The Fortuneteller RPG Tarot is a beautiful deck of cards, illustrated by Della Rocca in 1835. It is one of the most famous examples of Italian tarot cards design.
This pack contains everything you need to know to tell a PC’s fortune. Your heroes might visit a fortune teller or they might choose to become one themselves.
This pack comes with:
- 78 classical tarot cards.
- Information on different spreads.
- A background and numbers for creating custom spreads.
- A guide on learning the tarot and meaning of each card.
- Digital images for virtual table tops (VTT) only.
The Tarot in RPGs
This pack comes with a guide that teaches you how to use the Tarot. You can follow these traditional rules or, if you are using the tarot to add flavour to your existing role-playing game, you can simply make up your own rules.
When you are using tarot readings in RPG’s try to tie the outcome to existing story lines. Outcomes can also serve as great sources of inspiration. For players it is nice if the outcome of a reading somehow resembles future events.
Of course, you could shift the responsibility of readings coming true to the players. If they manage to influence future events in a way that matches the cards, reward them. If they fail to heed the warning in the cards, things may take a turn for the worse.
Generate story ideas
Alternatively, you can use the tarot for quickly generating new story ideas. Let’s say you draw the fool, the hermit and the moon. By loosely associating the cards meanings (which you’ll find in the guide) you might come up with:
“In a remote (hermit) sanctuary an order of monks have taken a vow of silence, seeking wisdom within themselves. But when the moon is full they cast aside all wisdom and act on their base impulses. The following month the monks reflect on their mistakes and learn from them. Nearby villagers, who do not understand the monks and their ways fear they have been cursed with lycanthropy and plan to burn the sanctuary to the ground.”
Just create a couple of these ideas and pick the one that speaks to you. Finally, you can use these cards to give your NPC’s a personality and inner conflict. Most card in the tarot are tied to some point of personal development. Drawing one or two cards when you introduce a new NPC will quickly help you create a well-rounded character. Of course, players can also draw cards during character creation.
Surprise your players with a real tarot reading, the next time they’re in need of a divination or learn what the Fates have on store for you!
