Draft of my version of Exploration Rules for [various systems] (using a deck of cards)
I'm starting to put together the next campaign I'll be running (after we finish the current Act of our current Vampire chronicle and, if all goes well, my players run some things). After discussions with my players, I decided that I'll adapt some modules I played in AD&D to 5e (because they want to try playing 5e), but I want to bring back some classic things that can make the game more interesting, and one type of rule that I really liked in older versions was the exploration rules. So, I adapted them in my own way, based on a methodology I used in the past in AD&D (and in some other systems, actually).
This set of rules is my version of rules already existing in older systems, so much of what's here is intentionally inspired by things that already exist, a different kind of familiar, actually. The idea behind this set of rules is to increase tension during exploration, facilitate resource management, and increase the narrator's ability to manipulate the environment and its inhabitants in reaction to the players' actions, especially in dungeons, forests, abandoned space stations, caves, ruins, and the like. For this, a standard deck of 54 cards with jokers will be necessary. They are written generically to be compatible with different systems. (I even used the first version of these rules in AD&D, D&D 3.5, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020, CoC, and some others. And there's more beyond what's here, but it's not essential. I'll put it in the comments for those who want to delve deeper, because very long texts scare people away. )
General
Upon entering an exploration scene, the group must determine their Marching Order (the order in which the characters are walking), and time will be counted in Exploration Turns (ETs):
Each ET represents a significant unit of time in which the characters would be cautiously performing actions. The most common time for this unit is 10 minutes, as in AD&D and various OSR systems, this unit can be adapted to different times depending on the system.
At the beginning of an ET, the narrator will describe the scene, the room, the corridor, the surrounding environment, if necessary, and/or changes to it according to the previous actions of the Player Characters.
Each player will determine their Character's Action in that environment, all declared actions will happen simultaneously.
Tests related to the declared actions will be performed, if any, until all declared actions, and their immediate consequences, are resolved. (Usually in Marching Order or Initiative Order if the system has one)
At the end of each Turn, the narrator will draw a card from the deck and place it face up, organizing it into Piles according to its suit. The cards must be arranged in a way that is visible to the players and that makes it possible to see the value of all of them.
At the end of each Period (6 Turns, equivalent to a long period of time, an hour, for example) the narrator will make a Closing with the Pile of cards of the suit of the last card drawn.
Or, when a Joker is drawn, the Narrator will make an extra Closing (without eliminating the one that will be done at the end of the Period) using the Pile with the highest number of cards. In case of a tie, follow this order: Diamonds > Spades > Hearts > Clubs.
Closings are made as follows:
1 - The value of the cards in the Pile to be closed is added.
- Aces = 1
- Numbers = card value
- Royal Family = 10
2 - The sum is compared to the corresponding Random Effects Table.
3 - The cards from this pile are shuffled back into the deck.
4 - The consequences of the Random Effect are played.