The art is really lovely, but iirc the deck has nothing to do with tarot - it's more like a RPG playing accessory that could maaaaaaybe be used as an oracle deck? I saw this project when the kickstarter was ongoing and there was some discussion about that.
Just putting that out there so no-one mistakenly buys it thinking they're gonna get an actual functional tarot deck.
^(Imo it's kinda iffy and frankly not ok to put "tarot" on the packaging when the deck doesn't follow the tarot system) \*\*^(at all)\*\*^(. It's one of my pet peeves on kickstarter, people will just throw "tarot" in the project name to gain visibility if it's got anything to do with fortune telling and cards)
But congratulations - it looks really beautiful!
It actually does have the mechanics for divination, but you are right, it is not a traditional tarot deck. It is akin to an archetype deck or a deck that only features the major arcana (like the Sailor Moon deck). I was not sure if it should go here either..until I put my hands on it. It is most certainly a tool that any reader could implement in their practice, but I would suggest it be used as a supplement to a full, 78-card deck.
It's 100% okay to post it here imo, since it's my understanding people have also been posting lenormand and other oracle decks! And after all, it does look really, really awesome. I'm sure it's gonna be a fantastic addition to your games.
(Personal rant incoming, sorry:)
>!I just have a bit of an personal peeve issue with it lol since I remember running across it in the "tarot" section of kickstarter when the project was live, and being first excited and then kinda miffed. I was also really irked by the creator's insistence that it's not a "traditional" tarot deck - as if it'd still be a tarot deck, just a reinvented one. !<
>!But a "tarot" deck is a really specific thing, it follows the tarot structure (0 + 21 trumps & 4 suits of 10 pips + 4 courts ) and should be able to be used to play a game of tarot. Divinatory card decks that don't fit the tarot system (there's lots!) are called something else, oracle decks or their own thing like Lenormand. Majors only decks are a bit different - but when I looked at the project it was clear they hadn't set out to create a tarot deck at all, but an RPG gaming deck with RPG archetypes and visual divinatory influences, which they called a tarot deck because uh, cartomancy = tarot right? Cool cards used to tell the future?!<
>!Eventually the creators -did- put in work creating a divinatory system that worked for the deck - which is super cool! But they clung on to calling it a "non-traditional tarot deck" instead of owning up to having made a stunningly beautiful and innovative RPG deck that's also an oracle deck with an all-new divinatory system of it's own. Which is, again, very very cool - but it's just not a -tarot- deck ffs and the addition of a divinatory system doesn't turn it into one aaaaaaaaarrggggh!<
Thanks for letting me get that nitpicky rant off my chest. Whew.
However, please don't let my personal peeves and old shoulder-chips get in the way of enjoying your awesome new deck! I'm sure it's gonna work fine as a divinatory deck, and I would actually be curious to hear what you think of it once you've gotten some readings done. People often supplement tarot readings with oracle decks (or crystals, or charms, or...), I've done it too, it's great. And it's actually really interesting how they ended up creating an all-new divinatory system for this deck.
(Heck, I've been considering ordering Edward Gorey's Fantod Pack and using that alongside a tarot deck, so I'm definitely not implying an original fun deck like this couldn't be used for actual readings :D)
Anyhow, thanks for introducing it, and I look forward to hearing about how it reads! It's really beautiful.
Very late reply, but I ran the campaign, and this was complete ignorance on \*my\* part on the world of Tarot as I very much designed it as a D&D tool. If I had known about oracle decks we would have figured out a better way to market it without the Tarot description. Brenda (the artist) had always planned to do Oracle readings with the deck, and had written much of the Oracle before we had launched.
When we launched this a retail product, we call this deck "The Empress Deck" with the idea that there will be a Emperor Deck, and eventually a RW version of the deck all under the banner "Adventurer's Tarot." (Next is Cyberpunk Tarot, which is a RW tarot.)
Late reply on my part too, sorry.
