Howdy, lumpy heads. I got my Deck of 52 in the mail this week and I love it! It’s basically smaller index cards with dashes of color as a card deck. I’ve used it a few times to experiment with “tarot” spreads, to great effect. And that got me thinking…
I have tables, cards, and index cards galore to help me with improvising content like NPCs, encounters, locales, etc. Accessing all those during a game can eat up real time. What if I could consolidate some of that into this deck as my go-to tool for improv?
So here’s what I came up with just this morning for improvising NPCs (or PCs!):
Draw one card and consider:
- Suit = personality;
= Lover, 
= Fighter, 
= Dreamer, 
= Thinker - Color = Yin or Yang: Black = Yin (feminine, subtle, cold, rest), Red = Yang (masculine, blunt, hot, action)
- Value = relative age, experience, skill, or social status; ex. 2 = child, 6 = amateur, Q = VIP, etc.
- Imagery = Quirk: use the image to inspire some look, voice, or mannerism.
- Context: what situation and setting is this character in? Use this to add finishing touches.
As an experiment, I’ll use this to create a guard who stops the PCs to ask their business as they enter a town. I’ll do it three times and make three different guards:
-
8
image = gambler: This guard is Samuel Marks, a friendly fellow (Lover) of middling age (8) and booming voice (Yang). He always rattles a set of dice in his pocket, ready for a game of chance (Image). Things are nice and friendly in this town, and Samuel aims to keep it that way (context). -
3
image = bore worm: This guard is Cecelia Dell, barely of age and rather scrawny (3). Cecelia stares intensely at the PCs, analyzing their gear and every move (Thinker). Cecelia has a habit of licking her teeth while she thinks (image). She’s eager to prove herself a competent guard, so reports any little thing to her superiors (Yang). Cecelia might follow the PCs around for a while and keep watch on their activities (context). -
7
image = campfire: This guard is Mel Crewson, a young scrapper of notable skill (7) who was given a job to keep her out of trouble. She’s currently sitting down on the job, reading a story book (Yin, image). Mel wants desperately to go on adventures of her own, if only her family farm would survive without her (Dreamer). She only stops the PCs once they’ve passed, running after them and making a scene (context).
That’s what I’ve got. I’m thinking of making a similar set of instructions for making towns, buildings, items, spells, encounters, etc. That way, with practice, I can use this one deck for improvising all those things.
Would this work for you? How would you tweak it?