Games with Tarot Cards!

Spinachcat · April 03, 2015, 01:26:59 PM

When Everway came out, I remember not being able to get a seat at any demos of the game at the conventions in SoCal or NorCal. The demos were filled in a flash, but less than a year later the game vanished and I've never seen anybody run it since. Odd.

Over the years, I've heard from people who demo'd the game, but never bought a copy and the general opinion was "weird, but cool" and I get the sense the game was ahead of its time and of course, so poorly marketed.

TristramEvans · April 04, 2015, 05:01:57 AM

I own Everway. I hesitate to even call it a game system, since it basically is just "the GM decides what happens", with character traits and the mock-tarot used as a guide or for "inspiration". Still, its a fun read. I picked up the box for $2 on clearance and it was worth the price.

If someone were to go in and create an actual system for playing the game I would like it a whole lot more, because I'm perfectly comfortable using GM fiat as I see fit during a game, but I like some randomization.

Korgul · April 04, 2015, 06:25:31 AM

There's Sine Requie, an italian-zombie-apocalypse-made-nazy-germany-win-the war RPG, who uses both standard dice resolution and tarots based resolution. I find the latter quite gimicky, but a friend of mine loves it madly.
There's even a themed tarots deck, wich I find quite cool.

Spoiler

https://steampunkopera.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/dt11.jpg?w=645[/IMG]

Spoiler

Just Another Snake Cult · April 04, 2015, 03:03:43 PM

Quote from: TristramEvans;823901I own Everway. I hesitate to even call it a game system, since it basically is just "the GM decides what happens", with character traits and the mock-tarot used as a guide or for "inspiration". Still, its a fun read. I picked up the box for $2 on clearance and it was worth the price.

If someone were to go in and create an actual system for playing the game I would like it a whole lot more, because I'm perfectly comfortable using GM fiat as I see fit during a game, but I like some randomization.

It's very similar to Amber Diceless IMHO. If fact, it's even more "Game-y" than Amber in that the mock-tarot provides at least some minor randomization, whereas Amber IIRC had none.

I need to break Everway out again and re-read it. I'm not sure if it's the kind of game that I would enjoy today, but I recall that I really liked it way back in 1995 (!!! Twenty years ago! Jesus I feel old now) when it came out.

RPGPundit · April 07, 2015, 03:07:33 AM

I actually quite liked Everway, and yes, it was similar in many ways to Amber.

I've never run into an RPG that really uses tarot cards. Mind you, I rearranged the Deck of Many Things to match the 22 major arcana of the Tarot, and whenever it's come up in my games, I've used my Visconti tarot's major arcana as a prop for it. The visconti is one of the original Tarot decks and looks totally like it could be a medieval-fantasy magic item.

TristramEvans · April 07, 2015, 03:19:54 AM

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;823959If fact, it's even more "Game-y" than Amber in that the mock-tarot provides at least some minor randomization, whereas Amber IIRC had none.

It really doesn't. Unless "interpreting an unrelated picture on a card however you like" is randomization. I don't really consider it as such.

Just Another Snake Cult · April 07, 2015, 06:40:00 PM

Quote from: TristramEvans;824440It really doesn't. Unless "interpreting an unrelated picture on a card however you like" is randomization. I don't really consider it as such.

Each character had certain cards that were "Strengths" (Good to pull) and "Flaws" (Bad to pull).

Dirk Remmecke · April 08, 2015, 03:02:15 AM

Quote from: TristramEvans;824440It really doesn't. Unless "interpreting an unrelated picture on a card however you like" is randomization. I don't really consider it as such.

In Engel it was important whether a card was drawn upside down, so every draw had a basic "50% negative" chance, in addition to the card name or illustration.

"Reading" Tarot (or Tarot-like cards) is almost the same as rolling on a table to find results like "pay a price". It is a random result.

My problem with card readings is that it's hard to include or reflect the capabilities of the character.

Jason D · April 08, 2015, 03:26:21 AM

There's the old Lace & Steel RPG, a swashbuckling adventure game with fantasy elements.

Honestly, though, as much as a devotee of Amber Diceless Roleplaying as I am, I'd love to see a treatment of Amber done with a Tarot/Trump based resolution system. It feels a natural fit.

RPGPundit · April 09, 2015, 05:19:14 AM

Quote from: Jason D;824578There's the old Lace & Steel RPG, a swashbuckling adventure game with fantasy elements.

Honestly, though, as much as a devotee of Amber Diceless Roleplaying as I am, I'd love to see a treatment of Amber done with a Tarot/Trump based resolution system. It feels a natural fit.

There was once a magazine that published a character-creation method for Amber that used playing cards, as I recall. That's as close as it got.

Jason D · April 09, 2015, 05:34:10 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;824836There was once a magazine that published a character-creation method for Amber that used playing cards, as I recall. That's as close as it got.

Yeah. In Trump Call we published a small article about using cards for character creation, written by one of Erick's circle of Amber diehards. Unfortunately, Erick's reaction was... extreme enough to convince my co-editor to shut the zine down.

RPGPundit · April 10, 2015, 10:02:43 PM

Quote from: Jason D;824838Yeah. In Trump Call we published a small article about using cards for character creation, written by one of Erick's circle of Amber diehards. Unfortunately, Erick's reaction was... extreme enough to convince my co-editor to shut the zine down.

He was a total die-hard for NO-randomization, from what I recall.

Jason D · April 11, 2015, 02:35:40 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;825237He was a total die-hard for NO-randomization, from what I recall.

Yeah. The distressing part was that since it had come from someone relatively close to Erick, we thought it was "clear" for publication.

Instead, it resulted in an angry phone call saying that we'd basically destroyed everything the RPG was about.

After that, there was little to do but pull up the tent-stakes, throw the last issue out the door, and call it a day.

RPGPundit · April 14, 2015, 11:29:37 AM

I think it's hard to remember just how unbelievably radical an idea an RPG with no randomization was back then. I think Erick was probably worried (overly worried, I'll grant) that adding any option (even as a house-rule written in a fanzine) that would remove the total non-random nature of the game would cause people to turn to that instead.

People often point out that Erick was incredibly humble, and that's kind of true, but more than that, sometimes I get the feeling that he really didn't always get just how great he was; and I'd almost say sometimes he felt kind of insecure about his work. Which is crazy, I mean like 'Eric Clapton worrying people will boo his guitar playing' crazy, but there you are.