I love tarot, and I think it’s really cool. I love the cards, I love the evocative imagery, and I love how much possibility is inherent in the cards.
This blog provides practical tips for using tarot for D&D adventure writing (or any ttrpg), as well as serving as a place where I can get questions from adventure writers and do readings for people.
(I’m also working on a longer guide which has all the information I’ve written in one place, which is coming along nicely and I hope to release in the next few months.)
Last time we created a basic character concept. Today we’re going to go into it a little more in-depth, and start fleshing it out.
Our basic character concept is a cleric who was a part of an organized religion before, but realized it wasn’t a good fit for them, and left to follow a new religion. They’re scared that they’ll realize they were wrong and they do belong in the first religion.
Now let’s look more in depth at the religion they left. Since religions are often very dependent on setting, I’m going to use the cards to describe a religion in general, and then I would match that to whatever fits best in the setting, or make the religion a spin-off sect of a main religion.
Since I have some specific questions in mind, I’m not going to use a generic spread. Writing questions to use with the tarot cards can be tricky, because if your question is too specific the cards may have trouble answering. If you’re having trouble, try to make your questions more open-ended.
Main ideal of religion: Knight of Wands -- A traditional meaning of this card is ready for war. Yep, absolutely works. So the religion this character was originally involved in was a war religion, or whatever religion was following the war god, or any that are war domain. Tyr, Lolth, and Bahamut are all examples.
Issue this character had with the religion: Ace of Pentacles -- Pentacles is our nature suit, and traditionally means opportunity for growth, material wealth. That’s interesting, since there’s often a stereotype of religious acolytes being impoverished (even if the church itself may be wealthy). You could easily take the second meaning, that the character was out for money that the church couldn’t offer, but I’m going to go with more general growth. The character was being overlooked within the church. This is interesting, because it wasn’t an ideological conflict that led the character to leaving, it was more personal disagreements within the church.
Issue the church’s priests had with the character: Nine of Cups -- This could represent passivity, or contentment or satisfaction. This is a little tough, but it helps to remind ourselves that the suit of cups represents the divine. So the character is passive towards the divine. Perhaps we have a church where the norm is to be extremely zealous, and this character was more laid back in their worship. This implies that the priests and priestesses don’t respect the character, and even look down on the character.
This paints a pretty clear picture: the character was not being treated well in the church, overlooked for jobs and ridiculed for not being as “devout” as everyone else. Is it any surprise they left to find greener pastures?
Next post, we’ll look at where the character ended up-- that will be the religion that they’re a cleric of now.
I’m going to do a short series of posts using tarot cards to create a player character and expand the backstory. We’ll use the same character each time, slowly deepening the backstory as we go. You can also use this to create detailed NPCs, of course.
I’m starting from a blank slate, so I’m going to use what I draw here today to help me pick a class. This is also great if you have a habit of getting your characters killed and need a new one quickly.
First, let’s start off with the basics: history/motivation/fear
History: The Lovers -- This card can represent temptation, especially away from the divine. I like this, but it’s not super detailed. So we’ll keep the meaning as: the character used to be a part of a religious group, but left because they desired something they weren’t able to get through the religion. That leads nicely into the next card:
Motivation: Page of Cups -- Haha, cups is our suit that represents the divine, so this is perfect. The page of cups also represents possibility, opportunities. I’m going to take this to mean the possbility of a new religion. So our character left their old religion for a new one, one that better suited their values. (We’ll pin down more specifics later.)
Fear: The Chariot -- This card traditionally means success or control, overcoming obstacles. For a fear, it would make sense to take the opposite of this. This character is afraid of not meeting their goals, or even of meeting their goals too well. Meeting their goals and realizing that this isn’t what they wanted at all.
This is where I’m going to leave this first section. There are a number of good classes that would fit in well with this, but I’m going to go with cleric because of the suit in the motivations card. Cleric to me feels most true to that card.
Essentially, this character was a part of an organized religion before, but realized it wasn’t a good fit for them, and left to follow a new religion. They’re scared that they’ll realize they were wrong and they do belong in the first religion. A paladin could also make sense here, or a warlock (one with a religious flavor) who was seduced away from their original religion.
Next time I’m going to look carefully at the original religion this character was a part of. What did it represent? Why did they leave?
Quick note before we get started: my inbox is open! Feel free to send any TTRPG writing questions you have, either adventure writing, or even character backstory writing! Include as many details as you can. Obviously tumblr asks have a character limit, so feel free to send multiple if you need to.
