RTFM: Real Tales From Machines by Relativity Playing Cards

Description

I began the design for RTFM in 2021 shortly after the development of Mutineer. The idea was to do a deck with similar trappings but in the tech world instead of on the high seas. Not a deck about digital piracy, just a chance to put dumb stuff like fax machines on court card heads and be fatalistic about office culture.

Instead, it has evolved into a statement about humanity’s relationship with technology, machines, and AI. Part satire, part warning, all in a delightful, Banksy-inspired tone.

The card back evokes a memory card, or the chips on modern credit cards, and features a classic statement from a 1979 IBM meeting slide: “A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision.”

The indexes use the same feel for the ranks, with a complimentary suit. The ace of diamonds is the headliner ace in the deck.

The name “RTFM” was a bit of a dare for myself, as I was working with USPCC at the time and knew that their profanity / decency standards were strict. How could I get away with having “read the f*cking manual” on the deck? Would they recognize the initialism? Therefore my planned smokescreen was an alternate meaning for those letters, and so the full name of the deck became “RTFM: Real Tales From Machines.” This is especially funny to me now with the incredibly bad answers LLMs are giving us today. The deck is not shy with its metaphors!

The pip cards have a variety of emotive robot doodles, capturing our ability to over-anthropomorphize our technology. They’re so charming! They certainly won’t harm us.

The court cards, for me, are just magic. Double and triple meanings, sometimes subtle, sometimes not! Everyone has a favorite