Apr 23, 2016 Tarokka decks are sets of fortune-telling cards for the D&D setting of Ravenloft, meant to add to the flavor of Ravenloft's gothic horror atmosphere. They typically contain 54 cards, 10 each for the suits of Swords, Coins, Stars, and Glyphs plus 14 of the Fortuna Magna. WotC released Curse of Strahd, a 5E version of the adventure from the 1983 Ravenloft D&D module, in 2017 (see “”D&D: Curse of Strahd’”), with the Tarokka deck released separately by Gale Force Nine (see “GF9’s ‘D&D: Curse of Strahd Tarokka Deck’”). MSRP will be $99.99. Click Gallery below for full-size pics!

Review Summary: A tarot-like deck with which you can play... Texas hold 'em?!

Blurb from the publisher:'The Vistani have long been masters of fortune telling. In the hands of a Vistani seer, tarokka cards can tell tales of the future and provide answers to many a dark and mysterious question.

'Many doors will be opened, many secrets will be revealed. Don't ask me how or why, just follow the message of the cards.' - Rudolph van Richten

The Tarokka deck includes 54 tarokka cards, handy for a trek through Barovia, as well as Prophet's Gambit, a card game for 3-5 players.'

What you get: Your EUR 9 or USD 10 or GBP 7 will buy you the Curse of Strahd - Tarokka Deck, an accessory that has been specifically designed for the fifth edition's Curse of Strahd adventure, while, under certain conditions, it can be used for any Dungeons and Dragons 5e adventure.

For those not in the know, and unless I am forgetting something, this is the fourth iteration of the Tarokka deck. The first was included in the Forbidden Lore boxed set, along with the Dikesha dice, back in 1992. The second was included in the Ravenloft Campaign Setting box set, published back in 1994. The third was published in 2003 during the 3e era by Sword & Sorcery, a WW imprint, under the name of Ravenloft Tarokka Deck. Seeing how I own two out of these these three out of print decks, I can readily compare them to the present edition.

As with almost all D&D fifth edition products, the Curse of Strahd - Tarokka deck as is does not currently have a pdf version. In other words, this review relates exclusively to the print edition.

Contents: The deck contains 54 cards. They are black and white with rounded edges, and a size of 62,5 x 89 mm. The deck is divided into a 14-card High Deck and a 40-card Common Deck. The former depicts people, animals, places, items or phenomena, like the Horseman, the Beast, the Donjon, the Artifact, or the Mists. Its cards are not numbered. The latter is composed of four suits: the Swords, the Stars, the Coins and the Glyphs. Respectively, these relate to warriors, wizards, rogues and priests, with all the cards in a suit having names and depictions from that broader theme (e.g. Monk, Missionary, Healer). Its cards are numbered. Each design is named on the card, facing both directions; irrespective of how one holds the card, he will be able to read the name of the card.

The back of each cards depicts two small heads of crows within a complex of an abstract pattern that can be anything from bones, to wisps of smoke from a candle or protoplasmic energies.

The box also contains a small, five-page foldable rulebook. It presents the Prophet's Gambit, a D&D take on Texas hold 'em with the obvious reskinning and a few twists.

The rules for a 'reading' are not included in the deck. They can be found on pages 11-17 of Curse of Strahd. They relate to that particular adventure only. A full breakdown of the cards, as well as their meaning, can be found on pages 243-250 of that same adventure.

The strong points: The Tarokka deck and Ravenloft are strongly intertwined for more than 25 years. Even though Ravenloft as a campaign setting does not currently exist in the fifth edition, the deck finds its way back in what is the 5th edition's iteration of the most iconic gothic horror adventure: the remake of I6 - Ravenloft.

Ravenloft Tarokka Deck Pdf Drawings Designs

Seeing a deck used for 'reading' makes my heart all warm, even though that reading refers to this particular adventure only. It is stylish, it is mysterious, it will make your players wonder how you did it.

The Texas hold 'em variant is an added bonus. I will be honest: I am extremely unlikely to play a standard game of cards with this deck; I simply don't want to wear it down. In my eyes, this is an RPG-dedicated deck, to be used by prophesizing mediums, semi-crazed oracles, prophets whose advice no one heeds. Using it for standard card games that one can play with any tarot deck (or other standard deck) doesn't surround right. That's just me, however. It is good that the deck provides that choice.