Now let's get into it! The setting today is going to be a generic mid-size city in a D&D fantasy world like Faerun.
The goal of this reading is to develop two opposing factions, and an NPC leader/figurehead for each. I think this is a cool way to quickly flesh out a city and make it feel alive, and gives the players plenty of RP hooks and decisions for how they want to engage (even beyond siding with one faction against the other).
Faction 1
Archetype: The World — What an interesting card for this! The World represents, well, everything. But it also represents "the right path," or perfection. When I say this, my mind immediately jumped to Library (can you tell I was a book nerd growing up)? Specifically, the uptight over-influential library which rigorously guards its hidden knowledge. Right now, I'm going to leave it at that, rather than deciding any additional details about what kind of library it is, what kind of hidden knowledge, etc. I'm going to let the rest of the cards flesh that out.
Motivation: Three of Cups — This is perfect. Cups represents divine magic, and the three represents a minor force, defender of the commonfolk. So it's a religious library, devoted to helping the poor. Remember, we don't want one faction to be obviously better than the other, because we want the players to have a meaningful choice of which faction to side with (or none). We'll avoid making this faction too "good" then.
Fear: Ten of Wands — The ten of wands traditionally represents being overloaded, carrying a heavy burden alone. Meanwhile, the ten of wands with our D&D specific matrix represents a minor tyrant of arcane nature. The traditional meaning is pretty clear: the library is carrying (or at least, thinks they're carrying) the heavy burden of helping the poor all alone. For the tyrant, let's say that represents the Lord in charge of the town. This Lord has a traditionally arcane background (a wizard turned politician) and maybe has a reputation of being aloof. The library is worried that this Lord doesn't care about the poor, and that the library is the only organization in the city that does. This is a great opportunity to make the library a little less clear-cut "good:" it quickly becomes apparent to the players that actually, there are other organizations helping the poor, but since they aren't religious organizations, the library ignores their contributions.
NPC Lead: Ten of Pentacles — Pentacles is our traditionally nature-y suit. And as above, the ten represents a petty tyrant. That works fine for our purposes. The Head Librarian is also a High Priest(ess) of a traditional nature god. Strict and controlling, the Head Librarian leads the library with an iron first. However... the traditional meaning of the ten of pentacles is wealth, relaxed nature, a happy and peaceful life, etc. So let's add a little twist to our Head Librarian: yes, they may be a tyrant, yes they may be overly controlling and rigid, and but on a more personal level, they're also fun and cheerful. There's a reason so many people follow them.
Overall, I've got a pretty clear picture of faction 1 now. They're a religious library that also does significant charitable outreach, but are incredibly pretentious about it and believe that they're the only ones actually helping the poor because they're the only ones that follow [insert nature god here]. If I ended up needing it, I could also throw in an environmental cause here as well, but I think that's unnecessary for now.
Faction 2
Archetype: Ace of Wands — Well, isn't this interesting. The wands represents an arcane force, which is perfect. Now we have a classic priests vs. wizards conflict on our hands. The part that's interesting is the ace. The ace in our number definitions represents the common people, the innocent. How I'm interpreting this is as an underground backyard magic guild. Essentially, a group of hedgewitches. And, most importantly, these hedgewitches are largely part of the very group that the library is devoted to helping. Very, very interesting.
Motivation: Four of Swords — This is excellent, actually. I'm going to pick and choose which meanings I use here, because the second I saw this card I had a cool idea. I'm going to take the swords to represent martial combat, and the traditional meaning of this card, which is a forced pause. The city, led by the former wizard Lord, has a habit of getting into armed conflict with its neighbors. While not full out war, there is routinely bloodshed and the city maintains a fully armed garrison at all times. The group of hedgewitches, however, is sick and tired of this. Maybe they've seen too many of their friends and family die for nothing, or maybe they oppose the fact that their city is the aggressor in these conflicts. Either way, they want it to stop, and they're willing to go to extreme lengths to do so.
Fear: Four of Wands — Ooh, this is cool. The repeated theme of wands throughout this reading is very interesting. I'm going to take the suit to represent the Lord of the city, the former wizard. I love this, because the hedgewitches have the same fear as the library: the Lord of the city! Albeit in a slightly different way. The four of wands represents holidays, joyful welcoming, safe places, etc. While the four represents an idealist or a dreamer. This one is a little tough: I know the fear relates to the Lord of the city, but being welcome with joy isn't exactly something to be afraid of. Let's make this more literal: there's a major holiday coming up, and the Lord is secretly-not-so-secretly planning a huge attack. The hedgewitches are NOT joyful about that at all.
