From: jhughes@MGDESTMX01.ERIN.GOV.AU
Date: Mon 27 Nov 1995 - 17:08:42 EET
Howdy Folks
EVERYWAY & THE GLORANTHAN TAROT
Thanks to those of you who have commented on the new WOTC "Everyway" roleplaying
My nascent "Power Way" deck (which is specifically Far Point Orlanthi in focus)
system. I had not previously heard of it, but have been experimenting for some
time with a Gloranthan "Tarot" card system. From the description of Everyway, it
seems that it too is based on traditional tarot decks. I've been using tarot as
story and incident generating aids to my campaigns for quite a while, especially
the Arthurian Tarot (which has a vaguely '"Orlanthi" high fantasy "feel" to it)
and the Elemental Tarot (which I find great for assisting players find a story
in the scattered symbols).
works on several levels. Every card has a number from 1 to 20, so the deck can
be used as instead of dice. (Obviously, we're playing Pendragon Pass). Every
card has a name, god and symbolic meaning which is summarised on the card
itself. There are also cards that relate to game, storytelling, and character
development functions such as FLASHBACK, PROJECTION, SHADOW, MEMORY and PASSION.
I have 5 minor decks each with a god or spirit identity. (As Nils suggested,
I've added darkness to the traditional earth, air fire and water). The minor
decks each have the traditional ten cards, though eventually I want to reduce
them to the more Orlanthi seven. (In developing, I started with traditional
tarot concepts cause they were easy to use, and gradually mutated them into
Gloranthan terms).
I also use a whole host of "major arcana" equivalents that cover Gloranthan
gods, themes and images. It is these major cards that I'm still experimenting
with. At the moment I'm using Runes, Animal Totems and their (Far Point)
archetypal equivalents (i.e. Bearded Raven the Trickster, Jumping Mouse the
Vision Quester), Pendragon Pass Personality Traits, and an ever-changing variety
of "Theme" cards (The Warrior At the Ford, The Cattle Raid, The Stead Tree etc).
These cards specifically tie in with the Archetype hero-quest system I'm playing
with, where mastery of cultural archetypes (Lover, Caregiver, Warrior, Shaman,
Trickster, Beast Child, Thane, Innocent etc) at various levels generates both
WILL (for game purposes) and Shadows (for storytelling/characterisation
purposes). While its still early days, I will be demonstrating the card deck and
archetype system at RQ Con Down Under, where I will be using it in "Music of the
Spears".
The card deck exists as a Macintosh HyperCard stack, which I simply print out
and glue to index cards. Obviously, finding the right graphics is the really
slow bit, and that's where I've still got a long way to go. (Dan Barker, please
emmigrate!).
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else playing (ah yes, that's the term)
around with Gloranthan card systems. And if anyone coming to RQ Con Down Under
has a copy of Everyway, obviously I'd love to see it.
Cheers
John
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