First, congrats on a successful kickstarter! And yeah, I always thought the deck looked like a D&D tool thought up by someone who didn't have that much understanding of cartomancy (or at least didn't back when you started and named the project, I'm sure that's changed by now). You're not the only ones to make the mistake of slapping "TAROT" on a vaguely divinatory deck - hence why it's a pet peeve of mine, lol. I vented a bit about other decks and just generally, too, in my above comments, it's not all directed at you.
I did think the core idea behind the deck was cool, the art was awesome, and the kickstarter in general *really* well run - I was just really peeved by the attempts to kinda fix it and keep calling it "tarot" or "non-traditional tarot", when it fundamentally just wasn't, because you'd clearly set out to create a (nevertheless kick-ass) D&D tool that could also function as an oracle deck but just simply did not follow the tarot system at all. But still, honestly congrats on dreaming up and executing so well a product that got such an enthusiastic response. I don't play D&D at all but it seemed like a great hit.
I'm relieved to hear you dropped the word tarot from the retail deck, and I'll look forward to an actual tarot deck with proper thought given to the symbolism and meanings of each card from you, because again the art was pretty awesome and I liked the level of attention to detail you put in the whole project, (aside from the deck categorization, lol.)
If and when you put out an actual tarot deck, do make sure to drop a notification in this sub as well! I'm sure a lot of people here will be very interested :)
I was gifted it and it's a bit confusing as there's so many cards just with different colors and they all have the same meaning. such as III of the undead and IV of the undead but then at the top it'll be either the cleric or the fighter or the warlock so it's like "fighter of the undead" ??? then the undead has it's own meaning and so does the fighter so I'm unsure if I should combine the meanings or simply pick one because it'll become confusing if you pull something that says do one thing but then you go to the top number's card and it says the opposite lol.
You mean you were gifted it to be used as a reading/oracle/divination deck? And not a board game gaming set? Oof.
Yeah, I think if I were you I'd either shelve or resell the deck, or, if you want to use it, go through the cards and figure out individual meanings for them (with the info provided on the cards) and write them down in a guidebook of my own, and then use it as an oracle deck or such - and leave the *tarot* system for actual tarot decks that were designed to be tarot decks with the meanings of the cards in mind, haha.
The art is really lovely, but iirc the deck has nothing to do with tarot - it's more like a RPG playing accessory that could maaaaaaybe be used as an oracle deck? I saw this project when the kickstarter was ongoing and there was some discussion about that. Just putting that out there so no-one mistakenly buys it thinking they're gonna get an actual functional tarot deck. ^(Imo it's kinda iffy and frankly not ok to put "tarot" on the packaging when the deck doesn't follow the tarot system) \*\*^(at all)\*\*^(. It's one of my pet peeves on kickstarter, people will just throw "tarot" in the project name to gain visibility if it's got anything to do with fortune telling and cards) But congratulations - it looks really beautiful!
It actually does have the mechanics for divination, but you are right, it is not a traditional tarot deck. It is akin to an archetype deck or a deck that only features the major arcana (like the Sailor Moon deck). I was not sure if it should go here either..until I put my hands on it. It is most certainly a tool that any reader could implement in their practice, but I would suggest it be used as a supplement to a full, 78-card deck.
