TAROT (BASED) MAGIC SYSTEM (tamasys)
====================================

This document describes a means of using tarot cards for
spellcasting mechanics in a roleplaying game. With little effort
(besides creativity from the players) it can be added to an
existing set of rules.

0. OUTLINE
==========
OBJECTIVE: The aim of using tarot cards for the mechanics of
magic in a roleplaying system are several. Firstly by the
different combinations of cards a great variety is introduced.
Rather than having a simple list of known spells characters know
a set of building blocks and can construct their spells on the
spot as circumstances and resources allow. Secondly creativity
is called for on behalf of the player as to how to construct a
spell. Thirdly a degree of randomness is introduced as to which
cards (spell components) the player/character has access to
currently. Finally, using tarot can re-introduce a certain
mystery or "magic" to what often becomes just another simple tool
of the character.

BASIC IDEA: At its heart the system is very simple, relying chiefly
on the player's creativity. The cards of the tarot deck represent
basic components of magic. They can stand alone as simple spells
or be combined with each other to create more complex and powerful
spells.

The deck of cards (players probably use less than a full deck)
represent the basic building blocks/components of magic that
the character has studied or knows. The player's hand represents
those components that are currently in the character's mind and
can be employed in a spell.

A spell is thrown by laying/playing card(s) from the hand to
define a spell effect. More cards equal more powerful or precise
but also longer to cast (more cards to lay).

Additional spell components are called to mind by the player drawing
from the deck into their hand.

SIMPLE EXAMPLES: Here's an example based on 5 cards from the Thoth
tarot. These might represent the current components available to
the character at a particular time (the player's hand).
Ace of Wands--A staff of red energy thrusting into the foreground with
curls of fire emanating from its tip. Power, Creation, Vigor.
The Moon--A washed out landscape with two jackels guarding a pass
between two towers. Illusion, Deceit, Change.
4 Discs (Power)--A top down view of a solid grey castle with 4
corner turrets in an orange landscape. Law & Order? Earthly Power.
7 Cups (Debauch)--From a 4-tiered ornament/chandelier of 7 cups
drips a green viscous fluid into a pool. Corruption, Indulgence etc.
The Priestess--A seated alabaster female figure in the background
holds a net between her outspread arms. Purity, Spirituality.

The Ace of Wands could be used as a bolt of fire. The Moon is
the basis of illusion magic--with something like Justice (a set
of scales) you'd have a detect illusion spell. The 4 discs alone
could be a simple spell to improve armour. The 7 Cups alone could
make a simple poison or acid or alternatively plant the seed of
corrupt thoughts in a mind. The Priestess alone might be a web
spell (her net).

Combined, the Ace of Wands and 7 Cups might give a bolt of acid.
The Ace of Wands and 4 Discs together could imbue a character
with energy such as some simple healing (recovering fatigue) or
even increasing stats (constitution) for a period.

Putting The Moon (drawing on its madness/hysteria and change
aspects) together with 7 Cups (debauch, dissipation etc.) and
The Priestess (spiritual purity--almost directly opposed to
7 Cups) might give a powerful spell to drive people insane by
invading their minds with conflicting and rapidly changing thoughts
of indulgence contrasted with their higher/moral conscience.

1. DETAILS
==========
DECK, HAND & CURRENT SPELL: The cards representing the magic that
a player's character controls are divided into three sets. Firstly
the deck of face down cards represents magical components or
concepts that the player can control, understand, and utilise but
are not currently foremost in their mind. A powerful mage might
have a large deck representing control over many different forms
of magic, while an apprentice might have a much smaller deck,
having only learnt a few basics. A good default deck size might
be something like 20+ cards. These should be selected with thought
to the expertise/specialty of the mage (see later sections for
more details).

Secondly, a player's hand represents those spell aspects that
are foremost in the character's mind at the moment and can most
readily be utilised in a spell. Powerful mages might have a large
hand representing their ability to conceptualise and synthesise
complex and powerful magic. On the other hand a hedge wizard might have
a small hand representing their inability to control and integrate
several aspects of magic simultaneously and thus limiting the
power of any spell they can cast. Similarly the hand of a just
awoken wizard might be small or non-existent as they are currently
unprepared to cast magic. A good default hand-size is 5 or 6 (see
below for more details).

