New Idea: Tarot Cards Instead of Dice

[Vulpinoid]

I like the idea of using tarot cards for conflict resolution. It could easily help contribute to the type of fantasy mood you're going for.

Kind of related, but this got me thinking, has anyone ever tried using tarot cards as a means of character creation?

Working on that now...I've also passed the concept to another game designer to see where he'd run with it.

At it's simplest level...

Cards are laid out in a simple three card spread of past, present and future. The past card represents something the character has mastered, the present card represents something they are working on and the future card represents a possibility that may come. While a character is under the influence of a particular present card they gain a bonus based on it's regular meaning and a penalty based on it's inverted meaning. Once a character has mastered aspects of their present card it goes to their past. Characters with multiple past cards may swap and choose between them at the beginning of each scene, using any one of them to gain bonuses to the upcoming events. If a character abandons their present card, it remains with them and they keep it's associated penalty for a while (but lose any benefits it may have provided).

When a card is in future status, it can move in two ways. Either it can be moved into present status when a present card is mastered. Or aspects of that card come into play during the story (via the GM or the player themselves); if this occurs, the future card is reshuffled into the deck and a new random future card is drawn.

Just an idea I've been toying with...

V

[Jack Phillips]

Vulpinoid,
          That sounds like a really fun idea. I'll have to try that out sometime.

[Big J Money]

I'm just posting to say that I'm very, very interested in the progress of this thread.  If I can get to the point where I can contribute meaningfully, I will.  I am interested because one game I'd like to see/make one day is a game that allows players to be wizards/sorcerers/whatevers who create and cast spells toward the purpose of making the ultimate magical discovery (think: philosopher's stone).  I choose cards versus dice because I'd like the cards to fill multiple roles: conflict resolution, spell creation components, and loaded narrative elements.  Tarot seems to me to be the obvious choice as it's already laden with dramatic, human meaning. 

I'm going to stop here because I need to put a lot more thought and gather a lot more research for my present ideas, but my point is: don't leave this thread to die because I'm watching it!

Thanks for posting,

-- John M.

[rasterix]

When I first looked at DitV I looked into ways you could do that with cards instead of dice. I dislike skiploads of dice based systems, dislike d4's, and was really turned off by the prospect of combining the two.

The basic idea was that you draw cards instead of rolling dice. For better die types you draw two and discard the lower one. For penalty dice types you discard the higher card. I even went to the lengths of giving it a run-through (something based around Scooby Doo, the dog had a major relationship with Scooby snacks).

I think it works as well as the dice based system. There are some questions about whether to discard from the hand or just from the pick. This really changes the way you would use penalty cards. Running an extended contest nearly expended a full deck of cards, but this may be the way I went for using every possible trait on the character sheet. A deck of Tarot cards would be a little harder to exhaust.

Kind of related, but this got me thinking, has anyone ever tried using tarot cards as a means of character creation? Maybe one of the archetypes on the major arcana represents the core personality of your character while other cards in your reading contribute to other traits they possess.

The closest I've come is using a deck to discover my previous life. A friend really wanted to do a reading, and this was the silliest spread in the book. I was a dude by the way, much cooler than I am now. If you want to use a Tarot reading to generate characters this is probably worth looking at.

[Big J Money]

Hm, I neglected in my post to mention that character, setting and situation creation could be up for (Tarot) card rules as well.  For these three, I was also thinking about a system that uses something akin to a Tarot spread.  I'd like to see a game where players don't have to conjure each story element from thin air.  I'm not as experienced with doing so, (and my range of tastes is somewhat limited) therefor I appreciate games that give the player an idea seed or a scenario, allowing the player color in between the lines.  So, for a scenario or scene, you might have a mini-tarot spread that gives clues as to what the scene could or must be about.  Players possibly take turns interpreting the spread or defining it in such a way as to frame the scene.  From a gamist perspective, you might use the cards to determine what goals are present in order for a scene to be properly finished, with potential rewards and consequences.  That's the sort of road I was looking to travel.

My first thought is to have charts that tell you what the cards mean during a Character, Setting or Situation spread.  Sometimes charts can be unwieldy "during play", but if they're for set-up or prep they can become their own part of play that can be fun.  The charts themselves can even be appropriately thematic to add to a game's mood, assuming you want one.

-- John M.