Although I'll probably tend toward QT for cards/chess (since I'm familiar
with QT), I do appreciate all the advice I've been given. I was a little
hesitant to stick with Linux because I'd prefer not to have to switch
platforms; I'd like to focus on the games. So I'm pleased to hear ANY
suggestions, including libraries,tools,etc that'll come in handy later.
Thanks all!
For 3D action type games, I think the best option is the OGRE library
for rendering, coupled with SDL for input management, ODE for physics
and OpenAL/OpenAL++ for sound/music. If you don't want to do 3D, you can
still use Allegro or SDL, or use OpenGL as has being said by others.
About the tools, I think Wings3D (modeling) and Blender
(texturing/animation) are the best candidates for 3D modeling, Gimp
being the best tool for 2D texture editing.