Finally a character may be in the process of casting a spell.
The player represents this by laying down cards from their hand to
build up a spell, and explaining how the cards combine together
to define the spell. A single card spell might be weak (e.g., get
a camp fire started or distract a person with a noise) but very
fast while a multi-card spell would be considerably more powerful
but could take sometime (e.g., several rounds) to cast. The size
(power) of a spell can never be larger than the maximum hand-size
of the character.

ACTIONS: Fundamentally a mage can perform one of two actions
related to magic. They may either be in the process of casting
or completing a spell, or they may be in the process of drawing
on their knowledge/ability to compose a new spell that they will
soon cast.

A mage may not partially cast a spell then attempt to draw on
further knowledge/ability. A spell that is initiated must be
completed before further magical resources can be drawn from
memory (or however it works in your game world). In mechanics
terms this means that you must complete a spell with those
cards currently available in your hand. You cannot start, draw
some additional cards, then continue with a spell.

An interrupted spell is out of the player's control and functions
as the GM determines and the cards that currently compose the
spell dictate. A mage may also abandon a partially complete
spell. In this case they may possibly weave it into a simpler spell,
let it dissipate harmlessly or go off wildly as above.

While casting a player may lay X cards per Time Unit. The value X
is highly dependent on how magic works in your world and in
particular for that spellcaster. A good default value might be
1.5 per round for your generic "adventuring wizard". This allows
simple (weak) spells in one round of combat and mediumly powerful
(damaging spells, control spells etc.) in a couple of rounds.
A more experienced wizard might have a faster cast rate while a
demon summoner might have a cast rate of 1 card per game hour
(so powerful demons take much longer to summon) to represent the
long ritual involved.

Characters can replenish their casting pool (refill their hand)
in one of three ways. Firstly they may allow their own subconscious
to select and bring forth knowledge/ability. This is the fastest
method but gives unpredictable results. Secondly the conscious
mind can partially guide the subconscious and pick only the most
favourable selections from those offered. This is somewhat slower.
Thirdly the mage can deliberately search their mind for the spell
component they require. This is the slowest method but the most
reliable.

Subconscious refill occurs at the rate of X cards per TU (time
unit). A suggested value (once again for the generic adventuring
wizard) is 2 per round.

Guided subconscious refill occurs at the rate of Y cards per TU.
From this Y one card is selected and the others shuffled back
into the deck. A suggested value for Y (GAW [Generic Adventuring
Wizard]) is 3 per round...you get to look at more cards than
the subconscious refill but only get to keep one.

Deliberate search refill occurs at the rate of Z TU. Once every
Z TUs the player may go through the deck and select one card
to place in their hand. The deck is reshuffled afterwards. A
suggested value for Z (GAW case) is 2 rounds.

If through replenishment the cards in hand exceeds the maximum
hand size the player must discard down to the specified maximum.
There is no need to discard before drawing cards (this is to
allow players the most options in being able to compose a
useful spell).

INTERPRETING CARDS: At the heart of this system lies the assumption
that (tarot) cards can represent the fundamental magical building
blocks that a mage employs to compose a spell. Without becoming
all mystical its pretty safe to say that a good tarot deck is
rich in symbolism and can represent a diverse range of human
experience. This rich symbolism (a good tarot deck's images
should "speak to you" and reveal more the longer they are
studied) and coverage of such a wide spectrum of experience
allows us to view the cards as building blocks for magic.

In order to build spells from combinations of the cards its
first necessary to understand the individual cards. Firstly a
good card is incredibly rich in imagery and symbolism. You don't
need to use it all each time. This is what allows a single card
to act as a poison component on one occasion and an evocation
of boiling rage on another. Just take the portion of the card
thats relevant.

There are many ways to "read" a card. The best is simply to look
at the picture and feel what it means/says to you. Look at the whole
picture and elements within the image, pick something. Try then to
imagine that in context of the world in which your character
exists and the "rules of magic" (the way magic works) in that
world.

