2 Oracular Writing Methods
Inspired by Idraluna’s, Owl’s and Hawkeyes’ posts on the matter of oracular play.
Method 1: For Magic Items
When a Magic item is encountered, draw a card for its Creator, its previous owners and how it got here. Rely on the inner self to guide these meanings. You can use the ascribed properties of the card or just the art on them, I don’t care.
Symbolic Example: Potion of Human Control
King of Swords, King of Pentacles, Hanged Man Reversed.
Intellectual Authority, Material Success, Being Stuck.
This elixir was created by a Wizard seeking the Magnum Opus. Getting it as a failure, he tossed it into the sewers only for it to be found by a merchant of poor profits. Dousing his buyers’ drinks to “convince” them to buy his wares for high prices. Getting wealthy and ignorant, he misplaces the vial in the lavatory, causing it to return to the sewers, before eventually find its way to you.
Pictographic Example: Sword, +1
The Devil, Wheel of Fortune, King of Pentacles Reversed.
Demon, Roulette Wheel, Knight on his Head.
This sword was made by a Demon of the Hell of Boulders, otherwise known as the Miser’s Hell. Being a greedy demon, he went to gamble with a mortal only for the sword to be lost to him as a result. This man, a Sorcerer-Knight of the Old Kingdom, fell in battle in the long night of the old empire. His carcass still clings to the haft of black steel.
Method 2: For Character Stories
This one’s a bit complicated so buckle in. The cards you draw here represent the Birth Auspice, life events (generally one for every 10 or so years for more in depth stuff) and, optionally, their call to adventure or to their trade.
Symbolic Example: The Seamstress
The Emperor, Two of Cups Reversed, Nine of Pentacles.
Authority, Relationship Issues, Financial Prosperity.
The Seamstress was born the daughter of some lesser lord. Her youth was, however, not as idyllic as that household was marked by marital strife when her father outcasted her and her mother after he took a new wife. Picking up spinning, her skill grew over the years to be able to weave even the most frayed of burlap tunics into fine pieces of dress, inevitably gaining her renown for her prowess. She know lives in a nice house in the city, running a successful guild house.
Pictographic Example: The Lady in Waiting
Nine of Swords, King of Wands, Hermit Reversed.
Crying Person, Surprised King, Old Wizard on his Head.
The Lady in Waiting was orphaned at a young age, working on the streets as a lesser laborer. However, by a stroke of luck she managed to save the King’s daughter during an assassination attempt. Impressed by her courage and skill, the King entrusted her as her daughter’s personal assistant and guard. She is currently, however, under suspicions of witchcraft, her rivals saying that she communes with the Skull of a Lich under full moons, with a close but bitter cousin of the Princess seeking to find dirt on her to get in close and steal her position.