Friday, February 24, 2023

Lenormand deck content generation

When you are a DM, everything is a random generator... Oracular/divinatory tools are a great source of inspiration, because they are full of flavor, they tap into archetypes, and so on. I've experimented with a couple of Tarot-based generators. In this post, I'm just going with something rather simple: drawing three cards from a Lenormand deck, and coming up with an encounter, scenario, or situation based on them.

Oh, and a cool thing about the Lenormand deck: it contains 36 cards... so you can roll that with a d66 or put it on a 6x6 matrix if you don't have your deck at hand!

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

Heart

House

Letter

Mice

Mountain

Ship

2

Tower

Whip

Cross

Coffin

Child

Bouquet

3

Bear

Clouds

Fox

Dog

Stork

Clover

4

Garden

Snake

Key

Animus

Birds

Fish

5

Anima

Sun

Moon

Scythe

Anchor

Ring

6

Lily

Book

Star

Crossroad

Tree

Rider



Without further ado, six random draws, interpreted:

  1. (tower, clover, anchor) - A tower stands in the middle of a clover field. The edifice leans slightly to the east. A large anchor on a chain descends from the topmost window, as if keeping the tower in place.
  2. (crossroad, snake, clouds) - A normal crossroads during day, but fog rolls in at night, and a serpent slithers out from the bushes. It grants a wish if it can afterwards switch bodies with a human.
  3. (tree, moon, key) - A venerable oak with a keyhole in it. If a silver key is inserted and turned clockwise, the keyhole swallows the key, then expands into a portal. It leads into the Treasure Vault of the Moon Princess.
  4. (sun, rider, letter) - Encounter: Messenger of the Sun King, cursing and shouting “clear the road!”, urging the horse to ride faster; but the animal is at its last breath and will soon collapse from sheer exhaustion. The Messenger carries a highly important message.
  5. (bouquet, cross, fox) - An old cemetery, moss-covered headstone, overgrown crosses. After the abandonment of the nearby settlement, wild animals reclaimed the land. A fox has dug a deep hole into a mound – and a couple of silver coins shine in the dirt…
  6. (fish, moon, house) - A noble estate, the house’s faรงade reflected in a small pond. The family’s coat-of-arms is a silver crescent on a green field. The eldest son is suffocated by responsibilities; he feels like a fish out of water – but he must take care of his sickly parents.