An Addendum for Character Creation

When I was first looking at the wealth of material on Alexis’ blog, I was struck by the detail in the character background generator, which compares a d20 roll to a character’s attributes, filling in part of the character’s history (with accompanying mechanical impacts). I loved the concept, but implementing it in my own game was rather difficult, as I have 5 ability scores, ranging from 1 to 6. When I started using cards for hirelings, I also removed dice rolling, instead placing cards in a 5x3 grid, summing the rows to generate a number between 3 and 30 that I converted to 1-6 in a bell curve.

It struck me recently that I could use tarot cards to accomplish a similar result, with some added interpretive benefits. I present the following set of rules as an add-on to the character creation process. They flesh out a character’s personal relationships and history with enough vagueness for the Facilitator and players to come to a mutual understanding about the impacts of this history on the game. The cards identify 5-6 individuals important to the character. For games that avoid inter-player conflicts like Prodigy and most D&D-adjacent games, I recommend allowing different characters to have NPCs in common but have another person’s character as one of these 5-6 individuals. For more storytelling-focused games, do what you will.

The mechanical implications of this are simple. Each character has a heart card that typifies them. Whenever that heart card appears in a card mechanic later in the game, it means that the character has a personal stake in the events transpiring. If the heart card appears in the player’s hand, this personal connection works in their favor and grants a benefit. If it is played against them, the character immediately loses or takes some penalty.

The Deck: one tarot deck (78 cards)

Shuffle the deck and have the player draw 1 card at a time. One character can be generated at a time from one deck (shuffle between readings).

The first card is the Heart card. This determines how others perceive your character at first glance. It also determines the character’s birth month. I use 13 lunar cycles in my world and have assigned them accordingly. Each lunar cycle shares the first letter with the solar month it resembles, with Equivocation as the 13th month (the change between wet and dry seasons happens halfway through Equivocation).

We next lay out a 5x3 grid:

We sum each row to get our attributes. Most Tarot cards have a number (aces are 1). Court cards are assigned a value based upon their station: Page is 1, Knight is 2, Queen is 4, and King is 8. We convert these sums to attributes as following:

From this point forward, we interpret the cards to infer a character’s personal background. This reading is performed as the character reaches adulthood, before they choose a trade. It does not force a character down a certain path, but players should feel free to let the cards suggest a profession.

Cards 3, 8, 13 represent the character’s past, present, and goals, respectively.

Cards 1, 6, and 11 reflect the character’s social circle, their kin (chosen family or biological relationships). The first card describes this network overall. The second corresponds to the character’s connection with the social circle. Card 11 indicates the person in this social circle with which the character is closest.

Cards 2, 7, and 12 further explore the social circle. Card 2 personifies the leader of the group. Card 7 reflects the group’s emotional core, and card 12 typifies a member of the group lurking on the group’s fringes.

The social circle has at least 3 members (as card 11 might correspond to cards 2, 7, or 12). Its full size is equal to the number of adjacent pairs of cards in the spread of the same suit (major arcana acts as its own suit). Adjacency works along a grid axis, so no diagonals.


Cards 4, 9, and 14 correspond to a mentor or guiding figure, someone who has had a large impact on the character but remains distant. Card 4 describes this person as they relate to the character, while card 9 indicates their occupation. Card 14 details this figure’s current status – their goals and life circumstances.


Cards 5, 10, and 15 encompass a long-standing and significant relationship. Card 5 describes a formative shared experience that bonded the character to this person. Card 10 explicates the current relationship between the character and this person, while card 15 indicates this person’s current goals.