Encounter Building Oracle Deck

Use to Play Solo or as GM Aid

Click "Alternate Preview" above for the full rulebook or you can get the rulebook as a separate item for free on this page.

The Encounter Building Oracle Deck is meant to replace (or at least help) the Game Master in any fantasy-based role-playing game by providing arbitration and creative prompts in any adventure you can imagine.  The system-less design of this deck allows it to be used with your RPG of choice and lets the cards be idea generators rather than specific rules of play.  In a group setting, the cards won’t replace all the planning completely, but the GM (or players who want to play without a GM) may only need to come up with the general story of the session, have level-appropriate stat blocks in mind, and bring the player characters.  These cards can do the rest with a little help from your imagination.  This means the GM can play as a PC, the group can play without a GM after agreeing upon the general storyline, or you could solo-play your favorite RPG.

The Specifics

This 100-card deck is split into six different suits that follow the same breakdown as a regular tarot deck except with an additional suit as follows:

1. Major Arcana - 22 cards
2. Cups - 14 cards
3. Swords - 14 cards
4. Pentacles - 14 cards
5. Wands - 14 cards
6. Supreme Arcana - 22

Each suit gives you some specific themed information.  For example, the suit of Swords gives you information about interesting objects that you can tie into the narrative, and the Major Arcana suit gives you different quests that you can undertake based on the type of terrain (underground, wasteland, forest, small village, or big city).  The deck as a whole allows you do the following:

1. Ask yes/no questions with varying likelihood.
2. Find random quests, beings to interact with, locations, objects of interest, and events all based on a specific terrain type.
3. Find random rewards or treasure (including narrative rewards) and curses.
4. Get random die rolls.
5. Create random verb/noun combos to spark the meaning of answers.
6. Get quick impressions using primary or reversed card meanings (similar to tarot).
7. Find a type of random event and what is at stake as a gain or loss.
8. Figure out what an NPC can tell you about the main plot.
9. Get a random direction and relative difficulty of a task.

There are tons of ways that you can use all of this information, but here are the primary ways I envisioned using this deck:

1. Play a fantasy-rpg without a GM.
2. Develop fleshed out NPCs.
3. Aid a GM in planning an adventure.
4. Replacing dice at the table.

Check out the rulebook by clicking the link labeled "Alternate Preview" underneath the picture at the top of the page.

What You Get

If you order the Multiple File Formats version, you'll find a Print N' Play PDF for you to make your own card set at home, a ZIP folder of all the individual 300 dpi card images (in RGB instead of CMYK format), and the rulebook.

If you order the Physical Cards version, you'll get the cards, but I recommend selecting the option to get both the physical cards and the digital files since there's no additional cost.  Please note, DriveThru does not have a 100-card tuckbox available, so the cards will be shipped to you without a box.

If you like this...

You might also be interested in my other Encounter Building Decks:

• Decisions
• Locations
• Combat
• Traps
• Post-Apocalypse Enclaves