Tarot-based World/Story Building Game
Greetings, oh patient subscribers.
I have been experimenting with tarot-card based improvised gaming and wanted to share this fun approach to RPGs that is floating to the top of my tool belt.
Why tarot cards?
Each card has a pile of very specific symbols with long histories and many interpretations. Take the magician, for example, most versions of this tarot card have an infinity symbol, a table with a sword, chalice, pentagram, etc… Each card is chocked full of this wonderful inspiration which would be right at home on any spark table. Perfect game fodder!
World building mini game
My wife and I played this very simple mini game to build a world. We found a story already unfolding as more detail was added.
Pick a theme. We picked “Small-town murder mystery with a supernatural edge”
Get a 10-hex hex map. Drawn cards with a number add detail to a the hex with the same number. Other cards are wild and may indicate a shift/change/development in the world
Take turns drawing cards.
For the fist 4-6 draws, pick a symbol on your card. Use that symbol as inspiration to describe “what happened here” and/or “what is here.” We wound up with a new factory, a pond with a giant lobster, a lab, a hockey rink, the town witch’s house, a deep well, an archery range… that sort of thing.
For the next few cards, describe something that happened. For example, I drew a card with the image of a tentacle monster being stabbed in the head holding a branch. I interpreted this as a hockey player who was discovered dead, stabbed in the head with an ice skate. There’s a rumor he had some new unnatural deformity, but the police deny it. We later learned that the factory shipped a crate of deformed wild animals to the lab, but they were accidentally delivered to the archery range. This led to a theory that the lab and factory were somehow responsible for the hockey player’s murder.
Reflections
At this point it was very late and we went to bed. While playing, we were talking about how it would make a great setting for “Curfew”, the 90s kids-on-bikes Cairn hack I have sketched out.
Here’s the map we made. Nothing fancy going on here. Just a reference for the world we were imagining.
The game is super casual, so if you want to draw another card, that’s totally fine! You’ll create some ideas that stick and some that don’t, that’s ok too. No need to take it too seriously.
I really enjoyed the game and it brought out some delightful side conversation that made for a fun night.
In other news
The Beetle Knight adventure I’m writing is about 75% done. Em’s adventure is in a similar place. So I think we are right on track! The core game is in a great place and is available free over on itch: https://brookletgames.itch.io/beetle-knight-quickstart
That’s all for now! Fare well!