Secondly most tarot decks come with a small booklet that includes
the author/artist's interpretation of the cards. This can be
employed also (try to form your own impressions first though).

Thirdly there's certain archetypal meanings to a number of the cards
(e.g., everyone knows about the Major Arcana cards like Death)
as well as suits (e.g., discs/coins associated with matter/earth
etc.) and role assignments for the number cards (one is creation/
initiation etc.). This is also useful.

Finally the cards in combination suddenly show new meanings
(ways of viewing them) based solely on their juxtaposition.

COMPOSING A SPELL: If there is an interesting aspect to this system
then surely it is in combining cards to describe a magical effect.
The range and scope of effects (spells) that can be built is
fascinating. However in order for the player to successfully
employ multiple cards for a single spell they must "understand"
each card (previous section) and then how those elements combine.

In building a complex (more than one card) spell it is necessary
to define two things with the cards. The first is to describe the
spell itself and the second optional component is to increase the
basic power of the spell by employing cards that compliment and
re-enforce the basic spell structure. At times the distinction
between these two categories is not always clear.

Here's an example contrived from looking at about a dozen cards
and picking four to illustrate. Garnian of Etworth is a trader
and traveler with more than a smattering of magical ability.
Entering a new town his traveling companion and love interest
is dragged off by the locals in a case of mistaken identity as
being a cruel local bandit. The local mob want to lynch the
companion and only the actions of Garnian can stop the miscarriage
of justice and loss of his love. Knowing that force is not a
solution Garnian plans a spell of mass persuasion which he will
inter-weave with an enpassioned appeal (from the scaffolds) that he will
make. Garnian's player will employ four cards in the spell--two (or
possibly 3 depending on your interpretation) to define the spell
and another two (or one) to give it more umphh. The cards themselves
are: -
Princess of Cups--a woman in long robes swaying gently in the water.
Queen of Cups--a calm and gentle reflective pool of water.
2 Discs (Change)--Yin/Yang symbols surrounded by a snake swallowing
its tail.
Prince of Wands--A fiery young man in a red chariot drawn by a lion.

At the heart of the spell and defining it are the Princess and
Queen of Cups. Being cups they are emotional so the spell will
appeal to the hearts of the mob. The princess represents the
swaying of peoples' opinions while the Queen is a calming and
tranquiling effect to calm the mob's rage. So the spell should
calm the mob's mindless bloodlust and sway them with empathy.

Adding power to the spell are the 2 of Discs, and the Prince of
Wands. The 2 Discs lends power in the form of Change (balanced
opposites) as Garnian is trying to change peoples' minds. The
Prince of Wands can symbolise a noble and heroic young man.
Garnian uses this to make himself seem more noble and heroic,
thus giving more weight to his words and making them more
persuasive (spell more powerful).

With such a well constructed/targeted and powerful (4 cards)
spell Garnian should be able to at least sway enough heads to
raise the doubt that the traveling companion is not the local
bandit and thus temporarily halt the lynching (the story might
progress with the mob only being partly mollified and holding
the companion who will be hanged in a fortnight if Garnian can't
bring in the real bandit as proof). If the additional strengthening
cards had not been used however Garnian's "voice of reason"
wouldn't have had the power to sway/halt the mob.

So in effect the cards in a complex (multi-card) spell are used
in two ways. One is to "map out" or describe the key features
of the spell--this will describe the basic function and form of
the spell itself (in the above example a spell to induce a
reflective frame of mind and sway minds emotionally). Secondly
additional cards can act as adjuncts to the basic structure
adding extra detail and strength (in the example the influence
of Change and a heroic/virtuous demeanour for the speaker).

Describing how to combine cards is difficult. Basically just as
when we free-associate when we look at a card to see its meaning
(the images spark thoughts and memories for us) we can free-associate
the cards together--look for links, contrasts, similarities when
the cards are considered together. The current situation in the
game can also provide a focus or filter through which to see how
cards can be combined. For example if Garnian in his trade wagon
encounters a group of toll-extorters just as he is about to cross
a bridge spanning a river in the wilderness then the river
(storms?, spirits?), bridge (wood based spells?) wagon, river
banks and environments and the enemy all provide lenses through
which to see how cards might be combined to form a spell.

