Well I did it, I got a game up and ready for sale, check it out at:
[link]

So I thought I'd have a bit of a chat about what it is and how it came to be.

Q) So... Can you sum up what The Detestable Deck is?
A) Sure.
T.D.D. started out as project for Polytech (that's like college for you people overseas.)
I wanted to create an illustrated deck of cards that were quite different from others out there.
Basically it's, like regular decks, a selection of cards that have symbols and values that you can assign your own rules too... Unlike regular decks their is a strong link to dice in the card values, and each suit contains a different number of cards from any other suit.

Q)You say you can assign your own rules to the cards, does that mean the deck comes with out rules?
A) T.D.D. comes with a set of rules, but they're really just a jumping off point.
I really liked the idea of an analogue to regular playing cards, that have millions of games you can play with them, so i fashioned the cards to be free of any language, so people can plug in what ever meaning they like to them.
If people like, I imagine they could be used for some kind of fortune telling, they are, no doubt, just as effective.

Q) What were the major sources of insperation for the deck?
A) A few years back I fell utterly in love with a game called Three Dragon Ante.
It's made by Wizards of the Coast and it's supposed to be a fantasy equivalent of poker that heroes play between looting dragons and such.
I adored the notion that, in a different time and place, there would be no such thing as a French suited (standard) decks of cards, but more mystical equivalents.
One problem I had with the game was that they went to the trouble of making these INCREDIBLE artistic objects that looked like wood blocked prints, then they put text on the bottom of them. It broke the illusion a little, like taking the time to fabricate an ancient looking chess set, then laser etching the instructions across faces of the pieces.

Q) The look of the cards is quiet distinct, where did that come from?
A) Well the icons themselves were me taking ancient writings I'd never encountered before and interpreting it as a set of icons, in this case the seven things "detestable unto the lord" apparently found in proverbs 6:16-19.
I was also looking at old sailor decks, usually adorned with painted ladies and the like, and as I researched them I became enamored with a few examples still around today. They all had a wonderful worn and battered look that you just knew had come from a life of gambling and constant use passing time. I especially loved the mildewed old set that must have seen an eon in a musty sailors trunk.
Finally I looked at old woodblock prints. After all if this was a deck from a fantasy world where brawny types do in goblins with mighty axes, I don't imagine the deck was knocked out on a printer.
The end result is a deck that looks old and worn while being available fresh from the printer and perfectly functional.

Q) The Detestable Deck comes with 2 decks in the box, why is that?
A) To be clear, the box comes with 64 cards, or 2 decks of 36 cards.
1 deck has red backs (in the same ancient printed style) and one has brown backs (once again in a wood block print form.)
As I said before, the idea of T.D.D. was to let people fashion their own games for fantasy heroes, DnD games or game nights with their friends.
Now if you were doing this with a regular set of cards you might find some games require a few more cards, or different backs for different occasions.
To that end I thought I would treat the total T.D.D. package similar to buying a poker deck. So you get a bunch of gold colored poker chips, a hand full of dice and 2 of the decks in the box.
What you do with them is up to you, perhaps you'd like to give one to a friend?


Well that's all I have to say about my little game for now.
Hope you found it informative, and don't forget to check out:
[link]