I know we have the Harrow deck(which is a game in itself, as well as an Rpg component) but I was just thinking how great a Rider Waite style tarot deck with actual pathfinder characters and situations would be.
Imagine:
Flenta as The Magician: Flenta surveys four objects on a table that she just recently "acquired" and gazes upon them giving an impish smirk, the spark of inspiration beginning to strike for what these objects may be able to do and how they can be used for her benefit.
Darago as Death: Darago stands ominously over a fallen peasant and is beginning to cast a spell as the man's family mourns his passing, Darago is about to prove that death isn't the end......but the beginning.
Zarlova as the High priestess: Zarlova sits in an arcane study pouring over various texts that contain the disciplines of both divine and arcane. The books she studies as well as her general appearance shows that she will dedicate herself to the pursuit of understanding the universe no matter what (or who) she has to devote herself to.
I have more thoughts and examples but for now, is this something anyone else would want to buy? If so(or even if not) who or what would you put on the cards? If you aren't interested in using them for readings would you be interested in it as a collector's item from an artwork perspective?
At standard size, (78 cards per deck) that'd be a mighty generous promo ^_~.
Well, given that I designed the Harrow deck, I'm pretty happy with how it works, tarot-wise.
Well, given that I designed the Harrow deck, I'm pretty happy with how it works, tarot-wise.
No offense meant Mike. I'm learning the Waite system now so I wanted to continue with what I know. So far I have Pirate, Manga, Comic book, and steampunk traditional decks, so I thought why not one with the iconic and other pathfinder characters? Is divination with the Harrow deck hard to learn?
I know we have the Harrow deck(which is a game in itself, as well as an Rpg component) but I was just thinking how great a Rider Waite style tarot deck with actual pathfinder characters and situations would be.
Absolutely none. Tarot decks are supposed to be symbolic, not something that comes out looking like a Golarion Topps baseball deck.
The Harrow deck on the other hand, has a lot of support, including rules text for the item, a feat or two, and a prestige class. There's no real improvement by putting in a New Age knockoff.
Thanks for the opinion Lazar ^_^. Just for clarification, I'm not looking to improve on or replace the Harrow deck as a game component. I would be looking for a stand alone symbolic deck to do readings with IRL, just with Pathfinder character art.
The Harrow deck includes rules for performing IRL readings as well; I'm not sure how they stack up to regular Tarot decks but it does exist. With enough practice, it should be possible to memorize (or even just fib) your way through the readings without consulting the booklet; there's enough clues on the cards themselves to give you a general idea of how to read them without going into specifics or necessarily giving those clues away to onlookers.
I think I understand what the OP is talking about—there is some artistic tradition around "converting" existing characters into Tarot characters. I believe a number of webcomics have done it, for instance (Sluggy Freelance comes to mind. It can be sort of fun and cool, but in this case, I think it's definitely more suited to fanart than an official deck alongside the Harrow deck.
The Harrow deck's divination rules are really cool. Try it out.
The Harrow deck's divination rules are really cool. Try it out.
But do they really tell the future?
The OP seems to imply he uses tarot cards for actual divination.
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I think they tell the future just as well as a tarot deck.
I may well be missing something here, but what exactly would the use of a Harrow (or Tarot) deck be in a game of Pathfinder?
Alright, I think people should stop acting like children here. Tarot is as valid a means of divination or communal as religious prayer or meditation (which is to say, if you believe in it, more power to you). This sniping at other belief systems is immature and needlessly nasty. Save it for the conspiracy theorists.
I may well be missing something here, but what exactly would the use of a Harrow (or Tarot) deck be in a game of Pathfinder?
Anything you want it to be! The Harrow Handbook details a lot of options for PCs and GMs alike in using the deck, and that is further expanded by a couple of new options in Occult Mysteries, although the latter focuses on more than just the Harrow deck (including some mind-boggling options that I'd personally never play with due to how much they drag out combat, but other people may personally enjoy solving NP-Complete problems every time they make an attack roll so to each their own). There is also a module that is heavily entwined with the Harrow deck. Even if you get none of those, the booklet included in Harrow deck itself includes a single spell that can provide luck bonuses or penalties on certain rolls and guidance for the GM on making use of the regular reading to tweak later encounters in the course of a campaign in the form of Chronicle Cards. The booklet is also available as a free download (direct download link).
In all, lots of options :)
Oops - small, but highly significant bit missing from my question. Let's try again:
I may well be missing something here, but what exactly would the use of a Harrow (or Tarot) deck be in a game of Pathfinder ACG?
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I feel guilty with the creator in thread, but I have always felt that the Harrow system is a really good system, and the harrow art is really good art, but that the style of the art never fit the mood of the cards. It is just too cheerful and cartoonish. I want something more gothic? darker, less sharp lines, more shading, and a much more limited pallet of sombre tones. It's the only thing I really have against the product, and I'm afraid I've already bought both version of it, so my credibility of "voting with my dollar" is poor here.
I can't wait for the harrow archetype of the medium to be lifted from the playtest and republished in a later book
Oops - small, but highly significant bit missing from my question. Let's try again:
I may well be missing something here, but what exactly would the use of a Harrow (or Tarot) deck be in a game of Pathfinder ACG?
Yes, can we have this topic moved out of the PACG forum? Nothing to do with PACG at all.
Well, given that I designed the Harrow deck, I'm pretty happy with how it works, tarot-wise.
I agree. I've used the Harrow deck in our home game several times over. The players love it. As an individual that has studied Tarot over the years, I feel the Harrow works perfectly in its place in Golarion.
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You could contemplate a PACG Carrion Crown game where cards gain/lose power when certain harrow suit is showing, either you draw a new harrow card each turn, or make it a mechanic to change the harrow deck.
You could also leverage the existing notion if the alignment of the card is matched or in opposition to you, the suit of the card determines a positive or negative effect.