NPC Lead: The Fool — Incredible. Since the hedgewitches are a more underground organization, their NPC lead is really more of a figurehead. Plans are made collaboratively, in cellars and backrooms with small groups of people, rather than unilaterally from the top. However, there is someone who's defacto in charge: someone on the younger side, with their head in the clouds. Someone who's still idealistic and thinks that they can change the world, who sees opportunities behind every corner. I think this person is in charge because of their ability to inspire others, even though the more senior hedgewitches don't have a lot of respect for this upstart. But being able to unite hedgewitches, obviously a very disparate group, is an impressive skill just by itself.
I love this faction. I was heavily inspired by the hedgewitches in the Magicians books and tv show, by the way. I see them as arcane casters united together under a "magic is for the people" ethos.
The Conflict
Surface Issue: Ten of Swords — Lots of tens today. This card represents a sudden end, or badmouthing people behind their back. Yeah, that works perfectly. The library is badmouthing the hedgewitches because they're arcane casters, rather than religious followers, and the hedgewitches hate the library because they see them as in the pocket of the military industrial complex— I mean, the Lord of the city, and assume the library is badmouthing them because the library supports the military conflicts. So at first glance, the conflict appears to come from members shit-talking members of the opposite faction.
Deeper Issue: King of Wands — This is so, so perfect. Right now, we have two factions. Or do we? The third faction is the Lord of the city, the one who's pushing all these military conflicts. There could be some very interesting reasons why he's doing that, and I could draw a card to flesh that out, but I think that would be a perfect place to tie in a campaign villain. Maybe the Lord is in the pocket of the BBEG and is acquiring resources for them. Anyway, back to the card: King of Wands so clearly represents the Lord. I interpret this as meaning that the Lord themselves is pushing this conflict. Maybe they're aware of the hedgewitches, and are worried about any anti-war propaganda that's spreading, so they manipulated the library into putting a target on the hedgewitches' backs. The more those two factions are fighting between themselves, the less time they'll spend pushing back against the Lord's own ominous agenda.
Roadblock: Six of Wands — Honestly, I could've stopped with the previous card. We've got a great and interesting conflict brewing here, and already I can see many plot hooks and side quests and ways the players could get pulled into the politics of this city. However, I already laid out the cards, so let's finish it off. The six of wands represents victory. I'm going to keep this simple: the Lord recently led the city in a small but significant military victory against a nearby group, and the people are proud of themselves and celebrating. It's hard to push anti-war propaganda when things are actually going well, isn't it? And the Lord can use this new-found popularity to push the two factions harder against each other.
Risk: Queen of Swords — I'm using this part of the reading to outline the consequences of this issue between the two factions not being resolved. But I think we've already got some great ideas from everything above, so I'm going to keep this simple: the Queen in question is the BBEG, or the BBEG's main lieutenant, and if the Lord is able to continue their work unchecked, then the BBEG will absolutely benefit. Maybe the Lord is taking over a mining operation, or has stolen magical artifacts from nearby cities, but the result is the same: the villain is getting stronger every day that this Lord remains unchecked.
Overall, I love what we've created here. Obviously, bits and pieces need to be fleshed out. NPCs need names and maybe stat blocks. I'd nab a city map from somewhere as well and incorporate that into the city. I'd also probably use a tavern/shop generator to quickly add some places to visit, and actually I'd use a simple location spread to add a few points of interest into the city as well. Then you just need a few side quest hooks, and you can let your players loose. I'm definitely picturing this as an open-world city adventure, rather than a linear story, where the players can do a few small quests for each faction and learn more about the issues. Then drop a major conflict event that forces the two factions to act in some way— maybe the Lord mobilizes the military against the hedgewitches, or maybe the Head Librarian is killed (by accident?). I would hold off planning that though until the players had had at least a session or two to explore the city, maybe even more. There's definitely a great opportunity for this major triggering event to come in response to the players fucking up a side quest.
Here are two readings I did back to back-- the second one to further flesh out the first. This is an example I did for the guide I’m working on, based on a campaign I ran last year.
The villain for a minor quest
Okay, you're running Dragon Heist, and the Harpers have asked your players to find and retrieve a stolen item. That's great, but... who stole it? Let's find out!
