Reconstruction Wicked Grace - The Card Deck
Alright. As I wrote on Monday, I decided that I will put the fact that I hyperfixated on the history of card games for two years in my teens to a good use and try to reconstruct the rules of Wicked Grace from the little information we have been given in the Dragon Age games. From all I know, we do never see the actual cards, but from the context of dialogue about the cards, we do have some knowledge.
I will link to this nice write up by @carabas from almost exactly 8 years ago, as this was my main reference for this.
And mind you, I will put this up in two parts, with the other part coming tomorrow, because I think before we can reconstruct the rules, we first need to analytically construct what the full deck looks like. And I think we do get enough information to do just that. Let me explain!
We know a total of 21 cards in this game, and we know that the cards come seemingly in four “colors”/suits: Serpents, Songs, Angels, Knights. (I am still super confused by the Angels, because from all we know there is no angel mythology in this world, but whatever... It would make so much more sense if it was Spirit or something.) With some context it does seem that some people call those suits by other names. There might be a good chance that some people refer to serpents as drakes at the very least.
However, I will focus on one thing that we know: There are the suits in this game, but there are also themes. Rather than the cards having numbers, they seem to be put into some sort of thematic content. And I think that is the most important information we need for understanding what the full deck looks like. After all, we can already see that other than with a normal Skat or Poker deck, there are no numbered cards. Which makes me think, that this game mixes actually two influences: Yes, there is clearly some influence from Poker in here, but I also see that I see some Hanafuda in there, as Hanafuda also has those themed cards. For a quick reference: Hanafuda has 12 suits (one for each month) with 4 cards each. In each suit two cards are just normal “landscapes”, but the other two cards are special and can be grouped into a variety of groups. Flags. Animals. Signs. And those also can be grouped together. And I think something like that also has influenced Wicked Grace.
So, let us look at the cards we know. I have been so free to group them together with colors:
We can see some themes in there. Positive feelings. Negative feelings. There are two things that double – which makes me think those will show up in each set. So, let me sort this out a bit more.
So, we know there is an Angel of Temerity and a Song of Temerity, just as we know that there is a Knight of Mercy, and a Song of Mercy. From this I am going to conclude that those two “themes” are going to be in every single suit. Meaning: There is going to be a Serpent of Temerity and a Knight of Temerity, just as there is gonna be a Serpent and an Angel of Mercy.
Now, given how much of the worldbuilding in Dragon Age focuses on the importance of feelings and traits it could be possible that the other four to five positive things could also be present in each deck. So maybe Charity, Truth, Compassion, Wisdom and Compassion show up in every deck. Maybe Fortitude too. However: Given that Charity and Compassion, as well Truth and Wisdom kinda fit the same “theme” I would argue, that those are going to be similar but different things. Especially as Avarice and Deceit are actually the opposites/antithesis to this.
So I am going to assume something: There is going to be a similar thing in each deck, but not quite the same – both for Charity/Compassion, Truth/Wisdom, and Avarice, and Deceit.
I am also going to assume that the same is going to be true for Fortitude and Sadness.
Now, Decay and Death also fit one theme. Just as Dawn and Twilight fit a theme. So given what we know I am going to assume that there are going to be full sets. And given that there is also a Song of Autumn and the fact that there are four different seasons, we can safely assume that there is gonna be a theme with seasons. So, let me going to fill out the other suits with that knowledge.
So, this is what this looks filled up. The bold ones are the ones we know, the italic ones are the ones I am going to assume. Technically you can assume that half of them can be switched out or can be replaced by similar words. The negative emotions in purple I base mainly around the demons we see in the game (yes, I know that it should be rage, not anger, I guess), and with the positive emotions there in dark green I decided to go with something that would make sense in that world.
Which leaves us with four cards without “partners”. The Knights of Ages, Roses, and Sacrifice. And the Serpent-Dagger for the Serpents.
Now, Roses and the Serpent Dagger are fairly easy, I would say: There is a set of flowers, and there is a set of weapons. So let me fill this up like this:
Again: Marigolds, Daisies and Lilies could be any flowers. With the weapons I am somewhat certain, because it is kinda the type of weapon you could have (shield could be a sword) and here I am even fairly certain that the association with the suit is right, given that the suits are the ones that are somewhat associated with the weapon in question.
Which leaves me with two questions: What could be the theme-group that ages and sacrifice could fit in? And what are the “face cards”?
Because we have this bit of dialogue from Inquisition:
Cole: “There’s a crown on his head, but a sword, too. His head didn’t want either.“ Varric: “Don’t talk to the face cards, kid.”
This implies that there is at least one set of face cards. Now, in traditional poker sets, the face cards are obviously King, Queen, and Jack. However, given how the set above looks right now, I am tempted to say: Okay, there is not multiple face cards in the suits that are named the same in every suite. And given that Cole talks about a crown on his head, but also a sword (implying on the head), I do wonder if the card Cole is talking about is actually Sacrifice and that Sacrifice is one of the Face cards? In that case I would assume that there is one card Ascension. But other than that?
And Ages? I have truly no idea what we could mix up with Ages? Is it just gonna be Ages for every Suit? Or can anyone think of a proper theme?
Well, I thought this would be a good place to give this over to y’all.
I am trying to figure out what the last cards are going to be – and then I am gonna try to properly reconstruct the rules and point values.
Please, just tell me what y'all think! :)
