Tarot Method (One Minute Adventure Methods)

This is a quick adventure idea for Game Masters who find themselves having to run a game with little or no warning.

Buy yourself a deck of tarot cards- ahead of time preferably- and a book on how to use them to tell fortunes.

now there are two ways to use this idea.

The first way is to tell the player's fortune on your own while they are en-route to your house for a night of impromptu gaming. Do it this way if you aren't certain how to use the standard spreads:
 * 1) Shuffle the deck deal the cards in a line
 * 2) The First card indicates what type of an adventure the game will be.
 * 3) Look up the meaning of the card in your book. For instance, The Tower- which indicates upheaval might mean that the players are playing a survive the disaster adventure.
 * 4) The second card indicates who or what is going to oppose them. As an example, the 6 of cups refers to the past and could mean an old enemy. If you draw something that stumps you draw again- time is of the essence.
 * 5) The Third card indicates what additional challenge the players must face beside the main opposition. As an example, the 5 of wands refers to turmoil and disorder, and since our example is already based around a disaster, riots and panic seem like a good logical challenge to add.
 * 6) The fourth indicates their goal, what they must accomplish. As an example, The 3 of Swords refers to pain or grief- generally from loss. So in this case the players are training to save somebody from grief by finding a loved one lost in the disaster.
 * 7) The Fifth Card indicates the players reward. As an example, the lovers indicates the obvious, as well as a soul connection or reverence. In this case, I'm going to take it to mean reverence and gratitude from the people the heroes helped, and keep that in mind when I design the next adventure, making sure to put a complication in that will go easier if they ask their friends from the flood (I've already decided in my mind that the disaster will be a flood- a la Hard Rain)for help.
 * 8) Now go back through the adventures that you have already played with the group and use the old maps and locations, that way you don't have to make anything new up, but it will feel cool to the players, because it will be a new adventure in a place that they've already played, so it will feel like part of a larger campaign.

Voila!

Ah, but I said that there were two ways to do this, yes?

The second way is simple. start with step number 1 from the previous list and then give the party a genuine tarot card reading as the hook for the adventure and simply adlib the adventure around the fortune given.

This requires a greater ability to think on your feet, but since the players will be looking for things that fit the fortune, they will often unwittingly help you, and since your are working in a familiar setting, it will be easier to ad lib.

And there you go, good luck.