PC147: Card Sharp

[stePH]

Not to call out another podcast's name in bed; but....

  oh, snap!

[blueeyeddevil]

Not to call out another podcast's name in bed; but....

  oh, snap!

I wrote that line and then thought of deleting it, then decided it was too funny to go. Unfortunately I ended up spending the next hour thinking of what the worst podcast title to call out in such circumstances would be.

Most creepy: "PSEUDOPOD!"
Most likely to discourage your partner: "I SHOULD BE WRITING!"
It may seem like I'm favoring the home team, but these two actually work quite well.

[iamafish]

'be mighty' might be in interesting thing to yell out.

Or 'aaaaand welcome back', just after climax

[Gamercow]

I adored this story.  I'm a gamer, to the core, and I will play card games almost anywhere.  I even broke up with a girl in college because she scoffed and said "I don't play stupid card games" when I suggested we kill time between classes with a quick game.(I always carry a pack of cards with me)  Wilson's narration was awesome, though I could tell in certain parts that he was Canadian from his pronunciation or use of certain words.  Not sure which ones now.  That did not detract from the story at all, however, as I think he did a great job with the Southern accent. 

As for the magic system:  At first, I was reminded of The Deck of Many Things, from Dungeons and Dragons, and more specifically, an alteration I made to the DoMT for my D&D group many years ago.  I did something similar to this story, where a character got a deck imbued with magic, and the different suits provided different effects though not nearly as many as in this story.  The power of the effects went up as the number went up, and there was definite caution on the part of the player who got them.  Knowing there is a limited amount of power at your hands is both entertaining and maddening, because you never know if the power will be enough, too much, or when you're really going to need that ace. 

Sure there were better ways that he could have killed his uncle, and maybe the magic system was flawed, but it certainly didn't bother me, and I didn't notice it until people in this thread mentioned it. 

[BlueLu]

Or 'aaaaand welcome back', just after climax

Now I'm going to giggle every time Dave says that.

[kibitzer]

Wilson sho-ah did a fine readin. I was walking my dog listening to this and I found myself trying out some of the lines -- that accent is an irresistible lure. I'll let you decide for yourselves whether an Aussie could pull off the Southern accent.

(But don't mention Jack Thompson in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil").

Anyway, great story! Loved it and the gun thing didn't even enter my mind. It DID make me wonder how I'd make choices given such a one-time use power. I wonder what the wastrel son does with his deck?

[birdless]

Now to me, a more valid question is: Why he didn't use a more powerful card (in the same suit) at the beginning to make himself invisible and inaudible all the way up to the top deck? Then he could have used a gun (or even a knife, if he preferred) and saved himself all those cards.

I think a lot of the vague dissatisfaction comes from the fact that the inherent metaphor of the cards is time; you can only do so many things with your life, and you only get one shot at it, so you have to make decisions whether to use your time wisely or not.  This is a fine and interesting thematic underpinning that the story doesn't belabor too much (which is good), but it does contort the plot a bit. 

In other words, the reason the main character can't just use one card to get him in range to use a gun is because that would be a pragmatic common-sense approach to the specific world rule of "You get one deck ever."  It's a gamer's response.  The metaphor demands that his choice to seek revenge be costly to him in terms of the magic he has; he's making a choice to spend his "deck" on seeking revenge, and therefore the story has to end with him having depleted much of his power in pursuit of that revenge and leaving him feeling as if he's wasted it a bit.  The metaphor is forcing the characters to act in a way that doesn't seem to make as much sense, when thought about logically.  I think that's a pretty valid criticism of the story. 

The issue with him healing his mother is the flip side of the same coin, I suspect.  I think that the reason it seems off to people is because it doesn't end up costing him much.  He just does it and wanders away without fretting over it.  Previously, he'd worried about using his limited "deck" to help his loved ones or pursue revenge and made the choice to take revenge; the story revisits this when he considers using the Queen of Hearts in the fight and hesitates again, and it is only random chance (the Joker) that saves him.  I think this incident is handled well within the confines of the metaphor, but I can see someone feeling a bit cheated that he was able to make a choice to seek revenge, but still have enough of his "deck" left to handily save his mother, too.  It may be that part of the problem there is that, because it's magic, he's able to just use the card and wander away without having to experience the emotional pain and tedious physical effort involved in healing an ailing parent; again, the pragmatics of the world are brushing up against the metaphorical equivalence of the deck of cards with the time of one's life and generating some friction where they clash.

I agree with Gamercow on just about everything he said (i didn't break up with a girl who didn't like cards, but i probably would have). At any rate, yes, i enjoyed this story, and, i think, almost intentionally didn't put too much thought into the magic system—i tend to frame magic rules in a RPG reference, too (even the D&D magic system bugged me forever (forgetting the same spell every day?? I just can't comprehend that), until i finally figured out a way to satisfy, in my mind at least, that the reason MUs have to choose specific spells daily (and not be able to choose whatever spell is in their book) is because the energy involved in a particular spell is different than any other spell, and they expel the specific matrix of that energy when they cast that spell). But back to the topic: can we just make sure Scattercat's comment is in the audio feedback? Great critique, there, SC!!!

[Obleo21]

As soon as it was revealed that Roland was Quentin's uncle, I immediately thought of Hamlet too.  I think that the single pack dilemma would have been more dramatic if the rules hadn't been so thoroughly explained to the mc, but regardless, I love me a story on a riverboat. 

[Scattercat]

I think I'm a little long-winded to quote.  :-P

[kibitzer]

I think I'm a little long-winded to quote.  :-P

Well not for this one ;-)

[acpracht]

Or 'aaaaand welcome back', just after climax

Now I'm going to giggle every time Dave says that.

Me too! I can't stop tittering; good thing I have my own office.

[stePH]

Me too! I can't stop tittering; good thing I have my own office.

huhuh, you said "tit".... 

[LaShawn]

All right, enough of the innuendos. To bring it back on track...

What a fun story! I too got hints of Hamlet. I wanted to hear more of this world. And Wilson's reading was top-notch!