NPC History: Four of Swords — From the suit, we have someone who belongs to the "forces of men" so in our case someone who is "of the people." The number is someone who's an idealist/dreamer. And the traditional meaning of this card includes "in an isolated state." I like where this is going. We have someone who fights for the common man, someone who has big dreams and a big heart, but maybe is out of touch with what the people actually want, and as a result is isolated from society. Robin Hood, but a creepy intense version who people cross the street to avoid.
Motivation: Knight of Swords — The knight is a defender of ideals. Perfect. They want to defend whatever ideal they have. They stole the item in order to defend that ideal.
Fear: Death — Despite the ominous name, this card traditionally represents change. This person fears change more than anything, so the ideal they're defending is a preservation of the old ways.
Putting this together, a clear picture starts to emerge. We have someone who's isolated and fantatical, probably a little deranged, who stole the object from the Harpers in order to stop some big change from happening in the city. If I had an object in mind already, and it was some object that could push the city forward, then that's reason enough for the thief. If the object doesn't obviously cause change, however, then I would say the thief stole it in order to force the Harpers to cancel or reverse some change they were making to the city. Since the Harpers are a secretive organization, they don't want this whole mess getting out. That's where the party comes in.
Now we need a hideout
Let's continue the example from before, and create a location where the thief is hiding. It's clearly somewhere in the city, and it has to be somewhere that would be accessible to this loner. That doesn't mean it can't be fancy (maybe the thief has a rich aunt), but it should be isolated.
History: Queen of Swords — I had a burst of inspiration immediately on seeing this. Somewhere related to the forces of men, where things get done... I'd have the location be a former guardhouse. I would drop hints here and there that the thief is in a former guardhouse, and then let the players search based on that. Maybe there can be some RP of them talking to retired guards, going to different locations (maybe they go to one place that's been turned into a nudist yoga studio). There's a lot of flexibility here.
Danger: Seven of Cups — The suit represents divine magic, and the traditional meaning of the card relates to... illusions. Hell yeah. I would look for a monster that uses illusions, or I would look at divine spells that relate to illusions to think up traps. Maybe the fact that the place seems divine IS the illusion. There are shrines and a temple defender and the whole thing is made to look like some big deal god will smite you if you mess with the place... But actually the thief just created all of it to make themselves feel like they had a divine purpose. It's all a lie.
Opportunity: Wheel of Fortune — This one's a little tough. The card represents fate, time passing, the idea of destiny and a cosmological fight of good vs. evil. There are a couple ways you could play this, but I think I would interpret this card to mean that there's a good jumping off point here for a classic good vs. evil side quest. I would also try to tie in one of the player's backstories, in order to get at the idea of fate. Maybe the players find records of a prophecy here that clearly describes one of the players, that says they'll destroy some evil monster that's going to attack the town soon. Bonus points if the thief is the one who does something to summon said monster, hehe. Especially if it's in the final showdown with the players.
I want to share with you guys an example reading I did for the guide I'm writing. I love this example because it was really tricky— when I drew the cards, my first thought was "fuck, how is this supposed to work?" But with a little bit of thought, it clicked into place to make actually a pretty cute little encounter. Hopefully it gives you some inspiration in your own game!
A simple encounter
Your players are traveling, and you want to spice it up without resorting to a typical random encounter table. Great! Maybe you're literally DMing right now and only have ten minutes while everyone uses the bathroom. Super cool! Let's keep this simple then.
Issue: Queen of Wands — The suit represents arcane magic, and the number represents a higher-up in charge who makes things happen. The traditional meaning represents opportunities and self confidence. Not a great card to start with, but let's do what we can. Let's start with the NPC. Let's an equivalent of a deputy director for an arcane research group. Essentially a powerful wizard, on their way looking for a new opportunity. Good enough to start with.
Roadblock: Five of Pentacles — Traditional meaning relates to exclusion, being left out of things. The suit represents a force of nature, and the number represents someone with their feet planted firmly on the ground. Hmmm..... Planted, you say? Force of nature? Great. The wizard is being attacked by evil trees! Maybe they're trapped waist deep in quick sand so they're not able to fight as effectively. Looks like this is a random combat encounter after all! Except now we have this interesting NPC who's also involved, who might be very grateful for the players' help...
