I'm thinking about getting a Harrow deck. Does anyone else have plans to stack their deck when a player gets a reading? It seems like an easy (if rather cliched) way to foreshadow all kinds of things.
The Harrow Deck does look like a nifty-keen prop. I'll probably get it when I'm somewhat closer toward actually running a game, though. As far as stacking the deck goes, I think it really depends on your style. The card definitions are vague enough such that if you know your storyline and bits of PC backgrounds you can easily make up something meaningful on the spot. My only concern there would be the game time it would take if one hadn't memorized the definitions... which is where stacking the deck might just come in handy. I'd prefer to have the slickness that would come with a rolled-up sleeves, no screen or hidden tricks approach, but the time factor, both inside and outside actual game time, is certainly something that needs to be considered.
|
I'm thinking about getting a Harrow deck. Does anyone else have plans to stack their deck when a player gets a reading? It seems like an easy (if rather cliched) way to foreshadow all kinds of things.
I'm actually debating doing kind of the opposite: do a Harrow reading (in-character) for the PCs, and work the elements of the Harrow into an adventure plot. When that advenutre is done, another Harrow, and then link the two adventures. I'm thinking of a Harrow-based campaign, but not telling the PCs thats what I'm doing till the end...
We'll see how it works.
I'm more interested to craft the story after the Harrow reading, to make it match. Be great for improv adventures too.
Stacking? How are you going to learn how to con people properly if you can't work with the hand you're dealt with? You need to have great wits to work with what you're given.
Try to learn to do that and you'll be raking the big cash in with harrow readings, not to mention horoscopes, tea leaves, flights of birds, or entrails.
If you're real good, you can read their own entrails and they still thank you and pay afterwards.
At one point, Harrow was going to use entrails, but we couldn't get the cost of shipping and packaging down low enough to make it cost effective.
I love Paizo.
At one point, Harrow was going to use entrails, but we couldn't get the cost of shipping and packaging down low enough to make it cost effective.If you're real good, you can read their own entrails and they still thank you and pay afterwards.
Nah. You need fresh ones. The canned stuff is just no good. All you get is old news.
Really, about a year ago I used some to make a reading. It told me to warn Kennedy not to visit Dallas.
At one point, Harrow was going to use entrails, but we couldn't get the cost of shipping and packaging down low enough to make it cost effective.
Also, we ran out of playtesters.
Mike
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
I'm thinking about getting a Harrow deck. Does anyone else have plans to stack their deck when a player gets a reading? It seems like an easy (if rather cliched) way to foreshadow all kinds of things.
I have posted this elsewhere, but for your benefit:
I used to have 2 decks of the Vistani Tarokka Cards from Ravenloft (a similar product). I would have 1 sorted to the reading that I wanted for the players and the other I would give to them to shuffle. When they handed it back to me I would do the old switcheroo under the table for the stacked deck. Worked like a charm and the PCs got the reading they were after.
When I used the old Tarrokka deck I would give it to the PCs to shuffle, "to bond with their fate." Then I would take it back and surreptitiously apply those cards I actually wanted to come up, in order, to the top. Bingo, instant planned fortune, with the illusion of spontaneousness.
I'm thinking about getting a Harrow deck. Does anyone else have plans to stack their deck when a player gets a reading? It seems like an easy (if rather cliched) way to foreshadow all kinds of things.
You could follow the path of these guys:
-----LINK to today's Chicago Tribune story
2 Naperville-area tarot card readers accused of 'curse' fraud
Two Naperville-area tarot card readers were being held in lieu of $750,000 bail each Monday on charges they defrauded customers by convincing them they were cursed, then offering expensive "counseling," DuPage County authorities said. Tracy Tan, 37, and Eric Tan, 34, were arrested Friday after police executed a search warrant for their business, Psychic Tarot Card Reading, at 9 S 275 Illinois Highway 59, according to the sheriff's office. Eric Tan was charged with felony possession of fraudulent identification, while Tracy Tan was charged with eight felony counts, including theft, forgery and possession of fraudulent ID, police said.
Police said the couple used the business to prey on the misfortune of people who came to get their cards read. "Tracy Tan would convince the customers that they had a curse on them, and that she was the only one who could fix their problems," police said in a news release. "During this 'counseling,' she would charge her victims thousands of dollars for her services and products, which provided them with a false sense of hope." The investigation was launched in November after police got a complaint about the business, according to the release. Police seized an undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry during Friday's raid, authorities said. Both defendants were being held in the county jail and were scheduled to appear in court April 7.
----
Actually, wait, maybe you shouldn't do that. Forget I said anything.
Mike
LINK to today's Chicago Tribune story
So that's how you want to get the money to buy D&D.
|
As an amateur magician, I have to say it is indeed very possible to stack the deck and force players to select specific cards, as well as having specific predetermined cards for the spread. It requires a bit of sleight of hand but it's doable. So you can either practice your improv, or practice your sleight of hand. haha
(This example is a bit over the top, but you get the idea.)
We have just been doing Tarot readings (don't own a Harrowdeck) and so far they have been stunningly accurate, no stacking required. (It really helps to have the interpretations memorized, so I probably wouldn't be using a Harrowdeck even if I owned one.)
Mary