WHAT'S IN A DECK?: The choice of a tarot deck is an important
decision and will greatly influence the way you view, and even
what spells you compose, the magic of your character. A good deck
is a good deck for you--there's no absolute best deck. However
good guidelines are that the deck has rich imagery (including
for the Minor Arcana/Suits--many decks have good artwork only
for the Major Arcana) and that you can interpret it in context
of your character and the world they exist in.

For example for me Crowley's Thoth tarot is a good choice for
a classic fantasy (medieval) setting. The Voyager tarot has an
incredible amount of imagery on each card (collage of photographic
images) and is for me better suited to modern day games (WW's
Vampire or Changling) than a feudal setting. On the other hand
I find the Rider/Waite tarot (the most "famous" and easily
available) somewhat plain in imagery and better suited to
storytelling than the richness of magic. Other good choices
might be the Elemental tarot (no longer in print?) or The King
Arthur tarot (obviously rather setting specific : -).

Recently books have been published which have examples of the
cards from many tarot decks. This is a good place to check to
see what type of deck might suit you. Its also possible to use
other cards (e.g., those from a collectible trading card game),
though tarot seems to be the best choice for diversity and depth
of imagery/interpretation. You could even make your own set of
cards.

2. GRITTY DETAILS
=================
CUSTOMISING A SPELLCASTER: In most worlds mages are highly
individualistic people with uniquely personal skills and power.
As their personalities are different so is their magic--different
levels of power, sources of magic, preferred spells, raw talent
etc. By setting appropriate parameters and constraints on Tamasys
(Tarot Magic System) its possible to create a wide and diverse
range of spellcasters.

Further, in many roleplaying games its possible for a character
to improve through experience. This is also possible in Tamasys
by assigning experience costs for improving the various aspects
(e.g., to acquire another card to add to the deck or increase
casting rate).

The following is a list of the different parameters that can be
adjusting in creating the envisioned character along with
comments on their impact and importance.

(i) Deck Size and Composition--The deck size and composition
are primary in reflecting the range of raw magic that a character
can draw upon. The size of the deck (number of cards) reflects
the diversity of magic that can be drawn upon while the particular
composition  shows the character's specialties and magical
leanings.

For example a character with a deck size of 5 or 10 understands
very few magic principles and the range of spells they can cast
is correspondingly limited. On the other hand a character with
50 cards has grasped many of the principles of magic and should
be able to throw a wide range of spells.

The selection of cards in the deck also goes a long way to defining
the character's magic. A deck with a smattering of all 4 suits
and some Major Arcana might be a wizard-of-all-trades while one
who's deck is primarily composed of the suit Cups might be a
water elementalist.

Deck size is a reflection of the power of a wizard. A starting
level adventuring wizard *might* (this is incredibly world
dependent) have have an initial deck of about 10 or 15 cards.
With experience the character should gain knowledge/control over
further aspects of magic and this is reflected by adding further
cards to the deck.

Deck composition (the particular cards) will define the type of
magic a character can cast. With an eye to the type of spells
the character will cast the player (with the GM's guidance)
should pick the cards that compose their deck. As new cards are
acquired these should also be selected to reflect the directions
of magical interest/learning of the character.

(ii) Hand Size--Hand size is a measure of the number of different
magical aspects that a wizard can control simultaneously as well
as defining the upper power limit of any spell that wizard can
cast.

A character with a hand size of 3 cannot concentrate on many
aspects of magic simultaneously and correspondingly can only
cast weak spells (maximum of 3 cards). Alternatively a character
with a hand size of 9 can control many aspects of magic simultaneously
and is capable of casting truly powerful spells (up to 9 cards).

Hand size is thus another measure of the power of a wizard. It
can range from a value of 1 (cantrip caster) up to values in
excess of 10 (world shakers). Probably a good value for a
starting spellcaster is 3 to 5, with 7 being a *very* respectable
value for an experienced character.

