts about them.

I don't mean so much how they work with calculations, but about how to make different mechanics work in different games.

For example, using playing cards for subsystems like initiative, magic items, or random monster encounters. (On the last one, the main reason is that you won't get something duplicated too many times.)