Changling Card Game

Born from the early stories of fey stealing children from mortal parents, changling is a card game involving bluffing and strategy as two opponents try to take the best cards from their opponents hand and scoring the most each round.

History

Born within a particularly morbid bardic college, while a great many claim to have invented the game there is no one story that has been corroborated as there was quite a bit of alcohol flowing and even more games of chance. Most stories tell of a bard drunkenly attempting to play chain the thief but in their drunken stupor called the game changling. When asked how to play the bard made most of the rules up as his luck was poor but his bluffing was far superior

As he explained the game he told a story of a father of thirteen who had found a fey had taken his children, when the father confronted the fey it offered the man a choice between twenty six children, two sets of identical twins each, "If you are their father you would know your child by sight, sound, and smell. Pick among the thirteen and leave for I will not return but neither will any child you fail to recognize as your own." And with that the fey's game had begun.

The game of changling has since spread through the country of Gedic and even appeared in other lands thanks to travelers and sailors becoming bored at sea. Over time the game has gone from a simple variation of another card game into the game that exists now. There are several variations upon the rules of the game such as the joker added in for more or no points, extra cards added to the hands, or cards with faces worth nothing. The game itself is most popular with humans and is outright hated by elves for the themes of the game, though in some of the more seedier bars a similar game with altered names is played by some elves. Other races have adapted the game with mixed success in adoption.

Execution

Played with a deck of cards the dealer shuffles and deals thirteen cards to each player. Beginning with the dealer who takes the role of the father who offers their hand face-down to their opponent who takes the role of the fey. The fey selects a card without looking and adds it to their hand. The fey then may place a card face down in front of them scoring the card for points. The card scored must be equal to or less than the number of cards in their score pile. If the father believes the face down card greater than the number of cards in the score pile the father may claim changling and the card is revealed, if the card is legal then it is returned face down and the father must discard a card from their hand, otherwise if the card is too large it is discarded face up in front of the fey. If the fey chooses not to score a card they place the a card from their hand face up in their score pile. The roles are then switched and play continues with the fey taking and scoring cards while the father searches for changlings. Jacks are considered eleven points, queens are worth twelve points and kings are worth thirteen points. Each player continues until they have no cards left in their hand and the scored cards are counted. Each face up card is worthless while the face down cards are worth it's face in points, the winner is whomever has the most points.

Components and tools

A deck of cards and two players.