Desired outcome: Ace of Pentacles — Obviously the wizard wants to stop being attacked by the trees, but let's see what other twists we can add in. The traditional meaning of this card represents material wealth and growth, and of course the suit represents nature. Okay, the pieces are coming together. The trees didn't attack the wizard— the wizard attacked the trees after seeing that they had some sort of treasure. The wizard wants that treasure. And maybe will be willing to share some of it...?
I’ve written on this before, but I recently realized that there’s a much better way to simplify my approach and make it much faster to use and interpret the minor arcana.
The suit type represents a different area of forces, and the number represents an agent of that type of force, with higher numbers representing more powerful agents. For example, a Queen of Wands is a very powerful force of magic, one which makes things happen. This could be a dragon or a curse that’s laid across the entire land.
Cross reference the two lists below to get the exact meaning for your card.
Wands = forces of magic
Cups = forces of divinity
Swords = forces of people
Pentacles/Staves = forces of nature
Ace -- A minor force. The commoner, the innocent, the helpless.
Two -- A minor force. The bully, weak and taking advantage of the weaker.
Three -- A minor force. The common defender, using what little strength they have to defend the helpless.
Four -- A minor force. The idealist, the dreamer, head in the clouds.
Five -- A minor force. The pragmatist, the realist, feet planted firmly on the ground.
Six -- A minor force. The opportunist, sly and waiting.
Seven -- A minor force. The hero, the savior.
Eight -- A minor force. The destroyer, lover of chaos.
Nine -- A minor force. The traditionalist, preserver of the old ways.
Ten -- A minor force. The tyrant, holding on to whatever power is available with an iron grip.
Page -- A major force, often overlooked. A spy, an apprentice, a servant.
Knight -- A major force. A fighter, a defender, an avenger, not of individuals, but of ideals.
Queen -- A major force. A negotiator, a chief-of-staff, someone who makes things happen.
King -- A major force. A display of power, an icon of rule.
And of course, the full meaning of each card can be used to expand on the ideas started here.
Just like the major arcana tell a story, each of the four suits of the minor arcana also tells a story. Here I give a rough overview of the meaning of each suit and how they can be applied to making your own adventures. Later, I will give a rough overview of what the suit numbers mean and how to apply them to your games.
Pentacles
Symbolism: Autumn, the color green, material possessions, wealth, physical health, earth element, east.
Applications to D&D: Use this to represent the merchant classes, nature, physicality. Druids and monks are represented by this suit, as well as rural environments. The presence of a pentacle card can indicate exploration ahead.
A pentacle might indicate: a merchant or druid, a monstrous plant, a rural setting, a dense forest, someone greedy, the promise of wealth, the desire to explore.
Wands
Symbolism: Spring, the color yellow, creativity, passion, the fire element, the spirit, south.
Applications to D&D: Arcane magic can be represented by this suit, as well as spirituality and heat. Wands might indicate a desert setting, or a spiritual adventure in the dream world. Creation is also represented by this suit, so artisans and artificers are represented here. The presence of a wand card can indicate a puzzle ahead.
A wand might indicate: an arcane caster or artisan, a desert, a town, the desire to create, someone passionate about something, ambition (the desire to achieve greatness).
Cups
Symbolism: Summer, the color red, love, emotion, empathy, the water element, west.
Applications to D&D: The suit can represent divine magic, as well as storms and the sea. Clergy are represented, as well as wet environments and outsiders. The presence of a cup card can indicate a social challenge.
A cup might indicate: a priest, the ocean, sea monsters, rain, someone in love with someone else, a desire to help others.
Swords
Symbolism: Winter, swords, thought, challenge, the air element, north.
Applications to D&D: Militia and nobility are represented by swords, as well as any cold or urban environments. Fighting classes are represented by swords, and the presence of a sword card can indicate a fight ahead.
A sword might indicate: a city guard or noble, a city, someone thoughtful and careful, the pursuit of knowledge, murder.
It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d come straight back in with a new mini-adventure.
Adventure theme: Two of wands (reversed)
This card can represent bad planning. Perfect! Bad planning is such a common theme in tabletop adventures, and it’s a very rich theme, especially in a more comedic setting (but really anywhere).
Main conflict: High Priestess (reversed) vs. The Empress
A classic combination. The High Priestess reversed suggests someone who is too introverted, too obsessed with their own internal world. This person is in a position of power, but is unable to see reality as it is, instead of as a paranoid distortion. The Empress we can take somewhat literally. A person in a position of power, but a good leader who deals directly with their subjects.
