The Cards of Cthulhu

The Cards of Cthulhu (PnP Version) is a single player thematic card game for use with a standard deck of playing cards and some six-sided dice. It was developed by Ian Richard for the 24 Hour Contest in November 2012.

Cards are divided into Cultists (numbered cards), Horrors (royal cards), and Planetary Alignments (aces). Each suit represents a different cult trying to summon an Elder God.

Each round of gameplay proceeds in two phases, drawing a card and placing it within its respective cult and engaging in combat with dice. Cultists may be defeated by corresponding numerical combinations of dice. Horrors must be resolved first and require special dice combinations. An additional card is drawn for each Planetary Alignment that comes into play. Defeated cards serve as trophies that may be traded for artifacts and spells that improve the chances of success.

The game ends if five Cultists of any suit come into play at the same time to summon an Elder God or you successfully play all cards in the deck while preventing this from happening.