Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Cripple Mr Onion Rules 1
From: alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz (Ross Smith)
Date: 27 Sep 92 13:59:06 GMT+12
Distribution: world
Organization: Wanganui Amigans, Wanganui, NZ

> Incidentally, there are 104 cards:  8 of each type, as 8 is the magic
> number of the Disc.  On Earth this can be achieved by shuffling two
> non-identical decks together.  There are eight suits with the thirteen
> standard denominations, but their Disc names are uncertain.  Standard deck
> suits will do.

   If you shuffle two different decks together, other players will be able
to see the different backs...

   Concerning the Disc suits ... the scene in 'The Light Fantastic' where
Twoflower attempts to teach the Four Horsemen of the Apocralypse to play
bridge (or at least, something you put across a river) mentions some of the
suits. Twoflower mentions Turtles and Elephants; Death mentions 'the Knave
of Terrapins', but it's not clear whether he means Turtles or there are
two different suits by these names. Twoflower also refers to the Greater
Arcana, which suggests that Discworld card games are actually played with a
Tarot-like deck, presumably the 'Caroc cards' mentioned elsewhere.

   Earlier in the same book, Rincewind has his fortune told, and we're told
the names of some Caroc cards. Suits include Octograms and the aforementioned
Elephants and Turtles.

   Remember that eight is an unlucky number, not a lucky one, on the Disc.
In view of that, I'm inclined to suspect that there are seven 'real' suits
in the Discworld deck, the 'eighth suit' being the Major Arcana.

   As for the actual names of the suits, here are my suggestions (I'm
assuming that Death's 'Terrapins' was a mistake, quite likely given his
state of confusion at the time) :

      Coins (to represent the common Discworld mercenary spirit...)
      Dragons
      Elephants
      Eyes (in honour of Blind Io)
      Octograms
      Swords
      Turtles (or tortoises or terrapins or whatever...)

   For playing with Earthly decks, we need some sort of standard equivalents;
I don't see any obvious correspondences (except Swords = Spades), so I suppose
they can just be chosen at random.

   If you really want eight suits, you can always assume 'Terrapins' wasn't
a mistake. Somehow the confusion that would be caused by this seems entirely
in the spirit of the Discworld ... :-)

   And the Major Arcana? Earth's Tarot deck has 22, but in the interests of
making it possible to play CMO on Earth without actually buying two Tarot
decks I think we should assume that the Caroc deck has 13, the same as the
'real' suits (Earth's Tarot actually has 14 in the suits, but let's not
make matters any more complicated than they already are). TLF mentions five :
'The Star', 'The Importance of Washing the Hands', 'The Dome of the Sky',
'The Pool of Night', and (of course) 'Death'.

   Naming the other eight would, I think, be an excellent topic for
suggestions from the Net. I think 'The Octavo' should be one, and probably
'The Disc' itself (something like Josh Kirby's magnificent painting on
pages 34-35 of 'Eric'), but beyond that I'll wait and see what everyone
can come up with...

--
...... Ross Smith (Wanganui, NZ) ...... alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz ......
           "Reasonable thought can only go so far. Beyond that,
     you must either be unreasonable or stop thinking." (A. Brilliant)