Cartomancy for D&D

[tetramorph]

Cartomancy for D&D

Hearts: heart, health, emotion, passion
Spades: weapons, strength, intelligence, calculation
Clubs: wands/staves, magic items/artifacts, magic, action
Diamonds: treasure, wealth, goals, desires

A: Singularity, whole, beginning
2: Dialogue, duel, dichotomy
3: Trinity, triad, triangulation
4: Corners, earth, foundation
5: Pentagram, Pentacle, Pentagon (magic)
6. Movement, strategy, warfare (HEX, of course!)
7. Holy, Sacred, Blessed
8. Stop (sign!), cessation, stagnation
9. Celestial, ethereal, primal
10. End, completion, ruin

J: Rogue, knave, problem (N)PC
Q: Eternal feminine, anima, major female (N)PC
K: Eternal masculine, animus, major male (N)PC

Joker (color, or upright): Risk, trust, faith, venture, amazing good fortune
Joker (b&w, or upside down): Foolishness, over-boldness, brashness, disaster, amazing misfortune

2-card reading: First card: context, second card: event or action.
3-card reading: First card: past, condition; Second Card: present state, current focus; Third card: future, goal, want, desire, plan.

Uses: Describing NPCs, determining NPC motives and plots, even PC backgrounds, if folks are interested!

Dice don't have to be the only oracle!

Comment and enjoy!

[hengest]

I totally forgot to comment on this back in September. Nice post, tetramorph.

So many uses for this. A very different feel from rolling dice on a table.

Like the idea of using the readings given especially for PC backgrounds. No pointlessly convoluted backstory. Draw, interpret, play!

Or: draw first card on character creation, second card at end of first adventure, third card on reaching level 2. Work in what the cards tell you and go crazy.

[jmccann]

I am thinking about this. I want to set up a feudal system a good fraction of the size of Western Europe, so a card mechanism is very appealing. I want a way to very quickly generate a great many interesting NPCs and could see using this or something based on it in combination with other approaches. I have been rereading Bath's notes on characterization as well.

[Mighty Darci]

Hmm, looks like it would take some time to get used to using it.  You are drawing both or all three cards from the full deck, I assume?

[hengest]

Love this even more than I did five years ago. Should do a whole set of these or a spin-off cartomancy thread.

♥ 9 , ♣ K = celestial passion (context), animus staves (event)

Local legend: when the shooting stars were about to crash to earth and destroy the land, the king took up his father's staff and blasted them back to the sky where they hang even now! 

[hengest]

2-card reading

♥ A (context)
♥ 8 (event)

Singularity of emotion, cessation of emotion

Interpretation: Marchionesse Birch's longstanding infatuation with Duke Eyren has finally burned itself out, allowing her to take stock of the military and agricultural situation on the ground with a more sober eye.

3-card reading (reshuffled deck)

♦ K (major male, past condition)
♦ A (singularity, whole, beginning, wealth--current focus)
♥ K (major male, passion--goal)

Interpretation: Tarwin, deceased head of a poor family, left a purse of magic coins that can be spent twice in a week (on a third spending, the coin is lost forever, as has been learned). His granddaughter Salvina has inherited the coins and intends to leverage their magic into a real increase of wealth and marriage to Wealson, wastrel scion of a great clan.