(iii) Casting Speed--The casting speed determines how rapidly
a wizard can get their spells off and away. At the macro level
this is a GM decision as to how magic works in their world--
can magic be cast during a physical combat or is it a slow
considered action taking many hours and lots of concentration?

Thus the GM decides on the TUs (Time Units) that casting speed
is measured in (whether it range from seconds or combat rounds
through to hours). However within that framework of magic casting
speed a character may be faster or slower than the average.

Casting speed is measured in number of cards per TU and can be
fractional (e.g., 1.5/round means 1 card on 1st and subsequent
odd numbered rounds of spell casting and 2 on the 2nd and
subsequent even rounds), with steps of 0.5 probably being precise
enough. For example a character with a casting speed of 2/round is
significantly "faster on the draw" than one with a speed of 1/round.

A value of 1/TU is a reasonable value for a starting level character
with 2/TU being a respectable value and anything at 3/TU or above
is exceptionally fast and rare.

There is no need for casting speed to be linear. For example it
might be exponential (take much longer for longer spells) or
even log (hardly take any additional time for longer spells).
Consider a casting speed of 2/round[2], 1/round[3], 0.5/round
[there after]. A spell of 2 cards takes 1 round, 4 cards takes
3 rounds and 7 cards takes 8 rounds. Non-linear casting speeds
are also a GM decision.

(iv) Refill Rate--Refill rate is a measure of how quickly a wizard
can draw on new magical components to compose a spell with, in
effect how quickly they can start composing a new spell after
they have cast one.

There are 3 types of hand refilling which operate independently.
Subconscious refill works by drawing the top X cards every TU.
Guided subconscious works by drawing the top Y cards every TU
and keeping one. Deliberate refill means that every Z TUs the
character may search their deck and take 1 card. As for casting
speed the particular time units is a GM decision (the TUs for
casting speed don't even need to correspond to the TUs for refill
though that would most commonly be the case).

Good initial values for the 3 types of refill (subconscious,
guided subconscious and deliberate) for a starting character
might be 1/TU, 2/TU, 3. For an experienced wizard values of
2/TU, 3-4/TU, 2 might be more reasonable and for truly powerful
wizards values of 5/TU, 10/TU and 0.5 might not be unreasonable.

Obviously there is no need for these 3 types of refills to
develop/improve in parallel. Indeed its likely that individual
wizards favour one type of refill or another.

There is a fourth rare type of refill known as automatic.
Every X TUs the top card from the deck is drawn. This type of
refill works even if the wizard is casting/composing a spell
(remember the other types of refill cannot be performed during
spell casting). For the greater majority of wizards the value of
X is 0 (no auto refill). A value for X of 2 or 3 even is powerful
and values of 1 or less are truly exceptional.

(v) Affinities--A spell casting character may have an affinity
(special rapore or understanding) for one of the components of
magic. In game terms this means that a card is particularly attuned
to a character.

Whenever a character with an affinity refills their hand they
can automatically take the card for which they have an affinity
as one of the refill cards. Effectively they can always have that
card available for spell casting.

Specialist spellcasters (e.g., elementalists) often have an
affinity (e.g., a pyromancer could have an affinity for the Ace
of Wands--creation of fire) while more general spellcasters do
not. It is extremely rare to have more than one affinity.

(vi) Mastery--A spell casting character may have mastery over
one of the components of magic. In game terms the character has
complete control and understanding of that aspect of magic.

A character with mastery always has the card in question available
for use in spell casting (never "consumed" in spell use). Further
the card does not count against the hand limit size (e.g., a
character with a hand size of 7 and mastery may hold up to 8
cards--the card for which mastery is possessed and 7 additional
cards for the hand).

It is very rare (and powerful) to find a character with mastery.
Typically they are specialists in one type of magic and have
decades of experience (as well as scads of raw talent).

(vii) Split Decks--Characters with a particularly orderly mind and
understanding of magic may split their deck. In game terms
they have systemised their own understanding of magic such that
they have a sort of mental filing system and thus are more likely
to pull out the spell component they need.

