Read the Room: Tarot for Dungeon Stocking
Intro to Reading Tarot
If you don't know how to read tarot, check out my companion post on Reading Tarot for GMs
The Overview
Draw three cards. These are:
- What the dungeon exposes to the world
- What the dungeon hides
- A thematic throughline
Room Creation
- Each room consists of two cards, One for the room's contents and another for the theme.
- You may swap these cards around.
- I find it helpful to draw three rooms at a time, it gives you ideas to play around with, ways to link the rooms together and means you can contextualise the rooms a bit better.
- Sketch out your dungeon from these small piles of cards. Place two piles overlapping if those rooms are connected.
- Drop a card onto the table if you prefer to place rooms randomly.
- It may be helpful to instead use pieces of string, coins, matchsticks or pencils to act as corridors while you're sketching.
- As your dungeon comes together, feel free to pull "room" ideas into encounter tables, backstory or other systems instead.
The Room Contents
| Suit | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Major Arcana | Special / Empty (Feature) |
| Swords | Trap / Puzzle |
| Cups | Encounter |
| Staves | Encounter |
| Pentacles | Treasure |
- Should you need additional guidance, see the suggested specific readings below:
Swords (Traps/Puzzles)
| Value | Meaning | Inverted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The consequences of your actions | A recently laid trap |
| 2 | Separate the Party | A very difficult choice |
| 3 | A betrayal | Unwanted attention |
| 4 | A matter of timing | Identify Your True Foe |
| 5 | an impossible task | Bait and Switch |
| 6 | Lateral Thinking | You must go alone |
| 7 | Reveal what is hidden | A plan set in motion long ago |
| 8 | Take a Risk | Punish the Careless |
| 9 | An unpleasant revelation | An obvious danger |
| 10 | Connect the Dots | Place a burden on them |
| Page | Test their Preparation | Surprise them |
| Knight | The dungeon reforms you in its image | The dungeon inflicts its logic upon you |
| Queen | The Dungeon Makes an Offer | The Dungeon turns you against yourselves |
| King | The dungeon consumes you whole | The dungeon consumes itself |
- For traps, draw a third card to describe the mechanism or trick
- If you gate progress with a puzzle, make sure there's three hints available through the dungeon.
- Avoid 'zap traps' - that deal unavoidable damage. Instead set up a situation (e.g. There's a click of a trick floorplate and a hum)
Wands (Encounters)
| Upright | Inverted | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Novice | The Wanderer |
| 2 | The Artist | The Tactician |
| 3 | The Builder | The Construct |
| 4 | The Fraternity | The Coup |
| 5 | The Unlikely Alliance | The Squabble |
| 6 | The Celebrity | The Narcissist |
| 7 | The Fighter | The Ambush |
| 8 | The Archer | The Horde |
| 9 | The Survivor | The Vengeful Spirit |
| 10 | The Labourer | The Taskmaster |
| Page | The True Believer | The Desperate Plea |
| Knight | The Duelist | The Coward |
| Queen | The Architect | The Witch |
| King | The Star | The Lich |
For encounters, draw a third card to describe the environment
Cups (More Encounters)
| Upright | Inverted | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Romantic | The Creep |
| 2 | The Party | The Drunk |
| 3 | The Musician | The Cacophony |
| 4 | The Saint | The Bully |
| 5 | The Heartbreaker | The Brawl |
| 6 | The Widow | The Blight |
| 7 | The Gambler | The Trickster |
| 8 | The Successor | The Pretender |
| 9 | The Dreamer | The Nightmare |
| 10 | The Farmer | The Pest |
| Page | The Daredevil | The Maw |
| Knight | The Knight | The Noble |
| Queen | The Tamer | The Beast |
| King | The Vessel | The Dragon |
For encounters, draw a third card to describe the environment
Pentacles (Treasure)
| Value | Upright | Inverted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A gift with your name on | A fresh corpse |
| 2 | An equivalent exchange | A wretched bargain |
| 3 | A schematic | A confusing text, hiding something |
| 4 | A neverending supply | Something you can eat |
| 5 | A glimpse of truth | An enchanting lie |
| 6 | Improves with investment | Power with a steep cost |
| 7 | A strange seed | A caged animal |
| 8 | A useful tool for dungeoneers | A useful tool outside the dungeon |
| 9 | An incomplete treasure | A problem without a solution |
| 10 | The last piece of the puzzle | A solution without a problem |
| Page | The dungeon spawns something entirely new | The dungeon coughs up something far older than itself |
| Knight | A Reliably flawed tool | A Powerful but chaotic tool |
| Queen | The True Prize | The True Burden |
| King | The Dungeon's Heart | A Warped and Twisted Thing |
Major Arcana (Feature)
Feature/Empty rooms shouldn't be dead. They might convey information, push themes, give breathing room, or serve up minor tools (junk or architectural features) that the players could use as part of bigger plans.
| Value | Name | Upright | Inverse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | The Fool | The Spark Of Hope | The Cruel Prank |
| 1 | The Magician | The Manifestation | The Burden of Knowledge |
| 2 | The High Priestess | The library | The ruin |
| 3 | Empress | The Farm | The Empty Nest |
| 4 | Emperor | The Show of Strength | The Vacant Throne |
| 5 | The Hierophant | The Church | The Classroom |
| 6 | The Lovers | True love | The Endless Struggle |
| 7 | The Chariot | The Destination, Or A View Thereof | The Retrod Path |
| 8 | Justice | The Court | The Innocent |
| 9 | The Hermit | The Holy Site | The Prison |
| 10 | Wheel of Fortune | The Game | The Everlasting Cycle |
| 11 | Strength | The Challenge | The Pit |
| 12 | The Hanged Man | The Sacrifice | The Change of Perspective |
| 13 | Death | The Rebirth | The Corpse |
| 14 | Temperance | The Ecosystem | The Imbalance |
| 15 | The Devil | The Temptation | The Shadow Of Your Sins |
| 16 | The Tower | The Revolution | The Collapse |
| 17 | The Star | The Signpost | The Will-O-Wisp |
| 18 | The Moon | The Mirror | The Dream |
| 19 | The Sun | The Hearth | The Tavern |
| 20 | Judgement | The Climax | The Restless Dead |
| 21 | The World | The Crowning Achievment | The Great Task Interrupted |