Significators: cartomancy-based character creation

[jammmer81]

This is a little side project I'm working on.

Significator

A character's significator describes the type of person that he or she is. Kings and Queens typically represent men and women respectively, but if you want to play a female character with the qualities of a King, or vise versa, feel free to do so.

Jacks represent youth and youthful attitudes. They represent people of either sex that are younger or less experienced. Like children, they are restless and have a need to travel and explore. They are gaining experience and maturity and cannot be counted on to commit to anything or anyone but themselves. They tend to browse through life, stay neutral and seem unable to make decisions. Yet there is a stubbornness and tenacity about them.  

J♣ describes a heroic person with a fiery disposition who is enterprising, adventurous, spontaneous and enthusiastic.
J♥ represents a sensitive, warm, tender person who is charismatic.
J♠ represents a person with a clear, sharp mind who is argumentative and ready to engage others in conflict.
J♦ suggests a personality that is strong, reliable, and hardworking, but stubborn.

Queens represent women. Queens relate to helpful people. Queens react to external impulses. They judge them and based on that judgment, either cherish or reject them. They are therefore good arbitrators and mediators.

Q♣ represents a woman who is passionate, self-determined and sometimes bossy. This is a woman with considerable personal power, a woman in charge or in a leadership position.  
Q♥ represents a wife or mother. This woman could be a healer, artist or medium.
Q♠ represents an independent person who has very high standards and a cool, distant and dignified air.
Q♦ represents a person who is well-grounded and more concerned with emotional rather than financial security.

Kings represent men. Kings are often considered aggressive-natured and outgoing, but unlike the Jacks, they have matured and have gained ample experience along the way. Kings tend to display little emotion and view life from a particularly practical standpoint, regardless of their suit.

K♣ represents a man in charge or in a position of leadership and responsibility. This person is usually mature, strong-willed, assertive and has good leadership skills.
K♥ represents a husband or father. This card may also suggest a doctor, therapist or someone in the healing professions. This person is kind and sensitive, but keeps his or her own wounds hidden while helping others.
K♠ reflects a serious person who can provide wise advice but rarely shows any emotions.
K♦ is a person who is serious and down-to-earth; they are consumed with maintaining what they have financially.

What I'm trying to do here is to create a character creation system using cartomantic significators.

I wonder if it is possible, using this system, to choose a significator to represent your character.

I'm not sure how the game mechanics would work based on this method, so I'm also asking for your advice, and suggestions as to whether or not such a system could work and, if so, how might it be accomplished?

Jam

[Jasper]

Just a note: at least for me, there are characters in your post (as in ASCII characters) that don't show up.

[jammmer81]

Just a note: at least for me, there are characters in your post (as in ASCII characters) that don't show up.

I realize that, thanks. read the square as diamonds.

[Ben Lehman]

Twilight 2000 has a NPC management system which relies on a deck of cards.  You might want to check that out.

I have played a lot (lot lot lot lot...) of cartomancy based games, so I know that it is, indeed, possible to make such a system.  My advice is the following -- use Tarot cards.  The extra royalty lets you divide youths by gender (very useful) and the major arcana are just cool.

For any further commentary, I would need to see a more developed mechanics.

[jammmer81]

In response to your suggestions, I've switched to the Tarot and worked out some more details. So, without any further adieu...

Character Creation
Step 1) Choose one of the Court Cards of the Minor Arcana to represent your character's personality and place the card in the middle of your table-space, leaving room for cards to be placed above and below it.
Step 2) Search through the deck for the first Swords, Cups, Wands, and Pentacles card and place them around the first card. Place the Swords card in the 9 o'clock position representing a sword wielded in your character's right hand to show your character's Physical Trait score, the Cups card in the 12 o'clock position representing the mind's eye to show your character's Mental Trait score, the Pentacles card in the 3 o'clock position representing magical energies wielded in your character's left hand to show your character's Supernatural Trait score, and the Wands card in the 6 o'clock position representing the center of your character's sexual energy to show your character's Social Trait score.
Step 3) Pass the deck to the next player who will repeat the process.
Step 4) Once everyone has completed his or her character spread, give the deck to the Dealer who will remove the remaining court cards and place them aside for his or her future use during the game, shuffle the deck, and place the deck in the center of the table.