As expected, the graphics and artistry are of the gothic horror school with many modern touches. I enjoyed how there are no colours on the cards, in a nod to the edition of the deck back in 1992. In another nod to the previous decks, the Common Deck depicts on each picture as many items of the suit, as the number on the card. These are however hidden in the image, and not as obvious as the suits are in a standard deck. As an example, the three of Swords is the Soldier. When one pays close attention to the probably female figure holding a helmet, he will notice that her army's emblem is comprised of three swords. The Mercenary, the four of Swords, also wears a three-sword emblem on his chest, but then he also holds a sword, bringing the number of swords up to four as expected. That's a nice little psychological trick there to convince the user that the cards have subliminal messages and hidden meanings.

Ravenloft Tarokka Deck Pdf Drawings Free

The price of the deck is admittedly low and respects the customer. As a comparison, the 3rd edition of this same deck cost USD 21,95 back in 2003. Today's deck costs half that price 14 years later!

The weak points: The deck is called Tarokka for a reason. It is the echo of a usual Tarot deck in the demi-plane of dread, with an altered imagery and suits. I would have expected that echo to pay tribute not only to design of such a deck, but also to the actual size. Depending on what Tarot cards one buys, he can come up with anything from 61 x 112 mm to 70 x 120 mm. The 3rd edition of the Tarokka deck was 70 x 120 mm itself. It is thus an enormous let down that the present Tarokka deck reverts to a size as small as 62,5 x 89 mm, which is the size of a standard card deck. There is a certain appeal to the bigger size when it comes to 'readings'. That would be even more the case if the deck could have been readily used for any reading, in any adventure.

Ravenloft Tarokka Deck Pdf Drawings Easy

Quaintly enough, it can't. First, the present deck includes rules only for Prophet's Gambit, the Texas hold 'Em look-alike. The rules for readings are only included in Curse of Strahd. Even more so, they form an internal part of that adventure and cannot be extracted from it. Compare this to the deck's previous edition, and the present one is found immediately at an enormous disadvantage. The previous edition included the rules for the readings in the deck and described how they could be used inside any D&D adventure whatsoever, irrespective of whether it was linked to Ravenloft or not. In fact, it included two different forms of readings, the basic and the divergent cross. It even expanded the use of the cards towards describing PCs and NPCs, encounter creation, unexpected developments, for short and long term 'predictions' (always within the context of the game), imagery etc. The present deck doesn't contain any of this material. If one buys it outside of Curse of Strahd, he has a 4-suit, 10-card deck, plus a higher suit of 14 cards. Unless you know additional games that use such a deck, or unless you have access to rules for 'readings' outside of Curse of Strahd like I do, there aren't that many things that you can do with it.

As much as I enjoy the black and white imagery on the deck and the nod to some previous editions, I was always wondering why the deck is black and white. The Tarokka deck is based on the tarot deck. All tarot decks in the real world are extremely colourful. The Vistani are based on the Romani people. The Romani people of yore are usually depicted as larger than life, colourful and loud. So, why would the reimagining of a very colourful deck in Barovia, as allegedly invented by a very colourful people, be as incomprehensibly gloomy? The answer is probably 'that's how TSR could afford to print the first deck, yet by now it's tradition'. Am I the only one who would enjoy a paradigm shift here?

Conclusion: I am a fan of Tarokka decks since the first one came out back in 1992. I am extremely happy that D&D's 5th edition has its own deck; one doesn't need to spend a fortune for out-of-print items. That having been said, the present deck appears to do substantially less than its predecessors when it comes to readings, while its smaller size in comparison to the previous deck hits a bad note. Seeing how low the price is, I still recommend it. Yet, and if it hasn't done so already, Wizards of the Coast must set things right and release free, generic 'reading' rules for adventure construction and campaign creation. That's the only way to do this deck justice.

Ravenloft Tarokka Deck

To find out more about the Curse of Strahd - Tarokka Deck and Gale Force 9, take a look at its dedicated D&D web page at www.gf9-dnd.com as well as its generic one at www.gf9.com.

Tarokka Deck Pdf

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