Let's pretend this one is new! P&P RPG with Cards

One of the advantages of the cards is that you can play the game using the cards to generate scenarios, this means that you don't rely on the GM all the time. Examples of how the cards are used in games with no (or lazy) GM to make game play more interesting:

One player is designated as the Dark Lord, he summons monsters and sends them to attack the other players (Heroes). Whenever a character encounters an obstacle on the map (river, mountain, etc.) they would deal with it as their character would but while traveling through the wilderness, should they roll (eg.) a 1 or a 6, they must take a wilderness card and deal with that obstacle as their character could. The Dark Lord has some advantages over the Heroes when it comes to certain types of wilderness encounters, should his minions discover a dragon, and ogre or some other type of monster, the Dark Lord might try to possess it rather than have his minions battle it (although he might choose to do so anyway for his evil forces to gain experience ) - other wilderness encounters which would be wonderful for the Heroes might not work so well if the Dark Lord finds them. The Valkyrie would kill all of his minions within a certain radius rather than carrying them into battle with enhanced stats and should his minions uncover a treasure trove, they might desert his ranks, retiring to a nice cottage in the country with roses and severed heads in the garden as they've always wanted to, unless he passes a test to bring them under his control very fast.

Heroes entering a town (not claimed by the Dark Lord) would draw Market cards, just say 3 per hero per turn. The Dark Lord would draw 1 Market card per town he had corrupted should he not draw gold from that town or use it for something else.
An additional set of Battlefield cards could be printed with various types of terrain on them, these could be arranged by the players before the battle commences (optional)

Please note that this style of game play does not preclude the GM - a GM could throw something not on the cards at the players as well - it only makes it possible to play a tactical (and hopefully rewarding) game without one.
The game is designed to be as dynamic as possible, different game play modes are available, including but not limited to the following.

Two Dark Lords could battle it out with their armies of summoned minions and no GM, this mode of game play could resemble something between a game of War Hammer and the computer game Battle for Wesnoth.

Players could take their heroes on a quest with a GM, this would most likely resemble your typical D&D type RPG.

A team of Heroes could battle a Dark Lord who is trying to take control of the land, without a GM this mode of game play can be quite tactical and sometimes fairly competitive.

Players could write an objective on a piece of paper and give it to another player for their heroes to complete in order to win the game with their Heroes. The player would know his/her Hero's objective and that of one other player (the one he/she wrote). This mode of game play can be highly competitive and may require a GM to act as referee in order to stop fist fights!

A player or group of players could take one of their favorite RPG game books and reinterpret it to play by the rules of this game. This works well for books with good plots but uninteresting combat. This is an option I could not suggest if I ever intended to make money out of this game for copyright reasons – even if a whole lot more books could be sold because people wanted to play them again – this type of game play works well with 1 or 2 Heroes and doesn't require a GM since the book kind of does that for you and you do the rest yourself.
I've started writing one book especially for this game, haven't done anything one it in a year or so...

Players can keep items and experience gained from finishing 1 mode of game play and start the next with a really powerful hero. With the consent of the other players, even Dark Lords can keep favorite minions to smite the Heroes.

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The game works on a simple system originally adapted from some of the RPG game books I enjoyed (it was developed considerably and frankensteined together from several types).

Characters have stats, initial and current both of which can change during the course of the game.
Some of these are just values such as Life, Gold, etc, these don't have an initial value and don't have to fall between 2 and 12.
To pass a test, use a skill or perform just about any action, the player needs to roll dice for his character; initial values for those stats which have them will always be between 2 and 12 because these are the numbers which can be rolled on 2 regular dice.
Most actions, like moving in combat, fighting with melee or ranged weapons, casting the most basic spells or parrying a blow would require the player to roll the appropriate stat or less on 2D.
More advanced abilities and spells might require the player to roll that stat on 3D, 4D or perhaps there might be a special condition for certain character classes which effects certain skills and spells.
Items can enhance the character's current stat score beyond 12, a Dwarvish warrior with a battle axe might have a Prowess of 17! the current score is the one you'd try to roll on however many dice.
This game may be a fun way to help children who struggle with basic mathematics.

