Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook
Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook takes the iconic major and minor arcana and transforms them into powerful archetypes for your fantasy roleplaying characters. This isn’t a book on divination, and it’s definitely not your typical character handbook. Instead, it’s a deep dive into using tarot’s classic archetypes as tools for building unique, compelling characters who are more than just stats on a sheet.
This system-agnostic sourcebook works with any fantasy roleplaying system, offering you endless options to flesh out heroes, villains, and everyone in between. Want a wide-eyed Fool whose curiosity changes the party’s fate, or a steadfast Knight of Pentacles who doesn’t quit, no matter the odds? This book has you covered with detailed personality traits, motivations, strengths, and flaws for every card in the tarot deck. From the driven energy of the Wands to the grounded realism of the Pentacles, each suit brings its own flavor, giving you characters that feel genuinely alive.
Perfect for fans of tarot and fantasy roleplaying, this book is all about collaborative storytelling. It brings imagination, agency, and depth to your sessions, making each decision count and each character arc unforgettable. Whether you’re a player looking for inspiration or a gamemaster crafting memorable supporting characters, Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook will give you everything you need to build a character-driven experience that’s fresh, familiar, and bound to keep everyone at the table invested.
Step beyond the typical character tropes and make each session an adventure in true storytelling. Because when every character has depth, every story is a story worth telling.
Disclaimer
Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook is a guidebook for creating compelling character archetypes for fantasy roleplaying games. It is not a guide to divination, occult practices, or tarot card reading. This book uses tarot archetypes purely as a framework for character development in fictional, imaginative settings and is intended solely as a storytelling tool for players and gamemasters.
A Universal Sourcebook
An earlier edition of this book was originally created as a system-agnostic toolkit, and retails that function in this edition. However, it’s now fully compliant with The Simple Approach and games using that system and philosophy, including The Foragers Guild. You don’t need it to play one of our games to use this material, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. For advice on translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Navigating This Book
Here’s a breakdown of the tools and resources waiting inside these pages:
A Brief History of Tarot: We start with a short, engaging dive into tarot’s origins, from its early days as a card game to its evolution into the symbolic powerhouse we know today. It’s the context you need to see how these archetypes have shaped storytelling for centuries, and how they can now reshape your roleplaying sessions.
Tarot-Based Traits: A look at how tarot archetypes can be used to help you to select character abilities within your system of choice, and create original traits when using The Simple Approach. There’s advice on how the archetypes can guide the way your character uses their abilities, and tips on roleplaying to align with each unique archetype.
Major Arcana: The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are filled with timeless archetypes that lay the foundation for any epic tale. Each card represents a powerful narrative force, from The Fool’s boundless optimism to The Tower’s sudden upheaval. This section gives you detailed profiles for each major arcana card, covering everything from personality traits to common motivations, unique strengths, and personal flaws. Use these profiles to create characters who embody a specific card or combine them to layer complex traits and character arcs. Whether you’re crafting a protagonist, a mentor, or an unforgettable villain, the Major Arcana has something for every character role.
Suit of Wands: Wands bring fire to your story, representing characters driven by passion, creativity, and bold ambition. The Suit of Wands covers archetypes for the characters who push boundaries, challenge conventions, and live life on their own terms. From the Page’s uncontainable enthusiasm to the King’s hard-earned wisdom, Wands offer personalities that are all about action, energy, and the unquenchable desire to make their mark. Perfect for leaders, adventurers, and anyone who doesn’t mind shaking things up.
Suit of Cups: Cups offer archetypes rooted in feelings, relationships, and intuition. These are the characters driven by love, loyalty, and the depths of the heart. The Suit of Cups guides you through creating characters who value connection over conquest and are motivated by compassion, hope, and empathy. From the hopeless romantic to the wise healer, this section helps you craft characters who bring emotional depth to any campaign. They’re the voices of empathy and understanding who remind others what they’re fighting for.
Suit of Swords: The Suit of Swords covers characters who live in their minds and wield words or weapons with equal precision. These archetypes are ideal for strategists, truth-seekers, and those who walk the line between justice and power. Swords brings the energy of intellect, debate, and sometimes ruthless ambition. Whether it’s the ethical warrior struggling to uphold their principles or the cunning tactician who thinks ten steps ahead, this section lets you build characters who bring conflict, clarity, and complexity to your story.
Suit of Pentacles: Pentacles characters are grounded in reality, representing the builders, the workers, and those who seek something lasting. This suit is for characters who understand the value of patience, the importance of family, and the satisfaction of hard work. Pentacles are ideal for characters focused on loyalty, survival, and legacy. They bring strength, resilience, and a sense of continuity to the story. From the practical-minded merchant to the determined farmer protecting their land, these characters are in it for the long haul.
Reference: For quick reference, we’ve included a glossary to clarify tarot terms and a bibliography for readers interested in exploring tarot history and symbolism further. Whether you’re new to tarot or just looking to brush up on the basics, this section will give you a strong foundation.
375 pages. PDF and epub files included.
Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook takes the iconic major and minor arcana and transforms them into powerful archetypes for your fantasy roleplaying characters. This isn’t a book on divination, and it’s definitely not your typical character handbook. Instead, it’s a deep dive into using tarot’s classic archetypes as tools for building unique, compelling characters who are more than just stats on a sheet.
This system-agnostic sourcebook works with any fantasy roleplaying system, offering you endless options to flesh out heroes, villains, and everyone in between. Want a wide-eyed Fool whose curiosity changes the party’s fate, or a steadfast Knight of Pentacles who doesn’t quit, no matter the odds? This book has you covered with detailed personality traits, motivations, strengths, and flaws for every card in the tarot deck. From the driven energy of the Wands to the grounded realism of the Pentacles, each suit brings its own flavor, giving you characters that feel genuinely alive.
Perfect for fans of tarot and fantasy roleplaying, this book is all about collaborative storytelling. It brings imagination, agency, and depth to your sessions, making each decision count and each character arc unforgettable. Whether you’re a player looking for inspiration or a gamemaster crafting memorable supporting characters, Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook will give you everything you need to build a character-driven experience that’s fresh, familiar, and bound to keep everyone at the table invested.
Step beyond the typical character tropes and make each session an adventure in true storytelling. Because when every character has depth, every story is a story worth telling.
Disclaimer
Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook is a guidebook for creating compelling character archetypes for fantasy roleplaying games. It is not a guide to divination, occult practices, or tarot card reading. This book uses tarot archetypes purely as a framework for character development in fictional, imaginative settings and is intended solely as a storytelling tool for players and gamemasters.
A Universal Sourcebook
An earlier edition of this book was originally created as a system-agnostic toolkit, and retails that function in this edition. However, it’s now fully compliant with The Simple Approach and games using that system and philosophy, including The Foragers Guild. You don’t need it to play one of our games to use this material, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. For advice on translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Navigating This Book
Here’s a breakdown of the tools and resources waiting inside these pages:
A Brief History of Tarot: We start with a short, engaging dive into tarot’s origins, from its early days as a card game to its evolution into the symbolic powerhouse we know today. It’s the context you need to see how these archetypes have shaped storytelling for centuries, and how they can now reshape your roleplaying sessions.
Tarot-Based Traits: A look at how tarot archetypes can be used to help you to select character abilities within your system of choice, and create original traits when using The Simple Approach. There’s advice on how the archetypes can guide the way your character uses their abilities, and tips on roleplaying to align with each unique archetype.
Major Arcana: The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are filled with timeless archetypes that lay the foundation for any epic tale. Each card represents a powerful narrative force, from The Fool’s boundless optimism to The Tower’s sudden upheaval. This section gives you detailed profiles for each major arcana card, covering everything from personality traits to common motivations, unique strengths, and personal flaws. Use these profiles to create characters who embody a specific card or combine them to layer complex traits and character arcs. Whether you’re crafting a protagonist, a mentor, or an unforgettable villain, the Major Arcana has something for every character role.
Suit of Wands: Wands bring fire to your story, representing characters driven by passion, creativity, and bold ambition. The Suit of Wands covers archetypes for the characters who push boundaries, challenge conventions, and live life on their own terms. From the Page’s uncontainable enthusiasm to the King’s hard-earned wisdom, Wands offer personalities that are all about action, energy, and the unquenchable desire to make their mark. Perfect for leaders, adventurers, and anyone who doesn’t mind shaking things up.
Suit of Cups: Cups offer archetypes rooted in feelings, relationships, and intuition. These are the characters driven by love, loyalty, and the depths of the heart. The Suit of Cups guides you through creating characters who value connection over conquest and are motivated by compassion, hope, and empathy. From the hopeless romantic to the wise healer, this section helps you craft characters who bring emotional depth to any campaign. They’re the voices of empathy and understanding who remind others what they’re fighting for.
Suit of Swords: The Suit of Swords covers characters who live in their minds and wield words or weapons with equal precision. These archetypes are ideal for strategists, truth-seekers, and those who walk the line between justice and power. Swords brings the energy of intellect, debate, and sometimes ruthless ambition. Whether it’s the ethical warrior struggling to uphold their principles or the cunning tactician who thinks ten steps ahead, this section lets you build characters who bring conflict, clarity, and complexity to your story.
Suit of Pentacles: Pentacles characters are grounded in reality, representing the builders, the workers, and those who seek something lasting. This suit is for characters who understand the value of patience, the importance of family, and the satisfaction of hard work. Pentacles are ideal for characters focused on loyalty, survival, and legacy. They bring strength, resilience, and a sense of continuity to the story. From the practical-minded merchant to the determined farmer protecting their land, these characters are in it for the long haul.
Reference: For quick reference, we’ve included a glossary to clarify tarot terms and a bibliography for readers interested in exploring tarot history and symbolism further. Whether you’re new to tarot or just looking to brush up on the basics, this section will give you a strong foundation.
375 pages. PDF and epub files included.
Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook takes the iconic major and minor arcana and transforms them into powerful archetypes for your fantasy roleplaying characters. This isn’t a book on divination, and it’s definitely not your typical character handbook. Instead, it’s a deep dive into using tarot’s classic archetypes as tools for building unique, compelling characters who are more than just stats on a sheet.
This system-agnostic sourcebook works with any fantasy roleplaying system, offering you endless options to flesh out heroes, villains, and everyone in between. Want a wide-eyed Fool whose curiosity changes the party’s fate, or a steadfast Knight of Pentacles who doesn’t quit, no matter the odds? This book has you covered with detailed personality traits, motivations, strengths, and flaws for every card in the tarot deck. From the driven energy of the Wands to the grounded realism of the Pentacles, each suit brings its own flavor, giving you characters that feel genuinely alive.
Perfect for fans of tarot and fantasy roleplaying, this book is all about collaborative storytelling. It brings imagination, agency, and depth to your sessions, making each decision count and each character arc unforgettable. Whether you’re a player looking for inspiration or a gamemaster crafting memorable supporting characters, Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook will give you everything you need to build a character-driven experience that’s fresh, familiar, and bound to keep everyone at the table invested.
Step beyond the typical character tropes and make each session an adventure in true storytelling. Because when every character has depth, every story is a story worth telling.
Disclaimer
Tarot Archetypes Character Handbook is a guidebook for creating compelling character archetypes for fantasy roleplaying games. It is not a guide to divination, occult practices, or tarot card reading. This book uses tarot archetypes purely as a framework for character development in fictional, imaginative settings and is intended solely as a storytelling tool for players and gamemasters.
A Universal Sourcebook
An earlier edition of this book was originally created as a system-agnostic toolkit, and retails that function in this edition. However, it’s now fully compliant with The Simple Approach and games using that system and philosophy, including The Foragers Guild. You don’t need it to play one of our games to use this material, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. For advice on translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Navigating This Book
Here’s a breakdown of the tools and resources waiting inside these pages:
A Brief History of Tarot: We start with a short, engaging dive into tarot’s origins, from its early days as a card game to its evolution into the symbolic powerhouse we know today. It’s the context you need to see how these archetypes have shaped storytelling for centuries, and how they can now reshape your roleplaying sessions.
Tarot-Based Traits: A look at how tarot archetypes can be used to help you to select character abilities within your system of choice, and create original traits when using The Simple Approach. There’s advice on how the archetypes can guide the way your character uses their abilities, and tips on roleplaying to align with each unique archetype.
Major Arcana: The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are filled with timeless archetypes that lay the foundation for any epic tale. Each card represents a powerful narrative force, from The Fool’s boundless optimism to The Tower’s sudden upheaval. This section gives you detailed profiles for each major arcana card, covering everything from personality traits to common motivations, unique strengths, and personal flaws. Use these profiles to create characters who embody a specific card or combine them to layer complex traits and character arcs. Whether you’re crafting a protagonist, a mentor, or an unforgettable villain, the Major Arcana has something for every character role.
Suit of Wands: Wands bring fire to your story, representing characters driven by passion, creativity, and bold ambition. The Suit of Wands covers archetypes for the characters who push boundaries, challenge conventions, and live life on their own terms. From the Page’s uncontainable enthusiasm to the King’s hard-earned wisdom, Wands offer personalities that are all about action, energy, and the unquenchable desire to make their mark. Perfect for leaders, adventurers, and anyone who doesn’t mind shaking things up.
Suit of Cups: Cups offer archetypes rooted in feelings, relationships, and intuition. These are the characters driven by love, loyalty, and the depths of the heart. The Suit of Cups guides you through creating characters who value connection over conquest and are motivated by compassion, hope, and empathy. From the hopeless romantic to the wise healer, this section helps you craft characters who bring emotional depth to any campaign. They’re the voices of empathy and understanding who remind others what they’re fighting for.
Suit of Swords: The Suit of Swords covers characters who live in their minds and wield words or weapons with equal precision. These archetypes are ideal for strategists, truth-seekers, and those who walk the line between justice and power. Swords brings the energy of intellect, debate, and sometimes ruthless ambition. Whether it’s the ethical warrior struggling to uphold their principles or the cunning tactician who thinks ten steps ahead, this section lets you build characters who bring conflict, clarity, and complexity to your story.
Suit of Pentacles: Pentacles characters are grounded in reality, representing the builders, the workers, and those who seek something lasting. This suit is for characters who understand the value of patience, the importance of family, and the satisfaction of hard work. Pentacles are ideal for characters focused on loyalty, survival, and legacy. They bring strength, resilience, and a sense of continuity to the story. From the practical-minded merchant to the determined farmer protecting their land, these characters are in it for the long haul.
Reference: For quick reference, we’ve included a glossary to clarify tarot terms and a bibliography for readers interested in exploring tarot history and symbolism further. Whether you’re new to tarot or just looking to brush up on the basics, this section will give you a strong foundation.
375 pages. PDF and epub files included.