Our conflict here is then a well-liked leader who is being fed bad information by a trusted advisor. This advisor is someone who’s clearly (to the players) lost touch with reality, and is putting the leader in a position to make decisions that will negatively impact the lives of ordinary citizens. This dynamic can be slotted into any leadership hierarchy, anywhere from a royal court or mages’ college to a town council.
For my own purposes, I’ll say this takes place in a Mage’s Guild. The Archmage, who is held in high regard by the mages in the guild, is being pushed into upgrading the guild’s defenses by a trusted advisor. However, these new defenses include some dangerous summonings, which seem like they could break loose at any second. Many mages are questioning the Archmage’s decision, and think the Archmage is losing it. In fact, it’s the advisor who’s losing it!
Twist: The Sun
Wow, this is a tough card to have here. The Sun could mean many things, like truth, beauty, or positivity, or even something divine. Here we’ll take it to mean truth. So the dangerous creatures that were summoned that we assumed would break loose and cause havoc? Actually, they’re necessary to protect from an even greater threat. I love this, because it offers a really interesting combat: the players, teaming up with the powerful summons, fight against an even more powerful enemy. I’ll leave it to you to decide what exactly those are (it will depend heavily on your party’s level), but thematically I would have the summons be fiends, and the big bad be an evil dragon or other traditionally “final boss” enemy. Basically, anything CR20+. Also, when running the combat, let the players control the summons. That’ll give them additional options in combat and let them feel powerful!
Resolution: Judgement
Obviously the resolution will depend on how well combat goes. If it goes poorly, maybe a good chunk of the Mages’ Guild is wiped out by the battle. If it goes well, everyone is saved and the players are heroes! The Judgement card implies a freedom from inner conflict. That advisor, who was becoming increasingly paranoid earlier? Maybe they were under some sort of spell/enchantment, so that they knew a big bad was coming but weren’t able to say anything about it or give any details, so they just sounded crazy instead.
Reward: Nine of Pentacles
This card represents someone who’s finally won the fight to be taken seriously. Which sounds exactly like our advisor character. This is perfect, because we can piggy-back on this theme and say the reward to the players is them being taken seriously about something. Are your players trying to raise awareness of a big threat? Do they need help in some sort of epic quest? For their reward, sit them down in a room with the Archmage, and have the Archmage really listen to whatever their requests/complaints are.
I need a side quest for a campaign that I'm DMing in which a druid needs to get help putting his teeth back in. The party is currently in their "home-base" city, and the druid is a bit of a wild card without a strong character backstory/arc. So, I want to use the side quest as a chance to develop his character more. I also had the idea that there is a mob boss called “the Tooth Fairy” who’s stealing teeth/doing something shady, but I wasn’t sure how to incorporate this.
To that end, I'm using the following tarot spread:
What goes wrong
Who interferes
Why do they interfere
What do they really want
How does the Tooth Fairy fit into this
What goes wrong: Queen of Pentacles (Reversed)
The druid’s goal is obviously to fix his teeth. This card implies that there is friction between this quest and other things the druid has going on. I’m going to interpret this as the person the druid finds to fix his teeth (the specialist he’s been referred to) is either an NPC the party has encountered before and not gotten along with, or someone that they need for their current main quest and who they have friction with. (I’ll have to think about what NPCs the party knows to decide how exactly this will work.)
Who interferes: Queen of Swords (Reversed)
This suggests a member of the nobility, someone cold and cruel. Obviously the perfect choice for this is the yet-to-be-included Tooth Fairy. She runs a strange and story-book criminal empire.
Why do they interfere: Eight of Swords
The Tooth Fairy is imprisoned/constrained and longs to break free. In fact, she’s a warlock who’s been magically imprisoned by their patron. She needs to collect teeth in order to buy her freedom (this seems pretty weird, which suggests that her patron will be really fucking weird).
What do they really want: Six of Wands (Reversed)
The Tooth Fairy wants to punish her patron for hurting her, and instead imprison her patron.
Tooth Fairy: Three of Cups (Reversed)
Since the Tooth Fairy is a warlock, it doesn’t really fit in perfectly that she’s the specialist. I’ll use this card to clarify this relationship. This card means that the specialist is an agent of hers (one of a few scattered throughout the city, collecting teeth in exchange for favors), working in a small church. The church is dedicated specifically to healing niche illnesses, but the specialist isn’t really closely tied into the church community and instead remains something of an outsider.
