Deadly Destiny: The Tarokka Deck as an Encounter Creation Tool

The mysterious Tarokka deck returns alongside Ravenloft: Horrors Within, featuring stunning new artwork to thrill Dungeon Masters and Players alike, and a digital experience to help guide your forays into fortune-telling!

But the deck isn’t just a gorgeous prop to add immersion to your Ravenloft adventures; it can also be an invaluable tool to create and expand adventures. In Curse of Strahd, it allowed you to randomize key elements of the gothic adventure, and here we’re going to look at how you can use tarokka readings to craft terrifying encounters for your players as they explore the Domains of Dread in the realm of Ravenloft.

• Laying the Spread
• Putting it all Together
• The History of the Deck

Laying the Spread

The Digital Tarokka Deck on D&D Beyond

Releasing June 16*, the Digital Tarokka Deck helps you spin dastardly fortune-telling into your game! Just select your spread, deal the cards, and your party's future will be laid bare.

You can get access as part of the Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Ultimate Bundle or the Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Tarokka Deck.

*Note: The Digital Tarokka Deck is not eligible for early access.

Card Meanings

The Tarokka deck is a full deck of cards, so there are lots of possibilities and permutations possible—which is what makes it such a great tool for crafting encounters—so we won’t be exploring every possible card. Instead, we’ll look at some example cards and how you might translate them into an encounter when reading from a Tarokka spread.

Each of the 54 illustrated cards has its own meaning as detailed in Ravenloft: Horrors Within, some of which are featured below. You can use these meanings, come up with your own, or better still, listen to how your players interpret the cards. By leaning into their intuitions and building an encounter from there.

How to Draw

The first step in performing a Tarokka reading to generate an encounter is to lay the spread. After shuffling the deck well—or stacking it carefully to produce a desired spread—lay out five cards in a cross pattern.

Card 1 is the focus of the reading, with cards 2-5 being the past, opposition, future, and aid, respectively. Reveal each card in order from 1 to 5 and, with some dramatic flair, explain their meaning or what portents they hold. Then note each card and use it to inspire an encounter.

Lauren Addy The Focus The focus is the core of the encounter, what it revolves around. It helps you determine if your players face a combat, exploration, or social encounter and what theme or tone it takes. Think of the focus like the skeleton around which we’ll build everything else. Nine of Glyphs - Traitor Betrayal by someone close and trusted; a weakening or loss of faith A social encounter where a member of the party's inner circle of allies is secretly possessed by an evil spirit and turned against them. This traitor is leaking information to the main antagonist. Horseman Death; disastrous loss of wealth or property, a horrible defeat, or the end of a bloodline A settlement deep within the Domain of Dread has been raided by a headless Dullahan, and now they don’t have enough gold or grain to feed everyone, let alone pay the tyrannical Darklord their tithe. An exploration encounter to recover gold from a nearby dungeon is needed. Darklord A powerful evil individual; one whose goals have enormous and far-reaching consequences The Darklord of the Domain of Dread the characters are in has set a scheme in motion, and they must start taking actions to hinder it. They must find and slay the Darklord's lieutenant in a vicious combat encounter to disrupt the plans.

The Past The past will help provide a “why” to the encounter, inspiring the cause, motivation, or inciting incident. By exploring this card and its meaning, you can develop a compelling and grounded encounter that connects with both the players and the world around them. Three of Coins - Trader Commerce; smuggling and black markets; fair and equitable trades Zombie attacks on caravans traveling between beleaguered settlements are increasing both in frequency and severity. 7 of Stars - Illusionist Lies and deceit; grand conspiracies; secret societies; the presence of a dupe or saboteur The half-eaten corpse of a messenger was found carrying a message written in a secret code and marked with an ancient symbol. Donjon Isolation and imprisonment; a prisoner of their own beliefs People have been going missing from villages, with signs of struggles and being dragged away. This doesn’t fit the behavior of usual werewolf attacks, which are often bloody and savage—these are something different, they’re taking prisoners now.

