D&D 5E Ravenloft - Tarot to Tarokka Deck conversion?
MechaPilot
Explorer
A quick check of Wikipedia says that Tarot decks commonly have 78 cards. How many are in the Tarokka deck?
I was thinking of doing this too. Looking online at the composition of a Rider-Waite tarot deck, here's are some quick instructions that would work...
Common Deck. Each minor arcana in the tarot deck corresponds to a suite in the tarokka deck. The ace cards represent the "1" cards in the tarokka deck and the "10" cards represent the "master" cards in the tarokka deck. Remove the "page," "knight," "queen" and "king" from each of the minor arcana.
Swords = Swords
Pentacles = Stars
Cups = Coins
Wands = Glyphs
High Deck. One card from the major arcana corresponds to a card in the tarokka high deck. Remove "the empress," "the hierophant," "the lovers," "justice," "temperance," "the star," "the sun" and "judgement."
The Hanged Man = Ghost
Strength = Innocent
The Chariot = Marionette
The Devil = Darklord
The World = Mists
The Hermit = Executioner
The Fool = Broken One
The High Priestess = Tempter
The Moon = Beast
The Tower = Donjon
The Emperor = Raven
The Magician = Seer
Wheel of Fortune = Artifact
Death = Horseman
The Grassy Gnoll
Explorer
Tarot has 78 and Tarokka 54 you'll need to shuffle a bit.
As above, with no "court cards" in Tarokka the main suits are reduced in number from 56 to 40 (I would keep the 'masters' as Tarot 10s) but if you wanted to have the 'court cards can equate to a person rather than an event or circumstances' then feel free to change to Kings...but as each Tarokka card is a person already I don't feel it's necessary and would keep as 10s.
major arcana are 22, so you need to lose 8. I'd suggest you lose The Fool, The Hierophant, The Sun, and The High Priestess, Temperance, Judgement, The Star and The Empress (ie most of the more cheerful cards!)
Suits I'd do as, Swords Tarokka = Swords, Glyphs Tarokka = Cups, Coins Tarokka = Coins, Pentacles Tarokka = Wands/Staves
Partly to do with the sense of each suit, glyphs are clerical, holy, "good", therefore cups suits best; Pentacles are all wizards therefore wands/staves seems to fit best.
This leaves:
- The Magician = SEER
- The Emperor = BROKEN ONE
- The Lovers = INNOCENT
- The Chariot = RAVEN
- Strength = BEAST
- The Hermit = GHOST
- The Wheel of Fortune = ARTIFACT
- Justice = MARIONETTE
- The Hanged Man = EXECUTIONER
- Death = HORSEMAN
- The Devil = DARKLORD
- The Tower = DONJON
- The Moon = TEMPTER
- The World = MISTS
My choices are a little different to the above, though I have some experience of Tarot so hopefully will be useful.
As above, with no "court cards" in Tarokka the main suits are reduced in number from 56 to 40 (I would keep the 'masters' as Tarot 10s) but if you wanted to have the 'court cards can equate to a person rather than an event or circumstances' then feel free to change to Kings...but as each Tarokka card is a person already I don't feel it's necessary and would keep as 10s.
major arcana are 22, so you need to lose 8. I'd suggest you lose The Fool, The Hierophant, The Sun, and The High Priestess, Temperance, Judgement, The Star and The Empress (ie most of the more cheerful cards!)
Suits I'd do as, Swords Tarokka = Swords, Glyphs Tarokka = Cups, Coins Tarokka = Coins, Pentacles Tarokka = Wands/Staves
Partly to do with the sense of each suit, glyphs are clerical, holy, "good", therefore cups suits best; Pentacles are all wizards therefore wands/staves seems to fit best.
This leaves:
- The Magician = SEER
- The Emperor = BROKEN ONE
- The Lovers = INNOCENT
- The Chariot = RAVEN
- Strength = BEAST
- The Hermit = GHOST
- The Wheel of Fortune = ARTIFACT
- Justice = MARIONETTE
- The Hanged Man = EXECUTIONER
- Death = HORSEMAN
- The Devil = DARKLORD
- The Tower = DONJON
- The Moon = TEMPTER
- The World = MISTS
My choices are a little different to the above, though I have some experience of Tarot so hopefully will be useful.
The Grassy Gnoll
Explorer
The major arcana tell the story of one's path to adulthood and self-individuation, looked at symbolically and sequentially, with the unnumbered Fool marking both the beginning and end of life's journey from distracted ingenue to empty mind wisdom and serenity.
As such you really need all the cards in the major arcana for the deck to make complete sense, symbolically speaking. The very cards advocated to leave out in a Tarokka conversion are generally those that deal with more positive stages in one's journey; without which the mythic journey described by the cards lacks something essential.
As such you really need all the cards in the major arcana for the deck to make complete sense, symbolically speaking. The very cards advocated to leave out in a Tarokka conversion are generally those that deal with more positive stages in one's journey; without which the mythic journey described by the cards lacks something essential.
