Recently, my daughter’s D&D campaign had concluded a year-long story, and after taking a few weeks off to do other things, we started it back up recently with a new story. This time I was struggling to decide what kind of story I wanted to do for her, so I decided to let the Fates decide using a Tarokka Deck from the Curse of Strahd adventure.¹
- Ravenloft Tarokka Deck Download The PDF; Ravenloft Tarokka Deck How To Play Strahd; Ravenloft Tarokka Deck Download The PDF. Chapter 6: Old Bonegrinder is an old windmill Chapter 7: Argyvostholt is an old Mansion Chapter 8: The Village of Krezk is a fortified village with an abbey Chapter 9: Tsolenka Pass is a gravel road that hungs Mount Ghkis Chapter 10: The Ruins of Berez act the swampy.
- Include a free PDF version - Ravenloft: Fraternity of Shadows. A Tarot-like deck for Ravenloft 'M. Tarokka TM has a meaning in both the. Five of Coins — The Guildsman: Cooperation for mutual profit.
The Tarokka Deck is an in-game prop that looks similar to a Tarot deck, but is more thematic to the adventure. It can also be used to play a card game (rules included in the package). The Curse of Strahd adventure guide provides some rules about how to use a Tarokka Deck as a way of telling fortunes for the players, but really this is just a way to randomize certain points of the campaign so it’s a different adventure each time.
I wanted to do something similar for my daughter’s campaign so I created an adventure hook where she encountered some itinerant Vistani² at a nearby encampment, and she had her fortune told by the elder Vistani matriarch as a kind of friendly, good-will gesture.
Tarokka decks are sets of fortune-telling cards for the D&D setting of Ravenloft, meant to add to the flavor of Ravenloft's gothic horror atmosphere. They typically contain 54 cards, 10 each for the suits of Swords, Coins, Stars, and Glyphs plus 14 of the Fortuna Magna. Ravenloft Tarokka Deck. Unsubscribe Description. Ravenloft Tarokka Deck Art by: Talon Dunning source images: card faces: https://c2.
I adapted the ritual outlined in Curse of Strahd and laid out the cards like so:
- left card (from the main deck) – the character’s past
- top card (from the main deck) – the character’s current situation
- right card (from the main deck) – something in the near future
- bottom card (from the separate high-card deck) – something the character wants
- middle card (from the separate, high-card deck) – the outcome
My daughter did all that and came up with a “fortune” that … with some creative interpretation on my part, managed to build a cohesive history of the character, and a basic outline of her next adventure. It worked well because it was a fun, mildly spooky moment, and unbeknownst to her, it let me generate a skeleton framework for her next campaign and allow me to fill in the rest later.
Even if you don’t own the Tarokka Deck, Curse of Strahd and other resources show how to make your own “deck” using a normal pack of playing cards and mapping the suit and number to the same cards in Tarokka. From there, you just need to drum up an elaborate ritual to “tell the party’s fortune” and let them basically pick their new adventure. 😀
¹ I own both but haven’t actually been able to use either one for their intended purpose yet. The Curse of Strahd is much too dark of an adventure for my daughter’s campaign, so I am saving it for other adult campaigns in the future.
² Vistani in Dungeons and Dragons are a bit of a awkward subject due to their stereotyping of real life Romani people, but at the same time they fulfill an interesting niche in Dungeons and Dragons lore. I tried to paint a more positive image of the Vistani from what I knew of Romani culture (emphasize Indian heritage, deemphasize negative stereotypes) while maintaining an aura of mystery thanks to the Vistani’s planar-travelling ability. I hope it worked.
There comes a point in every expedition to Ravenloft Castle where the stalwart adventurers must seek out a certain Vistani woman for advice … and to have their “Tarokka” (a fantasy version of the Tarot) read. The cards drawn set the objectives of the expedition, and determine where certain random elements — like the fabled sun sword — can be found.
We have reached that point. Tonight we will visit the fortuneteller, get our futures told … and the real adventure will begin.
The Future is Online
In honor of our impending visit, I decided to go searching for some online Tarot cards. I should note that I in no way accept or embrace the supernatural mumbo jumbo that is fortune-telling as offering actual truthes in the real world … but these online Tarot decks and readings do make for amusing diversions.
Tarokka Card Meanings
No matter what you think of the mystical aspects of the Tarot, there’s no denying that the decks can be works of art. Llewellyn’s Tarot Readings features 12 different decks including Celtic Dragon, Quest Tarot, and Legend. There all works of art, and they can be used in seven different spreads, from “Past, Present Future” to “Planetary”.
Tarotpedia is an online encyclopedia dedicated to every aspect of the Tarot, from cards to decks, to usage to history.
IF you’re trying to figure out what all these cards mean so you can read your own Tarot futures, check out Learn Tarot, which offers a free online course on reading tarot cards.
Dnd Tarokka Cards
Itching to make your Ravenloft game even more authentic? Then buy a copy of the Ravenloft Tarokka Deck from White Wolf games, a 79 card illustrated deck of cards. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any pictures of the cards online.
A Fool’s Errand
A Fool’s Errand is one of my favorite computer games of all time. It’s a story/puzzle game for the Macintosh that was released in 1988. It features the story of a Fool who is on an epic quest inspired by the Holy Grail-style Tarot cards. Each puzzle ties into the Tarot in some way, and run the gamut from jigsaw puzzles to crosswords to cryptographic challenges to simple video games.
The game’s still available for download from the author’s web site in Windows, Macintosh and Amiga (yes, Amiga) formats. You have to jump through several hoops to get these games running after all this time (and Intel Macs can’t run the game at all, because it requires Classic mode, which they no longer support) but if you have a little time, it’s worth checking out.