Note: I may add weapons (one in the 11 o'clock position and one in the 7 o'clock position) and spells (one in the 1 o'clock position and one in the 5 o'clock position) to character spreads.

Task Resolution
   When your attempts a task at which success is not guaranteed, you place the card of the appropriate suit (Swords for physical tasks, Cups for mental tasks, Pentacles for Supernatural tasks [spells], and Wands for social tasks) above your character spread. Draw a card from the top of the deck and add its value to the value of the card you just placed. If the second card is of the same suit as the first, draw a third and final card and add its value to the total value of the first and second cards.
   If the total value of the cards played equals or exceeds the target number chosen by the Dealer (GM) (2-10), your character succeeds. Otherwise he or she fails.
   Once the task attempt is completed, return the first card you played to your character spread face down to represent the expenditure of energy causing fatigue. All cards used in the current scene are turned face up at the beginning of the next scene to represent the renewal of spent energy. Your character feels refreshed and is now ready to face the next challenge.

Questions, questions...
      Ogra, The Dark Crystal.

Should I use a second Tarot deck once the character spreads have been completed?

Should each player have their own deck with which to creae their characters? If so, I plan on making my own deck so that I can print out a copy for each player and one for the Dealer (GM).

Does this sound like a good mechanic?

And now for some notes about the setting...

The working title is Arcana. It will be a modern dark fantasy setting. It will take place on an Earth shrouded in darkness where a war between the forces of Light and Darkness rages. At some point in the past, Darkness won and the few remaining agents of Light struggle to beat back the Darkness and restore the Balance. These agents are modern warrior-mages called Supernaturals. These will be the heroes of the game.

All humans have some amount of supernatural energy. This energy usually manifests as luck (good or bad), intuition, and other things that can easily be explained away in mundane terms. However, there are some among us who display the potential for much greater power. These people are sought out by other, more experienced Supernaturals and trained in the arts of war and magic to become champions for the cause of good, evil, or, in rare cases, neutrality. New Supernaturals carry on the traditions of all who came before.

More questions...

Does this sound good?

Any suggestions on how to bring the dark fantasy elements to life in the game?

Wow, that was long winded! But finally, I'll give you guys the floor so to speak.

Thanks for your support,

Jam

[taalyn]

Questions, questions...
      Ogra, The Dark Crystal.

As a die-hard Crystal fan, I just want to say - it's Aughra. I have a cat named Aughra....

Should I use a second Tarot deck once the character spreads have been completed?

Why? The only reason I see to do this, at the moment, is if your run out of cards. On the other hand, having a separate deck for task resolution allows you to have duplications - say the player draws the same suit or number as their relevant card-attribute, that could be a critical. Or some other neat effect.

Should each player have their own deck with which to creae their characters? If so, I plan on making my own deck so that I can print out a copy for each player and one for the Dealer (GM).

I say yes - it allows the player to get a deck uniquely suited to their character. An artist/mage/visionary type might use Voyager, for example.


Aidan

[jammmer81]

As a die-hard Crystal fan, I just want to say - it's Aughra. I have a cat named Aughra....

I didn't think I spelled that right, thanks.

Should I use a seperate deck once the character spreads have been completed?

Why? The only reason I see to do this, at the moment, is if your run out of cards. On the other hand, having a separate deck for task resolution allows you to have duplications - say the player draws the same suit or number as their relevant card-attribute, that could be a critical. Or some other neat effect.

I just thought that reducing the size of the deck might alter the odds and probably not for the better. OTOH, since the players would be using their Trait cards it might be ok because that adds more variation to what each character is capable of accomplishing. The critical or some other neat effect idea sounds intriguing though so I'll think about that.

Should each player have their own deck with which to creae their characters? If so, I plan on making my own deck so that I can print out a copy for each player and one for the Dealer (GM).

I say yes - it allows the player to get a deck uniquely suited to their character. An artist/mage/visionary type might use Voyager, for example.

Voyager? Is that a deck or card? Could you please elaborate on that point?

Anyways, I made a misake with the difficulty. It ranges from 2-20 in increments of 2. Does this seem to be statistically sound?

I'm thinking of using the major arcana as plot determination cards, but  they may have a different function in the character decks. Any thoughts?

[taalyn]

Voyager's a deck, where every card is a photocollage.

Aidan