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#1 Knitsuge Sep 13, 2007 17:45:41

Many of us own Tarot decks, whether you purchased them for divination purposes, or whether you just wanted a beautiful deck for your Deck of Many Things, if you own a deck you have a very valuable Character Creation tool. It usually makes the most sense to use this for NPCs, but creating a back story for a PC can work this way, too. Most decks have directions for The Ten-Card Spread, or the Cross Spread. Since we aren't really using these cards for divination, how you arrange the cards don't really matter. The first card you draw represents who the Character is going to be. Royalty? An old, wise man? A potential romantic interest for one of the characters? A villain in disguise? Let the cards decide. The second card you draw represents immediate trials or influences on this character. Perhaps he/she has recently suffered a great disappointment. Perhaps they are being deceived by a close friend. They may owe a great debt to someone. The cards will tell you. The third card you draw represents the character's ultimate goal or destiny. Perhaps the NPC wants peace in the land. Perhaps he wants to acquire a lot of wealth. Perhaps the NPC is looking for love. This card can also give you many new ideas of where to take your current campaign. The fourth card you draw represents the character's distant past, and how this is a foundation for who he/she is today. Did a father go to war and never come back? Was the character cursed by an evil wizard? Was the character so sheltered, and his home life so perfect, that adventuring is going to be a real challenge? The fifth card you draw represents recent past events. Did our NPC just gain a large fortune? Lose a lover? Make a new friend? This may actually lead to the creation of a few NPCs, and breathing new life into your campaign. The sixth card you draw represents future influence. Perhaps a new friend is on the horizon (perhaps one of the PCs). Maybe he will be meeting a prince in the near future. Maybe he will be given a new quest. The seventh card you draw represents the NPCs attitude about his life, and thus much of his personality. The eighth card you draw represents the character's influence on others and his general position in life. Do people think of his as trustworthy, selfish, shifty, or do they not give him/her a second thought? The ninth card you draw represents the character's inner emotions, and secret hopes. The tenth card is gives an overall picture of the character, helping you decide which aspects might be the most important. Since we are doing this to create a new character, not give someone an accurate Tarot reading, you may feel free to redraw a card that doesn't seem to fit, ignore others entirely, and also change the meanings of some of the cards. For example, the magician does not represent a real wizard in a Tarot reading, but certainly could in D&D. I have used this method several times, and the only times I didn't like the result is when I already had an idea for a character in mind, and had no business trying to make him random. I find this method often gives me great new ideas for story development, and makes for more multi-dimensional characters than I often would have come up with on my own. If you do not have a deck of tarot cards, there are even many good websites that will give you a "tarot reading" for free. They give you the cards, put them in the 10-card spread, and tell you the traditional meanings of those cards.