Epic RPG Fails Cards Review

Epic RPG Fails is a deck of critical fail cards that cares more about making your table laugh than making your players suffer. For $19.99, it's a fun thing to keep in a GM bag.

What I reviewed

The Epic RPG Fails deck from Loke BattleMats: 100 cards split into five categories, Spell, Melee, Movement, General and Ranged, with 20 cards in each. I bought it on Amazon for $19.99. I haven't had a chance to use it at the table yet, so this is a read-through, but it's going in my bag for the next session.

The fails range from awkward, like peeing your pants, to violent, like hitting yourself with your own spell. Most of them land somewhere between inconvenient and embarrassing: "You loudly sneeze and fart at the same time. Everyone turns to look at you." Or "You accidentally yeet your weapon over your shoulder, it lands with a loud clanging noise."

I already use critical hit and fail cards at my Pathfinder table. Those lean toward a mechanical drawback or a bonus. These lean toward the ridiculous. They add flavor to a fail, and get a groan or a laugh from the table.

Quality14/20

The cards are nice, with a decent semi-gloss finish. The box is a bit generic, but for $20 I wouldn't expect much more.

What does bother me is the size. The cards are larger than standard cards, so normal card sleeves don't fit, and I can't protect them.

Usability13/20

This is where it loses points. Each card covers only one category, so before you can draw, you have to split the deck into five piles and keep them separate. Paizo's Pathfinder critical cards put every type on the same card, so you draw one card and read the line for the attack you made. I'd have liked that here.

Usefulness15/20

I use my Pathfinder critical cards all the time, and I'll use these whenever I can. The catch is that a lot of newer games have moved away from critical fails. Draw Steel doesn't have them. In Daggerheart, you could pull one as a complication when a player rolls with Fear. When a game has fails and the moment calls for a little oddness or humor, this deck is going to come out.

Value16/20

100 cards for $19.99 is a good deal. I'd buy them as a gift for other GMs, and they make a good tool for a GM bag.

Who it's for

GMs who run games with critical fails and want them to be funny instead of punishing, and want to add a bit of oddness or humor when it feels right.

The verdict

A 15 out of 20, a Graze. A fun deck that's a little clumsy to use. If you can live with sorting it into five piles, it's a good addition to a GM bag.