I recently introduced a macguffin into my high fantasy game, in the shape of a sentient sword (the party broke into a part of the dungeon that I wasn't ready for them to reach yet, so I kinda ad-libbed). Two different characters handled the sword during the session, and I ended up semi-inadvertently making the sword have two different personalities. How do I proceed from here? I'd like to make this weapon a useful feature in my game.
Cool question. I love magic swords!
For the purposes of my answer, I’m going to look at the story-telling aspects of this question, and less the actual mechanics of DMing it.
Here’s the spread I’m going to use:
1. What is the origin of the dual personalities?
2. What is the relationship between the personalities?
3. What conflicts will arise from having dual personalities?
4. How will the sword’s personality split affect the players?
Origin: The Emperor (Reversed)
The Emperor reversed implies control gone too far. Possibly the creator of the artifact (assuming it has one, otherwise substitute the first owner or a former owner) tried too hard to exert control over something that is incredibly powerful, and as a result got pulled into the artifact. Now the sword holds both its original personality, and the personality of its creator/former owner.
Relationship: King of Wands
One of the personalities is a natural leader, the one in charge. It has big plans. The other personality is inspired by this, or is at least willing to follow where the first one leads (even if it’s just to see what happens). Perhaps the creator is the leader, still trying to assert control after all these years, or perhaps the original sword personality is the leader, inspiring the creator who’s probably a bit bummed at being stuck in an inanimate object.
Conflicts: Strength
The two personalities must learn to understand each other. Perhaps right now they don’t have much compassion for each other (likely the one in the “leader” role is also the less compassionate one). But whatever challenges the magical object will face will require both of them working together. Their focus on the obstacles ahead of them will be compromised by their bickering.
As to the players: The Hierophant (Reversed)
Traditionally this card represents rebellion, or subversiveness. There’s a lot of storytelling potential here, so I’ll throw out some options. Perhaps the non-leader personality is a little tired of not being the one in “charge,” and is looking to rebel against the other and take full control of the sword. Perhaps both personalities are (secretly or publicly) looking to get rid of the other. The exact specifics might depend on how exactly the personalities manifest in the sword. Are they both active at once, or do they take turns? An interesting possible twist on this is that once the players remove/kill one personality, then they can access the full power of the sword. Or the quest might lead to them making a second sword, and then there’s two swords they can use. Or maybe they can get the creator his body back, but then what are the consequences of releasing an ancient powerful enchanter back into the world?
Overall, I think this card is indicating that right now, the two personalities are not in harmony. They might pretend to be in harmony, but there is just not enough room in the sword for both of them. Something will need to be done.
My main villain in the game i'm running is a lich who recently took over a small city and is running things in secret while he pretends that he didn't take over the city, but i don't really have a good idea for why he's doing it? i've just been hinting to the players that he wants power but that doesn't seem like enough
First off, that’s a super cool idea. To get a read on the lich’s motivation, I’m going to use a three card spread: Why he started on this path, what challenges he’s facing now, and where he wants to go.
Why he started: Queen of Cups
Weirdly enough, he’s somewhat altruistically motivated. He genuinely wants to take care of the city and its inhabitants, and wants what’s best for them. (Of course, what he thinks is best for them is certainly not what the inhabitants of the city would want for themselves...)
Challenges: Four of Wands
The people of the city won’t take losing their home lying down. One challenge the lich might be facing is a powerful wizard who has made the city his home and is used to being the one in control. You might add in a power struggle between them, which the players can get in the middle of.
Where he wants to go: The Lovers
He wants to be the true ruler of the city, loved by the people and lauded for his efforts. You can decide how far he’s willing to go to reach that goal. (As a lich, you can expect that he won’t have the same moral compass as most people. Consider that he might see his actions as benevolent when others would consider them flat out evil.)
Below is a side-quest prompt based on a mini-reading. Use this as the start of a small adventure, or for inspiration for your own ideas.
Ace of Cups
Ten of Wands (Reversed)
Seven of Pentacles (Reversed)
The Star (Reversed)
A young cleric has recently joined a local temple but has become overwhelmed by the workload. As a result, they’ve been slacking off some of their duties. One duty they missed was sanctifying the small graveyard behind the temple, and recently a corpse has risen, unnoticed by the priests, and has disappeared. The priesthood is now looking for an adventuring party to track down the corpse. Unfortunately, the supernatural illness that’s corrupted the corpse is likely to spread if the corpse isn’t found quickly.