GX.Sigma
Adventurer
Here's what I did:
Low Deck: Use Ace thru 10.
Swords = Swords (obviously)
Coins = Pentacles/Coins (make sure not to accidentally read these as "stars")
Stars = Wands (the wizardly connection)
Glyphs = Cups (communion wine, I guess?)
You could try to match the results with the pictures, but that's too much work for me.
High Deck: It didn't make sense to me to simply assign a tarot card to a tarokka card, since the "Strahd's Enemy" and "Strahd's Location" have very different meanings, and I wanted the image on the card to be relevant to the result. So, spoilers:
[sblock]Strahd's Enemy:
Artifact = Fool (the toymaker and the bard both seem like fools, and both try to fool you)
Beast = Moon (the werewolf)
Broken One = Hanged Man (the mad mage or the cleric whose "sanity hangs by a thread")
Darklord = Devil (obv)
Donjon = Tower (obv)
Seer = Magician (the elf wizard)
Ghost = Knight of Swords (the revenant paladin or the phantom knight)
Executioner = King of Swords (Ismark, warrior and heir)
Horseman = Death (the assassin)
Innocent = Sun (the mother's boy or Ireena, both pure-hearted)
Marionette = Hermit (the doll or the mongrelman, both lonely)
Mists = Queen of Swords (Ezmerelda is a badass)
Raven = King of Cups (the leader of the winery)
Tempter = Star (there's a girl on it I guess?)
Strahd's Location:
Artifact = Sun (chapel)
Beast = King of Cups (representing Strahd as ruler; throne)
Broken One = Knight of Swords (representing Sergei; Sergei's tomb)
Darklord = Devil (representing Strahd as monster; Strahd's Tomb)
Donjon = Death (hall of bones)
Seer = Magician (study)
Ghost = King of Swords (representing Barov; the father's tomb)
Executioner = Hanged Man (overlook; for bonus points have Strahd hanging off the edge like a bat)
Horseman = Hermit (representing Strahd as victim; Strahd's tomb)
Innocent = Moon ("brother of light snuffed out;" Sergei's tomb)
Marionette = Tower (tower)
Mists = Fool (no clue)
Raven = Queen of Swords (representing Ravenovia; the mother's tomb)
Tempter = Star (beautiful woman hiding great wealth; treasury)[/sblock]
Low Deck: Use Ace thru 10.
Swords = Swords (obviously)
Coins = Pentacles/Coins (make sure not to accidentally read these as "stars")
Stars = Wands (the wizardly connection)
Glyphs = Cups (communion wine, I guess?)
You could try to match the results with the pictures, but that's too much work for me.
High Deck: It didn't make sense to me to simply assign a tarot card to a tarokka card, since the "Strahd's Enemy" and "Strahd's Location" have very different meanings, and I wanted the image on the card to be relevant to the result. So, spoilers:
[sblock]Strahd's Enemy:
Artifact = Fool (the toymaker and the bard both seem like fools, and both try to fool you)
Beast = Moon (the werewolf)
Broken One = Hanged Man (the mad mage or the cleric whose "sanity hangs by a thread")
Darklord = Devil (obv)
Donjon = Tower (obv)
Seer = Magician (the elf wizard)
Ghost = Knight of Swords (the revenant paladin or the phantom knight)
Executioner = King of Swords (Ismark, warrior and heir)
Horseman = Death (the assassin)
Innocent = Sun (the mother's boy or Ireena, both pure-hearted)
Marionette = Hermit (the doll or the mongrelman, both lonely)
Mists = Queen of Swords (Ezmerelda is a badass)
Raven = King of Cups (the leader of the winery)
Tempter = Star (there's a girl on it I guess?)
Strahd's Location:
Artifact = Sun (chapel)
Beast = King of Cups (representing Strahd as ruler; throne)
Broken One = Knight of Swords (representing Sergei; Sergei's tomb)
Darklord = Devil (representing Strahd as monster; Strahd's Tomb)
Donjon = Death (hall of bones)
Seer = Magician (study)
Ghost = King of Swords (representing Barov; the father's tomb)
Executioner = Hanged Man (overlook; for bonus points have Strahd hanging off the edge like a bat)
Horseman = Hermit (representing Strahd as victim; Strahd's tomb)
Innocent = Moon ("brother of light snuffed out;" Sergei's tomb)
Marionette = Tower (tower)
Mists = Fool (no clue)
Raven = Queen of Swords (representing Ravenovia; the mother's tomb)
Tempter = Star (beautiful woman hiding great wealth; treasury)[/sblock]
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Daern
Explorer
Here's a link to a 5e conversion that's floating around. It has a simple conversion for doing the reading. I'm looking at getting a gothic themed tarot deck to go with it.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yvsdnuudk8zwuh7/AADrAzWGaAzkJUQIETMb_pbRa?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yvsdnuudk8zwuh7/AADrAzWGaAzkJUQIETMb_pbRa?dl=0
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Starwind
First Post
where?
