FATEwiki - D 14 Tarot Card System

Using a tarot deck to emulate a 4dF dice roll

6-sided dice (referred to as d6 in gamer nomenclature, or dF specifically in F.A.T.E. and F.U.D.G.E.) are convenient devices of randomization in a game mechanic because they are so common; even people who have never played a tabletop RPG probably have a boardgame with d6 dice in their closet. Dice are not the only choice for a device of randomization though. Tarot card decks have 5 sets of cards which are each numbered 1 through 14, so this effectively makes them d14 randomizers. (The letter d here typically stands for "dice", but we can expand its scope by conveniently modifying it to stand for "device of randomization" instead.)

What advantage would a tarot deck have over dice though? The primary difference between dice and tarot cards is the simple inclusion of artwork and symbolism on the tarot cards, and therein lies the advantage. Art inspires our imagination, and tabletop RPGs are exercises in pure imagination, so art fuels imagination and therefore role-playing. The advantage then of tarot cards is a creative and cinematic one. The gamemaster and/or the players can use the artwork and symbolism on tarot cards as optional inspiration for adding depth and direction to a scene.

Choice of Deck: There are numerous different tarot decks available. Quite simply, which deck to use should be decided based on whatever deck happens to fascinate you and your players the most, because it is that fascination which will trigger one's imagination. Well "fleshed-out" characters make for an intriguing role-playing game, and Zen Buddhism is an exploration of one's inner self, so if you want a deck that really encourages players to explore the inner depths of their characters then try the Osho Zen Tarot deck. The deck itself is described as a game: "The Transcendental Game of Zen". Using this particular deck in an RPG game would be like playing a transcendental game within an imaginative game.

Numeric and Cinematic Values of Cards: Each of the four suits in a typical tarot deck have four face cards; the corresponding numerical values are Page=11, Knight=12, Queen=13, King=14. A tarot deck will also have about eight or so "Major Trump" cards outside of the 1-through-14 range. (The Major Trump cards are typically designated with Roman numerals.) These cards outside of the 1-through-14 range are ignored for the sake determining the resultant numerical modifier of a randomization (which means that another card would have to be drawn), but the gamemaster or the player if so inspired could decide to use the art or symbolism of such drawn cards to influence an aspect of the scene.

Emulation of 4dF: A roll of 4 FUDGE dice (written as "4dF" in F.A.T.E. notation) has 81 possible dice outcomes which calculate down to 9 possible modifier outcomes (-4 through +4), each with varying probabilities. (Statistical data regarding such rolls can be seen in the previous 4dF section.) With simplicity as one of our goals, we ideally want to have to draw only one card and have it correspond to one of the 9 modifier outcomes, but squeezing those 81 dice outcomes into the 14 card outcomes of a d14 tarot deck [while approximately maintaining the probabilities of each modifier's outcome] requires that two special cases be accounted for, which are when the lowest card (1) or highest card (14) are drawn. In those two cases the player will need to draw a second card to be able to determine the modifier. (This is not entirely unlike having to roll a d20 a second time when determining if an initial roll is "Critical". Indeed, it would be appropriate to designate a -4 or +4 outcome as a "Critical".)

Using a tarot deck as a device of randomization instead of FUDGE dice eliminates the need for mathematical calculation to determine the outcome of a dice roll, but in exchange the following chart of correspondences between cards drawn and resulting modifiers needs to be added to players' character sheets:

d14 Tarot Card System - Chart of Correspondences
Card Drawn	1 & 3-	1 & 4+	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14 & 11-	14 & 12+
Modifier	-4	-3	-2	-2	-1	-1	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+4

For clarification, an initial draw of 1 or 14 requires an additional draw. The number following the ampersand ("&") symbol is the value of the second card. "3-" means "3 or less", "4+" means "4 or greater", "11-" means "11 or less", and "12+" means "12 or greater". Again, cards outside of the 1-through-14 range are ignored for this. (A vertically oriented version of this chart can be found in the Files section of the FateRPG Yahoo Group. The triangles in that chart are specific to a peculiarity of the Osho Zen deck.)

Statistical Analyses of This Emulation: The Chart of Correspondences for this d14 tarot system produces the following probability spreads:

d14 Modifier Result	Chance of drawing this result exactly	Variance from 4dF exact result	Chance of drawing this result or higher	Variance from 4dF result or higher
+4	1.5%	+.3%	1.5%	+.3%
+3	5.6%	+.7%	7.1%	+.9%
+2	14.3%	+2%	21.4%	+2.9%
+1	14.3%	-5.5%	35.7%	-2.6%
0	28.6%	+5.1%	64.3%	+2.6%
-1	14.3%	-5.5%	78.6%	-2.9%
-2	14.3%	+2%	92.9%	-.9%
-3	5.6%	+.7%	98.5%	-.3%
-4	1.5%	+.3%	100%	0%

This d14 tarot system approximately maintains the bell curve of the 4dF dice system, which is excellent for RPG gaming because though it does indeed introduce a degree of randomness into an event, the bell curve's statistical properties still favor character traits over absolute randomness.

(If players were to draw two cards every time it would increase the number of possible card outcomes from 16 to 196, which would lower all of those variances for exact results down to approximately ±.3%, but for that mere 2.2% average gain in accuracy of emulating the 4dF system you would sacrifice simplicity by creating a significantly more complicated chart of correspondences. You would also have to shuffle the deck twice as often.)

This d14 tarot system fully maintains the symmetry of positive versus negative modifier outcomes from the 4dF dice system, which can be important for game balance. Note that the average variance of the "Variance from 4dF result or higher" column is exactly zero; this was achieved by maintaining the symmetry of outcomes.

Further statistical analyses of a d14 draw:

Datum Descriptor	% Chance	Variance from 4dF
Chance of very high result (+2 or better)	21.4%	+2.9%
Chance of acceptable result (-1≤m≤+1)	57.1%	-5.9%
Chance of hitting trait level exactly (m=0)	28.6%	+5.1%
Chance of very low result (-2 or worse)	21.4%	+2.9%

Parting words... Regardless of what system you choose to use, keep in mind that imagination is the root of all that the mind produces, be that creativity or even knowledge itself, so be sure to nurture your precious gift of imagination.