Here are some options for the location of the corpse: 1) Let the corpse have wandered into somewhere relevant to the plot (or anywhere else you want the players to go). 2) Drop some random hints about where the corpse has gone and let the players piece together the location (and then let them be right). 3) Pick a few random locations around town and have the corpse move between them, dropping clues for the players.
At the end of the mini treasure hunt, the players get the fun reward of getting to fight some number of zombies dependent on how long it took them to find the corpse.
So, I'm running a game set in Waterdeep and I want to maybe transition to dungeons of the mad mage but I don't really have a good reason for the players to go into undermountain?? They're sort of criminal-types turned reluctant heroes. Thanks!
I’m going to perform a basic three-card spread for you, and give you some options for interpretation.
Past: Four of Swords (Reversed)Present: Knight of WandsFuture: Seven of Wands
A group of adventurers recently went into Undermountain to seek fame and fortune. They never returned. Now, a sibling of one of the adventurers, and high-ranking member of the Order of Magists and Protectors has decided to go into Undermountain by themselves to rescue everyone. The Order advised against it, but the sibling refused to listen and went in anyway. Now the Order wants to hire your party (so use money as the primary motivator) to venture into Undermountain after them and make sure they stay alive (perhaps without letting the sibling know they’re there, if you think your party would enjoy that). Even if they find and confront the sibling, the sibling refuses to leave the original adventuring party behind. However, the sibling is needed on the surface, and will reluctantly agree to continue paying the party to go in their place as rescuers instead.
This will provide motivation for the original delve into Undermountain, but I imagine your party might get tired of that being the only reason if you try to drag it out too long. In that case, there might be lost treasure that the original adventuring party went looking for (if your players are into that kind of thing), or maybe try to put something in Undermountain that relates to one of the character’s backstories. Maybe some new mystery that they can solve by going deeper into the dungeon!
Feel free to send me another ask with more information on your party’s background, and I can do another reading!
Setting: The Moon (reversed)
Goal: Temperance
Target: Seven of Cups
Obstacle: Six of Cups
NPCs: The Fool (reversed)
Twist: The Chariot (reversed)
Encounter
A town’s population is booming, and the town is looking to expand into a nearby forest. The town’s expansion threatens a settlement of dryads (or druids, or nymphs, or talking animals), who have begged the party for help in stopping the town from destroying their way of life. However, the local priest explains that town’s population needs to be fed, and already they’re feeling the pressure of food shortages. The town desperately needs additional land for farming. The players must make a choice: help the priest expand the town, or help the dryads.
The dryads refuse to leave their home in the forest because it is a sacred site for them. They’ve been living there for hundreds of years, and the very core of their religion is rooted in the plants and animals that live there. To abandon the earth would be to abandon their very souls, and so they will fight to the death to defend their place there.
The town mayor is the one in charge of the expansion efforts. Although he appears to be harmless and naive about the importance of nature to the dryads, in truth he knows a lot about the dryads’ religion, and is willfully spreading propaganda to turn the town against them.
Finally, here are a couple options for a twist: 1) The priest tries to overthrow the mayor and take control of the town. 2) The dryads storm the town and take the mayor hostage.
How to Use This
To use this in your game, you’ll want to generate some NPC names (here’s my favorite one, and it’s also got a full NPC generator here) and get stats for if the players fight the dryads (or the town). I use this encounter builder here.
See the full explanation of how I derived this adventure below the break.
Explanation
Here, the moon represents the intersection of wild nature and civilization. Reversed, this suggests a darker interpretation of the encroachment on nature of civilization.
The temperance card here has an obvious meaning: cooperation, mediation. The players will be required to negotiate between the forces of civilization and the forces of nature.
The seven of cups is all about choice. The dryads’ side has already been established by the first two cards, so now the seven of cups represents the town: a priest who presents the players with a difficult choice.
The six of cups represents nostalgia, and as a cup, it relates to divine magic. You could interpret this to mean that the priest is the one feeling nostalgia, but narratively I think this card works better to expand the dryads’ motivations.
The fool reversed is perhaps the easiest card to use here. It is someone who only pretends at naivety, but in fact has sinister motivations. And thus a villain (I chose him to be on the side of the town, but you could change him to be the leader of the dryads instead) is introduced.
The chariot represents direction or control. Reversed, I chose to interpret that as a loss of control. The natural choice for this card is the mayor, and I gave two options for how he loses control.
