A lot of your questions about the mechanics of how Harrow Readings work are answered in the chapter about Harrow Readings in Edge of Anarchy. There is no direct correlation between the suits of a regular deck of cards and the suits of the Harrow Cards--as the fact that there are six suits in Harrow to only 4 in a deck of playing cards should be a big clue.
2. Each AP starts with a particular "harrow suit" that is tuned to the current chapter but I can't find where these "harrow suits" match with actual suits from a deck of playing cards. Shouldn't there be a chart that says "Keys=Hearts and Shields=Diamonds" somewhere?
Page 58-61 of Edge of Anarchy tells you everything you need to perform a harrowing (including by using normal playing cards).
Its not that the existing ways dont work... its that the Varisians of Golarion use the Harrow deck and (their that worlds Gypsies, and thats that worlds Tarot Deck), and they have a prestige class called the Harrower based on it :)
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It's really cool flavour. The whole point of it is: some really cool flavour to make the adventure more fun, exciting and intriguing for your players.
It's also a reward for defeating Kreeg and a unique magic item for your players.
It plays a part in grounding the action in a specific cultural milieu. Harrowing is a piece of Varisian culture that your characters become involved with.
All sounds pretty awesome so far.
My GM has made the harrow-readings feel really spooky and dramatic (we're using the proper harrow deck) and I end up spending ages picking over the enigmatic predictions.
I am confused that: "it adds flavor and is a nice creative touch" isn't enough.
The only point of having orcs in the game (instead of fighting muscular, degenerate humans) is to add variety, flavour and new types of drama to the game.
If you would like a unique mechanical justification then I would point out that it gives parties without any divine casters access to some divination magic.
The deck, and the spirit within, plays a bigger part later in the AP. I would recommend still doing the Harrowing at the very least, ignoring the benefits if you so wish, but in Skeletons of Scarwell, leading into Crown of Fangs, the spirit comes to the forefront of the adventure. If left completely unused, there's no reason for the PCs to remember Zellara, or help her for that matter at that time.
Becides the fact that there is a Harrower prestige class there are also Harrower feats that you can get that go along with the deck as well that you can take that are general feats :) that effect your character. Every time you start play do a reading and it effects the bonuses your character gets for the day :) is one of them :)
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The deck, and the spirit within, plays a bigger part later in the AP. I would recommend still doing the Harrowing at the very least, ignoring the benefits if you so wish, but in Skeletons of Scarwell, leading into Crown of Fangs, the spirit comes to the forefront of the adventure. If left completely unused, there's no reason for the PCs to remember Zellara, or help her for that matter at that time.
IMC the party brought the deck too close to the castle and as I described the effect they just shrugged and kept going. Now they wonder why they're not getting Harrow points and the "re-roll one XXX check". Sheesh.
Now they've left the castle and have wondered about it, but never bothered to even voice any concern for her. Oh well. B)
Cool flavor though.
And there it is: The reason they introduced it. Doesn't have to add another 1000 attack power to the characters or anything. Sometimes, things are just awesome for being awesome, not for letting you go Over Nine Thousand!
I've been having Zellara deliver Harrow readings at the beginning of each chapter, but not to provide bonuses as the game mechanic suggests (I gave out Harrow Points in the first chapter, and all my players promptly forgot all about them).
Instead, I choose the cards (ie. stack the deck) so they foreshadow important NPCs, locations, or events in the upcoming chapter. As a divination tool, it's pretty weak sauce, but it provides a nice narrative resonance when the cards' images resurface in the narrative.
For instance:
Now, if they had a diviner in the party, s/he could have cast some follow-up spells, possibly determining who or where the rakshasa is, what its weaknesses are, etc. And that would be fine, I think; it certainly doesn't render divination magic redundant, just gives diviners a slight, enigmatic push in the right direction.
We actually used the harrow deck more than the books suggested. It helped that one of the players reads tarot IRL and was able to add all of that expertise and feel into the harrow readings she performed. Worked, too. The player who kept drawing The Beating really did get his beating.
It was fun. It made the game more real. The bonuses didn't matter and were forgotten half the time but after the first two readings we weren't doing the readings for just the bonuses. Zellara was never an important character and she wasn't missed when things happened because the harrow mechanic itself eclipsed her in emotional importance.