Thursday, November 28, 2013

Using the Everway Fortune Deck with Wargames Campaigns

I collect roleplaying games and one of those I picked up many moons ago was "Everway" by Jonathan Tweet. The cool thing about this game was the "Fortune Deck" a set of 36 cards based - I understand - on the "Major Arcana" of Tarot cards.

The list of cards is shown below. I found this list online and have reproduced it here as I found it. Not sure what the "correspondences" are all  about. I haven't found a use for them yet.

The important bit for me, and the way I have used the deck in the past, all has to do with the card subject or theme and its meaning. I used to use the card deck itself, but when I started thinking about it again I found mine had gone astray. Then today I realized that since there were 36 cards I could easily use dice to get the same results I used to from drawing the cards. Not as pretty, but very functional.

What follows is a system for fleshing out various characteristics in a campaign. Have a look at the card list and the meaning of each card. And also the meaning of the card if "reversed".

The notes explain how it works.

The Everway Fortune Deck

D66
Card
Meaning/Reversed
Correspondences
1-1
Autumn
Plenty/Want
earth, Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
1-2
The Cockatrice
Corruption/Recovery
earth and water
1-3
The Creator
Nurture/Abandonment
earth, water, the moon
1-4
Death
Change/Stasis
water
1-5
The Defender
Safety/Peril
air, fire, the sun
1-6
The Dragon
Cunning/Blind Fury
earth, air
2-1
Drowning in Armor
Protective Measures Turn Dangerous/ True Prudence
air (negative)
2-2
The Eagle
The Mind Prevails/Thoughtlessness
air
2-3
Fearing Shadows
Unnecessary Fear/Recognizing Safety
fire (negative)
2-4
Fertility
Growth/Decline
water and earth
2-5
The Fish
The Soul Prevails/Shallowness
water
2-6
The Fool
Freedom/Lack of Connection
the sun
3-1
The Griffin
Valour/Cowardice
fire and air
3-2
The Hermit
Wisdom/Isolation
Mercury
3-3
Inspiration
Creativity/Lack of Imagination
water and fire
3-4
The King
Authority/Tyranny
Jupiter
3-5
Knowledge
Truth/Falsehood
air
3-6
Law
Order/Treachery
air and earth
4-1
The Lion
The Body Prevails/Weakness
earth and fire
4-2
Nature
Life Energy/Energy Sapped
earth
4-3
Overlooking the Diamond
Missing Opportunity/Recognizing Opportunity
water (negative)
4-4
The Peasant
Simple Strength/Lack of Vision
Venus
4-5
The Phoenix
Rebirth/Destruction
water and fire
4-6
The Priestess
Understanding Mysteries/Impracticality
the moon
5-1
The Satyr
Indulgence/Moderation
fire and earth
5-2
The Smith
Productivity/Evil Effort
Mars
5-3
The Soldier
Duty/Blind Obedience
Saturn
5-4
Sowing Stones
Fruitless Labor/Ceasing Fruitless Labour
earth (negative)
5-5
Spring
New Growth/Stagnation
air, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
5-6
Striking the Dragon's Tail
Underestimating the Challenge/Recognizing the Larger Problem
all four elements
6-1
Summer
Energy/Exhaustion
fire, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
6-2
Trickery
Deceit/Subterfuge Revealed
fire and air
6-3
The Unicorn
Purity/Temptation
air and water
6-4
War
Great Effort/Effort Misspent
fire
6-5
Winter
Maturity/Inexperience
water, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
6-6
The Usurper
At War/Civil War
conflict

Notes:

1)      The Usurper is my own interpretation for use in the campaign.
2)      D66 – Roll two six sided dice one after the other to determine the card result. Or roll two different coloured dice together, with one die as the “ones” and the other as the “tens”.
3)      Results cannot be duplicated for a given entity. Re-roll duplicate results.
4)      Each result can be either normal or “reversed”, giving an alternate meaning. Roll a third six sided die for each result: 1-3 = Normal 4-6 = Reversed.
6)      The Fortune Deck is used to establish the campaign background in very general terms. 
7)      All significant entities in the campaign should have a card result rolled for each of the following categories: Past, Present, Future, Virtue, Fault, and Fate.
8)      The Past, Present and Future results serve to describe the overall tone for each of those time periods for each entity.
9)      The Virtue and Fault results describe strong characteristics about the entity.
10)  The Fate result describes the end result for the entity in very general terms.
11)  Example:
Kingdom of Olokand
Past: 3-1 = The Griffin, Valour
Present: 4-2, reversed = Nature, Energy Sapped
Future: 2-6 = The Fool, Freedom
Virtue: 5-2 = The Smith, Productivity
Fault: 3-4, reversed = The King, Tyranny
Fate: 6-2 = Trickery, Deceit

Result: The Kingdom of Olokand has long stood as a bulwark against the forces of darkness. Its people are strong, brave and industrious but the long struggle has left the nation spent and the coffers empty. The current ruler is a ruthless tyrant who is squeezing the people dry. In the future a rival within his court will rebel and release the people from his oppression.

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