Creating DIY Cards for Solo Role Playing

[@coachace123]

I'm another Dan W, and I totally agree with him. The community needs to see more DIY things we can do to enhance our solo play. Google Slides is another great idea for those of us with limited resources. I think, as a solo player, I often find the DIY activity becomes meta fun things related to the hobby. This particular project, making my own cards, can be anything like your project - making a specialized tool unique to my own solo RPG play style, or re-theming an existing card game to a theme that keeps me engaged. Dan's tips are excellent. I re-use my old Magic mana cards (got a lot of lands!) to "firm up" the paper printed cards with penny sleeves. Dan is spot on wit this one. All in all, we need more videos like this to encourage soloists and help keep them engaged in the play.

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

Well, wouldn't it be crazy if my name was Dan too? Unfortunately we will simply have to be..."like-minded". ;) Thank you for adding your words to Dan W's. There have been many times where I wish a tool or a game had been themed differently. I definitely understand where you are coming from. I really appreciate the feedback and additional thoughts on the topic!

[@Stygard]

@@Marsh1563 the "meta fun" fills pretty much all my solo rpg hobby. I find myself making tools like cards, charts and system structures all the time, I think I enjoy that more then actually playing most of the time!

[@ziggurat-builder8755]

I never even knew software like this existed! Thanks for the tutorial.

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

Thank you as always ziggurat-builder! Never a problem. I'll keep em coming.

[@sirguy6678]

Great video! Thanks for the tutorial

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

Hey Sir Guy. Thank you for the compliment and sorry for the delayed replay.

[@TonyPullen]

I have Multideck as it is spreadsheet driven so I can create a deck outside of the app once it's all designed. It creates individual cards as well as resources for TTS, etc.

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

Hi Tony, I just took a look at the tool. It looks versatile. I can understand the draw for TTS as well. Both great programs.

[@danieldouglasclemens]

Sorry, but I don't get the incentive for using this product. Maybe I am missing something vital? I use GIMP or Inkscape. Both of them seem to offer WAY more flexibility than this tool - e.g. use layers and folders for organising them. And GIMP aswell as Inkscape are totally free AND open source. I must be missing something vital here. Please help me out, as I would truly like to understand the pros of this product and if I could benefit from it.

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

HI Daniel, Thank you for the request for info. I don't know if there is any way for a program, meant only for card creation, to ever hope to overcome the flexibility of a professional art program. I would say that, if you are willing to learn all the ins and outs of a semi-professional ( or professional ), art program then you may well have what you need already. I have used GIMP, Photoshop and Krita but I would not claim to be overly familiar with any of them. There are those, like myself, who are looking for something a little more approachable. The program that I was using, in my argument for making your own solo cards, had the smallest barrier for entry in regards to learning curve. The program has all of the setting geared for one purpose, creating cards. Even the printing processes was simple, no alignment needed. So if you do not have any experience, do not have the time to learn art programs, and want to focus on getting your designs or prototypes working then it may be a good fit. As it is in most things, what works for one may not work for all. As to why you should want to get it. I would ask what you are lacking in GIMP, or what you want from GIMP, that it does not provide. If you can get your work out quickly, and with reasonable quality, then I would say you may well have found a fit that exceeds what Card Creator can provide. Hopefully this helps.

[@danieldouglasclemens]

Thank you for the clarification. Helped me a lot. Will stick to GIMP, ToonBoom and Clip Studio Paint Ex.

[@neilgooge]

Great video, I think creating your own tools is very important. But while the software seems nice enough, you would be so much better off buying something like affinity publisher (only $10 more) and learning that…. It’s just as simple to use, but you’re not then limited to cards. You can do any and all published design work. Your own editable interactive PDFs being the main one I can think of. I literally take every pdf I buy, and make it fully linked for use… for the small space or digital gamer, like myself, having functional PDFs is a huge help. I do still use analog tools, cards especially, but I have to use digital tools also. Every icon in card creator is completely free to download and used from the game icons web site, and you can populate cards or PDFs from spread sheets in affinity, making card creation extremely easy. Like I say, card creator seems very functional, but very limited compared to having even a basic knowledge of affinity publisher. Great video though, and I totally agree with the idea.

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

Hi Niel, Thank you so very much for taking the time to discuss a workable alternative. I will absolutely take a look at it. I have been looking for a good alternative to word for editing features at a reasonable price. I wanted to do some videos on DIY resources for Solo Role playing. Like combining tables from multiple sources to make your own oracle book(s). So, if it can do that and handle cards well with minimal down time on the learning process, it may be that I have found a winner here through you. Thank you :)

[@neilgooge]

@@adventuresinsolitaire Hello there. I highly recommend it. It's definitely a little more involved than that card software, but i taught myself how to use it from the rground up using just youtube and the affinity web site tutorials. Subsequently I have edited a full 300 page rule book, I now make all my pdf puchases fully linked, and have designed two decks of cards in it. Really is worth a look... Best of luck, and great channel, glad I found it :)

[@adventuresinsolitaire]

I am glad to have you here. When I replace my printer I will need to do a bevy of DIY videos. I was doing them up until my printer gave up the ghost printing the Starforged manual in full. So that software may be a good item to do a review/walkthrough on. Given the flexibility I would likely be able to get multiple DIY videos out using it.