Refreshing the Pile

SAGA Rules

by BluSponge

One of the situations sure to arise in any Narrator's career occurs at the end of a game session when most of the Fate Deck sits in the neighboring discard pile. This isn't always bad, except when the discard pile also contains all of the high cards, and the players are starting to grumble about dealing with Dark Knights. Either you start coming up with new options soon or find a way to burn off the rest of the deck. If you've ever been in this situation, here's a handy little optional rule to help solve it.

The Refreshment Card

Choose one card out of the Fate Deck and make this the refreshment card. The Ten of Dragons works very nicely in this capacity due to its uniqueness. If you have an extra Fate Deck lying around, consider slapping a sticker on the face side and adding it to the play deck. Please note that suits related to specific abilities are probably not the best choice in this regard.

Whenever someone draws the chosen card in the course of play, toss it into the discard pile and reshuffle the deck. If it comes up as a trump, count it for value before reshuffling. Do not reshuffle the players' hands back into the deck (see "The Armageddon Option").

Using this rule, the Fate Deck is constantly being refreshed, and cards are in play much more often. This increases the opportunity for the heroes to draw high cards as well as low ones, and even the One of Dragons may make a few rounds in a single session.

The Armageddon Option

Let's face it: Some players love to hoard high cards. This isn't always a bad thing in the Saga rules. In fact, unless they aren't expecting combat for awhile, it may be in their best interest to keep those eight's and nine's up their sleeves. By the same token, all players will end up with a fist full of Dragon-suit cards at one time or another.

With this option, whenever a player draws the refreshment card, the player discards his or her entire hand into the discard pile. After the deck is reshuffled, the player gets a new hand. This way, players always have a potential to trade in their hands for Dragons or something slightly more safe or of losing all those high cards they've been hoarding so long. If the refreshment card is drawn as a trump card, be sure to count it for value; nobody needs to lose his or her hand.

The Narrator should consider the ramifications of this option, considering Saga's combat system and the instability it might create. It does not need to be used for the refreshment option to work.

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