A character with split decks can have one deck for every 20 cards
(or fraction there of) in their entire deck (i.e., a character
with up to 20 cards can only have one deck, with 21 to 40 cards they
can have two decks etc.). The player decides which cards go in which
deck (their mental filing system) and spent or discarded cards
are always reshuffled back into the appropriate deck. A deck may
not have less than 8 cards. When performing refill actions the
player decides which deck to draw from (can even refill from
different decks in the same action, e.g., with a refill of 4
could draw 3 from deck A and 1 from deck B).

Effectively only spellcasters with command of a large number of
magical components (a large deck) and an orderly mind will have
the split decks "ability".

It should be noted that the deliberate hand refill method still
allows the player to search all decks (but then they'd all need
shuffling too, and why would you use split decks unless you knew
where your cards were roughly anyway?).

(viii) Limiting Interpretation of Cards--Tarot cards lend
themselves to an incredible range of interpretations: -this is
what makes them so great for this purpose. However many spellcasters
use only part of the range of magic. In these cases its important
to interpret the cards within the confines of the type of magic
that the character uses.

Consider the following apparently tough example: -a character's
magic is tied to birds. Spells like flight, improved vision,
lots of summon bird-type I suppose (curses like "bird brain"? : -)
etc. Most of the cards would be unusable wouldn't they? Not really.
For example the Ace Wands (fiery staff), it might be tied to the
summoning of the mythical Garouda or Phoenix. If we think about
the range of birds in the bird kingdom (vultures, penguins,
eagles, hawks, hummingbirds, mythical Rocs, sparrows, seagulls,
owls, ducks, nightingales, parrots, etc.) then there's an
enormous range of abilities and ways to see the cards as they
relate to those abilities (parrots and colours, nightingales
and music, ducks and water, owls and nightvision or wisdom,
etc. etc. etc.).

So for those wizards who draw their magic from particular
sources or only express it in a limited way its important to
view the cards in that context and be true to the vision of the
character. With a bit of thought most cards should still be
usable by any time of wizard.

INTERFACING TO ROLEPLAYING MECHANICS: In order to use this system
with an existing roleplaying game its necessary to decide how
it interfaces to the existing mechanics. This is a two-way
interface. How do the game mechanics affect the wizard's
ability (this is primarily the way magic works in the world and
how experience improves magical ability) and how does the
wizard's magic affect the rest of the world (things like damage,
resistance rolls etc.)?

The more narrative/diceless your game is the less work that
will be required to addon Tamasys as it is heavily interpretative/
qualitative in nature. Conversely a heavily numeric/qualitative
system will require more work in order to more strictly define
the interface (in particular how spells affect the world).

In defining how magic affects the world you may need to consider
(1) spell durations [standard and extended], (2) spell damage
as a function of number of cards and type of spell [surprisingly
most of the time players seem to use their spells to inflict
damage on the world at large : -] (3) spell resistance as a
function of number of cards and type of spell [often when players
aren't trying to destroy something they're trying to control
its mind : -] (4) area of affect as a function of number of
cards and spell type (5) range as a function of...(6) plusses/
minusses as a function of number and type of cards [in those
rare occasions when players aren't blowing something up or taking
over its mind they're cursing it or blessing themselves : -].

To be honest its very hard to make a set of hard rules that won't
be broken on occasion. It seems far better to me to have a set of
guidelines that can be used to adjudicate spells on a case by
case basis as needed (and magic is special isn't it?).

