Sorry, no link - read it from a library book about card game history.
From my recollection:
I do remember it was called “Oracolo” and was played in Italy, normally by family members for the younger kids. It’s part of other “story games” people would play using the bigger tarot card decks especially (something played since Mamluk deck days). You’d basically start a story about how the person is a traveler, and make up the story on the fly based off what you drew from the deck, and the kid would respond as well and then a dice would be rolled to see if they’re successful.
With Oracolo, the goal was to make it to old age and die peacefully as you go through life. You’d do this by going through the entire deck, with pips being bonuses or negatives that would be used (like, if you had chosen to be a carpenter, and got a 3, then that might be how much furniture you sold and how successful you currently are).
Every card you passed through would get set aside, with the exception of Death, which would always get shuffled back in if you survived. Death would always be the final card.
There’s other story games too people would play too. This is where the idea of using Tarot decks for divination came from actually during the Victorian era (as these story games were primarily played in Latin descendant speaking countries such as France, Spain, and Italy).
My own dad would sometimes play a story game his dad taught him using an old Tarocco Siciliano deck we had (the one that uses cups, clubs, coins, and swords). Although his was a Christian version where the goal was both survive and to go to heaven, and used more as a morality type game.
Holy shit, Tarot was a game all this time? Time to buy a pack and get some people for a game night!
There’s also a really really old type of rpg similar to DnD that can be played with a rare kind of tarot deck called a Minchiate (97 card deck)
Do you have a link to that game? I can’t seem to find it.
Sorry, no link - read it from a library book about card game history.
From my recollection:
I do remember it was called “Oracolo” and was played in Italy, normally by family members for the younger kids. It’s part of other “story games” people would play using the bigger tarot card decks especially (something played since Mamluk deck days). You’d basically start a story about how the person is a traveler, and make up the story on the fly based off what you drew from the deck, and the kid would respond as well and then a dice would be rolled to see if they’re successful.
With Oracolo, the goal was to make it to old age and die peacefully as you go through life. You’d do this by going through the entire deck, with pips being bonuses or negatives that would be used (like, if you had chosen to be a carpenter, and got a 3, then that might be how much furniture you sold and how successful you currently are).
Every card you passed through would get set aside, with the exception of Death, which would always get shuffled back in if you survived. Death would always be the final card.
There’s other story games too people would play too. This is where the idea of using Tarot decks for divination came from actually during the Victorian era (as these story games were primarily played in Latin descendant speaking countries such as France, Spain, and Italy).
My own dad would sometimes play a story game his dad taught him using an old Tarocco Siciliano deck we had (the one that uses cups, clubs, coins, and swords). Although his was a Christian version where the goal was both survive and to go to heaven, and used more as a morality type game.
Do you remember the name of the book? Searching for “oracolo card game” on the net didn’t lead to any results
Neat, the only RPG system that I know of that uses cards is Castle Falkenstein, but a normal 13x4 deck
And an excellent one at that!
May I suggest you use the french tarot rules ? If there is a French community near you, you may find players among them.
Here are the rules translated in English : https://www.pagat.com/tarot/frtarot.html