Ravenloft Tarokka Deck

[Messageboard Golem]

See the Future, Understand the Past

Part the veil that separates what was from what is yet to be. Learn the secrets of the mysterious Vistani seers first-hand. Dare to fathom the exotic fortunetelling cards known as the Tarokka, arcane knowledge handed down from generation to generation by the wanderers of the Dread Realms.

A World At Your Fingertips

This game accessory gives Ravenloft players and Dungeon Masters a chance to explore the wonders of the Vistani Tarokka. Useful as a prop for half-Vistani characters and NPCs, this detailed deck also offers a multitude of ideas and plot hooks for guiding campaigns or creating interesting sidelights for character development. Completely compatible with the fortunetelling information in the Ravenloft Dungeon Master’s Guide, it’s also useful as a standard Tarot deck.

 

[MDSnowman]

I know what some of you may be saying....
"MDSnowman, how can you review a deck of cards?"
To Which I say
"Who are you and why are you in my head calling me by my net handle?!?!?!?! Out Foul Demon!! Out!!"

~Clears Throat~

The Ravenloft Tarokka deck is a series of 68 cards. They're closer in size and shape to a deck of Tarot cards than to playing cards. All the Artwork is done by Talon Dunning whose work I absolutely love. This deck is not the exception to that rule.

The cards are large, laminated and have a fake aged look produced by giving it a yellow background instead of white. Several cards in the Major Arcana also feature fake blood stains making these cards look even more ancient.

The cards are divided into five groups:
The swords
The Glyphs
The Stars
The Coins

Several of these cards feature famous Ravenloft Figures going incognito on them. Forexample the 10 of Glyphs represents the Werewolf Darklord Alfred Timothy approaching a wolf.

These groups are collectivly refrered to as the Minor Arcana, each suit having 10 cards.

The Remaining 14 Cards are the major Arcana.

Well that's nice why did I give this a 5?

Included are a small number of cards explaining how to run a Tarokka reading, what each card means, what each card means reversed, and how to actually use these cards to enhance your Ravenloft game. Need a random encounter, plan out several in advance and have each one rpresented by a suit in the Minor Arcana. Need inspiration on creating a PC or NPC? Pull three cards and wait for your imagination to take hold.

The inclusion of these cards one doesn't make you dependent on buying the thick Ravenloft DMG, so if you want to open the box and frighten your players with visions of the future you can do it without needing to drop another $30

Final Verdict: Many many many moons ago I bought the Ravenloft "Red Box" and inside were a deck of Tarokka cards. They were just like normal playing cards in shape and consistancy and years later they remain unused, but time has still taken its toll on these free cards. Today, after waiting a month for White Wolf to actually ship these to me [Shameless Plug]Let that be a lesson kids, Order from ENWorld [/Shameless Plug] I have a beautiful deck of Tarokka cards that I can see actually surviving use within a game, and I've never been happier. The only thing that keeps me from demanding the right to give this a 6 is the fact it's got a Street Value of $21.95. I can see alot of that price went into production value, but even then it is still a little bit on the Pricey side.

A Must for your Ravenloft GM... not the players.

 

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I think the Tarroka are great, and I might actually get around to reviewing them.

The only thing I didn't like was when they started to say how you could use them like a real Tarot deck. There's no mysticism in these cards, they're a roleplaying tool, leave it at that.

 

[MDSnowman]

[Disclaimer] Heh they're pretty cards... but about as reliable as a dial-a-psychic for actually telling the future. anyone attempting to use them should be aware of that, even if you believe in things like that these cards aren't going to open te metaphysical plane to you.[/Disclaimer]

 

[Angel Tarragon]

As a ravenloft GM of the second edition setting that came with its own deck, can I continue to use those or should I upgrade to the D20 version?

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Jaagup Irve

I got my deck last week and I must say that I am most satisfied. Bad things first. On the downside the cards are a tad too yellow to my taste and their coating might peel off through extensive use. The pictures are mostly marvellous, some very good and a few have some little nitpicks that I could relate to the artist's deadline. For example - the Fortuna Magna has a few cards whose background features some quite simple flowers - ones that Talon would never usually allow onto his pictures. I would also like to whine that the Fortuna Magna
has their names written on too ugly banners that seem a bit out of place.

That said the deck is still superb in its design, the cards are quite big, (about 4mm smaller than their pictures in the RLDMG) and the booklet in the form of cards is informative and also has a few ideas. The backsides of the cards are quite neutral looking, they only have a copyright notice by the Wizards of the Coast printed unto them but it can help you in getting reversed and unreversed readings so I find it to be a welcome thing. So no red Ravenloft logo this time. There are no colours used exept a few very welcome touches. Every card has its own flavour due to the suit and a few cards feature touch ups to brighten the flames of the torches and some spell effects. I am glad that Talon is still among the living after jumping over such a shadow of himself. He has also credited Stephen Fabian with some "After Fabian" cards which are redraws of the original Tarokka.

Note that some cards have changed since the original Tarokka deck. Some have only changed names, but Esper has been replaced with a wildcard of Hero (consider the fool in a regular Tarot deck). Also, some things depicted have changed. Guildsman now depicts a troupe of travelling musicians instead of merchants at the table. I find the changes reasonable since they often fix things that I felt broken in the original Tarokka.

A Solid five.

This review was posted on the Fraternity Of Shadows web site, a place on the web by and for Ravenloft fans. The poster agreed to see his review also posted to EnWorld, the major review hub on the net.