The game play is intentionally kept simple, more experienced players can add other features of the game they feel enhance the game play but initially things like bonus to attack for rolling a very low total, etc do not apply. Stamina, mana and other forms of energy do not apply although certain spells might require a summon round (in which the character can perform no other action) and some may require a cooldown round (in which the character can move, fight and parry but not cast another spell) – things like characters needing to eat and sleep are not necessary features of the game although they can easily be added.
Things such as Intelligence, Charisma, Wisdom and Luck are not included in the character stats because in many cases these could be features of how the player interacts with other players or plays the game.
The Stats you need for basic game play, those which have a current and initial score, are:

Awareness: - a measure of how alert the character is. It is used for moving during combat, firing most missile weapons accurately, used in tests of perception, agility, reflex and cunning. Characters with a higher Awareness score position themselves on the field of battle last (because they can choose where to be based on terrain and where the other characters are while those with a lower Awareness score can only choose where to be based on the best terrain) and they get the first turn in battle.

Psi: - a measure of the character's psychic abilities, intuition and to an extent 'wisdom'. It is used to cast spells or in combination with another stat to perform a feat in battle, it is used to block psychic attack and can be used as a measure of how the character gets on with eg. wild animals outside battle.

Prowess: - a measure of how skilled the character is at fighting with melee weapons and seeing an opportunity to inflict damage (in an instinctive rather than calculated way, such as with a sniping weapon) it is used for striking blows and for most combat abilities in conjunction with other stats. It is a measure of how fast the character strikes blows in combat and can be used as a measure of strength or other physical things. Some weapons will increase the current score for some character classes while some will decrease it for some you may want to trade speed of attack for hitting power in some circumstances.

Armor: - has an initial and current value but you don't need to roll this.

Life: - has an initial and current value because you can get hurt

Damage: - is rolled, basic damage will almost always involved 1D at least, using weapons will obviously increase this by either a number or a number of dice or both.

Luckily Gilamonster saved this being a lengthy post since most of the details have not changed.
The players related to the boards (map and battle board) differently depending on which mode of game play is being involved. In the scenario-based game play (adapting somebody else's RPG book or one of the ones I'm one day going to finish writing), the world map does not feature to any degree but the battle board does to a great degree. I'm moving away from the totally randomly placed battlefield, eg i the scenario-based game play mode the "battlefield" could be constructed according to what appears in the narrative.
The other thing which has changed is that the terrain no longer features simply as "obstacles", I've written down many different forms of terrain which may feature on a battlefield (things not featured could hopefully be adapted from those which do) they have their own properties, eg being destructible, being something which can be moved onto easilly, something which can be moved up to in 1 turn and onto/into in the next, having an effect on a character's stats when on/inside, blocking line of sight missile attacks (certain spells and most range weapons) but not area attacks or the other way round, being something characters can stand on or something characters can move over but not rest on or being something only flying characters can cross over etc.

The world map features as described by my brother, the only thing I have to add is that I do not provide any world maps, you either need to make your own one or to adapt one from elsewhere. The movement is in movement units on the map, they could be inches, centimeters or millimeters (in which case you'd need very small tokens or pins) and characters move and interact on this map. Combat would have a position on the map but would not happen on the map itself, characters within an agreed radius (usually 1) are regarded as being in combat unless they flee the combat. Characters wishing to enter the battle must pass a test in order to move towards the battle in each combat turn, otherwise the battle (however long) takes 1 moving turn to resolve itself.

A player can control many characters, there are heroes, pets, mercenaries and special characters (ferryman, Valkyrie, sphinx, etc) who could feature in a party or on opposing/competing or neutral parties. The Dark Lord has a fortress of doom somewhere on the map (a token on the map, it can be moved but not easily!) destroying it removes the Dark Lord from the game. The Dark Lord can cast spells and control corrupted territories and direct armies of minions from here. As said, the specifics of the terrain effect the game play for the Dark Lord greatly. Territories he controls determine how many and which minions he can have in his army, etc.

There will always be elements of a board game or a table top war game, usually I find the game more enjoyable with RPG elements added although for some versions of the game these are not necessary.