Creative Resources - Tarot, Dice & Storytelling games

[singedsun]

As the universe is wont to do, I've had quite a few reminders recently that I have a variety of tarot and oracle decks near me at any given time, in any given room, but I don't talk about them much or post about them. I don't (or very rarely) do I use many of these decks for any kind of actual divination purposes. I have an oracle deck I use often and less than a handful I might actually pick up and turn to for any kind of spiritual or divination practice. That said, I do use them often for prompts and writing way more often. And the more abstract the art is, or the more it varies from a traditional Rider/Waite deck (I think) the more useful I find it for these purposes.

Here's a few of my favorites:

The True Black Tarot which is this gorgeous black deck with a minimalist golden scheme and stunning artwork.

The Last Unicorn Tarot by geekify, which was a Kickstarter product that turned into this absolutely gorgeous deck. Mine came with really beautifully carved hardwood box to keep the cards in and the whole set is lovely.

The Ok Tarot by adamjk who also makes the yearly planners I've been using since 2015. This deck is extremely minimal, it's meant not as an introductory deck but to be used by anyone as a simple like meditative guide. It's really nicely done.

I have this Lenormand Oracle by Harold Josten which is a little off-putting by typical divination users but I like it because there is a verse on the card itself which makes it great for prompt/writing purposes.

I can't find a great link for this, but I also keep near my desk a set of the Black Rabbit dice, which were built as a storytelling game device.

Originally, I got into using Tarot and Oracle devices for storytelling purposes from this book, Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner. It's a really interestingly set up book which goes card by card to give you prompts for your writing project, whether you're looking to start something new or need help getting over the next hurdle in an existing story. This is also just a really great place to learn how to interpret cards specifically if you're interested in the practice of doing so.

Since coming upon that book many years ago now, I've found that since most decks come with their own books of meanings and interpretations for the cards, I can generally use those to help me stir up an idea if I need one.



As a tabletop roleplayer, I've also come to extremely value the use of random tables to help stir up prompts as well. You can always find these online, no books needed. My favorite is the donjon website. If you have a specific game/genre in mind you can start there, but my favorites on his site are the random inn and random town generators, which give some great start points that you can then just tailor to your hearts delight.

If you're a gamer, of find story use out of games, I'd also recommend reading up on games like:

• The Quiet Year which is technically a map-making game played with a deck of cards, that tells the story of a civilization after collapse.
• Dialect which is a game about language and how it dies.
• Hearts Blazing which is a game about how to write/tell the story of a sci-fi television show
• Downfall a game about telling the story of a collapsing society in a variety of genres -- I HIGHLY recommend grabbing the PDF for this. It's got some really amazing ideas for telling stories about society that are useful outside of the actual rpg premise.
• And one that is absolutely entrancing to me, Kiss Her Before the World Ends by Alice Grizzle. Which is exactly what it sounds like, in a rpg format for 2-4 people.

And lastly, there's some amazing one-person rpgs out there that are meant to help you tell interesting stories. I've enjoyed The Bookshelf by Linda Codega, which is a story you put together using the things on your bookshelf. Or something like Variations on Your Body which is really four different games in one which is 4 games about learning to understand your own self.

Okay, I know that's a lot of stuff, but I hope that you found something in here that was interesting or useful to your writing practice - or your gaming group even!

Comments

[goodbyebird]

A couple of games here I haven't heard of before, thanks for the rec.

And yay pretty tarots! I backed The Brady Tarot a good while back, but haven't got to using it yet. I don't mind though, they're like stunning little art books you can leaf through, which makes me more than happy on its own.