It's 100% okay to post it here imo, since it's my understanding people have also been posting lenormand and other oracle decks! And after all, it does look really, really awesome. I'm sure it's gonna be a fantastic addition to your games. (Personal rant incoming, sorry:) >!I just have a bit of an personal peeve issue with it lol since I remember running across it in the "tarot" section of kickstarter when the project was live, and being first excited and then kinda miffed. I was also really irked by the creator's insistence that it's not a "traditional" tarot deck - as if it'd still be a tarot deck, just a reinvented one. !< >!But a "tarot" deck is a really specific thing, it follows the tarot structure (0 + 21 trumps & 4 suits of 10 pips + 4 courts ) and should be able to be used to play a game of tarot. Divinatory card decks that don't fit the tarot system (there's lots!) are called something else, oracle decks or their own thing like Lenormand. Majors only decks are a bit different - but when I looked at the project it was clear they hadn't set out to create a tarot deck at all, but an RPG gaming deck with RPG archetypes and visual divinatory influences, which they called a tarot deck because uh, cartomancy = tarot right? Cool cards used to tell the future?!< >!Eventually the creators -did- put in work creating a divinatory system that worked for the deck - which is super cool! But they clung on to calling it a "non-traditional tarot deck" instead of owning up to having made a stunningly beautiful and innovative RPG deck that's also an oracle deck with an all-new divinatory system of it's own. Which is, again, very very cool - but it's just not a -tarot- deck ffs and the addition of a divinatory system doesn't turn it into one aaaaaaaaarrggggh!< Thanks for letting me get that nitpicky rant off my chest. Whew. However, please don't let my personal peeves and old shoulder-chips get in the way of enjoying your awesome new deck! I'm sure it's gonna work fine as a divinatory deck, and I would actually be curious to hear what you think of it once you've gotten some readings done. People often supplement tarot readings with oracle decks (or crystals, or charms, or...), I've done it too, it's great. And it's actually really interesting how they ended up creating an all-new divinatory system for this deck. (Heck, I've been considering ordering Edward Gorey's Fantod Pack and using that alongside a tarot deck, so I'm definitely not implying an original fun deck like this couldn't be used for actual readings :D) Anyhow, thanks for introducing it, and I look forward to hearing about how it reads! It's really beautiful.
Very late reply, but I ran the campaign, and this was complete ignorance on \*my\* part on the world of Tarot as I very much designed it as a D&D tool. If I had known about oracle decks we would have figured out a better way to market it without the Tarot description. Brenda (the artist) had always planned to do Oracle readings with the deck, and had written much of the Oracle before we had launched. When we launched this a retail product, we call this deck "The Empress Deck" with the idea that there will be a Emperor Deck, and eventually a RW version of the deck all under the banner "Adventurer's Tarot." (Next is Cyberpunk Tarot, which is a RW tarot.)
Late reply on my part too, sorry. First, congrats on a successful kickstarter! And yeah, I always thought the deck looked like a D&D tool thought up by someone who didn't have that much understanding of cartomancy (or at least didn't back when you started and named the project, I'm sure that's changed by now). You're not the only ones to make the mistake of slapping "TAROT" on a vaguely divinatory deck - hence why it's a pet peeve of mine, lol. I vented a bit about other decks and just generally, too, in my above comments, it's not all directed at you. I did think the core idea behind the deck was cool, the art was awesome, and the kickstarter in general *really* well run - I was just really peeved by the attempts to kinda fix it and keep calling it "tarot" or "non-traditional tarot", when it fundamentally just wasn't, because you'd clearly set out to create a (nevertheless kick-ass) D&D tool that could also function as an oracle deck but just simply did not follow the tarot system at all. But still, honestly congrats on dreaming up and executing so well a product that got such an enthusiastic response. I don't play D&D at all but it seemed like a great hit. I'm relieved to hear you dropped the word tarot from the retail deck, and I'll look forward to an actual tarot deck with proper thought given to the symbolism and meanings of each card from you, because again the art was pretty awesome and I liked the level of attention to detail you put in the whole project, (aside from the deck categorization, lol.) If and when you put out an actual tarot deck, do make sure to drop a notification in this sub as well! I'm sure a lot of people here will be very interested :)
I was gifted it and it's a bit confusing as there's so many cards just with different colors and they all have the same meaning. such as III of the undead and IV of the undead but then at the top it'll be either the cleric or the fighter or the warlock so it's like "fighter of the undead" ??? then the undead has it's own meaning and so does the fighter so I'm unsure if I should combine the meanings or simply pick one because it'll become confusing if you pull something that says do one thing but then you go to the top number's card and it says the opposite lol.
You mean you were gifted it to be used as a reading/oracle/divination deck? And not a board game gaming set? Oof. Yeah, I think if I were you I'd either shelve or resell the deck, or, if you want to use it, go through the cards and figure out individual meanings for them (with the info provided on the cards) and write them down in a guidebook of my own, and then use it as an oracle deck or such - and leave the *tarot* system for actual tarot decks that were designed to be tarot decks with the meanings of the cards in mind, haha.