Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game that takes place in the mind of its players. Tarot is an ancient form of divination that accesses the magical dimension of our world. Together they create an adventure of the imagination—a treasure hunt to help you unravel the mysteries of life and discover the secrets of yourself.
How to Read Tarot
Traditionally tarot is played by a reader and a seeker, but feel free to switch roles as the reading carries on. To read your own tarot, you take on both the roles of reader and seeker. Most tarot readings start with a question, and the quality of the question will determine the quality of the answer. For example, instead of asking Why am I always sad? try How do I bring more joy to my life?
Each card that is revealed adds to the unique tapestry of meaning, helping the seeker make inquiries into their own life and psyche to gain clarity about their current situation and conclude what might be possible for their future.
Although the root meaning of each card is explained in this booklet, the true meaning of each card can only be discovered within the context of the reading, as the cards begin to influence one another to create a story. And so it's best to allow the reading to unfold (five cards is a good number) without trying to define the answer.
The Major Arcana,
denoted by the cards numbered from 0 to 21 represent the archetypal life lessons all human beings experience, such as love, loss, change, and consciousness. The Major Arcana are challenges we revisit throughout our lives, but in different places; our life experience is continually expanding with time, so our capacity for understanding gives us a deeper insight into these lessons.
The Minor Arcana,
is made of 56 cards divided into four suits. These cards represent life's temporary highs and lows that pop up and fade away, unlike the enduring and evolving transformations of the Major Arcana.
In this tarot deck, we have mapped the traditional suits of the Minor Arcana—Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles—to abilities within the game of D&D.
Strength
signifies your physical ability to move and change your environment. It is also your passion, creativity, inner resolve, and heart. These cards show seekers that they need to take action and focus on their inner strength to bring about change in the world.
Intelligence
represents how the power of the intellect can shape our world. These cards show seekers how they can use their thoughts to shape their attitude and their reality. Rarely do we see the world as it is without our mind creating a story around it.
Wisdom
represents not only your external perception but also your capacity to look into your internal world and see all the subtleties within yourself. These cards tell seekers to turn within and listen to the nonverbal language of the heart and the body in order to gain access to the wisdom of insight and intuition.
Charisma
denotes a person's confidence, eloquence, and their ability to influence the material world with their energy. These cards show seekers that a flowering of their inner beauty and power is taking place or that they have an opportunity to grow their self- esteem and expand their capacity for fun and joy.
Upright and Reversed Meanings
Many tarot readers give upside-down (reversed) cards an opposite meaning of the upright version. In this booklet, there is no reversed meaning, but as the reader of tarot, feel free to follow your intuition. If you feel that the seeker needs a bit of a wake-up call, then a reversed interpretation can often do the trick.
Card Spreads
There are many popular spreads for reading tarot cards. Here are some basic ones. Feel free to make up your own!
One-Card Spread
A one-card reading is good for a quick check-in. It can be used to obtain clarity on a choice that you need to make or to keep a message in the forefront of your mind for the day.
Three-Card Spread
Three-card readings are most usually used to explain the past, present, and future, but they can also mean "Problem, Obstacle, Solution" or "Thoughts, Feelings, Action."
Five-Card Spread
A five-card spread allows the reading to unfold fully and gives a deeper message with more complexity and nuance.
This is an example of a five-card spread (see opposite page) with some D&D flavor:
- This card represents the current situation, problem, and/or objective.
- This card shows what is working behind the scenes in the psyche. Rooted in the past, this influence must be brought to light to be utilized or released.
- This card represents things that you need to focus on as you resolve your quest.
- This card denotes something to develop or let go of so you can advance your quest.
- This card is the resolution of the answer or shows what is needed to resolve the problem fully.
D&D Encounters
In this booklet you will see a section with the ampersand symbol . This section is a way for you to use the tarot deck in your D&D game. You can draw a card before an adventure to give you a plot device to work a story around or you can draw a card during an ongoing adventure to throw in a fun twist. Feel free to invent your own ways to use this deck for your game!
An Adventure in a Spread
With the D&D encounter prompts, you can create fun adventure hooks or add some spice to a game already in progress. With multiple cards, you can get creative and mash UP the D&D encounters to invent a unique scenario for your players! Here's a three-card spread and their D&D encounters:
Queen of Strength
The party is asked to escort a political figure across a hostile terrain.
The Tower
The earth around you mysteriously begins to shake in a violent earthquake.
Ten of Wisdom
The party comes across a magical portal within a ring of standing stones.
Creating the Story
Here are examples of how you can make adventures from any or all of the D&D encounter prompts on the opposing page:
Diplomatic Escort
The party is asked to escort an elf diplomat from the Seelie Court into the Forest of Dread. In the forest is a magic portal that will take her back to the Feywild. It is known that an evil archfey wants the diplomat captured. Deep within the forest, they finally find the circle of stones, but an ambush is triggered. The earth erupts around them in a violent earthquake as a fey wizard conjures several earth elementals to stop the elf diplomat from entering.
The Nether Portal
Caught in the middle of a devastating earthquake, the party finds themselves in a city on fire and in ruins. As they move for safety, they are approached by a priest. She is mortally wounded but with her dying act, she hands one of the party members a sealed scroll and begs them to keep it safe. If the party opens the scroll, they find an ancient map that highlights a mountain peak. If the party climbs the mountain, they find at its summit a ring of standing stones that encircle a glowing portal.
Stranded!
While adventuring, the party comes across a circle of standing stones with a magic portal in the middle. If they choose to go through the portal, they emerge in a strange world. As they explore, a violent earthquake demolishes the portal!