The Opposition The opposition is where the antagonistic force is revealed, be it a villain, a rival, or a calamitous turn of ill fortune. The opposition won’t always be villainous and can sometimes be a neutral force that simply obstructs the party, or possibly even an ally with competing goals. 4 of Glyphs - Shepherd Those who protect others; one who bears a burden far too great to be shouldered alone The bombastic head of the town watch doesn’t agree with the party's methods and believes they are trouble. She’ll look for any excuse to lock them up in jail, believing it’ll keep the townsfolk safe. 5 of Stars - Elementalist The triumph of nature over civilization; natural disasters and bountiful harvests A clan of secretive druids dwelling deep within a dark forest—holding evil at bay—believes that the townsfolk are the ones who bring the wrath of the Darklord upon the land. They seek to dissolve any semblance of civilization. 2 of Swords - Paladin Just and noble warriors; those who live by a code of honour and integrity A divine warrior holds to the oath that the only way to best evil is to face it head-on in battle. They consider the party’s tactics underhanded, duplicitous, and dishonorable, to the extent of suspecting them of being in league with the enemy,

The Future The future describes the potential consequences or outcomes of the encounter, both fair and foul. What hangs in the balance is revealed here, be it the disaster the party wishes to avert, or an outcome that will only come to pass with their intervention. This can also describe what rewards await the characters should they succeed. 3 of Stars - Enchanter Inner turmoil that comes from confusion; fear of failure, or false information If the party fails, the alliance between settlements will break down. Without that cooperation, the forces of the Darklord will surely overwhelm each settlement one by one. 8 of Swords - Dictator All that is wrong with leadership; those who rule through fear and violence The corrupt mayor will only grow in power if not ousted by the party revealing his duplicity and collaboration with the minions of the Darklord. 2 of Coins - Philanthropist Charity and giving on a grand scale; those who use wealth to fight evil and sickness Bringing the gold back to the village will help it prosper and grow, despite the darkness encroaching from all directions. It will become a beacon of hope in the mists.

The Aid Finally, the aid foretells what assistance they may find along the way, be it allies, magic items, or advantageous secrets. This card can even be used to set up a prologue encounter that must be completed to give the heroes up for their best chance of success. You could potentially even perform a second reading, using this card as the past future for that reading. Seer Inspiration and keen intellect; a future event, the outcome of which will hinge on a clever mind A former adventurer can provide the party with a map of the dungeon they need to explore, revealing the location of monsters, treasure, and secret passages. 6 of Stars - Evoker Magical or supernatural power that can’t be controlled; magic for destructive ends A powerful magic item has the destructive energies required to help defeat an enemy they will face. Raven A hidden source of information; a fortunate turn of events; a secret potential for good A lost library contains secret knowledge required to gain entry into a supernatural ball being held under the full moon.

Putting it all Together

SEAN A. MURRAY

• The Focus: Horseman. The party must aid a settlement that does not have enough resources to survive. They must venture into a dungeon to recover the gold the settlement requires while avoiding the Dullahan that stalks the mists.
• The Past: Three of Coins - Trader. The settlement has fallen on hard times because attacks on merchant convoys have worsened
• The Opposition: Five of Stars - Elementalist. The attacks are the result of druids dwelling with the cursed forest who believe the townsfolk are responsible for the Darklords wrath upon the land
• The Future: 2 of Coins - Philanthropist. Aiding the settlement won’t just help them in the near future, but also provide hope to the surrounding settlements
• The Aid: Seer. A retired adventurer possesses a map of the dungeon that details some of the secrets and dangers found within. The adventurer resides with the druids who oppose the party.

This gives us an exciting structure for a unique encounter that the players can experience as being “foretold”. The reading can help guide them on what to do and whom to seek out—or avoid—all while preserving the player's agency and immersing them in the mystery of the Ravenloft setting.

The next step is building out the specific details of the encounter—picking out enemies, planning social encounters, or designing areas to be explored. Chapter 4 of the Dungeon Masters Guide features a plethora of useful information on planning social, exploration, and combat encounters, covering everything from monsters to traps to nonplayer characters.

History of the Tarokka Deck

First appearing in 1992 as part of the Dungeons & Dragons second edition Forbidden Lore boxed set, the Tarokka Deck is a tarot-like deck of cards that has a long connection to the setting of Ravenloft. It appeared once again in D&D third edition under the name “The Ravenloft Deck” before making its appearance as part of the seminal D&D fifth Edition adventure Curse of Strahd, as well as in the Curse of Strahd Revamped in a full tarot-sized foiled version.

As Told by the Cards

With your Tarokka deck in hand, you have a powerful tool for generating exciting Ravenloft encounters as your party explores the Domains of Dread found within Ravenloft: Horrors Within. You can pick up the Tarokka deck, each card adorned with vibrant artwork, either on its own or as part of the Ravenloft: Horrors Within Ultimate Bundle.

Davyd is a Dungeon Master living in the south of England with his wife Steph, daughter Willow, and two cats Khatleesi and Mollie. In addition to D&D, he loves writing, 3D printing, and experimenting with home automation, often combining all four with varying degrees of success.