Pathfinder: "Plot Twist Cards: Flashbacks" [RPG]

Pathfinder's deck of Plot Twist Cards: Flashbacks add a potentially interesting aspect to gameplay.  The concept is that at the beginning of the campaign and every time a PC levels up, their player gets one of these cards.  Each card has artwork, a title theme, four examples of that theme, and then an effect in mechanical game terms.  For example, under artwork of a scary spider, the "Phobia" card lists "An ally refuses to follow", "Fear overrides judgment", "They say this place is haunted", and "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!".  The mechanical effect is that a shaken target becomes frightened and a frightened target becomes panicked.  The idea is that the cards allow players to suggest an in-game event or development in the spirit of the card's theme to provide a little wrinkle in the storytelling--for example, with the "Phobia" card, perhaps a knight's squire refuses to budge when directed to follow him into a darkened forest.  In the alternative, players can use the fixed mechanical effect in an encounter to gain an advantage.  

The way the Flashbacks deck varies from standard Plot Twist Cards deck is that the player making the suggestion (or using the bonus) has to justify what they want to happen in terms of the character's past--such as the squire having barely escaped that same forest after a terrifying ordeal with a werewolf.  That justification then becomes a permanent part of the character's backstory, and something the player and GM can use to develop the character further and give them even more personality.  Importantly, the effects of the cards are always up to the GM's discretion, and they can alter player suggestions to better fit the adventure.

I really like the idea of the cards.  However, I used the deck in a couple of chapters of Curse of the Crimson Throne and had disappointing results--I don't think the players really understood the concept, and they tended to forget they had the cards altogether.  Still, I might try again in a future campaign after giving a better explanation of why they could be fun and better flesh out PCs and NPCs alike.