The Game System
Nevermore: Tales of Gothic America uses a unique card system that can be played using a standard deck of playing cards. Protagonists (or player characters) have numerical ratings (2 to Ace) in four different Qualities that relate to card suits. During play, you draw a number of cards equal to the level of skill (1 to 5) that pertains to their action. Each card with a numerical value equal to or less than the appropriate Quality or of the same suit—or better yet, both—is a success! The narrator sets the Risk level (1 to 5) which is the number of successes you need.
In keeping with the gothic setting, Nevermore: Tales of Gothic America uses a unique card system that can be played using a standard deck of playing cards or, if you prefer, a tarot deck. Protagonists (or player characters) have numerical ratings in four different Attributes that relate to card suits (effectively 2 to 13). Each player always has two cards in their hand and then gets to draw additional cards based on the rank of the skill used for the task at hand (usually one to three). The player then tries to play cards with a numerical value equal to or less than the appropriate Attribute or of the same suit—or better yet, both!
Other attributes such as Fortune and Grit allow a player to draw additional cards or otherwise influence the outcome of a test. Protagonists begin with a standard amount of Grit that can be spent to avoid taking damage and draw additional cards. Fortune is gained during the course of a story when a player plays a card that that both matches their suit and is of a number equal to or lower than their Attribute and can be used to earn extra successes, reduce the time of an action, take additional actions, or power magical Gifts. But be careful because every time you spend Fortune, the Narrator’s Doom Pool grows. The Narrator can use Doom to benefit entities of an aethyros in much the same way protagonists. And if this pool increases too quickly, your doom may fall upon you.