The Tarot Experiment
It was sometime in the summer of 1998, and I was in... an Earthdawn
campaign, I imagine. I was frustrated with the caste system that most fantasy
games impose on you, and annoyed with the charts and tables. "You know," I
said to myself, "What I want is a system with as few rules as possible." Then
I thought about it for a while. A game with storytelling as its focus, not
dice.
So I thought, in the most thoughtful way that I could think. And I'd been
on a MUSH ages ago that used Tarot cards as a character generation system.
And this made me think more. I liked the symbolism of the cards, the
commonality (everybody's played with a Rider-Waite deck at some time or other.)
and the tradition that came wrapped in the little cardboard box.
The rules are fairly simple. That's the entire goal
behind this experiment. Few rules, lots of storytelling by both the GM and
the players.
The World is not intrinsically tied to the gaming
system; it's like GURPS in that respect. Anything you want to do, you can do.
Of course, some decks may be more appropriate to certain campaigns than others.
The Characters are nearly all fun to watch. Mine are
fun to play. The others keep coming back, so I assume theirs are too.
The Course of Destiny right now is in my hands. It's a
journal-like telling of the story of the game. I've offered goodies to a
player who wants the job, but so far it's my baby. (:
Below is a quick table of the card suits, and the interpretations we begin
with to determine the paths of our heroes.
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