Tarot Adventure Prep

Tarot is a tool used by many Game Masters and Solo RPG players for inspiration. In this article, we are going to have a look at how it can be used to spawn adventure ideas using the Adventure Prep spread with eight cards.

1. Catalyst: The first card signifies the NPC, faction, or event that incited the adventure we are going to prep.
2. Goal: The second card represents the goal, or natural outcome of the catalyst.
3. Opposition: All adventures need opposition or conflict of some kind. This is represented by the third card.
4. Method: What method or tactic does the Opposition use, or what result do they want to achieve?
5. Situation: The conflict between the Catalyst and the Opposition results in a Conflict, as represented by the fifth card.
6. Stakes: All adventures need stakes. What is at stake in this Situation?
7. Complication: However, there is also some sort of Complication - for the Catalyst, the Opposition, or in the Situation in general.
8. Twist: But perhaps not all is what it seems?

How to draw and place the cards

1. I typically draw the cards two at a time, and place them as the illustration above suggests.
2. After each pair is drawn, I pause to reflect on how to interpret them in the context of my world (this is important). Do the symbols on the card mean anything to me? Or does the literal images themselves give me an idea? Do they seem to represent an existing NPC, faction, event or ongoing plot in your world? Sometimes nothing really comes to mind at first, but after I've drawn a few more cards, a scenario usually starts forming in my mind.
3. After I've drawn more cards, I often revisit the cards I drew earlier and re-interpret them in light of the latest cards if they give me a better idea that what I thought of at first.
4. After all cards are drawn and laid out, look at them as a whole and try to refine your adventure idea. Perhaps you'll come up with something better than you originally thought of, now that you have all the cards in front of you?
5. The last step is the most important one, and it is this: If the best idea you've come up with doesn't excite you, then start over. There is no rule that says you have to go with any of the ideas you've come up with so far. You can always start over. As a Game Master, it is important to remember that you must have fun too, so make sure you go with an idea you enjoy.

How to interpret Tarot cards

Let's cut to the chase - you can interpret the cards in any way you want. Each card has deep symbology which many enjoy interpreting, but if you're not that familiar with the symbology of the Tarot you can just interpret their images visually. In practice, we often mix and match as inspiration strikes. Do it however you want - there is no right or wrong. The point is coming up with an interesting idea for an adventure.

Remember that you are not a slave to the cards, and whatever you do, you're not "cheating". Sometimes the cards give you a somewhat unrelated idea that doesn't exactly fit the cards as drawn, but who cares? If the new idea is good, it doesn't matter if they can be accurately mapped to the cards or not.

Example spread

To illustrate this in practice, let's draw some cards to prep and adventure for my homebrew world. We start with the first two cards.

Catalyst and Goal

• The first card, the Catalyst, is The Emperor. This is a powerful male leader of some kind. The most powerful male leader in my world right now is Segwan Fullmason, Chair of the High Council of Springhaven, so that's where my mind immediately went. This card represents him.
• The second card, the Goal is the King of Pentacles. The suit of this card - pentacles - represents wealth and the material, and the king aspect of the card represents a high level of it. So that's the goal - lots of wealth. Okay, so the Chair of the High Council has some sort of plan to increase his wealth, or the wealth of Springhaven in general. I don't know exactly what yet, but that doesn't matter - I'll probably get an idea as more cards are drawn.

Opposition and Method

So let's draw two more cards to see where we end up.

• The Opposition turned out to be the Queen of Cups. If I remember correctly, the suit of Cups represents emotions among other things (and it doesn't matter if I remember correctly or not - the point is not accuracy with Tarot symbology, the point is to get ideas for an adventure). And being a queen, she is obviously important or powerful somehow. So, an emotional and powerful woman. And for some reason which I don't know yet, she opposes the Chair of the High Council's plan.
• The Method the Queen of Cups choses is the Page of Swords. This card represents a young, militaristic man - this makes me think of the players. That is, she contacts the party to try to enlist them in her opposition to the Chair of the High Council's plan.

Okay. I'm not sure about the details of this yet, but that will probably become clear as we proceed with the following cards.

Situations and Stakes

• The Situation is the Two of Wands. This card depicts a man standing on some sort of balcony overlooking (what I interpret to be) a city - in my case, the city of Springhaven. Oh, I get it now. This is the Chair of the High Council, standing on a balcony addressing a gathering of people about his idea or proclamation about gathering wealth. Let's see if the next card gives us more clarity.
• The Stakes is The Page of Pentacles. Again, the suit of pentacles represents material wealth and material things, and the page is a young boy. So, probably a wealthy young man? He is somehow "at stake" here. Is he in some sort of danger, perhaps? I don't know yet - let's see what the last two cards have to say about all this.

Complication and Twist

• The Complication is The Ten of Pentacles. Ten is a high number, and pentacles means (among other things) wealth as we have established, so this is probably a wealthy man of some sort? Oh, right! It's the father of the Page of Pentacles! The father is the Complication, and the son is the Stake. Okay, now it's all starting to come together: The Catalyst, the Chair of the High Council is proposing a new tax on trade to provide more income for the city, but the father - the wealthy merchant who is the Complication is opposed to this. And his son is somehow at stake. Perhaps the father intends to publicly oppose the new higher tax rate when the Chair of the High Council presents it from the balcony (the Situation card, remember?) by saying that the tax risks the financial security of future generations (like his son).
• The Twist is the last card - The Ten of Swords. This is a very ominous card indeed, depicting a dead body pierced by numerous swords. Is there an assassination plot here? Does the father - the Complication - plan to have the Chair of the High Council killed in front of everybody at the declaration on the balcony? Or is the son, the Stake, who is the target? Will perhaps the Chair of the High Council have the city guards arrest him and using him as a hostage to silence the merchant who opposes his new tax?

Conclusion

Using this Tarot spread, you can develop an idea for an adventure. What other spreads can you come up with to help you prep? A spread for coming up with an NPC? Or a location, or faction perhaps?