Here's an example for a totally hypothetical roleplaying
system that might look like a bit of a mix between Runequest &
AD&D: 
Duration: Most spells are instantaneous. Those that by their
very nature have a duration (e.g., summon a creature) have a
default duration of 5 minutes. Every card in the spell used to
increase duration doubles the previous duration (5, 10, 20,40 etc.).
Truly appropriate duration related cards have triple effect.
Damage: 1 dice per card in spell for first three, 2 dice per card
for next 3 etc. (e.g., a 7 card spell would do 12 dice!).
+1 or 2 dice for truly appropriate cards and -1 or 2 for
truly inappropriate cards.
Resistance: -5% to resistance roll for first 3 cards, -10% for
next three etc. (e.g., a 4 card control spell would be resisted
at -25%). -5% to 10% additional for truly appropriate cards
and +5 to 10% for inappropriate cards.
Area of Affect: Typically one item/person etc. If by its nature
the spell is an area of affect then it affects two people/items
for the first card and doubles for each additional card (a 4
card spell affects up to 16 people). If its strictly area then
1 square metre with a doubling for each card.
Range: Default range is touch or 10 metres depending on the
nature of the spell (decide on case by case nature as needed).
Every card in spell used to increase to increase the range
triples the previous range. Truly appropriate range related
cards increase the range 6-fold.
Plusses/Minusses: Spells to increase decrease character stats do so at
1 point per card. Appropriate/inappropriate cards have increased/
decreased effect of 2 or 3 points. Similarly armour and weapons
are increased at 2 points per card. Skills are increased/decreased
at 10% per card. Once again appropriate/inappropriate card
adjustments apply.

As to the second kind of interface--how the world and game
mechanics affect the magic system thats much easier. Chiefly
it consists in assigning the Time Units for casting speed &
redraw and assigning experience costs (levels whatever) for
the various parameters of the magic system (cost to add a new
card to an existing deck, cost to increase cast speed, etc.).

Its my hope that as people use this system they send in the
interface they've designed for their world/mechanics and I can
add it to this file. Future readers will then have a set of
templates for different systems (AD&D, Pendragon, Vampire,
CoC etc.) that they can employ with no effort.

CHARACTER EXAMPLES: I've included here a couple of example
characters to show how the system might go about describing
their characters.

WATER ELEMENTALIST: A reasonably experienced adventuring wizard.
Spells focus on control of water, water courses etc. and to a
lesser extent weather and emotions.
Deck Size: 34 cards
Deck Composition: All cups, about half the major Arcana, some
  discs. Too many to list with descriptions.
Hand Size: 7 cards
Casting Speed: 2/round
Refill rate: subconscious: 3/round
guided subconscious: 4/round
deliberate: 1.5 round
auto: 5 round
Affinity: 1 Cups
Mastery: Not yet
Split Decks: No, this wizard's magic is very intuitive.
Comments: This wizard is quite powerful having a largish
deck, large hand and fastish cast and refill
rates. Not to be messed with.

DEMONOLOGIST: Your typical "trafficker with dark powers" type.
Spells focus on summoning and binding.
Deck Size: 50 cards
Deck Composition: Diverse. Cards from all suits and the Major Arcana. Cards typically define properties of the entity to be summoned.
Hand Size: 6 cards
Casting Speed: 1.5/hour
Refill Rate: subconscious: 2/10-minutes
guided subconscious: 3/10-minutes
deliberate: 10 minutes
auto: 0
Affinity: Past that stage
Mastery: The Devil representing a dark pact and the ability
to create a circle of summoning.
Split Decks: Yes, this guy's knowledge is very systematic.
Comments: Face to face this guy is probably a wimp. He's not
going to have time to get a spell off. However if
time is available he can cook up just the right
nasty (cards define nasty's abilities) for any
occasion. His hand size still needs to increase
a bit before he can summon the greater devils.

HEDGE WIZARD/WITCH: The village spellcaster. Untaught except by the village
spellcaster before them. Spells to do with minor healings, birthings, crops,
finding and repairs.
Deck Size: 30 cards
Deck Composition: A real hodge-podge, bits and pieces from everywhere.
Hand Size: 3 (6) cards
Casting Speed: 0.5/round  (1/10-minutes)
Refill Rate: subconscious: 1.5/round  (2/hour)
guided subconscious: 2/round    (3/hour)
deliberate: 2 round    (1 hour)
Affinity: No
Mastery: No way!
Split Decks: No way!
Comments: This character has two types of magic--a sort of "on the spot"
weaker magic (hand size of 3) and a slower but stronger magic (hand size of 6)
which involves more paraphenalia (herbs, brews, sympathetic magic etc.).
Notice the long refill times for the stronger magic.